Take your iPod out for a jog

Being a satisfied iPod touch owner, I've used it a lot of times to go jogging and listen to some music in the meantime (and to keep track of time using the standard iPod alarm clock). A couple of months ago I bought a very cheap Nike+iPod sensor but didn't have a chance to use it... and anyway, it was way too cold to go out running!
Today I finally had the time (and incredible courage) to test it.

The iPod touch can directly connect to the sensor, since the receiver is already integrated (I guess it uses bluetooth) so there's no need to get the whole set (which you need if you have an iPod nano). Just get the sensor, which is really really cheap (like 12? or something).

Nike+iPod

Speaking of cheap, I didn't buy the expensive Nike+ shoes of course but still use the same ultra-cheap running shoes as always. The Nike+ shoes provide an apposite slot where you can put the sensor while running. For "normal" shoes, there are a couple of straps on Amazon that should do the same thing, but I figured that putting the sensor behind the shoe strings would be pretty much the same.

The sensor firmly in place. Ignore the ugly silvery shoes.

And in fact, it worked: just stick the sensor in a point where the strings cross twice and you shouldn't risk losing the precious electronic gadget. After my first test run the sensor apparently had moved a bit, but wasn't about to fall out. Even if that happens, the Nike+iPod should warn you when it loses contact with the sensor and you'll be able to go back and hunt for the thing...

The Nike+iPod software

The Nike+iPod software included on the iPod touch looks pretty nice and lets you setup your workout in a variety of ways: you can train for a certain amount of time, run a specific distance, do a "free" workout or build own workout programs.

The Nike+iPod interface.

While you're running the iPod will display the elapsed time, how far you are on your selected workout, the distance run and the estimate speed at which you're going (in the unusual time/km unit of measure instead of km/time).

The other buttons just control the music that you're listening to: you can choose to shuffle all your songs or play a certain playlist. Unfortunately you can't listen to podcasts if they are in the "podcast" category (I was getting used to listening to Three Moves Ahead or the Stackoverflow podcast while working out). As a workaround, you can import your podcasts as standard music and then put them in a playlist.

If you get tired or simply need some special motivation for a hard part of the track, you can push the powersong button and the iPod will instantly switch to a custom song that you can select from the preferences screen ("Eye of the Tiger" would be the most obvious pick... but I thought that Divide by Disturbed will do for the moment).

The best thing is that the iPod will actually speak to you every 5 minutes, telling you the time and distance you have been running. It will also tell you all the useful stats when you switch the iPod on from sleep: just push the power button through the pocket, no need to find the player, pull off your gloves and unlock it.

Syncing your statistics with Nike+

So, the Nike+iPod would be pretty awesome as it is, but it does a lot more: just sync the iPod with iTunes and it will automatically upload all runs and their data to the Nike+ website. The site, after creating an account, will list all details about the workout session:

So I can check when I went jogging, how long a how far I've run and my speed (see that bump halfway? That's me getting to a quite steep uphill part, followed by an enjoyable downhill). You can also note how you felt, how the weather was and so on...

My Nike+iPod level.

The system also has some kind of "reward" system where you collect points and raise in level (much like the Gamerscore in XBox Live I guess). If I'm out jogging it won't be for the points, but it's kind of funny anyway.

Also great: you can add Goals you intend to reach in the following days or weeks. For instance, you could say you want to run at least at a certain pace in the next week and then try to reach the goal. This can be a real incentive and helps you focus. By the way, you can also follow some training guide to slowly meet a certain objective (like running a Marathon).

And finally, you can join Challenges with other Nike+iPod users online: the time/distance you run will then contribute to the challenge either individually (each user has to win the challenge on its own, like in the quite silly "Run around the earth" you'll have to run for 25.000 miles in a year) or for a team (like in "Europe vs. America", go Europe!).

In conclusion, I'm definitely loving my Nike+iPod sensor right now and won't go jogging without it!