adidas miCoach app

For too long Nike has had a dominance on the tech assisted training front with their Nike+ training gear (see below). That's at least what the folks over at adidas are thinking with the release of their miCoach training app for iPhone and BlackBerry devices. Based on the same training software that their miCoach pacer uses, the miCoach app tracks your training via your GPS enabled smartphone. Plus, unlike the R1999 pacer, the app is free to download.

miCoach will help you achieve your athletic goals via real-time voice coaching, while also tracking your distance and pace via GPS, calculating calories burned and recording your time.

With a whole host of training programmes online, you'll find one to suit your goal, whether that is to shake that winter insulation, not looking completely out of sorts at your company's annual 5 km fun-run, or managing a sub-three hour marathon.

Garmin FR60 sports watch

Unlike some of the Garmin's Forerunner sports watches, their FR60 is small and light with a decent design. This is mainly due to the face that it does not include a GPS, rather just opting to hook up with a heart rate sensor and a foot pod to track your distance and pace.

The watch includes autopause that stops automatically when your training gets held up by a robot or a loose shoelace, while a virtual partner can set you a pace, showing you how much you are in-front or behind your target.

All data is stored on the watch and can be downloaded wirelessly to your PC to keep a digital diary of your performance. The FR60 watch with heart rate sensor and foot pod retails for about R2100.

Oregon Scientific Pedometer with Pulse Meter

Maybe not best suited for a high speed run but more for a comfortable walk or hike, Oregon Scientific's PE326PM Pedometer not only tracks your steps and distance walked, but by placing your finger on the sensor also takes your blood pressure plus the device monitors your calories burned.

It comes with handy clips to attach it to your pants or backpack and is a good hiking solution since it can close shut when not needed, protecting it against the elements.

It goes for R298, contact them on  021-508-4700 or visit www.oregonscientific.co.za.

Sennheiser/adidas PMX 680i sport headphones

Jogging with regular in-ear headphones is entertaining for about 10 strides before they pop out. Sennheiser has come up with a number of good solutions to this irritating problem, with one of their best being the Sennheiser/adidas PMX 680i sports headset.

The 680i contains an ergonomic neckband that secures the headphones in your ear almost nullifying movement while jogging or gyming. A Dupont Kevlar reinforced cable brings an end to broken cable problems often experienced with cheaper solutions, while the 680i also contains a microphone to use it as a headset when connected to your cellphone.

If you don't like the round-the-head solution, maybe check out the Sennheiser/adidas OMX 680 Sports clip-on earphones, or the Sennheiser/adidas MX 680 earphones with the EarFin holding system.

Nike+

The Nike+ system is by far the most popular sports tracking system world wide, with over 432 000 000 kilos logged by athletes using it. By employing a sensor that can put be placed inside Nike+ shoes, the system tracks your distance and pace while displaying it on a Nike Sportband that can be worn on the wrist.

Part of this reason for the popularity of Nike+ is that the system can also integrate with iPhones and certain iPods to help you track your distance in real-time, while using iTunes to keep a history of your runs.

Sports Tracker for Nokia phones

We were sad to see Nokia's popular Sports Tracker service close down, but it has been replaced with something similar from Sport Tracking Technology over at www.sports-tracker.com. Their Nokia app can be downloaded for free from OVI store and uses compatible Nokia phones to keep track of your distance, pace and time, with GPS enabled devices also capable of tracking your route. This app of course also works extremely well for cyclists, mountain bikers or walkers.

We were heavily impressed by Nokia's service, especially the way you could interact with your running data online, and it looks like the folks at Sports Tracker is doing an amicable job to keep the community and interactive element going.