iRun

Lately I’ve been thinking about getting a new video card. It’s been a little over two years since I’ve upgraded so its getting about time. Plus NVIDIA just released two new cards this month that are quite attractive and cheap.

Then I got to thinking about a few things. Mainly the fact that now, since I have a new job, I sit on my butt for 8 hours a day. I don’t really need to go home and sit on it for another few hours. They (who is they anyway?) say that you will look your best on your wedding day (and its all down hill from there).

If that’s the case…I’m headed for trouble.

So it came down to this question: Do I spend money to increase out of shapeness or spend money to get back in shape?

I went with the latter.

The next question is, how do I burn the money I was going to spend on a video card and burn calories instead?

The answer to that question came in the form of a partnership with Apple and Nike. They have teamed up to bring the Nike + iPod Sport Kit that works like this:

1.) Insert a small sensor under your shoe’s insole.
2.) You connect a wireless receiver to your iPod Nano.
3.) Go for a walk/run.
4.) While you are exercising, the sensor is transmitting your speed, distance traveled, and calories burned (based on your weight) to the iPod Nano.
5.) When you are finished, hook up your iPod to your PC and the results are uploaded to NikePlus.com where your workout is graphed out for you. You can also view your past workouts, set goals, or challenge someone across the world to a race.

The sensor seems to be really accurate right out of the box. I’ve compared my distance with the iPod to a Google Map Pedometer and the difference is less than two hundredths of a mile (.02). I’m happy with that.

The really cool thing is that while you are running and listening to music, you get status updates at intervals about your workout. During your workout, if you start to feel a little sluggish, you can hit a button to play a power song of your choice. I’ve got mine set to Eye of the Tiger.

This works out very well for me because I’m a goals based person. Being a math type, I need to see things results in a quantitative manor. Using this system, I get to use the latest and greatest technology and see my results on a daily basis. In other words, this is exactly what I needed to get going.

Plus, now is a really good time to get a 1st gen iPod Nano. Apple has a really sweet deal for a referb 2GB Nano on their site with a 1 yr warranty and free shipping. Also, I’ve heard that you don’t have to get the Nike+ shoes for the sensor to work properly. For me, I went ahead and got the whole package because A.) I’m a completionist and B.) I needed new running shoes anyways.

Finally, there’s a podcast called Podrunning that provides free techno-esque songs that are 30 – 60 minutes in length to help you keep your pace. Each song has a beats-per-minute number (like 130 – 180) in the title to give you an idea how fast the song is. I’m not quite to that level yet. Right now I’m just listening to angry while people music.

Anyways, so if you are looking for a good reason to exercise and need some motivation, then I highly recommend this system. I’ve been very pleased so far. Oh, one small thing: You have to have an iPod Nano for this to work. It isn’t compatiable with any other of the iPods. It makes sense because the Nano doesn’t have a moving hard drive like the older iPods and the newer video iPods.

Peace out.