Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

You can finally participate in the Starling Fitness walking and running Challenges whether you have a Nike+iPod or not. If you would like to compete against runners on your level, here are the links for next week’s challenges:

Level 1 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 0-10 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 1 (09-03-07) – RUNNER+

Level 2 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 10-20 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (09-03-07) – RUNNER+

Level 3 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 20-30 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (09-03-07) – RUNNER+

Level 4 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 30-40 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (09-03-07) – RUNNER+

Level 5 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 40-50 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (09-03-07) – RUNNER+

Level 6 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 50-60 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (09-03-07) – RUNNER+

A great big shout-out to the guys at Runner+ who have worked their butts off making the challenges available to us! Yeah!

I have spent a lot of words writing about how much I love and hate Nike+. I love the gadget, but I HATE Nike’s website. Now, I don’t have to worry about Nike’s slow and lumbering website anymore. I can track my runs on Runner+.

• Join the running revolution! – RUNNER+

Runner+ automatically downloads my runs from Nike’s website, so all I have to do is sync my iPod after my run and check out my graphs on their beautiful site.

The graphs are what made me fall in love with Runner+. Here is a comparison. This is the graph of my latest run on Nike+’s website:

Here is the Runner+ graph for the SAME run:

Runner+ gets their data from the Nike+ website, so your iPod is gathering all that data, but Nike isn’t allowing you to see it. With Runner+, you get to choose how detailed you want your graph to be.

The cool thing about Runner+ is that you don’t have to own a Nike+iPod to make it work. It will work with the Garmin Forerunner 305 and 205 (and maybe even the new Garmin Forerunner 50). You can also enter your data by hand, so if you run on the treadmill and want to keep track of your data, you can.

Best of all, you don’t need a fancy Nike+ to compete with other people. With the Runner+ Challenges, you can run against people all over the world.

Tune in tomorrow for links to the Starling Fitness Weekly Challenges for next week. If you’d like to see my runs online, you can do that here:

• LauraMoncur’s Runs by Distance (Day) – RUNNER+

Fat girls never talk about inner thigh chaffing. Even when we get thin, we don’t talk about it. That’s how you can tell the naturally thin athletes from the used-to-be-fat ones. The naturally thin athletes have no problem talking about Vaseline, lubricant and clothing that prevents chaffing because they have no shame attached to it.

I wish I could be like that.

Instead, I find clothing that works and never talk about how grateful I am that my inner thighs are chafe-free. I never talk about how my gym clothes don’t ride up.

Case in point, the Women’s Pro Spirit Core Mesh Capri Pants. I found these at Target. I bought them on sale for ten bucks. I tried out one pair and was back to the store after one workout and cleaned out the store. Then I went to the Target on the south side of town and bought all of them in my size there too. I’ve been exercising with them for months.

I love them because my inner thighs don’t chafe and they don’t ride up.

Why is it so hard for me to say that?

Mike A. has this great Nike+ Hack with his Adidas shoes:

“Having just bought the Nike+ Sport Kit and 4GB Silver Nano, I didn’t really want to drop another $100 or so on new shoes. Thus, I got out a Swiss Army knife and did some reconstructive surgery on my old Adidas running shoes.”

I thought of doing this with my Ryka shoes, but after a year of owning the Nike+, I finally acquiesced and bought a pair of Nike Zoom. I have to admit that the Nike+ reads a tad more accurately INSIDE the shoe than outside with a Shoe Wallet.

Garmin has just introduced the Forerunner 50. A fitness watch without the GPS unit, but it includes a heart rate monitor and foot pod (to track distance and speed like the Nike+ does). Best of all, when it’s available next month, the cost will be $213 (with additional $60 for the cadence sensor for cycling). That’s WAY cheaper than the next best thing from Garmin, so they are making huge leaps in affordability.

• Garmin: Let’s talk Forerunner.

You can see their commercial for it here:

Embed this video on your website – Download this video for your iPod

When I accessed their website, they said that the Forerunner 50 has the following feature:

“Garmin Connectâ„¢ compatible (online community where you analyze, categorize and share data)”

This is what their press release said:

“When used with Garmin Connect(TM) — Garmin’s online training site — the Forerunner’s benefits continue long after the workout. By pairing the Forerunner 50 with Garmin Connect, users can automatically log their workouts, track their totals, share workouts with coaches, friends and family and participate in an online fitness community with similar interests.”

I can’t find any other evidence of Garmin Connect online, so I’m wondering where the website is, how the software works and whether it is any good.

The only reason I have any interest in this is because of Runner+. It’s a website kind of like Nike+ in which you can keep your runs online. It communicates with my Nike+ and automatically uploads my runs into its website. The data is actually better than what Nike+’s website shows me. The founder of the website says that he is adding challenges just like Nike+ has.

Update 11-08-07: They added the challenges and they’re AWESOME! Come play with us!

The good thing about Runner+ is that it’s not limited to Nike products. It will soon work with Garmin Forerunners 205 and 305. If the Forerunner 50 uses the same system, then it might easily be used on the Runner+ site. I could run with the Forerunner and leave the Nike+ (and its buggy website) in the dust.

Via: Garmin introduces Forerunner 50 sport watch – Engadget

If you haven’t already fallen under the spell of the Nike+ iPod vixen, then the Timex Ironman iControl Watch might peak your interest.

The iControl name has been with Timex for a long time. A while back, it meant that you could control the alarms, timers and such with the iControl stem. Now, it means that it’s made for iPod and you can advance your songs and turn up the volume with your watch.

Notice that it’s labeled as Made for Ipod and not Made for iPhone. According to this article from PC World, however, it is supposed to work with the iPhone:

• PC World – Timex iPod-Controlling Watch Debuts

“The watch is an advanced sports timepiece that also works as a wireless operating device for the iPod – and is compatible with the iPhone when that device is set to airplane mode.”

So, if you’re willing to be unable to take calls, it looks like it will work with the iPhone. Doesn’t that eliminate half of the usefulness of taking the iPhone with you on a workout?

Timex’s Ironman watches are great for working out. If all you need to do is log laps and time yourself, then this watch is great. If you would like something more like a heart rate monitor or mileage tracking, then you’re out of luck. At least you’ll be able to control your iPod, though.

Via: Unboxing the Timex Ironman iControl watch – Engadget

The other day, I was running at the gym with Mike. I was using my Nike+, so my miles would be tracked for my challenges. I was wearing my heart rate monitor. I even added my weight into the treadmill so that their calculations would be accurate.

After I was finished, the Nike+ said I had burned 479 calories. The heart rate monitor said I had burned 502 calories and the treadmill said I had burned 345 calories. Which one do I believe?

Are your exercise gadgets getting in the way of your workout?

Do you find it simpler to just exercise with one gadget instead of more?

Is it easier to just go out and run or do our gadgets help?

There is a famous quotation:

“A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.”

Segal’s Law

Sometimes I feel like that with all the methods I have to measure my exercise progress. The problem is, I don’t trust any of them enough to just believe it.

Polar is known for their heart rate monitors and cycling computers. Add to the mix an altimeter and wireless transfer of data to your computer and you have an intense piece of technology on the handlebars of your bike. That’s what the Polar CS600 Cycling Computer can do for you:

• Polar USA – Polar CS600 Cycling Computer

Unfortunately, if you want all that fancy stuff, you’ll end up paying almost $700 for it.

Is it really worth all that much when a Bell Spinfit will do most of that stuff for fifteen bucks? Sometimes these gadgets look like they will help us, but in the end, nothing will make you ride faster on your bike except riding your bike. Whether you have a $700 Polar or a $15 Bell on your handlebars won’t help if you don’t get your butt in the saddle.

Sometimes gadgets get us motivated and excited about exercising or eating healthy, but other times they are just excuses. I’ll stick with my Bell Spinfit and type the mileage and calories into my spreadsheet on the computer. It think that small amount of effort is worth that much money.

I have always enjoyed those children’s shoes with the flashing LEDs. They seemed like a great thing to have on running shoes, but none of the serious running shoe companies picked them up. Now, it looks like you can add small LEDs to your own shoes.

• Welcome to BamZ

This product seems to be marketed at children and teens, but they look like they would be a good option to keep you visible for night running. You can buy them online if you email them directly, but they haven’t set up an online shopping cart (?!). They are based in the UK, so it’s easy to get them there.

What are they? They are insoles that you place in your shoes and the LED connection snakes up the back of your shoe and displays at the back. If you have problems with blisters on the back of your heel, this might aggravate it.

If you have been running in the early morning or the late night to escape the heat, then these might be a good option to keep you visible in the dark.

Via: Shiny Shiny: Let your walking do the talking with the Bamz insoles

Here is the trailer from E3 for the Wii Fit. It looks like you’ll be able to keep track of your own progress separate from the rest of the people in your family (something DDR was sorely missing). I’m really excited about this one.

Via: Shiny Shiny: E3 2007 Nintendo Wii Fit trailer – who needs the treadmill?