I’ve always been a low-tech runner. No iPod, no smart phone, no heart rate monitor, no fuel belt, no GPS tracking device. Just my legs, my imagination, and the open road.
Lately, I’ve been getting samples of running gear, so I’ve been drawing myself out of the 20th century and trying out new shoes and gadgets.
In the old days, no one knew how far they were running. They just ran, and when they got tired, they would stop. Now we know exactly how many miles we run, right down to the 100th of a mile. We know exactly how many feet we ran uphill and how many feet we ran downhill. We know the instantaneous pace of our runs and the average pace. We know our instantaneous heart rate and our average heart rate. We even know the temperature, never mind the fact that we’re already running outside and can tell what the temperature is when we check the temperature on the smart phone.
The newest gadget I’ve tried is the Timex IRONMAN ONE GPS+.
It includes a bunch of features, including phone-free connectivity with an embedded modem (how do they fit a modem into a watch?), speed tracking, and distance and pace in real time. You can also download music from your computer right onto the watch and play the tunes on your run using the built-in MP3 player. Although I don’t listen to music when I run, that’s a pretty cool feature I haven’t seen before. But, then again, when it comes to running technology, I’ve been living in the 20th century.
Anyway, we’ll see how it goes. So far, the Timex IRONMAN ONE GPS+ tells me I’m slower than I used to be. I already knew that.
This post is sponsored by FitFluential.