Fitness and Technology

race result communities: AthLinks

2007-06-18T21:01:00Z

There was a thread on the top-secret Microsoft triathlete mailing list last week about a few websites that help you track your race results and/or do some research about people that you'll be racing against. The first site mentioned was www.athlinks.com . The sheer number of race results in the AthLinks DB is quite impressive. The site's top bar tells me that they have data from 40k races - 16MM results across 9MM racers. Some quick math - that's an average fo 4k finishers per race meaning...(read more)

fun with widgets

2007-05-25T00:22:00Z

As I pulled deeper into the vortex that is social networking I am compelled to play around with widgets. I was checking two sites today (amongst others): Traineo and Widgetbox. Traineo leverags your social network to help you reach your weight loss & fitness goals. They have a pleasing user interface that reminds me a little of 37signals 's work (like Backpack ). Widgetbox is a widget hosting and syndication site that makes it easier for technical neophytes to add widgets to their blogs &...(read more)

The CompuTrainer

2007-05-23T17:56:00Z

It's time for an introduction to this fabulous piece of training equipment that resides in my garage: the CompuTrainer . This posting will be targeted at the unitiated - apologies to all the experts out there. The computrainer is an indoor cycling trainer that looks similar to a magnetic or fluid trainer. You clamp the rear axle of your bike into the trainer and the rear wheel spins against a drum. The spinning drum can provide varying resistance. For magnetic trainers, there is usually a lever...(read more)

mapping your run (or ride)

2007-05-16T21:49:00Z

I've seen at least half a dozen options out there to measure, track and/or share running routes so I figure a review is in order. Microsoft Streets and Trips (Client software). I have to start here b/c I use this one more often than any other. Its raison d'etre appears to be providing driving directions and whatnot for Car People. It has a sweet "Measure Distance" feature under the Tools menu (Ctrl+E is the shortcut) that lets you draw a line on the map and get a distance. You can...(read more)

You are what you eat

2007-05-10T17:59:00Z

As I sit here and work my way through a pound of ripe strawberries it feels like a good time to write up some reviews on the food tracking sites that I've been playing with. First, here are some characteristics that seemed to be common across all sites: * Ability to search for foods in a catalog. This routinely works well for "raw" foods like fruits and vegetables, somewhat well for packaged/processed foods and questionably well for restaurant entrees. * Easy to add foods that you've...(read more)

FitLinxx

2007-04-30T23:12:00Z

Last fall I got the chance to check out a FitLinxx installation at my girlfriend's gym. FitLinxx is a hardware/software package that is integrated into the equipment at your local gym - in this case the Bellevue YMCA. Their website ( www.FitLinxx.com ) says that their system is "installed at over 500 facilities in the U.S. and Europe and is used by over one million exercisers." There are three key pieces to the FitLinxx system: * sensors & touchscreen interfaces on gym equipment...(read more)

High-Tech Gym Equipment

2007-04-24T22:31:00Z

In an article in yesterday's Sacramento Bee (link only works for subscribers: http://www.sacbee.com/107/story/158005.html ), Alison apRoberts reviewed some new pieces of gym equipment that were on display at "the 26th annual International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association's 2007 convention and trade show in late March." A few that stuck out in my mind: A company called Alter-G ( www.alter-g.com ) is marketing a reduced-impact treadmill that they call the G-Trainer. It...(read more)

biking power estimates

2007-04-17T21:51:00Z

About for years ago I read an article by David Sing in the Autin Triathletes newsletter that talked about estimating your cycling power output without a power meter by climbing a known hill and noting your time & your weight (bike+rider). This morning my friend Kent and I went out for our weekly Cougar Mountain Zoo Hill ride. Today we only had time to go up once but I happened to note the time that it took each of us to get to the top so that I could perform these calculations later in the day....(read more)

foot scan

2007-04-17T05:36:00Z

Today I saw Dr J Mari Adad for a Foot Scan. The basic idea is that I run on a treadmill while these footbed sensors are inserted in my shoes. The systems takes a ten-second recording and then I get to see these cool heat-map pictures of how the pressure is distributed across your foot when it strikes the ground. I will ask the doc for some copies of the pictures and post them here. More specifically, the sensors are embedded in a thin sheet of flexible plastic which has a ribbon of wires running...(read more)