I wonder how many people all of us look at on a daily basis struggle with an eating disorder? How many people would you look at and say “YOU have an eating disorder? I Had No Idea!” Which is why this year’s NEDA Eating Disorder Awareness theme is perfect – it takes us beyond the skeletal frames and vomiting.
Everyone of elementary school age knows smoking is bad for you, so the shock-tactic anti-smoking ads often only serve to scare little kids. More effective is thinking of what you might miss, and what you could be doing instead with better health and more money. That is the goal of Nobituary, which creates a celebratory look at your non-smoking future.
A few weeks ago I got my last ‘running streak’ update from TimeHop on my iPhone, meaning two years ago I stopped my running streak after 65 days. I started the streak because right after my last half-marathon of 2012, I took a couple of days off, didn’t have a goal, and I was concerned I would lose my ‘mojo’.
Because I have lost significant amounts of weight not once but twice in my life (almost 200lbs at 23, ~110lbs at 46) and because people have always seen me out running day after day, regardless of the weather, people tend to come to me seeking help or advice. But they really shouldn’t – I’m about the last person to ask.
I struggled to believe something I heard a couple of weeks before Christmas from a visiting technical group with a couple of runners. They were not used to being away from a city and indoor track, and were surprised about running in the dark mornings. But they said they wouldn’t wear reflectors or lamps because it ‘didn’t look cool’.
MIO Global made a big splash as the first to provide a highly accurate heart-rate monitoring without a chest strap. Now they are back with the MIO Alpha 2, which refines and improves on the original in every way. They also announced the MIO Fuse, which combines their heart rate monitoring technology with an all-day fitness tracker!
We already reported on the new additions to Garmin’s vivo line-up, the vivofit 2 and vivoactive, which round up Garmin‘s consumer wearable line. But they also added to their higher end products with the Epix and Fenix 3. The Fenix 3 is the latest in the company’s multi-sport category, and Epix is intended as a wearable GPS for outdoor enthusiasts.
I’ve always been a fan of Garmin products, considering them the ‘gold standard’ for running GPS watches. Their leap into fitness trackers in 2014 with the vivoFit and more recently the vivoSmart were highly successful and each is on a wrist in my household. Now they are announcing the ViVoActive Smart Fitness Watch that pretty much does it all!
I have professed my unabashed love for the Magellan Echo before, because of how it perfectly melds GPS watch capability while using your smartphone as the engine. I reviewed the Echo almost a year ago, and still use it regularly – because it just plain works. Now Magellan has introduced the follow-up Echo Fit at CES 2015!
I wrote about Wellograph when it was first announced in September, and have had one since they were first available. The rate of improvements has been incredible, so when I heard about the new stuff announced at CES, I thought ‘of course’, without surprise. The new functionality is definitely worth noting if you have considered buying a Wellograph.
We all know that proper hydration is critical, especially when being active. When we’re away from home we bring water bottles or other hydration sources, but there are risks such as hyponatremia or weaker muscles or bones from too much acidic fluid intake. DYLN contains a VitaBead diffuser that generates alkaline water for maximum benefits.
We just passed the start of winter, but in some areas it feels like we’ve been mid-winter for a while. We’ve had some sub-zero wind chill days and it felt more like February than November at times! As things settled down in December, I had to break out more variety of gear and remind myself of my running weather breakpoints!
If you believe you can fly, then the VERT wearable jump rate monitor can measure how high. This device is the first sports wearable to measure and report jump rate data on iPhone, iPad, smart watches and other devices. with an accompanying app for iPhone or the VERTcoach team management app on iPad.
For a ‘free’ sport – you don’t need any special equipment not already in your house – running can get expensive really fast! From expensive shoes to GPS devices, to smartphone apps, to special clothes, and gels and hydration and so on – it really adds up. Worse yet you need to replace it all frequently!
As a runner I follow a lot of running and ‘healthy living’ blogs, which means that since mid-November I’ve read about 100 variations on the ‘how to avoid holiday pounds’ theme! The reality is that an old adage from the ‘Bloom County’ comic applies – eat less and exercise more. The folks at Runtastic have a new app to help!
Timex was the watch of my youth. From the watch that ‘took a licking and kept on ticking’ to self-winding watches to the Ironman series that brought ruggedness to the digital age, Timex has been there. Now they have expanded the Timex Ironman line with a connected fitness tracker (X20) and a slimline GPS watch (X20 GPS).
The past couple of years has seen an explosion in fitness trackers, many with sleep tracking capabilities. But for all of the data, there is a lack of information or actions coming from all of these trackers. Now Runtastic introduces the ‘Sleep Better’ app to help you track your sleep and wake up more rested.
Of course a real golf pro in your pocket would interfere with your swing, but the new Blast Golf product is the latest addition to Blast Motion’s suite of sports and active life motion capture solutions that pair with your iPhone to deliver real-time motion metrics and smart video capture. Attach the Blast Motion precision motion sensor and go play! The sensor itself is the size of a quarter and weighs less than an ounce, but paired with your iPhone and the Blast Golf app data about your putting and swings is transferred via Bluetooth and can even be overlayed…
In the early 80s we saw great leaps in watch technology, and I loved my Casio calculator watch. Every few years a new technology comes (remember the Fossil PalmOS Watch?), but now it seems smartwatches are here to stay. There are many approaches, but for fitness enthusiasts Timex looks to have a great angle with their Ironman One GPS+.
Most fitness watches share a common element – not GPS, or heart-rate, or step-tracking, or Bluetooth sync. They are pretty uniformly NOT fashion watches. They might work as ‘Geek Chic’, but no one will mistake them for a designer product. Wellograph hopes to change that, with the first wellness watch with a sapphire crystal display and a gorgeous design.
As the resident Gear Diary bicyclist, I usually get the first crack at investigating bike gear. Since I live and bike in an urban environment, flat tires are an unfortunate frequent reality of my cycling experience. That’s why I was excited to hear about the new Patchnride bicycle flat repair kit that promises quick and easy emergency rescues from flats.