I find running through the winter months hard. If I’m honest, it’s very hard. But I did promise myself that this year, I would continue training and not slip into my usual running hibernation. Sp pretty much since the Jozi afternoons got dark and cold and the mornings hit 0 degrees, I’ve been doing most of my training at the gym.

It’s not too bad and I get to do some proper speed work and interval training which I hardly do out on the road. For years now, my iPod nano has ensured surviving running on the dreaded deathmill as long as I have a range of great playlists to choose from on my trusted old iPod nano. That’s all I pretty much used it for. Until now…

Playing around on my iPod recently, I noticed a Fitness section. Um, hello! Where’ve you been hiding? Fiddling with the settings, I managed to set it to run a 5K route, matched with one of my new playlists and decided to run on around the track at the gym instead of the treadmill for a change.

Imagine my surprise when I heard a woman’s voice come on, talking to me about my workout. Every now & then, she would tell me my pace, how far I’d run and how I was doing. How awesome is this? My very own ‘personal trainer’ in my ears! I know others have used their iPhones but I’ve never been keen to strap my phone to my arm at the gym and I find it too risky out on the road too. The size of that iPod nano is perfect.

I know that if I run x5 laps on the track, it measures 1km. So I was fascinated how near close to accurate the iPod was. (okay, 200m short) Googling it, I later discovered that I comes with a built in Nike+ sensor. All I need to do is a bit of calibration. I’m also checking out recording any runs to Nike+ because well, as all runners on social media know, you haven’t really run until you tell everyone, right? *winks*

I’m so excited about this! I think gym is great but every so often, you need to be doing something different or else you get bored and the novelty wears off. I guess this is like most things in life. Getting into a rut is so easy and yet so simple to get out of. You just need to know how. Sometimes, it’s right under your eyes! 

My iPod nano discovery is definitely going to help me get through winter! Okay, iPod, let’s run!