The Truth Will Make You . . .

Slow?

So, I was reading a few Mini Marathon training message boards over the weekend and one of them was discussing the Nike + training module which happens to be the one I use to help me track my progress when I train. There is a little computer chip in my shoe that connects wirelessly to my IPod and it keeps track of my distance and pace and stuff like that so that I don't have to think about it.

What the message board was saying was that NIKE + has a real problem with calibration though and if you aren't careful can really get off track. So just to be safe I did three- one mile calibration walks on the track at the YMCA today to calibrate my NIKE+.

The good news is that the miles were no problem at all, I wasn't winded and my IT problem in my leg didn't flair at all even when I went full out for the middle mile just to test how fast I could really go.

The bad news is that each of the miles was a little bit off; meaning when my IPod said I was done with my mile I wasn't quite done with the seventh lap on the track. so when I completed the seventh lap I had to hit the calibration button each time to make it right. The first time it was way off. The last time it was actually a little bit over a mile.

So I finally think I have it right, but with the calibration being that touchy, I wonder just how accurate it really is. It added back all of the time I thought I had gained in my per-minute splits, so maybe I am not really getting as fast as I thought I was and what I was doing was not quite walking as far as I should have been.

Oh well. now that I know that about the IPod NIKE + I will just have to be more dillegent about calibration, especially when I start training outside on the road in the spring.

Just goes to show, you keep learning new things when you start a new activity.

Pax