Home away from home..

Its been a good weekend break so far. Managed some good runs in Kamati garden Baroda, I was focused on improving my pace, as this garden provides me 1k and 2k loops where I can run at a constant pace without breaks.

But yes there is no getting away from stray dogs in India, they are omnipresent. But thankfully these were very friendly and non violent stray dogs, who mind their own business.






Over the last couple of weeks I have been asked quite a few questions on Micoach, so I decided to click some pictures, to help explain my answers in a better manner. So here go the FAQs on Micoach gathered from Twitter & Buzz.


this give you an idea on the size of the devices. I have used my regular running glasses to help put things in context.


The main micoach device (the heart of the device) can be clipped easily to your shorts or to the arm band carrying the Ipod/Mp3 player.



This is to explain how the HRM is strapped on. It has two buttons to strap the elastic (which includes the Heart rate readering sensor).


The stride sensor (pedometer) is clipped onto the shoe lace (one does not need to remove the laces to install them), this sensor can also be installed into the cavity of certain Adidas shoe models (similar to how Nike+ works)

back to regular running

Managed over half a dozen runs over the past two weeks. Its been quite a task juggling cycling and running. I definitely like and enjoy running more, but cycling is so much convenient for getting to work (plus the fact that I can sleep that extra 30mins if I am cycling), makes it really hard to run to work on weekdays. Weekends are a different story as I don't have any deadline and can wake up comfortably (plus lounge & laze around) and still manage a comfortable run.

Micoach provided the required extra excitement and motivation. For starters I was able to get my discipline back, trust me it’s really hard to bring forward your morning wakeup time by an hour. It affect the entire day both ways, your morning work productivity and night sleep time and hours of sleep.

Being a gadget freak, I can be quite activity engaged with a gadget for more than a few days and Micoach has lived up to expectations. For starters it provides more inputs and features than its direct competitor Nike+ and provides accuracy in terms of distance which comes close to a Garmin and Iphone Runkeeper app. I hope Nike wakes up and launches the advanced version of Nike+ which currently only has a stride sensor integrated to an Iphone/Itouch app.

I have never really understood the way the Polar or Micoach calculates the exact distance (my assumption - the stride sensor provides the number of strides, they have my height as a parameter which assumes the length of my legs & length of strides from some research report) and calculates the distance travelled), this sort of approximation is more than enough for a distance runner, though a GPS based calculation will obviously be more accurate.

I have synced all my runs to the online module of Micoach on www.adidas.com/mycoach and analysed my performance on various parameter. The obvious irritant is the short break I have to take due to stray dogs and signals (as I run on a highway with intersections), this not only disturbs my rhythm but also messes up my average on most parameter (avg speed, heart rate, stride per minute, etc)

I have also found the heart rate monitor reading quite insightful, though I am not sure what I should do to correct or improve it. I manage to hit the red zone quite often, its when the heart rates goes beyond 168 in my case (find it hard to believe that I manage to hit 180 quite comfortably!), I need to monitor my heartrate over a longer run preferably something around 20km. I have a feeling on longer run I will tend to be on the yellow zone.

The graph on the link below will explain what I am trying to say, wrt the Red zone issue.







Micoach stride sensor, strapped to my shoe laces

Detailed review - Micoach

After my weeklong break post March 7, 2010 BRM of 300km, I finally returned to running. This was my first run in March and I was missing it a lot. Plus I was super excited to check out and test my new running gear/aid - Adidas Micoach.

It took my about an hour to register on the www.adidas.com/micoach website, with my contact details, download and transfer the details to my PC and to my device (age, height, weight, etc to calculate distance, calories, max heart rate etc). After that I had to pair my Micoach pacer to the heart rate monitor (which was strapped on my chest)and to the stride sensor device (which is strapped to my shoe laces). Once paired its quite simple as the voice activated commands instructs you to do the rest (headphone is connected to the Micoach pacer device).

I don't believe in having specific pre programmed workouts, so I choose the free mode which allows me to do my own thing and the voice activated coach, informs me about my stride frequency, average speed, distance completed, Time taken, current heart rate, heart rate zone, etc, at the push of a button.

I run on the same route everyday, so I got to test the Micoach pacer over 2 days on the same route. It was nice to find that the readings were almost identical.

I am very new to the concept of having an heart rate monitor strapped on me, plus the readings that come off it. Strapping something on your chest while running is not really a nice feeling as one has to take deep breaths and this just gives you that claustrophobic feeling. On the second day I managed to get used to it, I also realised that the strap was adjustable. Now the most interesting bit, there are three zones, green, yellow and Red. Red being the danger zone. I realised that I was hitting the red zone quite a few times during the run, which might be for quite a few reasons, I was returning to running after a break, was yet to find my rhythm, the heat/sun and resultant discomfort due to late starts, etc. So I will have to give is a few more runs and somehow manage my runs while sticking to the Yellow zone.

Some interesting numbers which I discovered is that my average strides per minute is about 177, Now I need to check how good or bad is that. I remember watching a video called evolution running which had suggested the ideal stride rate for a long distance runner (and height of a person has no impact on stride per minute)


The device at the bottom is the heart rate monitor (which needs to be strapped on the chest with a elastic band, with plastic coated metal strips as sensors), on the left is the stride sensor and on the right is the main device (primary device which drives and collects data from the other two devices, and also connects with the PC for data upload and download).

Running to reviewing running gear

I was recently approached by Adidas to review their product - Micoach PacerB. Its basically a device which helps a runner accurately monitor his progress, wrt no. of strides, calories burnt, monitor heart rate, distance covered, speed, etc.

I am a big gadget freak and have experimented with quite a few timing devices in the past, but most have not been very accurate, but have been good fun to use. My first tracking device was the Nokia 5500 sport phone (which I believe has been the only true sports phone from Nokia), I have also tried the Iphone GPS based run keeper application and I use a cat-eye cyclocomputer on my bike.

So far I have not yet got down to testing Micoach, but my initial homework tells me that it will help me monitor my progress better and also help me improve my avg speed. I am a little sceptical about the max heart rate numbers theory and their relation to running, but I do believe that its definitely better to do higher speeds without pushing your heart beyond reasonable limits. I hope Micoach will help me firm up my opinion on the max heart rate confusion I have in my head (will the theoretical max be different from what I experience myself).



Looking forward to putting Micoach to test this weekend, after my week long break post last Sundays 300km bike race.