nokia has today launched an interesting package for people who are active and are on the lookout for a next mobile device right now. the nokia n79 active. as the “n” in n79 indicates, the device is part of the multimedia nseries line. and has a whole bunch of goodies by itself. the “active” package however is a really interesting combo on top of it. it includes the latest version of the sports tracker application pre-installed, a headset that’s supposed to remain in your ears when running (it comes in three different plug sizes), an armband/pouch so that you can wear the device while running and most important of all, a heart rate monitor belt made by polar! you find the total nokia n79 active data sheet here as pdf.
this is quite a step forward for nokia on this front. up to now the sports tracker was a quite well appreciated application that made interesting use of the in-built GPS, but only now with the heart rate monitoring it’s a credible value proposition for running (and other sports such as cycling and cross country skiing). the belt is actually connected through standard bluetooth to the n79, so when changing to another mobile device some time down the road, this solution is then fully transferable. however the belt isn’t sold by itself right now, only in the n79 active package (you can always look on ebay though, people check out the weirdest things there…). on the other hand you can install the sports tracker application on any S60 mobile device free of charge. the installation files for recent devices are found here. everything works except of the heart rate monitoring of course.
the sports tracker application on the device is one part of the story, the other one the sports tracker internet service that’s been in a beta version for quite a while now. the idea is to upload all the geotagged data after your session (including pictures, videos and playlists of songs you listened to) and share it with your friends and buddies there depending on user defined visibility permissions. the profile of our hero is totally open for your nosey inquiries, just look for micke-j.
so whose the target audience for the n79 active? judging from the sports tracker application and service, it’s more the casual health/fitness runner who’s looking to add a monitoring and social component to her/his active lifestyle, rather than the die hard competitive runner using the system to keep track of the 5×2000m, 10×1000m or 15×400m interval runs.
400days.net will have some real test reviews posted here very shortly, stay tuned!
part II: nokia n79, out of the box
part III: nokia n79 active, experiences of the nokia running man
part 3.5: nokia n79 active and polar s625x, becoming a humanoid
part IV: nokia n79 active, out for a test drive
Part V: Nokia N79 Active vs. Polar, Suunto, Garmin, Nike+ and Samsung miCoach
Tags: N79 Active, Nokia N79, Nokia N79 Active, sports tracker
… where a fast marathon is organized in the spring. but in this case it is rotterdam. the final decision of running this race was made on the weekend. although having been under consideration for a while, otherwise the training most probably would not have been planned exactly 12 weeks ahead. 12 weeks is a standard preparation time for a marathon.
the idea here is to do a test run - literally. a test run for the 12 weeks preparation, the actual 2:30h marathon training program is used. a test run for the saltin diet towards the race. a test run for the support team that accompanies our hero before and on race day. and a test run for the hero himself. the test should result is something at or below 2:41h according to the progress curve. that’s a 3:50min/km or faster. the pace itself isn’t scary taking into account current interval runs at 3:25 to 3:29min/km or the 10k test races at km speeds of 3:37min/km. the challenging part is the long distance. no clue what pace there will be at km 28, 33 or 38.
today is the first day of the 12 week preparation time, a long slow run of close to 23km. got really tired in the end. but what are long runs for if you don’t get tired eventually?
Tags: rotterdam marathon, test marathon
a very special daddy special today. daddy had some free time to hit the town with a friend. the queen and princess had their own meeting with a friend-became-recently-mother, those seem to be all around lately.
after the relaxed 15k run earlier in the morning, the gin based long drink tasted really good. or was it the bar environment that brought back some memories from old times? back then to go to a bar was pretty much putting on shoes and a jacket and opening the apartment door. nowadays the undertaking requires more stamina. the distance to downtown is four or five fold, in addition to shoes and a jacket, enduring questioning looks and good reasons are required. the higher the stakes, the sweeter the prize.
after playing a couple of billiard games we headed towards a carrols restaurant, the finnish equivalent to mc donalds. their fish burger is just phenomenal. the best runner’s food you can get … once in a while … not too often … not before a race of course … the 12 week marathon preparation for rotterdam starts tomorrow, so today was still, eh not really marathon training. whatever, the burger is really damn good.
on the way back, we came across the senate square where helsinki’s landmark, the white dome resides. there’s currently a light installation shown on the weekend late afternoons and evenings. see for yourself.
Tags: bar, fast food, helsinki dome
great news trickled through yesterday. 400days.net is one of the selected blogs that will get the hands on a steaming hot consumer product release. the launch date isn’t confirmed yet, but most probably will be in the coming week(s). we won’t mention the company nor the product category right now. just so much, it has to do with running (surprise, suprise), it accompanies you while running out there, entertains you on the long run, and shorter ones as well.
on 400days you’ll find in addition to official product spec and capability info also thorough first hand real life test reviews. stay tuned!
Tags: product launch
todays interval runs where from another planet. perhaps it was too much energy drink beforehand. or the inside arena with all the other people around. was it the race shoes? or just the fact that there weren’t two, three layers of clothing? was it the tough training last week? or just the new hair cut? no clue, but the runs were at a level where they haven’t been in a long time - for the last 12 years.
quite many changes in the system, hence the reasons are hard to trace. whatever, psychologically those runs were great! the training program said 10 x 1000m intervals with 3 minute rests in-between in 3:29min each. the first one at 3:19min didn’t even feel difficult, had to remind me of slowing down a little on the second one which turned out to be 3:23min. the first 200m always starten in 38 seconds, which would point to a 1000m time of 3:10min if run in steady pace. it’s still difficult to hold the horses in the beginning. run 3 through 6 were an average of 3:25min, then it wasn’t the breathing and heart providing the body with oxygen but actually the muscles that showed signs of being the limiting factor, the calves started to become hard. quite a new experience. took it slower on run 7 with a 3:29min, the only effort in the target time. the rest, efforts 8, 9 and 10 again way above, ending with a 3:22. earlier interval runs in the fall on the outside track were all above 3:30min and never 10 efforts. this session was so cool!
the esport arena is a private run sports arena in espoo, west of helsinki, finland. the complex hosts all sorts of sporting facilities, a 400m track as well. traffic on the track wasn’t too bad, but they should recommend some track rules such as jogging and slow running on track 2 - 5, not track 1, to avoid injuries. it got pretty close once. the problem in the first place is not the slow running, it’s the unpredictability of the reaction when one arrives at high speed from behind and shouts out “watch out!”. fortunatly no-one was wearing spikes today.
the pricing is ok, EUR 60 for 10 times access to the track and you can use the sauna facilities afterwards. didn’t make much use of that part. warm up was running the 4km from work to the arena, cool down was running the same distance back again. to save time and be home before 8pm. 23km altogether, really good session today. this builds up excitement for the next 10k test run in roughly a week’s time.
Tags: esport arena, fast run, interval training
there are all kinds of different species out there on the nature trails within city limits. there’s the nordic walker with her/his sticks blocking half the trail, the baby walker normally seen with a stroller and dark rings around the sleep deprived eyes. further there’s the dog walker, who is seen out there in any weather (poor dog), the sunday walker, who’s the one that might even greet you back. and of course the biker, to whom the runner is just an annoying moving obstacle (until he looses out on a steep enough uphill section and is the obstacle to the runner).
Due to the cold weather lately the natural habitat for a new species spreads in the helsinki area. suddenly the trail shows a thick white capret with striations and funny patterns on the surface. not quite as fun are the creatures moving upon this carpet. on long narrow boards and sticks they slide along, mostly in a crooked body position and panting like a train engine, demanding even more space than the nordic walkers. you can read in the faces of the most representatives of this species that “this is not fun but dead serious”.
normally there’s rarely interaction of any kind, let alone communication among the species (except of the occasional friendly greeting with the sunday walkers, those are nice chaps) on the trails. and especially barking you’d expect from one of the dogs. but always be ready for some surprises as it occured this morning.
i was enjoying a 8 x 2 minutes up-hill running session in the herttoniemi forestry slope patch. on the upper half a cross country ski run was laid out in the last days. 3 meters wide, with the ski run for the classic style on the right, the wide middle area for the v-style and a not even by freestyle skier touched strip on the right. after the second up-hill effort on the way down one of those panting and barking creatures (remember: not a dog) tossed a “who do you think this ski run is made for?” at me. wow, i was slightly taken aback from so much communication on a nature trail, before smilingly replying “hello, who do you think you are?”. the crooked creature went on bitching about the other species, such as exactly runners like me and walkers, who all destroy the ski runs. yeah right, at -8 degrees celsius it’s more their own sticks than the runner’s feet that leave marks in the snow.
skiers seem to be a rather aggressive species with a serious activity. fortunatly running appears to be a happier undertaking, the oxygen reaches the brain as well.
Tags: cross country skier, skiing
see here for part I
progress for him after 9 weeks since the first family run is to go a bit longer, perhaps 8 instead of 6km. progress for her is to actually enjoy the winter sunny weather and the nice views of the baltic sea bay while running together with the family. progress for the little one is not only to spot the dogs on the way but to say “koldo, hau hau” (= “koira” is the finnish word for dog and here in the north dogs indeed say “hau hau”).
after 8km for him and 6,5km for her the baltic sea was just too inviting for an explorative stroll on its frozen surface. see the impressions that followed back home.
Tags: family run
happy new year to all you runners, dads, mums, and other readers out there. it won’t get easy with the financial crisis affecting the real economy resulting in job losses in many industries, with new wars breaking out and old ones not ceasing to exist and even more countries going nuclear, with attention and determination shifting away from fighting the climate change (perhaps towards seeking to understand how to live with it) and of course as the economist wrote with the farewell to youth in the rich world: Kate Blanchett, Jennifer Lopez, Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jennifer Aniston all turn 40 this year (as does the median age of the seven big, rich G7 democracies Japan, Italy, Germany, Britian, France, Canada and the US, with the US being the youngest at 36,4 years because of their southern friends that come and keep California clean)
but as we speak about it, isn’t 40 the new 30? the forties will become media sexy and the age attention span will expand. the marathon being at the forefront of course. the men world record was set by haile gebreselassie at the age of 35 in berlin last year. and on the female side, irina mikitenko from nowadays germany won the world marathon majors - a sum of the races in boston, london, berlin, chicago and new york - at the age of 36 in 2008 as well.
a contrast to all those challenges ahead of us was the scenery outside helsinki windows today. it looked bright, sunshine all over the place and a winter frozen cold scenery was opening up calm and inviting for an easy 11km stroll to burn away the rest of the calories from the night before, get a rush of oxygen to the head and be at peace with the world for a day. join in on some particular nice impressions.
Tags: challenges, helsinki impressions, new year, pictures, winter pictures
the daycare closed during the holidays, the queen at work, so the little princess joined in on the morning session today. conditions dry an crisp with temperatures just below freezing, no snow. ideal for the stroller, a hartan skater model 2003, which was never really optimal for running but it actually does the job good enough.
hartan skater, model 2003
the wheels are about 5 cm wide which is good on gravel, but they’re still a bit small sized for a running stroller, so there’s some additional friction. empirical data shows that in the end it slows you down by about 5-8% in addition to requiring 3-5% more energy compared to running your favorite route without a stroller (taking into account that the little one weighs somewhere in the region of 10-12kg). apparently a good tool to lose some additional grams of fat when running with it. a bad tool to improve your running style. whatever running-with-stroller guides say, they mostly don’t take into account the need to constantly correct the stroller’s direction. gravel and forest pathways have holes you need to avoid, so has the tarmac in helsinki in many places, there are longer bends and sharper corners. one minute it’s up on the walkway the next it’s down again to move to the other side of the road. all in all, you lean into the stroller pretty much half of the time, instead of striding royally next to it and steering it with one hand from the side. that’s ok for the casual run and active relaxation, it doesn’t work if you’re out for speedier things.
the little princess enjoyed to ride, she discovered pretty much all the dogs we came across and pointed out to daddy: “koldo, hau, hau” (”koldo” stands for “koira”, the finnish word for dog). and a smile appeared when the stroller’s back wheel suspension softened the jumps off the sidewalks or through a hole in the road. quite a racer, the little one.
Tags: hartan skater, little one, running stroller, stroller
the younger generation proposed a fartlek for today. two, one, two minutes efforts first, then a four minute effort and finally another two-one-two minute block, three minute rests in-between. this is stuff an old 800m expert (17 years ago…) likes, except for the four minute effort of course. short efforts with enough rest in-between. there were just long distancers on today’s session, so how bad could it be? the young 10k and marathon guys were too fast on the middle distances on the track anyway. ha, i’m gonna show them!
3km warm up, it’s freezing cold, one of the gazelles forgot his gloves, psychologic advantage for me. let’s play it cool and chit chat about unrelated things. still i need to get an indication on what speed the efforts ought to be. no clear answers, “… well somewhere below 3:20 or so.” before the efforts start i demand a break to jump into the bushes, just to avoid surprises during the session that can afterwards be turned into arguments against me, need to play it safe with those young sharks.
“ok, up the short hill and from there we start” one commands. ha, signs of weakness, he doesn’t want to have the upwards slope pushing his heart rate to 200 right away, wimp. and so the first effort starts, a two-minute effort. accelerating to a 3:15min/km pace in the first 10 seconds, the heart rate monitor shows the current speed, accelerating further to a 3:00min/km pace. ok, this is good, right? damn, they’re still going faster, 2:45min/km. sweat doesn’t just appear due to the physical strain, this speed doesn’t seem very sustainable for an old fart. i give up after 1:50min.
the following efforts don’t go any better, it’s about half the effort and then give up, for me. the whole session turns into an individual 1:50-0:45-1-1:30-1-0:45-1 challenge. the young guys proudly show their backs and rush on. and in the end, they stand there grinning on the parking lot (see the picture above). damn, what i hate running some times.
Tags: fartlek, younger generation
