On returning to running February 12, 2006
Posted by James Webster in : gadgets, life , trackbackFor quite a few years in my early 20s I was a keen runner. I would regularly compete in Sydney’s City to Surf and got as far as completing a half marathon. I valiantly tried to keep up running whilst living in London with moderate success, but after a while running gave way to inline skating with the FNS crew. Since being back in Brisbane I was quite sedentary for a while, but with the arrival of my 30th birthday I decided it was time to start pounding the pavement again.
After following Cool Running’s excellent Couch-to-5k running plan I have just reached the end goal of running 30 minutes non-stop. If you want to become a regular runner I cannot recommend this plan highly enough. It starts out as more of a ‘walking plan with a little running thrown in’ and in the early weeks you do wonder if it is doing any good. But it helps to build up your muscular and cardiovascular endurance so you can tackle the longer runs with more confidence.
Now, where’s the tech?
Well one of the most important aspects of running is having GOOD SHOES that have been properly fitted. Get them from a proper running shop, check out The Run Inn in Brisbane or The Runners Shop in Sydney. No point in skimping on these either. I’ve always picked asics over any other brand for getting the job done.
Another great tech resource for runners is the GMap Pedometer Google Maps mashup. No better way for measuring out the length of a course that you intend to run (assuming Google has reasonably high-def photos for your neighbourhood). Here’s the run that I have been doing lately.
Finally, I have my eye on the new Garmin Forerunner 305, its a combination GPS and heart rate monitor with all sorts of cool features. Garmin have redesigned the form-factor of the watch/GPS unit to have the antenna curve around the wrist, therefore as you are running the antenna faces up to the sky. Also they are equipping it with the SiRF Star III GPS chipset for quick acquisition of signal that most new GPS units appear to be coming with these days. Garmin also have a USB-based PC interface for uploading GPS and heart rate data from the watch to a PC application (a Mac version on its way apparently), which can then be uploaded to MotionBased (now owned by Garmin) and compared with other technorati running geeks in the area!
All that’s missing from this unit really is a Bluetooth-interface. What would be really cool (well, to a self-confessed technocrat like myself) would be a real-time mash-up of GPS and heart rate data uploaded to a website which plots a 305-equipped runner’s current location in a race. Add some low-res video streaming into the mix and it would be just like being there! Hmmm, maybe I’ll try and rig something up in time for the City to Surf…
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Another great running shop (used to be in Toowong, now in Milton) is InIntraining Running Centre. They even organise a runner’s club and the podiatrist is pretty good there.