Next time you’re hunting for some cheap German chocolates or slightly suspicious-looking meat, you might be able to pick up some new running kit as well.
The new range will encompass most kit basics
Budget supermarket Aldi has announced that they will stock a new limited edition range of running kit. The new collection goes on sale from today and will include men’s and women’s trainers for just £14.99, a snip of the price of the latest models from other major sports brands.
We’ve reported several times now how Nike is increasingly developing and announcing new technological breakthroughs and products, including fitness apps, wearable technology, and innovative new kit.
The company’s speedy growth had led it to consult offshore outsources for help, like many other major companies. But, as an interview with ComputerWorld reveals, that caused more problems than anticipated.
Nike’s future development is still in full swing
The major issue was that the app developers they’d consulted didn’t really understand the products that Nike was trying to produce.
The idea of wearable technology, having your active life recorded in one place, apparently didn’t make sense to the people doing the work, according to Christopher Davis, engineering director at Nike+ Running, as the developers, “didn’t fit into the Nike culture.”
We ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon last Sunday – and it was such a beautiful race! Here’s our verdict in full…
ROUTE: Taking in three of London’s most iconic royal parks (Hyde Park, Green Park and St. James’ Park) as well as passing by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament before a quick trip alongside the Embankment, this is one of the most visually stunning races in England. The chance to run along the aforementioned roads, alongside Whitehall and through Admiralty Arch down onto the Mall before passing right by Buckingham Palace is pretty spectacular, and can normally only be partially achieved in the London Marathon.
The route takes in many of London’s most famous sites
But it’s the parks themselves that are the real winner here. Taking place just as the seasons are changing, and just early enough in the morning that it’s not too busy, the race gives you the opportunity to experience Hyde Park in particular at its finest. And when the weather is as good as it was last Sunday, there’s nowhere more appealing in London (except maybe Hampstead Heath) to run.
The first-generation of the FuelBand was a big hit, so we’re keen to see what the next version of the technology has in store…
Nike has sent out invitations to a NikeFuel Forum event happening on October 15th in New York that it promises will be a “discussion of the future of the digital world experience and physical activity”.
Although light on specific details, the major buzz around the internets would suggest that Nike will be unveiling, amongst other things, a new version of its FuelBand wearable technology, probably to link into its ever expanding Nike + range. The original FuelBand was released in January of this year, and has only received one purely cosmetic update since then, with several different colours now available, so it’s ripe for a refresh.
Current rumours suggest that a next-generation Nike+ FuelBand will sport some seriously cool technology inside, including a heart rate/pulse monitor, faster data display, Bluetooth 4.0 for improved battery life and syncing, and more robust Nike+ API for developers to tap into your tracking data. Specifically for the heart rate monitor, users will be required to pinch the FuelBand on the monitor area for your pulse to be taken.
Apple’s rumoured iWatch could well feature fitness technology capabilities (image courtesy of PC Advisor)
Following the news in August that fitness industry consultant Jay Blahnik, who previously worked with Nike in developing the FuelBand health monitor, had joined Apple to presumably work on the company’s much-rumoured iWatch device, another former Nike employee is apparently now heading on the way to Cupertino.
Ben Shaffer, the studio director responsible for Innovation Kitchen – Nike’s research and development lab where new products are thought up, will be joining Apple soon to boost its growing wearable technology team.
Whilst under Shaffer’s leadership the company was named by Fast Company as 2013’s most innovative company and the studio most recently produced the Nike Fuel Band and Flyknit shoes.
Strava Run is available to download for iPhone 5S users now
We’ve previously written about how Apple’s new iPhone 5S, with a new and powerful M7 coprocessor, will change the way that fitness apps are designed and operate, focusing particularly on the Nike + Move app featured in the device’s reveal.
But now we’ve had news of the first app that will be released that properly utilises this functionality, courtesy of Strava.
The app, unsurprisingly entitled Strava Run, is similar to many other fitness running apps, as it allows you to track your distance, speed and numerous other variables of your run. What makes it unique for now, however, is the fact that it pulls data from the M7 in addition to GPS.
So you may have noticed that the site has been a bit quiet recently – and for a good reason…
After all the longing and hoping, we’ve been sent a pair of Adidas Boost, the first shoes to make it onto the Lust List, to review.
First impressions are excellent – the shoes are light as a feather and very stylish. When on, they are very comfortable to walk and run in, and having given them an initial run out in a 10 mile road and 5 mile mixed terrain run, we have to say that we are super impressed.
We’ll be working on finalising the review this weekend and next week, hopefully culminating in a successful race review, as Mike will be wearing them for the Royal Parks Half Marathon on October 6th!
So stay tuned for more on these beauties…
Full review of the Adidas Boost will be coming soon…
The new version of MY ASICS allows much more targeted goal setting for your workouts
Asics has announced that version 2.0 of its MY ASICS app is now available to download.
Supplementing the shoe manufacturer’s online web service, the app lets you sign up for and manage your training plan entirely from your phone. Whether you’re aiming for a full marathon, 10k, or just a gradual improvement in fitness, Asics’ promise isn’t just a personalised training plan; it’s that the app can find the optimal length and distance for your workouts based on your current ability, constantly tweaking parameters to find the best fit.
“This whole quantified self-movement only tells you where you are, not where you’re going,” says Asics project lead Alex Mrvaljevich. Unlike its best known competitors, starting a new plan in My Asics begins with you filling in your best race time and target.
It then comes back with an optimised personal training program (never more than four runs a week) along with your forecasted speed at the end of the training.
Available now in colour, the Garmin Forerunner watches should bring an extra dimension to your run
With all the noise around recent smartwatch releases from Samsung, Sony and Qualcomm, its easy to forget that many runners have been running with these devices for several years. GPS-enabled watches that track your distance, pace, and heartbeat, are a crucial part of many runner’s equipment, and the market may have just seen a new stand-out offering in the form of two new releases from Garmin.
The Forerunner 620 and Forerunner 220 watches pack 1-inch colour display screens, along with an accelerometer to track motion, GPS and Bluetooth 4.0 low energy support for smartphone syncing, and alerts for when you start to slack, giving you more in-depth training information than ever before.
The new 620 tracks running cadence, vertical oscillation and ground contact time – and when paired up with a heart rate monitor, it’ll serve up an estimated VO2 max and recovery time readout on its colour gauge ring. The 620 also links nicely with Garmin’s HRM-Run recovery advisor, providing info on your running form and calculating your recovery time between workouts.
Members of a research team led by athletic performance professor Hsiang Tzyy-yuang, centre, hold running shoes fitted with an injury-prevention device at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei. (Photo: CNA)
A team of sports researchers from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) have developed a brand new device designed to help infrequent joggers avoid injuries by detecting and transmitting signs of fatigue from the body to mobile communication devices.
The university team, led by Department of Athletic Performance professor Hsiang Tzyy-yuang found that the physical activity level of low-impact running can be estimated from the acceleration of the wrists, while the acceleration of ankles can be used to gauge the physical activity level of high-impact running.
The fatigue produced by excessive exercise causes the runner’s posture to change, which is the main cause of sports injuries, he said.
Hsiang said the device combines the use of an accelerometer and a gyroscope with Bluetooth technology. The accelerometer is used to determine the impact of body movements and changes in speed, whereas the gyroscope is used to determine the types of movements made by the user by detecting the speed of foot rotation.
Tech Runner 