Competiting with Myself

As a former athlete, I've found that the one thing I miss most about playing sports is the competitive aspect.  I love the feeling of going up against someone, one on one, and besting them.  It doesn't matter what it takes, I was always willing to push myself that little bit more that was necessary to more often than not, come out on top.  The byproduct?  Being in SICK shape!

So now I find myself wondering how I can get that same adrenaline rush that served me so well and helped me to stay looking tight.  The answer...or at least partly, is my favorite product ever.  My Nike + Sportswatch and GPS!  I'm a huge Nike fan.  At least 90% of all my workout gear is Nike, so its no surprise that I have always worn Nike running shoes.  Recently though, I've become addicted to the whole Nike + ecosystem as its become a way to compete against my toughest opponent...ME!

All your runs are automatically uploaded to the Nike + website, where it will map your run and show you how fast you ran each mile.  Every time I go on a run, I want to run a faster mile or further than the time before hand.  Or sometimes, like today, I go to upload past workouts and am rewarded by a surprise achievement.  Today I got the sign that I had been "5 Alive!," which meant that I had been active for 5 weeks in a row.  Seeing that, I got pumped and went on a quick run to ensure that I kept my streak alive. 

If you ever get bored of trying to best yourself, don't worry there are also Nike Challenges that help you push yourself against the rest of the Nike + community.  So every time I log on, I can benchmark myself against what women my age have done the last 40 days.   Today, I saw that I've run a 9 minute average pace compared to their 12.5, and 16.5 miles compared to their average 18.3 miles.

Working out isn't always fun.  But Nike + really does help to add some competitive fire that gives you the adrenaline rush you need to find that old athlete buried in you.  So get out there and run!