Garmin Foot Pod Placement

I've been doing well with using my Garmin to track my walking but indoors I need to use the Garmin's Foot Pod to track walking on the treadmill because, well, you are walking but not going anywhere!

The Garmin Foot Pod is actually a small accelerometer you are supposed to attach to the laces of your shoes so it lays along the top of your foot. Well, this would be great if I wore shoes with laces....

Since I wear my VFF Komodo Sport shoes to walk in, I don't have laces. I have one velcro strap across the top of my foot and I initially put the Foot Pod on that strap. While it worked, it had some issues with both flopping around a bit and messing up my readings and with having to be taken off and put on again if I switched shoes to wash a pair (great plus of the VFF) or if I was outside for a walk and didn't need the Foot Pod.

When I walked on different treadmills at my gym and looked at several weeks of data comparisons between the Garmin and the treadmill readouts, the Garmin Foot Pod seems to be about .2 mph faster than the treadmill readout. Not enough that I'm willing to go through the hassle of calibrating it.

But after one day where I was somehow getting a blister on one foot and took off my VFFs to walk barefoot on the treadmill, I decided I needed to figure out how to wear the Foot Pod to get reasonable accuracy but be shoe-independent.

So, like any self-respecting geek, I googled around for other people's solutions. There were a lot of people "guessing" that it wouldn't work except if you made a sorta shoelace foot net to put it on - but I did find a few people who said they had tried or were going to try an ankle strap. Most of these were using hair ties or rubber sports bracelets but I saw someone refer to the ankle RoadID.

BINGO - I have two of these (I bought a spare).

Over the last week, I've experimented with the Garmin Foot Pod on the ankle RoadID. I have the Foot Pod on the neoprene strap and the reflective thinner strap wraps over it to keep it secure and reduce extra movement.

The most comfortable position with the least movement seems to be with the Foot Pod on the back of my ankle with the narrow end down (the end that would normally point toward your toes). Using this placement, I looked at some more sets of data and I'm getting about the same error factor as I do with the Foot Pod on top of my foot. So I'll call this a GO.

(Note: I'm using the 2nd generation Foot Pod but have ordered the newer 3rd generation one to try this also)

Review: Road ID

(photo courtesy of the Road ID website - www.roadid.com)

I'll confess to being a bit of a worrier in the "what if..." realms. I'm always thinking about what would happen if I got hurt. Or I got mugged. Or the generic "something bad" happened. Now that I'm starting (as of today) to take long walks outdoors, I have some concerns that don't apply at the gym.

I don't tend to have pockets in my workout gear and though I have a camelback, I don't want to carry any valuables in it because, well, what if I'm either mugged or (more likely) I spill things out somewhere and don't notice? I've had my wallet stolen before and the pain of having to get all new credit cards, insurance cards, etc. was Not Fun. I really don't want to have to do it again.

Since I knew I wouldn't be gym-bound forever, especially since my friends had persuaded me to agree to doing a 5K before the end of the year, I started doing some research several weeks ago on how to solve the problem of wanting first responders to be able to get information on who I am, emergency contacts and maybe some medical information but without carrying my wallet around. Medic-alert bracelets weren't really the answer either.

I know someone will tell me about programming "ICE" contacts in my cell phone but, even though my cell phone does go with me at all times, I keep it locked. Because I receive work information on it, it's a hard and fast requirement plus I really don't want to lose it and have someone calling Mars on my dime.

Luckily, in the course of reading about how barefoot runners are attaching timing chips, I stumbled across a reference to a Road ID anklet. A quick search and I found the website for Road ID  (www.roadid.com) and looked through their products.

The basis of their product is that people should have some sort of ID on them when working out. They offer laser-etched stainless steel tags (with a lifetime guarantee) that can come attached to various attachment mechanisms to provide that ID. I was really pleased to see they actually offer two versions, one has your name and info printed directly on it, the other has your name and selected info but on the back has an id number and pin # for first responders to use to call Road ID to obtain your information. This information is updatable and they have great interest in making certain it's secure.

Now, I will point out that if someone has the tag with the two numbers, they can get your data. There's no verification that they really ARE emergency services or such. So if you choose the "interactive" version, you need to keep the tags safe. There is also a small yearly fee for the interactive version, though the first year is free with your purchase.

I hate having things around my neck and my wrists are pretty taken up with the Garmin on one side and I hate things on the other. So I ordered a black anklet. The order process was easy and straightforward and very smooth. I received a confirmation email and a second email that showed me how to set up my account and enter my information while I waited for the ID to arrive (so I would have the ID# and PIN#).

Setting up that profile and entering my information was quite straightforward and simple as well.

I got several status emails from RoadID while my id was being produced and then shipped. It showed up about a week after I ordered it and I registered the ID# and PIN# to my profile.

The anklet itself is very adjustable and the plate is attached to it with elastic so it doesn't flop around. There is a band of reflective tape around the anklet to help visibility. When I tried it on, the inner neoprene kept my ankle from being scratched and the velcro was plentiful and strong. It's light so after about five minutes, I hardly noticed it was there. It appears to be very size-adjustable as well.

Now I will worry a little less about "what if..." when I want to walk/run with just my Camelbak, my cell phone and car keys. It's not a guarantee but it's a good safety net. It may also come in handy in any races that need me to wear a timing chip that won't attach well to my VFF shoes - or if I ever go completely barefoot.

Check out the RoadID at www.roadid.com. There are lots of options, colors and sizes.

(Note: I bought the RoadID myself and this review expresses my personal opinions)

Shin Splints & Shoes

When I decided to get fit again, one of the things I really wanted to do was become a runner. I ran track in high school and really enjoyed it. I guess I'd both like some of that feeling back as well as just getting in better shape and losing weight.

Like a lot of people, this is not my first attempt to get into shape or start running but this is my first truly serious one. I remembered that last time I tried, I had a lot of knee, hip and ankle pain before long and I wasn't as heavy then as I am now. This was in spite of my podiatrist-recommended motion-control running shoes.

I'd done a lot of reading about the barefoot running movement and wondered if this would be better for me. I know many people have many opinions of it but I'm a strong believer in personal choice and this is my choice to try. So telling me how wrong I am will not make a difference, trust me. :)

I didn't want to be completely barefoot, though, because the soles of my feet are quite soft and sensitive - not a lot of callouses - so I decided to give Vibram FiveFingers a try. A trip to REI and trying on the many styles led me to the ones pictured above - the Vibram Komodosport. They fit wonderfully right off, even if friends did refer to them as "Avatar Water Socks." I never thought they'd come in periwinkle myself!

I then started to walk on the treadmill at the gym until I worked myself up to running short intervals - like run 1 minute, walk 4 minutes. I noticed that the bottom of my feet ached a bit, most likely from the combination of being weak from wearing supportive shoes and from a lot of weight landing on them. Mind you this is not the screaming pain of plantar fasciitis (been there), it's a diffuse, generalized ache that lasts about 4-5 steps when I first get up in the morning. Then it's gone.

The VFF did force me to mid-foot strike and not heel strike, another reason I wanted to try barefoot running. It's hard to heel strike when it hurts a lot and I had been told I did so in my running past. I wanted to break that habit as I re-learned how to run.

I had a few twinges of pain along the front of my shin when running but nothing bad. Then I decided to try an experiment to see what happened if I wore my motion-control running shoes. This may be the cause of my current situation.

My form was basically the same but I had quite a bit more shin pain. This was this last Saturday. Since the bottoms of my feet still ached the next morning, I decided this was not the way to go and today I went back to the VFF.

Except today I had even MORE shin pain, to the point I knocked off my run intervals after 20 minutes and just walked the other 30 minutes. Now my shins are sore to the touch along the shin bone and I think I have a case of shin splints.

Needless to say, I am NOT pleased. But I know I have to deal with it now. So it's Aleve, BioFreeze and only walking for at least a week at which time I'll see if they are still tender.

Logic says that this may have happened anyway, even without the running shoe switch. It's a very common problem and may have been caused more by my lack of slow build up to the intervals but, either way, no running for a bit.

Ah well, the Couch to 5K can wait and I can walk the 5K I have planned with a friend for Nov/Dec if I need to. But I'll stick with the VFF for now.