You know those tweets where someone tries to take down their internet provider? This is not a post about that. This is about design decisions that companies make and how those decisions impact their customers.  But it’s mostly about innovation.

This will be complete data nerd nit-pick about my watch (still hesitate to call it that). It looks like this:

(It’s only slightly smaller than the image actually. Meaning – it’s a big watch).

List 1 (old way).

1. Ride (bicycle) to the office in the morning.
2. Arrive at desk, Ant Agent running on tiny USB in laptop is in search mode and syncs data to USB drive.
3. Go for a run at lunch
4. Return to desk…eat hummus and crackers… Ant Agent running on tiny USB in laptop is in search mode and syncs data to USB drive
5. Log into Strava
6. Upload new activities
7. Look at my weekly mileage for running and riding and feel pleased.

 

List 2 (new way).

1. Ride (bicycle) to the office in the morning.
2. Open iPhone, open Garmin Connect Mobile app
3. Click Menu > Sync on watch
4. Wait for data to sync to mobile
5. Arrive at desk, log in to connect.garmin.com
6. Navigate to activity
7. Download .gpx file to desktop
8. Log in to strava.com
9. Upload .gpx file from desktop
10. Go for a run at lunch
11. Return to desk…eat a whole wheat fig newton…open iPhone, open Garmin Connect Mobile app
12. Click Menu > Sync on watch
13. Sync failed, msg “Unlink device from phone.”
14. Unlink device from phone
15. Put watch in Pairing mode
16. Pairing failed
17. Uninstall Garmin Connect Mobile app
18. restart iPhone
19. restart watch
20. Pair iPhone and watch
21. Sync begins and completes
22. Log in to connect.garmin.com
23. Navigate to activity
24. Download .gpx file to desktop
25. Log in to strava.com
26. Upload .gpx file from desktop
27. Consider calling my mom and asking her for advice about my life choices

See what I mean?

So here’s what happened. Garmin (the company) does not want customers to use 3rd party systems to view data collected with their devices… or they just don’t really care about making it easy to do (anymore). This is both a design decision and a product decision.

Strava is a better platform than Garmin connect. Instead of out-innovating a smaller competitor, they decided to put the customer in the middle and make it painful to use the competitive platform. They deprecated the technology (that worked perfectly fine) for a newer technology that more closely ties the consumer to their ecosystem of product and service. Apple does the same thing – but Garmin is no Apple. Garmin software is buggy. Really buggy.

This is also a lesson for Strava and building services on products they don’t control. Is Strava so compelling that users will go through the pain of List 2 above? Or will consumers wait until Garmin (maybe) catches up? Should this technology be “open”?

Finally…this post is about the programmable web, APIs and the internet of “thangs” (much cooler than things).  Strava tried to pull back their APIs from developers last year (Twitter did the same  and got away with it – because the platform *is* so compelling) and got their hand slapped by said developers.

For my immediate pain – there are a couple of options  to explore. There are a few services that will auto-update between platforms – so when data hits Garmin, it will automatically sync with another platform (like Strava). There is also https://ifttt.com/ and https://zapier.com/ that I may be able to automate some kind of sync. We’ll see.

btw. The best ifttt recipe I saw was a recipe to begin flashing Philips Hue bulbs and play music when dad was nearly home from work each day. I’m not sure if I could do that to my kids (imagine the therapy later in life)… but if I did, this would be the song that would play when the lights started to flash. Imagine the EXCITEMENT!!!

I didn’t even get nerdy. Oh… and here’s the run on Garmin Connect:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/465104512

I don’t even know what to do with all this data. I mean… “my vertical oscillation was all over the place” … lolwut? **As evidence of the buggy software – the HRM and 3rd sensor stopped transmitting data at 25 minutes. Boo.

 

Checking all the boxes here: bold, uncertain outcome, unwavering focus.
This is what it means to dig deep.

I learned (I hope 😉 an amazing lesson in the past year. It had to do with design and unmet needs and emotional triggers. I think the most powerful association a design can make with a person is to satisfy a need they don’t know they have… and once that happens – on an emotional level there is the epiphany of the need being met and from that… springs the well of user addiction. It’s kind of the fundamental reason behind why everyone (most 1st world, middle class + up, caveat, caveat) carries a mobile in their pockets.

This is tangentially about quantified self. Just a little bit. What did you actually do if you didn’t track/record/disseminate the experience to the intertubes?

My new watch (I hesitate to even call it a watch) is sitting at a post office in Portland and will be delivered on Friday (according to FedEx). I’m sitting here thinking about that device. Mostly about what it will provide me and my experiences. It will record, analyze and report on my performance … it will serve as my coach and trainer. It will have a record of my heart rate over time… my Vo2 max… my running cadence. It will know my height, weight. It will know where I live and where I like to visit.

I ran today without recording anything. I was going to take my iPhone, but it didn’t fit in my pocket – so I ditched it.  Was it liberating? Was I lost? Did I crave the immediate feedback of performance? None of the above. I just ran like I always do.

I started this today, but I’m going to stick to it going forward.

1. I’m no longer using my iPhone for an alarm. I’m back to my Sony Dream Machine. It’ll be like the 90’s again. In Portland. Waking up to NPR. Draw your own conclusions.
2. I’m not touching my iPhone (or any device) while I’m in bed. Ever again.

2 simple rules. I was considering  starting to conveniently forget my phone at home on random days – not sure if this one will fly yet. We’ll see.

http://www.strava.com/activities/121300679

Short backstory

My first Garmin was a forerunner 210. In less than a year that one died and I paid the Garmin upgrade for a 610 touchscreen. The build quality was a lot better, but the stainless steel back of the watch started to bubble and separate from the housing. For a time it was staining my skin a greenish color. The watch was still working and I wasn’t having any other issues with it – I think there was a firmware update or 2 that shortened the time to satellite lock, but overall, no deal breakers. Until last week. The watch started to freeze when transferring data and some of my runs would return partial or corrupt data. So I decided to bring it back to REI. I was planning to pay the Garmin and buy a 620 (another upgrade). Then I found out about the Fenix2 that will be shipping at the end of March. So I’ll pre-order and wait. It’s the closest Garmin comparable to the Suunto Ambit  2 (but works with Strava, unlike Suunto).

In summary, I’m watchless right now. I have an old High Gear that  has includes chrono, barometer and altimeter, but no GPS.  I’ve pre-ordered the Fenix2 and am planning to use my iPhone (+Strava app) until it arrives – sometime in early April. I’m really not that much of a device geek… but I like what I like. And I’m patient.

The Run

Today’s run was good. In fact, I rocked it. This was my longest mileage week to prep for the 50k in 2 weeks, so today was the last day to close in on the mileage of a 50k before the race. I’m of the mind to kick your own ass training, so that you don’t get your ass kicked in a race. I’m feeling a lot better after today.

It went like this:

Right after I crossed 26 and started the ups on the Marquam trail – I lost GPS. The run was the same as this though (from last week):

At the library on 39th and Salmon (at 19 miles) there is a city water fountain outside and I had one Hammer gel left. Done and done. I really didn’t think about it too much, I just decided to make it happen and combined this loop with my Mt. Tabor standard:

19.7 + 5.1 = 24.8  / ~ 25 miles. So not only the total mileage but elevation of ~3000k up. I’m going to have more vertical in the 50k, but I felt great in the last few miles, my stride came back and my pace was recovering.

I can’t think of anything more bad ass than this run in Portland. Primarily because it’s a bounce between the 2 highest ridges that can be seen from the city. It was a little bit surreal looking all the way across the valley to Council Crest from Mt. Tabor and knowing that I was just there an hour + ago.

When I was coming downhill in the last mile I went into full back patting mode (I actually patted my own back) – it felt *amazing*. I’ve been so worried about the mileage and that my feet aren’t going to be able to hold up… or my stomach is going to mutiny like it did on Thursday. The relief was immense. It was full-on internal congrats (the most important kind):

“Good job Chris. You’re running strong. You’ve got this. I’m proud of you man. Nice work. This was the test and all systems checked out. You’re cleared for takeoff.”

I came home and weighed myself to check dehydration – I wanted to see how much weight I lost over 25 miles – it was about 3 lbs. Not too bad, I would have been worried if it was 5+.  I hit water fountains the entire time (they’re back on at Marquam Shelter) and went through 2 bottles of Cytomax and 4 gels (2 hammer gels and 2 clif shots). I felt better with the hammer gel, it might be that clif shots are made with brown rice sugar. Not sure.

No primal screams today – just pure focus. The climbing came easy. Nutrition was dialed. Breakfast was half bagel (thank you Bridgetown Bagels) with almond butter and honey and a banana and just a half cup of coffee. Not too much.

The next couple of weeks will be tapering mileage and some race visualization. We’ll see if everything clicks. Fingers crossed.

Today was a good day.

http://www.strava.com/activities/120431661

Prana has been erratic this week. I’m trying to take it easy this week to focus my attention on the long run at the end of the week. I was sub 6 minutes on one section today and then the wheels came completely off.

I started to get a cramp and then my stomach revolted and I started to grind down. I stopped a couple of times to see if it would pass and then I thought I was going to get sick.

I ended up walking the last .5 mile back to work. To add insult to injury – I got cat called from some homeless dudes on 12th ave. And by cat called I mean cat called like I got in Las Vegas by the drunk ladies from Edmonton that I ran into at 5am in the lobby of the Cosmopolitan. “Hey red shorts! Come over here and talk to us…”. The homeless guys were more, “dude! Nice shorts!”. I would have walked over and said… I’m not exactly sure what I would have said, but I needed to get back to the office post haste. I had issues man.

It really may be that I’m running into a wall and I need to make some changes to get to the next level. I’m suspecting mostly diet and timing. Sounds so damn prima donna, but it’s all about the details. People who perform at high levels just don’t do the same things as regular folks. That’s just how it is. It’s the trade.

The trails were super nice though. Marquam is starting to dry out and the trail around some of the bigger muddy parts is compact and dry. Very runnable. I was jumping down some steep sections today …  catching air 🙂

Thinking about the 1st law of thermodynamics today on my run. I think the seed was planted from article at Brain Picker that I read yesterday.  Specifically about Aikido and energy:

Aikido embodies the idea that when we stop resisting something, we stop giving it power. In aikido, an uke, the person who receives an attack from the thrower, or nage, absorbs and transforms the incoming energy through harmony and blending. There is no word for competitor, only for the one who is giving or receiving the energy.

and

The first law observes that the internal energy of an isolated system obeys the principle of conservation of energy, which states that energy can be transformed (changed from one form to another), but cannot be created or destroyed.

I’ll have to come back to this idea, but it was really around the context of extracting performance from a system. On my run I was the system – my 5th mile was under 7mins That’s really fast for me and it takes a lot of energy (and a good slope) to get the system moving that fast. The energy for that performance was in the system the entire time though.

Another systems thought that I’ve kicking around is the idea of leaky systems (this time not me, but I guess it could apply). Not only leaky systems, but “purposefully leaky systems”. The ones that come to mind the big social networks and what they leak is personal information…on purpose. Think of LinkedIn recommending people they mined from your Gmail account. Gmail is leaking, and LinkedIn is participating in information arbitrage. The more I think about it… I think this is the rule, not the exception.