Miles 92-95: Two Tests

Today's run reminded me that routine can be a good thing. And that straying from a routine that works is ill-advised.

Case in point: normally when I come home from work and do an evening run, I pretty much immediately change and head out. I may or may not drink 4-8 oz of water before starting. I do not eat.

Maybe it was because James was going out tonight and I wanted to visit with him before he left. Maybe it was because the yogurt, granola, and fruit for lunch left me hankering for something else. Maybe it was the 82° weather at 5 o'clock that felt stifling hot. But I definitely strayed from the normal routine by 1) waiting until 6:30 and 2) eating a sizable (albeit healthy) snack before heading out.

My gut protested loudly going for a run after eating; my side ached with a stitch that wouldn't go away. Because I was distracted by these, my form suffered. My shins and calves ached.

 Lesson learned: no need to test the tried and true routine.

Small unpleasantries aside, I also tested a new gadget. My mother-in-law Cathy was kind enough to think of me when a coworker was looking to get a Nike+ Sportband off her hands. Both Cathy and my friends Glenna and David have the Nike chip with the iPod synching feature and have had positive experiences with it. When I first heard about it, I had a hard time finding out how exactly this get-up worked. After a lot of Googling and Binging, I discovered that this inexpensive alternative to a GPS-enabled watch (like James's Garmin) is an accelerometer (in the chip) and a receiver (sport band, iPod, or iPhone).

Major positives? Very, very easy to use. The Sportband is incredibly light weight. A toggle button easily displays your mileage, pace, total time, and calories burned. Following directions to set up is a breeze.

Major downside? Where a pedometer measures the number of steps you take and can, through extrapolation, tell you how far you've gone if you take fairly regular strides, an accelerometer measures the same thing but adds the dimension of how fast your foot is moving through space. That said, if you are a highly irregular runner, your tracking might be way off.

And, as today's run proved, calibration to improve the advertised 90% accuracy-out-of-the-box is required for all runners. Today's route was just a hair under 4 miles - I know this because I've ran it many, many times and have mapped it out at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/. The band clocked me at 4.22 miles (94% accurate). I went ahead and submitted this run for calibrating (actual distance, 3.95 miles) and with plans to run the same route again tomorrow or Thursday, we'll see if we can't get closer to 99% accuracy.

Lesson learned: Nike+ Sportband/iPod/iPhone is a great beginner's option. Also a great option if you don't have the patience to work through the intracies of the Garmin watch set-up (James almost gave up on his) and learning curve or the cash to throw down (retails for $69 versus $250+).