The Legal Janitor

When Apple and Nike first announced the Nike+iPod system, I thought it was just another gimmick. After trying it out for myself however, I’m seeing how useful the whole system is.

A pedometer goes into your Nike+ shoe (not necessary, you can actually just use any running shoe, with the right accessory), and the receiver for the ped data goes with your iPod Nano. During the run, while listening to music, the system will notify you through your earphones your progress.

The data is stored on your iPod Nano, and when you connect the iPod to iTunes, the data will be synced to the Nike+ website.

Yes, I know my 2.4km timing is really kana sai (like shit). In my defence, I have to say that the last time I really ran 2.4km was 5 years ago. This is the very reason why I bought the Nike+iPod system. I’m kind of a lazy person, and I needed something to motivate myself.

You can set your own goals, on frequency of running, distance run, calorie burn and running pace.

Set how often you wish to run this month.

How far you want to run this month.

How much calories you wish to burn this month.

The pace, which is basically how fast you run for a given distance.

Once you set your goals, every time your iPod syncs with the Nike+ website, you can compare your performance with your previous runs to see whether you’ve improved, and also whether you’ve managed to reach your goals. They also show you how far behind you are in your goal, and how much time you have left to accomplish your goals.

The coolest thing is that if you consistently achieve your goals, and set tougher and tougher goals for yourself, you can break your own records and win “medals”. This makes the whole running experience like a game, and the way to win the game is to keep improving yourself. One other really cool feature I’ve yet had a chance to try out is where you can actually challenge someone else to beat them at a goal. The problem is I don’t know anyone else personally who’s also using the Nike+ system, so I have no one to challenge.

The brilliant thing about the Nike+iPod system is that it creates an incentive system for one to try and make themselves more physically fit. It does so by turning the running experience into a game, and by allowing one to challenge themselves and others to achieve set goals.

I’ll be taking weekly screenshots of my progress to see if I manage to motivate myself to improve my times.