How to run indoors without loosing your mind

Weather sucks; time for a run on the treadmill.  But Treadmills suck more.

            I’ve got the perfect idea to make a treadmill running enjoyable, that will bring Nike+ a huge amount of the gym runners, and will expand the happiness of the already tried and true Nike+ runners.  Lets call it the Nike+Treadmill, or N+T.

Yeah I know treadmills suck… As someone who has trained for a marathon coming off a few injuries, I spent a lot of time on the treadmill.  Longest run on a treadmill 14 miles, longest enjoyable run on a treadmill 15 minutes, so the math isn’t in anyone’s favor.

Now I was born in the Pacific Northwest.  I have run in rain, snow, sub freezing temps, above 100 degree temps, above 11k feet elevation, on trail, on sand, on gravel, on cement.  I’ve run: hood to coast, Epic relays in 3 states, a 17 min 5k, a 37min 10k, and a sub 3hr marathon.  Long storey short I’ve run a lot and a lot of different ways, and pretty much all those runs were better than any treadmill run anyone has ever done.  So why would I be pitching the next big thing in treadmill technology?  Because it can be a better, it can be revolutionarily better it can be interesting, it can be exciting, it can even be fun.

The two experiences in my recent life that gave me this idea are something that any athlete will understand.

The first, I need to feel competitive.  Due to ankle injuries I have spent a lot of time biking in the past few years.  And the big word in cycling is Strava.  Strava is Nike+ for cyclists.  It’s pretty much the thing that makes amateur biking and training fun/competitive.  Any training ride, any commute to work, any sprint to a stop sign can be a competition; against yourself, against a colleague, friend, training partner, or even just to see how you stack up against a local pro.  You can make a new segment (section of your ride to compete on), or share your ride on Facebook.  I know running has Nike+, and that’s what I’m counting on to make this treadmill awesome.

The second big piece of this idea I experienced was a computrainer.  If you don’t know what that is, for me it came in the form of a stationary machine that hooks up to the back of any road bike, and has the ability to control the amount of drag you feel while doing an indoor workout.  These are incredible workouts.  They allow you to ride next to your much slower friend, or your much slower significant other, and do the same workout, but based on your ability.  These machines can have any program you want.  You can ride courses from the French Alps of the tour de France, to a time trial course that is part of the Hawaiian Iron Man.  The best part is that it knows who you are and what you are capable, so it will tailor all your workouts to your abilities.  How does it know your abilities?  Well either you can slowly dial it in through a workout or two, or you can ride a basic calculating test, where it pushes you to your limits and then saves, and uses that information to make your new workouts perfect for you.

How do these ideas combine to make the perfect treadmill?  And why would we want it?  Well it all starts with the most significant statement in the biking community.  If it’s not Strava-ed (GPSed) it doesn’t count.  I know that a large amount of true runners run unplugged but what about the day to day grinders, the city runners, the runners in Phoenix AZ, who can’t run out doors all summer, or Alaskans all winter.  How can we apeal to them.  There are hundreds of thousands of people who have no use for Nike+ system today, but this treadmill can connect them to it.  The N+T miles are proof of action, your friends will see your miles, and they can count towards monthly competitions.  The N+T will take the best of Nike+ and the computrainer and put them together to make an entertaining run.  There are so many sub categories and tangents that you could do that can and will make the N+T better, but for now, the basic.

The ability to sign into your Nike+ on the treadmill.

This is the bread and butter of the N+T; you can access your Nike+ profile from anywhere.  This gives you the ability to go home and see you run, to show your buddies your new fastest mile, or to just analyze how you performed.

The ability for the Nike+ data to be converted into practical data the N+T can use

This is what is going to revolutionize the treadmill.  Lets say that you’re someone who is a mid level to novice runner.  You jump on the N+T and want to do a hard run.  You can pick that with the click of one button on the N+T, and it will tailor a hard workout level for you, based on how many miles you run a week, and based on how fast your fastest mile, 5k, and or 10k has been.  Your accuracy can be greatly increased by a heart rate monitor too.  If you want to do an easy day then you push that, and the N+T will keep it at what is a slow pace for you.  Treadmills already have built in basic workouts, so why is the N+T that much better?  With N+T, you can choose a workout the night before, have it ready on your account, and just sign into the N+T, and push go.  Maybe you like a longer warm up, maybe you want a few strides to loosen up the legs, it’s all dialed in ready to go.  Then you share it!  You say hey Spencer look at my killer run I did.  Then Spencer says, wow that run looks hard, I want to try it.  So next time Spencer goes into the gym he signs into his Nike+ on the N+T and does the same work out.  But wait, his fastest 5k is 3 min slower than yours, this workout will suck for him.  By the time he pushes start, the N+T has already done the math, so Spencer’s intervals, and rests are at a slightly slower speed than yours were.  And even better, the N+T can convert GPS data into a treadmill work out.  Say you did an awesome trail run when you were vacationing in Colorado, well click on that run on the N+T, and it will simulate all the hills, and fast or slow sections you did.  Or you can do any run that has been GPSed anywhere on the globe.  But running’s social.  Well then we will put a group function on the N+T.  This will give you and your friends the chance to start the same workout, at the same time.  Your killing your 6x2min 110% effort at 6 min mile pace, and you look over at Spencer who is working just as hard doing his 2 min 110% effort at 6:30 pace.  Every sprint or rest perfectly timed so you start or stop together.  Or you can run a GPSed course with him and see how much farther ahead of him, or behind him, you are. 

Then there’s the marketing and extra money you can make off this N+T.

There will be a giant influx of people on the Nike+ sight.  That means add time and space.  You could start a gym franchise, or partner with one, or just sell them to gyms, hotels, colleges, or even at home use.  With the ability to have group starts, you could have large groups at gyms do the same work out like a cycle class, with an instructor pushing them to go harder, or hold on for just “10 more seconds!” you can sell these in higher volume to gyms, or even new run specific clubs. There isn’t a gym in this nation, or any 1^st world country that wouldn’t be drawn to these treadmills.   And you would pretty much have a monopoly.  Sure it will take some money to design and build a treadmill that can do all these things, but the base really isn't much different than any treadmill in any gym in America.  The thing that you have that no one else does is the social network.  That’s it.  Sure you will have to revamp Nike+, and you will pretty much have to double or even triple the options on the sight.  But you will be causing about 10x the eyeball time on your sight, which is the best marketing anyone could ever ask for.  Having the advantage of following every mile these people run, indoors and out, gives you the ability to say “hey”, you have put 300 miles on those shoes, maybe its time for a new pair.  And since you have run primarily on cement, you should buy these ______ shoes, the best Nike shoes for high cement miles, and since they are connected into their Nike+ account, they can order them right there without even stopping running.  Or the program could notice how many hours the runner runs outside at night, and then suggests the Nike flash jacket.  You could offer training programs, for a fee, and not just ones for runners.  You already have Dirk Nowitzki giving you kudos on your runs, why not have him coach you through a few running workouts that will help make basketball players better.  Have Michael Phelps be the voice of a cross training running work out for swimmers, or have George Saint Pier talk you through a good running work out for fighters.  You could go as obscure as having Apollo Anton Ono talk you through a running workout for speed skaters.  Hell I’d try that one, I mean who wouldn’t want a multi gold meddle athlete talking you through a cool new workout.  You could have 3-6-9 month programs to train for a 5k-marathon; the N+T will plan it with you.  If you run out side your Nike+ knows about it, so the N+T knows about it, so your that much closer to your race goal.

I could go on and on about all the little things that could make this idea better, but its just banging my head against a wall unless someone’s listening.