Running is a popular hobby for many, rising of late because of the global pandemic and exercise being one of the few reasons people were allowed to leave the house during lockdown in many countries.
The will to improve one’s running style, speed, stamina, and results is often a goal for many runners. Whether you enjoy plodding through a Parkrun or marching to the end of a marathon, your running experience can be improved with tech. If that sounds like something you are keen to achieve, continue reading for four suggestions.
Running Watch
Many runners will turn back round to their house if they realize they’ve left home without grabbing their smart watch. After all, if it isn’t recorded on Strava, for example, then it didn’t happen – or so it seems. There are many decent-quality running watches on the market that can help improve your running performance and boost the experience, too.
As a bare minimum, you’d expect your running watch to be able to track your distance, time elapsed and therefore speed. However, many offer much more sophisticated and detailed features. Many will be able to indicate your heart rate and from that offer details about your fitness, recovery time and also sleep.
When deciding which would be best for you, you may wish to consider the size and shape of the watch face. If you have dainty wrists, opting for a fitness watch with a large face might look out of place, and you may find yourself damaging it easily. It would also be useful to think about how the watch can be charged, its average battery life and the colour to help you to make your decision.
Headphones
Whilst running without music is popular with some, most people enjoy listening to something. Sometimes, the rhythm can help with the running pace. Other times, a person’s favorite songs can help the time to run away from them, ensuring that their run is long and far enough without them even really realising. No one wants to hear your tunes blasting out as you are running, whether it’s through a remote village or a busy city environment, so investing in the right tech is imperative.
When it comes to headphones, it can be hard to narrow it down to the pair most suited to your needs. When running outdoors, bone conductor headphones are advisable. For those who have not tried these, they are surprisingly lightweight and comfortable.
The major advantage of these headphones is that they allow you to hear other things, with the sound not drowning everything else out. This ensures that your safety is considered, meaning your run offers fewer hazards. For example, you will be able to hear traffic, lessening the possibilities of a vehicle collision, and you will also be aware of others coming up behind you.
If you are running on a treadmill or in a safer environment, then check out this Sony WH-ch510 review as these could be the right headphones for you. Not only do they look the part, but they also have a range of features that you should be looking for when choosing a pair of headphones. For example, the fact that they are Bluetooth operated is imperative. No one wants dangling cables these days. What’s the point when there is equipment out there that prevents becoming tangled?
These headphones also contain a microphone, so you can operate them using voice controls as well as answering hand-free phone calls. While running can be liberating, for many, it is important to stay in touch with work colleagues and family, so this feature is of utmost importance for many. Furthermore, these headphones are lightweight, not setting you back at all and increasing your running times, and long battery life.
Most importantly perhaps, they are sports headphones. When shopping, it is essential that you ensure you find a pair designated as ‘sports’ ones.
Smart Shoes
Not many years ago, the idea of smart shoes seemed like something that would have fitted in well with the Back to the Future films. Imagine having shoes so intelligent that they can tell you whether your feet are landing on the floor properly and provide you with information about your stride.
While the most crucial factor in choosing new running shoes will always be comfort, and for many people price too, going for a pair based on their smart features is something that is becoming more common within the running community. Tracking your metrics while you run, smart shoes will provide you with data about your run and your technique, all of which can help to improve your running experience.
The information your smart shoes generates can also help you to avoid injury, by encouraging improved technique, for example, by landing your feet on the floor in the right way. Not only will this help your feet, but it will also ensure that your running shoes stay good for longer. After all, when you are forking out for techy shoes, the last thing you want is for them to wear out quickly and they need replacing early.
Smart Scales
Most people run for fitness in some way, whether that is to stay active or to help lose weight and tone up. A decent pair of scales can help, not only by weighing you and showing you your ideal weight and how much you need to lose, but by providing you with other statistics that will help you to become an all-round healthier person. For example, they can provide you with information related to your BMI, the amount of water in your body, body fat and muscle mass.
Choosing smart scales will allow you to easily store a significant amount of information in the scales ready for your next weigh-in, particularly handy if you are short on time and not particularly good at keeping bits of paper safe and sound. Many will also link to apps on your phone, allowing you to have the information from the scales at your fingertips.