Tuesday, September 2, 2008

A Calibration gone awry...

So without my Nike+, tracking my miles is pretty much the hardest thing to do ever in my car. There are too many u-turns, neighborhood and park runs, it just ends up with me going in circles, and being a bad driver. Since getting my Nike+ last December for Christmas my life has changed, in a good way. The first one I have started randomly prematurely end runs which made me exchange my first one for a new one, which is the one I have now. Since getting the new one I have always told myself I will calibrate it to match my running speed and steps. I thought this simple task would help me be more precise about my workouts.

WRONG.

It began with my running friend and I going to a local track and jogging a 400 and walking a 400 to calibrate the Nike+. Hers now works perfectly, which is funny because hers was the one with problems before, and now mine is the one that is having difficulty. Normally when I run and press the center button the voice says somewhere between a 7 and 9 minute range, and I know that was pretty close to accurate. The day after our calibration I went out and went for a hard five mile run. I was running my little butt off, sweating, (which I know only happens when I run sub 8.) When I got about three miles out and pressed the center button. It said 2 miles and a pace of 11:40. I couldn't believe it. I think I stopped and gasped. Not because I was tired but it was like my friend was lying to me. I was running at least 8 minute mile pace. I knew everything was internally messed up in my Nike+ because of the calibration. So I went to the Nikeplus.com site to figure out how to reset it. By the way, the Nikeplus.com site is a little weird, I don't really know what is going on over there, or if I am just dumb, but I couldn't figure much out from it. I tried to reset it, and to no avail it is still off by a good minute. This is frustrating, because I can run a seven minute mile and it will still tell me 9 minutes. I just want some encouragement here people!

I love, love, love this gadget and only want it to return to it's normal wonderful truthful self. The other day I was running on the treadmill, which is annoying in itself, and the treadmill told me I ran 3.5 miles, while the plus was a good 1.8 miles off. I have read about the Nike+'s being a little bit different, but more than a mile?! Come on Nike! What happened to my little red and white baby?!

Other than that a very productive weekend. In three days I ran 25 miles, and even ran the Nike+ Human Race. Unfortunately, I didn't understand the website (nikeplus.com again, not my fault :) and how to sign up and that it was actually a real race. I know, don't ask, I'm already embarrassed enough, so I ran it by myself down at the beach. My first 3.5 miles were going really well, and I was running decently hard, then the turn around which always give me an extra boost. Unfortunately not this time, and I definitely wasn't prepared for the wind in my face which slowed me down tremendously. As all the people lined Bolsa Chica beach, and I ran by they probably asked themselves why I was running so slow. Bummer, but still finished in an hour, and that was after running ten miles the day before.

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PS. This Zella "Yang" jacket is on sale right now at Nordstrom (http://shop.nordstrom.com/). The fabric is ammmahzung and it keeps you warm at night. I have one just like it and I love it. They have it in a light turquoise too which I love, because it's bright and will help cars see you, since cars are the enemy!

More this week, especially on some new great running finds ;)

7 comments:

E said...

Sorry to hear about the Nike+ problems. I actually have a garmin, and so I am no help. Hope you get it figured out soon!

joyRuN said...

Sorry, Danica. Can't help you there. I finally got sick & tired of dealing with my Sportband that I'm now eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Garmin. Good luck!

Chic Runner said...

I am jealous of all you Garmin runners.. :) Let me know how you like it. :)

renae said...

I totally agree about the Nike+. I love mine too, and refuse to run without it, but it's always a good .5 off which is very frustrating!
Dead jealous of joyrun...I'd love to have a garmin!

BeachRunner said...

That stinks about the nike+. I dont use one, but my wife does. She loves it - faults and all. Hers is reasonably accurate, but not perfect. Hope you get that straightened out soon.

Anonymous said...

Garmin is the way to go. Take a look at the new 405.

Felice Devine said...

Thanks for writing about the Nike+. I've been looking at that or the Garmin and when I went on the Nike site, I had the HARDEST time sorting it out. I just wanted the basic info and it was hard to find. I think I am going to look more at the Garmin.