Sneakers with head lights

From time to time at Kickstarter you come a across an initiative related to running. Like one for the very minimalistic shoe (see my dutch blog), Strapless Heart rate Monitor of the funny bottle.

This time the idea to strap headlights on to your running shoe so you can safely run in the dark en monitor the road ahead of you.

To be honest I don't think it will work as good as they tell you in the video.

As a runner you should look ahead of you. So I think a strong head mounted light is better as this will cast its bundle where you are looking. It also a more constant source of light shining ahead of you. They argue such a light will not enable your eyes to adjust to the dark for 'night vision'. I on the other hand think that this flickering light around you feet is as bad for your night vision and only provides light just around your feet forcing you to look down which is not good for your running posture.

The solution offered in this video is a good idea when it comes to visibility. I have to admit they promote it with "See and Be Seen" on the kickstarter website.
As your feet move, the light is constantly moving as well, attracting attention from drivers and other people out on the road. But for this purpose they have to provide tail lights as well as head lights. Or maybe even focus on tail lights as the hazard in the night is behind you because you see other traffic coming towards you.

Then again: you can buy jackets with led light, arm straps, vests and all with led light and reflecting strips.

So I have to admit that to me this not an innovation but a gimmick. Lets see if they can prove me wrong and raise the capital needed. So far, 3 days going in a 4 week campaign they have raised ~$700 from the $38.000 required...

Easy to use fitness app

There are numerous apps that enable you to track your activities. Apps like runkeeper, map my run, my tracks. These apps require you to configure it before use, activate it when you start and stop it when you, well, stop with the exercise.
This annoyed the designers off this new fitness app 'Moves'.

Moves automatically registers all day long you activities. walking, running, cycling. And this all day long as displayed in the time line below:

It was never so easy to keep track of your activities and learning at the end of the day to know how much you moved....hence the name 'Moves'. More info on the site moves-app where you can download the app currently only available for iPhone.

Professional fit?

Sometimes inspiration for a posting is right there in front of you. For example while waiting for a train looking at the poster (pictured next to this text) on the platform. OK, this looks like a running shoe but why offer a free hairdryer along with it? Because it is supposed to help you to create a perfect fitting shoe.

This poster introduced to me the U form technology from Reebok. This technology makes it possible to create some form of custom made fitting shoes just like te professionals have.

How? Thats where the hairdryer comes in.

You'll heat up the shoe for two minutes en put in on. After 8 minutes of colling down on your foot should offer a custom made fit.
De U form logo is an indicator if the shoe is heated enough when it will turn red (200 degrees Fahrenheit, or 93 deg. Celcius).

Next to the U form technology the shoe has another feature to offer: Realflex.
The shoe on the poster looks like a running shoe but it might be a (cross)fitness shoe.
The running shoe with U FORM  displayed next to this article does not have the realflex sole.
However a wide range of running shoes with Realflex technology are available on amazon. But these are without U form.

You can take a look at thev video for an illustration of creating this professional fit with the simple use of a hairdryer.
To me the use of this simple tool takes away a bit of the marketing value of the shoe. To me they should have created a bit more high tech approach to heating the shoe.

Strapless Heart Rate Monitor

Found in a magazine listed as 'innovation': The first heart rate monitor that does not require you to wear a band around your chest.
So if you are a runner and want to train with a HRM but hate the band around your chest? Here is the solution. The Mio Alpha.

Using an optical sensor it measures your blood flow in your wrist to determine your heart rate.

They used Kickstarter to raise capital so you can find more info including some video's on the site. what I learn is that it is a simple monitor, using a led to indicate if your in your training zone. But for things like GPS, speed, distance and the like they advise the use of you favourite App on your Smartphone.

The watch is available from amzon.com.

A running shoe is a 'Best Invention of 2012'

The Nike Flyknit, well known among readers of this blog, has been selected as one of the 26 'Best inventions of 2012' by Time Magazine.

You can find the Time article here and my previous post over the FlyKnit Lunar (February 2013) and Racer (February 2012) and the fashion shoe the Flyknit Chukkas.

One of the other 26 inventions has nothing to do with running but just looks great so here it is: Indoor Clouds!

Breezing: Track your metabolism

Every runner knows that loosing weight is a matter of creating a unbalance between the calories that enter your body and those that you burn. That is to say less calories entering, more calories burned and not the other way around.

That is why regular running helps you to stay fit and in shape. You increase your metabolism. In general toning your body to a better shape than any given coach potato.

Of course this rough approach can be more refined. Everyone using an heart rate monitor during running, or a GPS watch (see my post on five of them) or an app on the smart phone knows that these devices indicate your calories burned during you exercise.

Apparently this is not accurate enough for some geeks. Thats why they came up with 'Breezing'. A small device analysing your breath, communicating with your (Andriod) smart phone app to display your metabolism. Giving you detailed feedback so you can fine tune your exercise. It analyses your breath on oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production.

Is this more accurate than a heart rate monitor? Can be. Every trained runner knows that with improved fitness you can run a given speed at a lower heart rate because your body becomes more efficient in the transport of oxygen to your muscles and burning the fuel in your body and turning it into speed. I have to say I am a bit sceptical. Just go out, enjoy the run, use your common sense and eat healthy and your scale will tell you the resulting weight loss.

The video below explains a bit more on 'breezing' although I have to say it is more 'features' than 'benefits' or 'practical use';

The Innovator: Mike Friton from Origami to Running Shoes

On vimeo I found this very nice interview with Mike Friton, 'The Innovator'. Stylist, sculptor, innovator, designer with Nike for 30 years and one time teammate of Prefontaine running the Steeple Chase.

This short but well made video gives a nice insight how he plays around with very different materials and structures to discover new posibilities.
The Innovator on Vimeo.

Five GPS watches tested for accuracy

The Polish edition of Runnersworld featured a accuracy test with GPS watches.

The tested watches are:

• Garmin Forerunner 610
• Nike+ Sports Watch
• Polar RCX3 GPS
• Suunto Ambit
• Timex Run Trainer

The watches were tested on 4 distance/speed combinations a 400m track and a 5th  test was run over a longer distance on a trail in a park.
The watches were also tested on two altitudes: 415 meters above sea level and 714m

The results are:

 GARMIN
Forerunner 610 

 NIKE+
Sportswatch 

 POLAR
RCX3 

 SUUNTO
Ambit 

 TIMEX
Run Trainer  

dist.400m

slow

390m

418m

390m

400m

396m

dist.400m

fast

390m

434m

390m

390m

404m

dist.800m

810m

836m

800m

770m

798m

dist.1600m

1650m

1625m

1610m

1540m

1750m

dist.5320m

in the park

5000m

5030m

5100m

5040m

4840m

alt. 415m

boven n.a.p.

420m

405m

--

409m

413m

alt. 714m

boven n.a.p. 

714m

704m

--

699m

710m

The Polar lacks the altitude registration but is the most accurate on distances. It is available in white as well.

A plus for the Nike is the availability in three colours. It is clearly more of a fashion article.
The Suunto is available in silver as well as black.

Al watches can be used as a heart rate monitor as well but for some you'll have to order the sensor seperately so read carefully before you order what's in and what's out...

Below you'll find both the images and prices on amazon:

Nike+ for Android

One of my first posts on my Dutch blog (see posting) was on the collaboration between Apple en Nike. These two brands combined forces and enabled runners to use the Nike+ sensor in combination with the iPod. For the younger runners amongst us: This is an iPhone that did not connect to Internet, did not allow you to call and was only suited for listening to music and view video... ;p
A couple of days ago I wrote on the the new shoes LunarTR1 (see posting). The shoe again is shown in combination with the iPhone from Apple.

For runners with Android phones I have some good news because I found f.e. on  myandroidgadgets that here is also an App available for Android.

Shoes with multiple sensors

A Nike newsletter showed me this add next to the text on the Nike LUNARTr1+ iD. The image suggests build in sensors kind of shwoing your running profile on a iPhone.

Besides this technology: It is one of the customizeble shoes by Nike.

As I wanted to know more on the shoe I hit the link but this did not work. A bit clumsy for such a big brand.

Sniffing around I did find some nice video's.

The first is on the dynamic suport system and is already some years old and maybe even outdated with all the talk on natural running:



And now the LUNARTR1:



It gives me the impression its registers the intensity of a training and not your technology. Heel landing versus middel or front foot landing and/or inside or outside of the foot.
Could be the shoe is an alround training shoe and not a running shoe.

Another insight into the innovation of Nike and Nike+ is this product presentation:


Looks like they were inspired by Apple and the way they introduce their new products...

Skins: Innovative or just good marketing for running gear?

Last week I was introduced to a new brand of running gear (or sportswear in general): Skins. After compressions socks you can now buy compressions clothing for your whole body.

The flyer addresses a couple of features that charaterise the apparel of Skins:

• Compression: with the known benefits of enhance bloodflow and improved recovery;
• BMI fit: refers to sizes that not only address height but posture as well;
• SkinMuscle+: Additional compression of the clothing around relevant muscles;
• Skindry: something all functional clothing promisses;
• Skintemp: optimal body temperature regardless of outside temperatures, again a feature that all functional clothing promisses;
• SkinUVblock: OK, that sounds new but then again, doesn't most fabrics shield at least to some extend from the sun?

Sizes of a running tight ( Skinssite ).

Posturesshaped of women
according to Skins

Skins has the following categorys of man clothing:

• Active for all sports
• for Cycling 
• for Triathlon
• for Golf
• for Snow
• for Recovery

As runners we have to resort to either 'all sports' or Triathlon.

OK, I llike their marketing but do they realy offer something new comparec to for example high end apparel from Falke or Adidas. I myself have some very tight tops from Adidas Fusion (with Polar heart rate sensors) whcih have most of the above mentioned charateritics. And to be honest he price of Skins is with f.e. 90 euros for a top with short sleeves high end of the market...

Please share your own experience with this gear...

Test GPS watches on accuracy

The Polish Edition of Runnersworld features a nice test with 5 GPS watches. The test was performed by the polish editors so in case it does not make the English edition here the main results:

The test covered these five watches:

• Garmin Forerunner 610
• Nike+ sportswatch 
• Polar RCX3 
• Suunto Ambit 
• Timex Run Trainer

The GPS units were tested on 5 distances and 2 altitudes:

 GARMIN
Forerunner 610 

 NIKE+
Sportswatch 

 POLAR
RCX3 

 SUUNTO
Ambit 

 TIMEX
Run Trainer  

400m

slow

390m

418m

390m

400m

396m

400m

fast

390m

434m

390m

390m

404m

800m

810m

836m

800m

770m

798m

1600m

1650m

1625m

1610m

1540m

1750m

5320m

in park

5000m

5030m

5100m

5040m

4840m

415m

above sea level

420m

405m

--

409m

413m

714m

above sea level 

714m

704m

--

699m

710m

The distance tests were done on a 400 meter track with different paces and one run in the woods/park. The altitude test were done in the mountains tot the south of Wroclaw in Poland.

The Polar does not register the altitude but for normal running it is the most accurate. A plus for the Nike is that it is available in three colours (besides blue also neon green and dark grey) and the Suunto is available in silver next to the common black.



The prices may vary so I used linkes to websites of online retailers for an impression.

The future of exercising and healthy living?

A friend draw my attention to this very nice short movie. It is both a view into the future of exercising, healthy living (relevant for this blog;p) and dating but also has a nice story line with a great cliff hanger. Just sit back and enjoy (probably just on your tablet, smartphone or ordinary old fashioned laptop...

How long is the City Pier City Half Marathon?

In my previous post I wrote on the Jones Counter, used to measure the distance of marathons. The article mentioned in this post states that every road races is a bit longer than the official distance.

Today I entered the route of the CPC run of last sunday in Runkeeper using google maps.

An acurate analysis of this map will show that I placed the start a couple of metres to much towards the sea. And for the finish line? I think it was a bit more further down the bicycle path along the 'Malieveld'.
Even with these alterations that shorten the route Runkeeper stops at 21 kilometres and 400 metres.

Of course do not take these figures for granted but it would be nice te learn from the organization what the actual distance is that is covered by the CPC-run according to their official measurement.

Wanna know more on the CPC run? Read my review!

Runkeeper has also two routes logged using GPS last year on a slightly different route. They are 21.04 and 21.11km. This can be explaned by the fact that GPS draws straight lines between everymeasurement. This will shorten routes run on a track with lots of bends and curves. Try for example a twisting and turning track in the woods were you might loose some of the waypoints due to bad reception of the GPS signal.

Track 'n Trace: iPhone and MapMyRun

If you consider to carry your iPhone with you will running, you might consider to download the MapMyRun applet. Besides carrying your iPhone to listen to music (or maybe even your have downloaded dedicated training podcasts) it will automatically add your route to your MapMyRun profile and training log...Now that is a nice combi! I can not speka from experience. As your migt recollect form previous posts I seldom carry an MP3 player while running and limit myself to the use of a simple Polar just registering my heartrate and speed. But for the tech addicts among the runners...it is worthwhile to check it out.

Start with a bang

It is hard to believe but in Beijing they will use an ordinary starting gun. One that just makes al lot of noise and nothing else. No signal to electronics and loudspeakers behind the runners according to this article on the of New Scientist.

Everybody knows the loudspeakers are meant to get the starting signal to all runners at the same time. Without them the runner on the inside track will hear the gun before the runner on the outside track. This difference might be as much as 150 millisecond on a 4x100m relay race where the runners are a long way apart.

Except that the sound needs time to travel to the runnner on the outside track there are two more effects that come into play:
1) the runner on the ouside track is faced with a 'bad start' which will not help in running a relaxed race. A tensed up runner is usualy not the best runner;-)
2) the extra decibels from the bang of the gun will help to get out of the starting blocks faster as research has shown...(I doubt if the kids in the picture get anywhere;-) frightened as they are by the bang of teh gun)

One of the researchers dealing with this topic is Jesus Dapena. If you browse to his research topics you find he also developped a model that takes into account the wind and the airdensity (high level tracks should give faster times that sealevel tracks due to the difference in air density and the lower amount of oxygen has no effect on a 100 meter run)....where was this kind of research when I went to university and the only models I worked on were wingstructures...

over hundred or not?

Remember I mentioned a 101 year old taking part in London marathon? As it now appears there is some dispute about his age....The Guinness Book of Records gives the men only 94 years due to his date of birth on his NHS papers. His passport states 101!
To me it is still a major achievement finishing a marathon at this age even though it takes him close to 10 hours. Read the story of his life and the dispute in the Guardian.

Running with 1.000.000 runners worldwide??

August 31st 2008 should be the first time ever that 1.000.000 runners take part in the same event. Take part in the 10k run in one of the 25 host cities or simply use your Nike+ and upload your run at the end of the day!


Labeled 'The Human Race' this will have to be a record run in the number of participants. It will require an app. 40.000 runners per host city unless the mayority will be made up by individual runners. According to the statistics on Nike+ over 50.000 run were logged in the last 24 hours. This adds one additional virtual city to the list of 25. And maybe for the event these numbers can be boosted.

If you do not own Nike+ gear but like to take part in Europe: European Cities were you can run are: Istanbul, London, Madrid, Munich, Paris, Rome and Warszaw. I wonder if they are going to make up the numbers and reach the 1.000.000 mark. Keep it in mind when picking your holiday destination;-)

Will disabled runner start in Being?

In January I posted an item on the South African amputee Pistorius. His ambition to run in Being was blocked by an IAAF ruling. However, thanks to a ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) his dream is back again. They ruled that, based on the evidence by the experts, there is no ground for the IAAF ruling that stated that his blades will give him an advantage.
Now he has the posibility to get him self on the South African team if he manages to bring down his PB from 46.46 to at least 45.95.

Relive your race!!

On the site of the Rotterdam Marathon is a new functionMijn Marathon Analyse (My Marathon Analysis). It is an player that enables your to relive the race. Enter the runners you want to follow (for example yourself and one or more of the toprunners) and press play and you can see how the race develops for these runners. When I turned onto the Blaak on Sunday I thought I saw Luc Krotwaar heading towards the cCoolsingel and the finish while I still had to run the strethc around the 'Kralingsebos'. Si if have myself running againt the winner Kipsang and the dutch toprunner Krotwaar it is obvious that you loose sight of me afhter just a few K. The only time I am in the picture is when Kipsnag is finishing (I am just corssing the bridge) and when Krotwaar is indeed on de Blaak with just 700 meters to go while I myself still have 14K ahead of me.
A nice way to relive the race.