The fun of Nike+

I already posted a screen cap from Nike+ a few days ago. Go ahead and scroll down to take a look at it if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

I have the Nike+ sensor for my iPod Nano and, to be honest, it's everything I hoped it would be and more.

For those unaware, it's a $29.99 sensor that you can buy for the two latest editions of the nano, the 2nd generation iPod touch, and now the upcoming iPhone 3GS (what a letdown,by the way!). You plug it in to the device and place the sensor chip underneath the sole of your specially branded Nike sneakers, and off you go.

It transforms your outdoor runs into treadmill sessions, at least data-wise. You get your time, your distance, your pace, and calories burned. I don't even need to explain why these are useful things to have.

But more than that, you can run specific programs. Say, for instance, that you want to run a 5K. At 1K and 2K, it will simply interrupt the music briefly to let you know that you made it an additional kilometer. From there, it will let you know that you're halfway there. After the half way point, it counts down. This really helps psychologically. It's much easier to hear you only have 1K to go, then hearing that you've run 4K, even though it's the exact same thing. After 400 meters, it counts down every hundred meters until you finish, giving you just the extra motivation you need to finish with a flourish. How can you stop or let up when you know you only have 100 piddling meters left to run?

Like I said previously, it's a great motivational tool.

After you are finished, it will send your workout data to nike.com/nikeplus while you are in the process of your normal iPod sync. From there you can set goals for yourself. My current goals are 160 miles in 16 weeks, and 30000 calories over 16 weeks.

You can also join challenges, which is where the screenshot I posted a few days ago comes in. One caveat, don't expect to win. I ran 22 miles last week, which is EASILY my lifetime best, and people are doubling me. I also think that in some cases cheating is afoot by people who feel the need to win an online competition amongst strangers is more important then bettering yourself and doing something to be proud of.

Anyway - another small issue I have is that the sync from the iPod to the website does not always work perfectly. It usually sorts itself out but I want what I want when I want it and sometimes when it doesn't work for a few hours it makes papa bear very angry.

Overall, though, I would recommend this product to anyone who is interested in running more or maybe getting started.