Nokia Sports Tracker Review

Nokia Sports Tracker is a GPS-based activity tracker that runs on compatible Nokia mobile devices. Information such as speed, distance, and time are automatically stored in your training diary. On this site you can store and share your workouts and routes.

What I find interesting about this application is its ability to plot out your tracks including information such as ground elevation, speed, pace, duration and distance. Furthermore it is able to incorporate the satellite information into Google Maps. The data could be assessed in user-friendly graphical plots so you can compare your performances. Best of all, you could upload the application instantly after your workout using WIFI (if your phone is WIFI-enabled) or 3G assess points. After that, you could share your workout with friends and other users across the globe.

The dashboard view allows you to see at a glance a summary of all your latest workouts and its location in Google Maps. The page is embedded with the Google Map application so you can zoom and pan across the map freely.

If you select one of the workout profiles, you could see a graphical plot on the right which displays your speed and elevation vs duration. It could also plot out your heat rate if you have heart-rate monitoring devices. If you mouse-over any of the points in the graph, it could display the exact speed and elevation information at that time. There’s a scroll bar at the bottom of the graph which allows you to drag the time to the limited area, the graph will zoom in accordingly.

One additional cool feature also displays the music played during the workout session.

The Sports Tracker application on the Nokia phone allows you to choose from a list of activities available or you could customize it yourself. The database-ready activities are running, walking, hiking and cycling. You can customize it to show the speed or pace, autopause and speed averaging. The autopause when enabled is a feature which allows the application to stop the timer when you are idle. For example if you are disrupted in the middle of your workout or you would want to have a break but do not want your timing to be affected, the timer will only resume when it detects you moving.

The phone application also allows you access to useful information and graphical plots as below.

I would rate this application highly and do not mind carrying some extra weight in my arm pouch.

Guang Ming Bukit Jambul Hikathon 2009

Date: 1 Nov 2009
Time: 7:45am
Distance: 6.5km
Start: Entrance to Kawasan Mendaki Bukit Jambul
Fee: RM10
Closing date: 25 Oct 2009

Cendana Hikathon 2009

Date: 4-Oct-2009 (Sunday)
Time: 8.00am
Venue: Penang Youth Park
Organized by: Penang Adventurers' Club with the cooperation of MPPP
Closing date: 13-Sept-2009
Website: http://www.pac.com.my

The Future of Marathon Running: Ethiopia vs Kenya

This is an interesting article I read from The Science of Sport

Ethiopia vs. Kenya: Part I

The 1990s was full of epic duels between Gebreselassie and Tergat as those two chased each other through the ranks, besting each others WRs along the way and producing incredible racing when they met head to head (think back to the 10000 m final in Sydney!). We have written previously about the differences between the two countries systems and how currently Ethopia leads Kenya in head to head competions, and it is timely now that as these two legends begin their swansongs two younger runners are waiting in the wings to keep the rivalry alive. But before we look ahead, let's look back for one second at how Gebreselassie and Tergat stack up:

Read on....

Negative Feedback from Runners for the Ipoh Internation Run 2009

I have been inundated by many negative feedback from runners of the just completed Ipoh International Run 2009. I did not participate as it clashes with the Penang Hill Climb and I would not be inclined to next year after hearing these.

.. Confusing, no clear direction on different registration centers upon arrival of runners.
.. Ask runners to line up early at starting line for 25 miuntes to suffer the cold and rain, while waiting for the late arrival of VIP.
.. Wrong guidance of motor bike to lead runners into a wrong road.
.. No mention of running time for winners.
.. Poor arrangement for prize collection.

It was pretty amusing how a group of RELA members lined up at the starting line to form a human barricade. What's more amazing is how they run helter-skelter when the runners were flagged off. See the photos of them scattering to avoid being stampede from Haris' blog.

SCKL Success or Failure? You be the judge

The Standard Chartered KL Marathon attracted some 12,500 running enthusiast from Malaysia and all over the globe. Many participants are willing to make the journey from afar to witness and experience this as being one of the greatest events in the Standard Chartered Marathon series. I for one was making the not so long journey from Penang to KL. It takes a mere hour using Air Asia and another hour to reach KL Sentral from LCCT, Sepang.

The BIB and goodie bag collection went smoothly as I arrived on Saturday. I heard that it was not so fortunate for the 5,000 or so people who turned up a day earlier expecting to beat the crowd. Due to some technical reason as a result of the rain, they end up having to queue for hours in the open air.

Well, as usual there were many comments from runners. There were more negatives than positives. Amongst the complaints which I felt justified were the poor route and mile markers, improper closure of roads jeopardizing safety of runners and the short interval between starting times of 10k and 21k runners. To the organizer's credit, they acknowledge all these feedback and vowed to make improvements for next year's event. After all it took some time for the Singapore marathon organizers to get it right as well. So let's just wait and see.

As a souvenir, the runpix application processes all the runners information and display it in a useful manner. You can view your statistics and ranking in terms of overall, gender and age category based. Furthermore your split times, speed and bird eye's view of you at the finishing line is also nicely displayed. Interestingly, you could also check out your position on the route map when the division, opposite sex and overall winner crosses the line. Position of your family, friend and competitor is also accessible once their name is keyed in. Believe me, these little extras make the participation of such events even more gratifying.

Not forgetting the marathon-photos website where you could catch a glimpse of yourself in action be it still shots or video. Sadly none of my photos were captured by the assigned photographers. Fortunately there was somebody else who managed to snap me in action. Thanks to Winnie Wong. You can view her album of the coverage of the SCKL from the following URL.
http://wongwinnie126.multiply.com/photos/album/21/21

Pattaya Marathon 2009

Date: 19-July-2009 (Sunday)
Time: 4.20am - 6.00am
Venue: Pattaya Beach
Distance: 5km, 10.55km, 21.1km, 42.195km
Closing date: N/A
Entry form: Available from website

Website: http://www.pattaya-marathon.com/catalog.php