Sunday, April 1, 2012

GPS

OK, so this morning, before going out on my 11 miler, I dug around and found the arm band for my old iPod. I managed to fit my iPhone in it, so I downloaded the Nike+ GPS app and gave it a try. I was a little hesitant about wearing this big thing on my arm for the first time (well, I had worn it with my iPod on the treadmill back in the day) on a longer run. But, while I have never really felt unsafe out running by myself, I had gotten used to carrying my cell phone last summer and feel safer with it on longer runs. So safety overruled possible discomfort.

I have to say, I really liked it. I had been going back and forth since last summer about getting some kind of GPS watch or other device to use while running. Ultimately, I just wasn't sure I wanted or needed to know my exact pace at any given moment through my run. I mapped out my runs online and wore a watch to time myself. I could figure out my average pace and that was good enough. It probably still is good enough, but for $1.99 (the cost of the app), it's pretty cool to have a little voice telling me what my time and average pace is at each mile. I kept a pretty steady pace for the first half of my run, but when I started backing off a bit I knew it and got back on pace. The app has way more functionality than I need. I don't need to broadcast to everyone on Facebook when, where, how far and how fast I'm running. I don't need people to send me "cheers." I don't need to play tag or race anyone. I haven't even begun to learn all the things I can do with my data if I sync up to the Nike website.

The couple of downsides were 1) I couldn't easily see or reach the iPhone to pause it at stop lights. I wore my watch also and paused that when I stopped, but then I forgot to stop it when I finished. I can try adjusting my arm band to see if I can get the iPhone in a better orientation. 2) A couple of times I was kind of zoning out and "the voice" startled me, but I'll probably get used to that. A couple other times I think it startled people around me. I don't listen to music when I run outside and I'm not going to wear headphones just for this, so "the voice" is audible to anyone close by. There's probably a way to turn it off, but even with my phone on silent she spoke out loud. Plus, that would kind of defeat the purpose.

I'll probably keep using it on long runs for sure and maybe on shorter ones, too. It would be a nice way to log all my miles. I had started using the Daily Mile website at the beginning of the year, but I kept forgetting to enter my workouts.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds cool, and for $1.99, sounds like a really good deal. Though I did laugh about the voice startling you and other people. That totally sounds like something that would happen to me. :)

I agree -- I don't need to know so many details while running. My Garmin watch keeps my time, distance, and pace, and on certain settings, will even beep to tell me to go faster (if I've entered some goal pace, but I don't use that feature). I try not to obsess about it, but when it beeps on the mile marker, I do glance down and see what my split was. It's too much work to check it repeatedly to see if I should be going faster!

PS - you were right on - I needed a little break. With all our Holy Week music at church and a little problem at work, I've been terribly frazzled. I skipped my run this morning to get an extra hour's sleep, and I think that will do me good.

Katie said...

Sounds really cool...I wonder if there's a droid app like that! I'll have to look!

Deb said...

Wait....you can use the Nike app to play tag? Like people running the same route or something? That seems a little weird... I've used a similar "freebie" app, but the lady was driving me nuts. I'd rather have a smooth guy with a british accent tell me to go faster.