My Tech failed me

I'm a geek. I'm a computer gaming geek. I'm a gadget geek. I'm a running geek. I've combined all of those and now have running apps on my phone that use GPS to track my pace, route, and time. I've got a thing that goes in my shoe that does distance, pace, and time (Nike+ iPod Sport Kit and I recommend it and am not using it with Nike shoes) in conjunction with my ipod. Between the two of them I typically have a good idea for how far and fast I've run.

Yesterday, on my longest run to date, 28 minutes and certainly over 3.1 miles, or 5k, my GPS app didn't find me... ever. It said it took me 28 minutes to run 0.12 miles. I could crawl that far in that amount of time! I was crushed... well, upset. No worries! I'll just push the little button on the ipod and it'll tell me all I need to know! Except it said I wasn't moving. I'm not sure when it quit but it picked up again right away. Maybe it just does that sometimes because I'm not using Nike running shoes and my feet or the shoe insert pushes the turn off button on the pod in my shoe. I'm not sure what causes it, but it's something I've observed before that sometimes the Nike+ doesn't think I'm moving. (I run in New Balance shoes and love them.)

That being said... I don't know how far I ran yesterday other than it was further, perhaps only slightly further, but nonetheless, than the ipod said it was so I'm ready for a 5k. My goal for running my first one was to run it in under half an hour and I just did that. Granted, it wasn't a real race and it was the day after the race I didn't run over in Webster City on Thanksgiving Day, but that's OK. It means I'm ready for the next one that comes along. If only my tech were.

I think the answer is, of course, more tech! So, if you're reading this and haven't seen it on my Christmas Wish List yet, I'm hoping Santa brings me another GPS. PS: If it's off the list it means someone got it for me but there's plenty of stuff there so shop away! This will almost certainly cure my Tech woes. At least I'd have known it wasn't working for me.

In the interest of full disclosure. I don't believe the fault of the tech on my phone was the fault of the HTC Droid Eris Phone (Verizon Wireless) (the google phone I love) or even the software, CardioTrainer but my fault. I typically turn the GPS on while on the way to my run and let it find me before I run. I forgot to this run so I started the app before the GPS had a lock. My theory was that it would think I was waaaaay over there and then notice I wasn't and snap over to the right place and there'd be a couple weird blips at the beginning of the run but they'd smooth out. That wasn't how it worked. What it did instead was nothing. That's good to know.

Google Android My Tracks & Do-over

No more Bones In Motion log information for me for a while. I ditched the Blackberry Storm (You can keep it thankyouverymuch!) and am now a proud owner of the Google Android on Verizon’s network. I got the HTC Eris for two reasons 1) It’s named Eris! All Hail Discordia!!! and 2) It’s not Motorola (whom I don’t like at all).

I got to do Week Five over again as I only did it partially last week then stopped running for almost a week. I started over on Week 5 of the Couch to 5k. Honestly, the break came at a good time. My calves were really sore and achy for some reason. So I spent nights stretching them while I was off and will continue to do so. I may start doing Yoga in the morning if I can find another half hour in my day to do it in ARGH. I don’t know what I’m going to do when/if I start doing long runs. I’ll need more time for sure.

Today was beautiful. The BIM Active site shows Weather Information that this one doesn’t show. I hope BIM adds android support soon.

All in all it was a good run and I was glad to get back to it. My Nike+ shoe pod kept stopping working saying I wasn’t moving so I probably won’t keep using it after I get some software on the Android that I love. Which is too bad because I really do like the interface and the challenges and community around the Nike+ site.

Total Distance: 4.41 km (2.7 mi)
Total Time: 30:41
Moving Time: 28:50
Average Pace: 6.96 min/km (11.2 min/mi)
Average Moving Pace: 6.54 min/km (10.5 min/mi)
Min Pace: 4.76 min/km (7.7 min/mi)
Min Elevation: 296 m (971 ft)
Max Elevation: 320 m (1049 ft)
Elevation Gain: 96 m (316 ft)
Max Grade: 5 %
Min Grade: -13 %
Recorded: Sat Nov 07 09:53:47 CST 2009

Fort Dodge, Iowa (Airport)

From Wundergound
Temperature: 61 °F Clear
Humidity:  42%
Wind:  8 mph from the North