During the last few weeks, I’ve built a couple of pipes I want to share. (”Pipe”, in this context, means an application built in Yahoo! Pipes.)

Here’s one of them.

Your Most Recent Nike+ Run

As I’ve mentioned once or twice in the past, I’ve become a more or less avid runner during the last year. One central piece of my equipment is my Nike+. I don’t run without it. I am a geek, I love numbers. The Nike+ provides me with numbers. It makes running a game.

I sync my iPod with my iTunes after each run, and the Nike site is taking the raw data, crunching it, giving me graphs and more numbers, and (this is the interesting thing) badges for my website.

Now, I don’t really care about those. But when there are badges, there must be an API which provides the raw data to them. Looking behind the scenes, I quickly found it. It’s not password-protected or secured in any way; when you set your nikeplus.nike.com profile to “public”, the API will return some of your data (run overviews, run details etc. — no personal details).

So, knowing the API URL, I’ve built a pipe which will do a few things:

1. Accept any nikeplus.nike.com “brag”-type of link as parameter (when you’re logged in to the site, these are usually labelled “Share with your friends”, “Grab the link” etc.).
2. It will extract your public, numeric runner ID from this link.
3. It’ll fetch the data for the most recent run of the runner with this ID, i.e. you.
4. It’ll build an RSS feed with the data of your most recent run.

When writing the pipe, I’ve made a few assumptions, namely that…

• you sync your iPod after each run
• you’re using the Nike+ site
• you don’t run more than once per day.

Since I am lazy, I’ll only use the data for the most recent run, so the pipe’s results will be exactly that — just a single item, your most recent run.

That being said, I found this sufficient. After adding the pipe’s RSS URL as new “blog”-type service¹ to Friendfeed, FF will effectively trigger the pipe a few times each day, and your latest run will be added to your stream quickly. Next time you sync your iPod, the Nike site will pick up the new data, the API will return the new data to the pipe, and the new run will be added as new Friendfeed item.

The pipe will post your runs in the following format: “[Nike+ runner name] ran [distance] [km/mi] in [time]“, for example “3R ran 11.3543 km in 1:03′54””. The message will link to the public page of the run — a page like this. (3R is my Nike+ moniker.)

Now, why would I want to add my runs to Friendfeed? Well, why not? For me, running is a nice part of my life. I’m actually enjoying it, I’m keeping it casual, and I am proud of every damn kilometer mark I pass. Plus, as mentioned, I am a geek, and I like to share what I build. :)

If you have questions or suggestions, speak your mind in the comments.

• Yahoo! Pipes: Recent Nike+ Run
• Friendfeed: the result — my Nike+ runs as added service.

After two weeks of not being able to run without pain I’m good again. I had to find a different route, but after poking around in Google Maps and the surrounding forest I’ve managed to come up with a enjoyable one. The slightly annoying part is that I have to walk ~900m before to get to my actual starting (and end) point. Well, I consider it warming up. I’ve added the distance to my usual 5km, and thus I am now at 7km per run.

A few weeks ago I’ve bought some light weights for my hands. They’re ~450g (1lb) each. Doesn’t sound much, but it’s noticable—now my upper body gets some minor workout as well.

I’ve registered myself for the Nike+ 10km Human Race going down end of August. Going to run for the World Wildlife Fund. There’s an official event here in Munich, actually! Unfortunately the whole 10km are over pavement, and I don’t want to risk injury again, so I’ll have to run a different route, I think.

Overall I am well on track towards my “250km in 2008” goal. I believe with my next run I’ll be hitting the 100 miles mark. We’ll see what the Nike+ site is going to tell me. Which is still kind of crappy, by the way. They rather add new and useless features than fixing longstanding issues like the broken OSX widgets.

I’ve discovered Runner+, a site which aims to be Nike+ without the cruft, I guess—but that whole social networking thing is not doing it for me. Also, the data sync is done by either using their desktop widget (requiring the Y! Widget Engine) or manual upload of the XML files or an automated daily sync where I need to give them my Nike+ credentials. Quite frankly, neither method is doing it for me. Plus I don’t really like the site. It doesn’t click with me.

Other options? Yes, OSX software.

• Runner’s Log is nice and rather simple, but not exactly what I am looking for. Runs are broken down into “laps”, which might be nice if you’re running actual laps, but I ain’t.
• And then there’s TrailRunner for those who not only use a Nike+ but a GPS receiver and heartrate monitor and have a fully staffed lab crew with instruments running with them. So… that’s not me. In their defense, I believe the TrailRunner target audience is a bit more hardcore about their running, biking, hiking, inline-skating or skiing than I am. (Also I was seeing more error dialogs during my 15 minutes with TR than I have in any other software in the last 6 months combined. Probably some Nike+ sync issues.)

So no help on that front. Too bad. If I wasn’t so lazy I’d probably would’ve hacked together something simple that’s making use of the Nike+ web badge APIs. Maybe the day will come, tho.

Addendum: I’ve set up a Nike+ FriendFeed room. Nothing in there yet, but who knows, that might change.

Yes, I am still running. I’ve gone through a whole month of running three or four times a week, had some ups and downs, but didn’t quit. Yay, go me. ;) Here’s my April 2008 diary—I want to write it down, because I think that picking up running is one of my bigger achievements in recent years, mostly because it takes so much fricking energy to do it. :p

It still isn’t fun. At all. Yet I know it’s good for me and my health and will pay out in the long run (pun intended). Thus, I keep going.

Gear

I fell for the Nike+ system. It rocks. (See below.) Plus I got better shoes—Nike Air Zoom Structure Triax+. Comfy, light, I really like them.

Also, I bought some simple and light pants for running an a similarly simple “soft-shell” jacket. Makes a bit of a difference, as they keep me cooler than a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.

Nike+

What can I say: I am loving it.

In case you haven’t heard of it, it’s a little sensor sitting on or in your shoe, tracking the distance you’ve run or walked and your speed. The counterpart is a little dongle for your iPod nano, storing the data and displaying your progress. It offers several training modes (basic, distance, speed…) and comes with little built-in people who tell you how well you are doing. For example, I tend to run 5km in the morning, and the friendly lass in my iPod will now periodically tell me about my progress. In return, I try to make her like me and keep going.

Also, if you sign up on NikePlus.com, your iPod will sync your progress on the site next time you connect it to your computer. And this is the real kicker—you get stats on your runs and overall progress reports, you can check out graphs on your distances and speeds, you can make the site set up training plans, set goals for a month or year, and so on. Hell, if you’re inclined to do so, you can even create or accept challenges for and from other runners all over the world. Plus you get badges for your website or blog if you feel like sharing. Pretty crazy.

Anyways, what I really like about the Nike+ is: It makes running a game. Before, I was just running. But since I am a geek, I crave for numbers. I want to know my progress, right here, right now. How far into the run am I? Will these 2km I’ve said I’ll run in one go never end? What’s my pace? Now I have all this information strapped to my upper arm, on the display of my iPod. It’s great.

And since I know now what I can do, since I have numbers I can work with, since I can see real progress, since I am aware of what I’ve achieved, I now feel much more comfortable with setting goals for myself. My April goal was running 40km alltogether, and I’ve done that. In fact, I’ve done so well that I’ve decided to go for 60km in May. It might not sound like much, but for someone who didn’t do anything just 2 months ago it’s okay, I guess.

My overall goal for 2008 is 250km, by the way.

I think without the Nike+, I would’ve quit some time ago. And to give credit where it’s due, it’s all Russ Pitts’ fault, really.

Finding Your Pace

This is a big one. Thanks to Podrunner I found out that my perfect running pace seems to be 142 steps per minute. I managed to run 2km in a go more than once. Unfortunately, there aren’t many constant 142 bpm music mixes available, so now I’m playing around with a recording of a metronome, the beat sans the music. We’ll see how that’ll work out. The upside is that I might finally end up hearing the birds chirping. ;)

And for the record, my 5km routine is usual split up in 1.5km running, 0.5km walking, 1.5km running, 0.5km walking, 1km running.

NikePlus.com Oddities

Oh yes, NikePlus.com. I have a love/hate relationship with that site. It’s pretty, but atrocious in some parts. Let me explain.

• It’s a full-Flash site. Even the login form is in Flash. Well done, guys. I am so glad my password manager doesn’t work there, really.
• The run graphs look different on EU and US site. Specifically, the “US graphs” are more detailed than the “EU graphs”. See this example, which are the two graphs for the exact same run (EU first, US second): Eh.
• They offer OSX widgets for progress, goals etc.! Great in theory, but these are all broken on Leopard for months by now, with no fix in sight. The users complain, noone really cares. I mean, really, who uses Leopard?!
• Oh, and did I mention there are different OSX widgets, depending on whether you’re on an US or EU NikePlus.com site?
• Also, there are website badges, little Flash doodads for your website or blog. Nice, and they mostly work. The “Last 5 Runs” HTML badge is only available from the US site, tho. WTF?
• The site has a “Coach” section which can be used to set up training plans for you. Again, good in theory, but it seems to have problems w/ custom trainings — my Mon+Wed+Fri routine became Tue+Thu+Sat on reload. Not just once, no — every time.

Here’s to running!

Shit, I actually seem to like it. How could that happen? Well, at least I have the feeling I am doing something for myself.

I guess there are worse things.