thirtydegree

Why have you decided to join the Heart Runners team? You may enter up to 1000 characters *

I’ve been looking hard to support a charity whose cause doesn’t discriminate against men or women. I grew up without both my grandfathers, as they both died of heart related disease before I was born. Also knowing young, fit people suffering heart trouble, I feel that this is the right charity for me to support, as heart disease doesn’t discriminate its victims.

I’m a firm believer that a healthy heart leads to a healthy mind. I took up running as my main focus for exercise last year and have run over 800km in 7 months. I’ve discovered a true passion in running and using Nike+ this has been kept fresh through challenges and tracking my progress over time. I also started to notice how much better I feel when I run and it’s the perfect opportunity to clear my head of clutter at the end of the day and week.

How would you aim to achieve your pledged fundraising target (please provide full details)? *

I am going to run a “Tweet my beat” campaign. The tweet with the closest match to my total heartbeats for the duration of the marathon will stand to win an iPod. The tweeter will need to have donated to be considered in the draw. Joint winners will receive iTunes vouchers as an equivalent alternative. This shall be for my personal expense.

My campaign will be focussed towards online social networking – Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and to a lesser extent LinkedIn (for professional purposes), as friends who have run for charity say that this is where they achieve the majority of their fundraising.

Offline, I will be creating awareness to my campaign through my gym noticeboard (Virgin Active) to extend the reach of fundraising. I shall also extend this to friends and family, with Christmas cards focussed on giving to your charity.

At work I shall try a few different fundraising avenues, in the form of an emailer soliciting donations for my run. Closer to the time of the marathon I will also ask for an awareness day in the form of a casual Friday £2. This should be able to bring in £200 and if extremely lucky, a match may be made by the company, however I am not banking on this part. A doughnut donation is another excellent fundraising opportunity at the office.

I firmly believe that through these efforts and putting in 5 hours a week towards fundraising efforts, I will be able to meet my target of £1,500. As this is my first fundraising effort, I don’t want to fall short of my target and make you miss your fundraising target. Obviously the aim is to exceed this target.

Besides a 2.5km run we used to have to do on the odd occasion in primary school and a 5km fun run with work, I’d never actually run outdoors for any memorable distance. Sure I have run many kilometers on the gym treadmill, over time, looking at myself in the mirrors or pretending to watch the news whilst eyeing up a gym hottie.

I had never given it much thought how I got into running until recently, whilst running with a friend who is new to the experience of running on the road too.

About a year ago I was stuck in a rut with my gym training and really wanted to enjoy the benefits of being outdoors and exercising at the same time. I love the outdoors and find running on a treadmill as boring as hell, to be honest. The only thing was that I had never gone the distance outdoors and had a mental block to being able to do it.

I decided to bite the bullet one afternoon when a friend invited me to go for a run after work in Hyde Park. I knew my competitive streak wouldn’t allow me to give in, certainly when my ego could stand to be bruised. Obviously I had not told him I had never run outdoors before.

I short the experience was exhilarating. I had experienced a high from fitness which you just don’t get in the gym when you go through the motions. I wanted to do it again. This time only better.

That is how I clocked up no less than 800km in 7 months. The results from one run became the benchmark for the next run. Faster, longer, undiscovered routes and being crowned on top routes on Nike+ all give a boost for the next run.

Why I run? I think it’s my competitive streak that keeps me running. I won’t be beat. Least alone by myself. Then there’s release of endorphins and euphoric moments experienced during the run that leave you on a high. Your back straightens, shoulders pull back and you feel as though you can conquer the world.

I already know what would happen if I suddenly stopped. I would suffer withdrawal symptoms. I do even when on holiday. I take my trainers with me ‘just in case’. When I suffered a running injury earlier in the year I started to feel depressed. I saw light at the end of the tunnel the moment my physiotherapist put me back on a treadmill for 5 minutes and I felt the rush.

I think I will always run now. Nothing can stop me. I run through all weather. Next steps are faster and further. I want to get below 4’30″/km and have a few half marathons under my belt before the year is out.

Finally, and not a minute too soon!

Firmware Update 1.0.11

This update is required for all users of the Nike+ SportWatch GPS and includes the following:

• Adds average pace metric

• Improves instantaneous pace calculation when running with GPS and the Nike+ shoe sensor

• Improves auto-calibration of the Nike+ shoe sensor

• Fixes reset issue when charging with certain USB chargers

• Exits the lap summary screen when a button is pressed

• Fixes issue with calorie display during long workouts

• Additional minor bug fixes

I Popped over to Niketown early lunchtime to try the Nike+ SportWatch GPS out. I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit recently, as the weather has been improving and I’ve had a few runs in shorts again with my iPhone in my running shorts crackpocket. Worried that the phone will eventually fall out and I’ll end up with a shattered screen, alternatives have been the (now released) SportWatch or iPod Nano with Nike+ SportKit.

The overriding factor for getting the Nike+ SportWatch ended up being the fact that it has GPS technology, as well as being compatable with the Polar WearLink+, as I want to be able to track my pace, location and heart rate. The iPhone isn’t currently WearLink+ compatable.

After work I took it out for its first run around Hyde Park. I haven’t bought the Polar WearLink+ yet, so this run was only to check its functionality and ease of use.

As the instructions said, all you need to do is press and hold the Select button for three seconds to link the sensors. My run was solely using the GPS signal as my shoes aren’t designed for Nike+ and I don’t have a sensor pouch to attach to my shoes yet.

I took my normal 6km run route, as I’ve run it many times using my iPhone, so know the 1km markers and end to end is 6km with reasonable accuracy.

It was my first experience seeing my pace realtime as my phone has always been kept tucked away in my running shorts/tights bum pocket. What was unusually nice was to have the freedom to “just run”. Not having the Nike+ GPS iPhone app technology telling you your stats at certain milestones leaves you to get on with running. It’s a positive experience!

The run itself went well, with the SportWatch clocking 6.03km with a pace of 5’10″/km and 450cal burned.

Synching the watch is as easy as setting off to run. All you need to do, once the Nike+ Connect software has been installed, is plug in the SportWatch to your computers USB port and it syncs automatically and updates your run to nikerunning.com automatically. My run data is pretty spot on, however the elevation data is not as accurate as I’d like. This said, it is still more accurate than my phone’s. I like the split information posted below the visual run detail.

My only reservation at this point is tapping the screen to activate the backlight or mark laps. It requires quick, strong taps, as it isn’t a touch screen, so needs to be treated different to an iOS screen.

To sum up the experience, running without an iPhone in your crackpocket is a positive experience!

So I’ve been having a stint of physiotherapy since my knee injury at the beginning of the year. There were days I felt I’d never be able to run again and times when a simple walk (let’s not even mention stairs!) would bring me to tears.

A month of visits to an NHS doctors later, I decided to opt for private physio. Steve Sharp of Virgin Active Mayfair recommended I try Krina Panchal, who operates from the club. If you ever in need of physio, Krina comes with my recommendation too. Without her help, I would probably still be stuck in the same weekly pain/no pain/pain cycle.

This morning I completed my first run of spring without incident. 5km at a time of 25:56 and pace of 5″15′/km is pretty impressive considering it’s my first run since 11 January. I never thought Hyde Park would be such a hive of activity first thing in the morning, paths filled with runners and cyclists getting their morning dose of cardio interspersed with people making their way to work.

My next steps? Well, I have a follow up physio session tomorrow afternoon to see how my knee handled todays run. There’s one further session planned after that which will check how I’m progressing after a few weeks of running, gradually increasing my distance/time.

My Nike+ GPS iPhone app has made a reappearance and when the Nike+ SportWatch GPS arrives on 1 April, I may have a look at getting it too, as it has the added benefit of being easier to run with and the Polar WearLink+ can be used in conjunction with it, which scores extra points in my view!

In addition to all the gear, I’ll be running in the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon and Run to the Beat later this year, and plan to run the Virgin London Marathon next year and some organised runs inbetween.

Feel like challenging me along the way? Challenge me to a game of Nike+ Tag! My username is thirtydegree.