A Call for A SmartTreadmill

I currently own a NordicTrack T14 treadmill. What makes this treadmill so special is its iFit Live system. The iFit live system allows a route to be plotted online through google maps that is then sent to the treadmill. So any inclines that appear on the plotted route are automatically changed by the treadmill. It basically allows you to practice running the inclines of any given route.

This really is a nice system, you can even hook up a TV and navigate to the iFit website and it will display the google street view of your current location. However after using this treadmill for a while I can see a number of areas it could be improved to make a truly great treadmill.

The Smart Treadmill as I envisage it would be controlled by an iPad this is for a number of reasons.

1. Reduced cost for developing the console. The consoles are usually terrible on low to mid level treadmills. With the high end treadmills simply gaining features such as television. Utilising an iPad for a console would give great access to technology.

2. Unique features of the iPad, there is already a music player built in, movies built in, web browser and a never ending list of applications.

3. Brilliant touch screen technology. Lets face it Apple’s touch screens are just beautiful compared to the competitors.

4. New revenue streams for the manufacturer. Currently the manufacturer creates the treadmill then sells it. Revenue stream over. However make the iPad the console and you have now created a market place. A market place where you can sell workout packs, map packs and a whole host of other products that could produce revenue years after the sale of the treadmill.

5. Accessibility. It is simply not financially viable for current manufacturers to create an accessible treadmill for the blind. Make a treadmill that has an iPad for a console and this problem is solved. With VoiceOver built into the iPad all information that is on the screen can be read out. How amazing would that be an accessible treadmill!

I would really love this treadmill to exist. The feature list could be huge, with an easy updateable system this feature list can be expanded over time.

Plotting routes via a mapping system would be incredibly easy with the iPad controlling the treadmill. Also utilising a system like google street view would also be easy. Hell without the need to create an embedded control system the development time would be far quicker.

So please treadmill manufactures make this treadmill! Oh and if you do please send me one for suggesting it in the first place!

Technology frustration

A lot of what I consider my daily life is only possible thanks to particular pieces of technology. Therefore my reliance on these gadgets is incredibly high so when one fails or in this case failure after failure I get incredibly frustrated.

I decided to go and run a steady 15 miles this morning, so packed my plastic drop bag with the essentials; water and some Twix’s. It was already feeling like it would rain heavy so I warned my wife I might come back early as I didn’t want to run in the rain today.

I dropped my bag near my usual lamppost and opened up RunKeeper. “start activity” I placed it in my pocket “activity stopped” dammit. So I pulled it out and did it again, put it in my pocket and accidentally pressed the button for a distance update. “3.95 miles” well considering I had taken 2 steps that may be a little off. So after trying nearly 8 times and just not getting RunKeeper working through a combination of user input error and poor GPS signal I thought I might just run at home. So my wife circled back and picked me up (at least the iPhone worked to make a call!).

Arriving home I thought I would jump straight on the treadmill. My wife then brought the AppleTV in from the other room and plugged it in. At least I could listen to some movies while I ran, something to pass the time. However Plex decided to be a total pain in the ass and not work, frustrated I decided to turn to the radio.

Listening to the radio poses one problem though I am reliant on the presenter given time updates so I can figure out how far I have ran. Thanks to the new BBCR1 morning presenter these time updates never happened.

So frustrated that RunKeeper had failed, then Plex, then the radio had failed me I was getting frustrated. I had no idea how long I had been running or how far I had ran. I am used to receiving feedback through audio so when I lose that I lose motivation.

So unmotivated and frustrated I just decided to call it a day. So I sat on the treadmill and ate a snack size Twix and Grayson stole a packet of Maltesers and we cheered ourselves up through chocolate.

Now there are solutions to all these problems but when you are already annoyed you don’t think clearly. So next time I will just try and be more prepared.

Compressed time

The week starting 28th of May is perhaps the busiest I have ever had.

In a 2 week period I am supposed to be:

Training with my guide dog
Undergoing eye surgery
Sitting my semester 2 university exams
Training for the SDW100
Celebtrating my 30th

Now unfortunately it simply isn’t possible to fit all that in. So I have had to unfortunately defer my university exams, surgery and drop my spot for the SDW100. It really is a shame that it was all scheduled in the same 2 weeks period but I felt the guide dog was the one I really couldn’t postpone.

I I had taken a pass on this dog I had no idea how long it would of been until I had another potential match. So on the 28th of May (the day after I run an ultra!) I will begin training with Ascot my guide dog.

As for surgery, I have no idea when that will happen now. It is a real shame as I really need that sorting as it is causing enormous problems in all areas of my life, although these may be eased with the presence of Ascot.

As for the SDW100, I will run that next year. Infact to make up for missing this year I may even enter the Grand Slam! So if anyone else would like to join me and run the entire Centurion Running Grand Slam let me know. We could get a nice collection of buckles going!

Marathon Sandwich

The first of this years challenges has been entitled the Marathon Sandwich. It will involve me running the Sheffield half marathon, then running a full marathon, with a half tacked on the end.

The halves make the break while the marathon is the filling, making for a marathon sandwich! It will be a steady 52.4 mile run that I am intending to use for training for the South Downs Way 100 which is 4 weeks later.

The event takes place on the 27th of may. In order for people to take part we have decided to run the majority of the distance doing circuits of Endcliffe Park in Sheffield. So we are inviting anyone who would like to attend to run a 1.3 mile loop of the park.

I am raising money for a local blind charity Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind (SRSB). It is a wonderful charity that offers many services to the visually impaired within the district. It is the only local charity for some distance to offer such services as I travel all the way from Doncaster in order to attend their meetings.

More details of the challenge can be found over at Marathon Sandwich if you would like to donate to the charity please visit JustGiving

Post Surgery and the Media

Around a month ago I finally had eye surgery on my left eye. While the surgery went well I arrived home in quite a lot of pain. After 3 hours I couldn’t take the pain any longer and had to return to the hospital, turned out my cornea had been scratched during the operation and was causing my a lot of pain. Thankfully nothing serious so I went home and waited out the pain.

However the past few weeks have been incredibly difficult, the imbalance the surgery has created is too great. I am really struggling. This has unfortunately caused a few issues with university and training.

I will have to defer some of my university exams and essays till the summer. I simply don’t have enough time to catch up on everything I have missed. This is a real shame as I didn’t want to have to resort to this, but I would rather get a result I am happy with and wait till summer.

I also had to miss a small amount of training which is having an effect. My calf muscles seem to be having a real issue with lactic acid, I seem to build up the acid far to quickly. I hope this subsides in a week or so otherwise it will be a lot of grunting when I compete!

On the positive side I seem to be gaining a lot of media attention really and today received a wonderful writeup in the Guardian! You can read it over here. I have also given interviews for a number of magazines and newspapers, I will try and link to them as they are released!

Olympic Stadium

This weekend I have the pleasure of not only competing once at the Olympic Stadium but twice!

Late last year I received a tweet from The National Lottery about entering their Olympic Park Run that would give me the opportunity to be one of the first people to cross the finish line at the stadium. It was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down and quickly entered. I was lucky enough to receive a slot in the event.

It also marks the first time my wife Sian will be acting as my guide runner. It would of been better if Sian had trained a little but hey the adrenaline on the day will get her beyond the finish line easily.

The second event on the Sunday was even more out of the blue. Again thanks to twitter I saw a tweet from the RNIB about the chance to compete in a 100m sprint at the stadium. Without a doubt the one event I would LOVE to run, but frankly am terrible at. I cannot sprint at all, so will be the one limping over the finish line last!

So this weekend should be a great opportunity and rather strangely I have an incredibly low bib number. (9) so they appear to be under the misconception that I am fast! This will definitely not be the case.

Once in a lifetime

Once in a lifetime is a saying that gets easily used. When my wife and I travelled America we lauded how it was once in a lifetime. In reality we will no doubt repeat that trip in a decades time. We often use the saying when the task in actuality is easily repeated.

For once though I believe I have a once in a lifetime opportunity. I have been giving a condition place to be a London 2012 Olympic Torchbearer. The condition being I pass the security and background checks, pretty sure I will pass this easy enough!

So I am truly honoured to have been chosen. It is without a doubt the greatest reward for the past year of hard training and running. I would even rank it higher than my TV commercial!

Like most things in life there was a long string of interwoven events that led to me being nominated.

Disregarding all the training for a while, the timeline went a little like this:

I wrote a blog post about my experiences with RunKeeper and how it enabled me to train solo outdoors. This was quickly picked up by the RunKeeper team and appeared on their blog.

The Daily in New York found the story and ran an article on me.

This was quickly followed by Wired and CNN. Resulting in me filming a short for CNN that aired earlier this year. The Wired featured blog ran for a number of months and brought in lots more attention.

During the time I was writing for Wired I lost my pacing team. So I began a search for a new pacing team and perhaps the most instrumental people in the timeline were introduced.

I contacted UP & Running in the hopes they could help me piece together a pacing team. They went above and beyond and ran a small in store campaign and mentioned it on Twitter. This brought in the initial point of contact James Clay, along with James came Matt Puddy and Charlie Baxter.

Matt and Charlie took up the reigns and began to put together a team. Matt ran all the logistics, planning and organising. He was incredibly instrumental in allowing me to run my first ultra run.

With the run complete the next event was the ASICS call. They wanted a blind runner for a TV commercial and I didn’t really fit the bill. I had a quick chat and mentioned what I was doing alone and with my pacers was a better story than the one they were on the look out for. They agreed and the TV commercial was created.

These interwoven events created my running journey of the past year and were the basis of my nomination. I was kindle nominated by Charlie and Matt and was chosen. But without all those other people my story wouldn’t have got out there and the opportunity would never have presented itself.

So to all those people Thank you.

There is however one last mention. For my wife, she was there through all the difficulties of training, the time I was passed out on the bathroom floor, when my legs failed during training, when my water was stolen and most importantly she had the faith that when I said I could run alone she believed it.

2012, the prospects

2012 is looking to be a great year for projects, university and family life.

2012 will see my first year of university complete and hopefully coming out with a great grade. It has been tough going this past couple of months so I hope to have it all on track and get that all important first.

As for projects for 2012 where to start! I hope to launch a number of blogs focussing on running and fitness within the disabled community. I often forgot how lucky I am to have access to equipment and knowledge when it comes to exercise. So I plan to start a blog dedicated to making fitness accessible, from reviewing home equipment, creating audio instructions and simply workouts I hope to make fitness at home (and the gym) that little bit more accessible.

I will also be running the “Marathon Sandwich” blog that will detail the training for running the combined 52.6 miles needed to complete the sandwich (all in one go of course!). I am running this event to raise money for the SRSB which offers fabulous services to the blind. I will detail this more as time progresses.

I also have a few projects which will remain undisclosed until plans are firmed up!

As for family life, well that is always exciting. 2012 will see Graysons 2nd birthday and his first words! That is set to be a great occasion. Pretty sure there will be lots more trips to astrobound too!

Recording audio for ASICS

I recorded a mini documentary and a TV commercial about myself for ASICS a few months ago. Recently I received an email asking me to pop to a recording studio to record some audio. I imagined I had messed up some of what I had spoke about and needed it re recorded.

Today I received my “script”, not I say script. It was more a transcription of what I had said during conversations I had with the film crew (I had a mic on all day). Reading through my script I thought to myself; I really can’t remember saying this? It sounds way to scripted? Would I have been able to come up with these lines in conversation?

When I arrived at the studio and was escorted into my little booth all my questions were answers. I had indeed said all those lines as they played an audio track of me saying them! The next 90 minutes consisted of 70+ takes of me repeating the lines of conversation I had delivered on the day.

Its a funny thing when you have to repeat lines again and again. The word level slowly turned into the word eleven, I kept dropping words and adding words. I don’t think I have a career as a voice over artist thats for sure!

The process in the end turned out to be really fun, chatting to the agency recording the audio and hearing which versions of my lines sounded the best. I must say hear that I hate the sound of my own voice, I refuse to listen to any interviews or recordings I create. I just can’t do it! But after a while today even I thought the audio track was beginning to sound good.

I can’t wait for the finished article, it has been a great privilege to shoot a TV commercial it really is something to tick of the life achievements list.

A New Challenge

Even though university is keeping me incredibly busy I have began to think about a new running challenge. The Championship next year is a definite but I now feel the need to find something else.

I think this comes down to now realising the 100 mile run is definitely possible. With my limited training this year I was able to make it 83 miles, so how hard can that next 17 be? With another 8 months of training I am hoping not to hard.

So I have begun to think about a multi day event. I don’t really want to announce my plans yet as they are far from confirmed. I am going to email a few people and see if I can even afford to do a multi day event.

But the sheer thought of planning for my next big challenge is beginning to excite.