PRODUCT REVIEW:MILESTONE POD

Recently, I was asked to give the Milestone Pod a try.  I'd never heard of this product and I do love a good running gadget so, naturally, I was intrigued.  That said, I already track my mileage in a training log and thus initially didn't think I would get much use out of it.  Not so.  In my training, I rotate about 3-4 different pairs of shoes depending on the workout.  As a result, I find it tricky to keep track of how many miles I specifically put on each individual pair of shoes.  Knowing that we are supposed to replace our shoes every 300-500 miles (depending on terrain, intensity, and body type), I realized that the Milestone Pod was the perfect solution.  In a nutshell, you simply download the MilestoneApp on your phone, synch it up to the pod, lace the pod up to your shoe and hit the road.  Here's how they break it down on their site in case you need or want a bit more info:

The pod automatically tracks every mile without having to push a button or worrying about leaving home without it.  No need to be a tech savvy to use this product!  Download our free MilestoneApp for detailed activity data including footstrike (heel, mid, toe), rate of impact, leg angle, distance, pace, duration, cadence, stride length, stance times, calories, and overall shoe mileage.  With the MilestonePod, you will know the moment you need new shoes.

Pretty cool, right?  Clearly, it's good to use the pod with a new pair of kicks as you'll get the most out of both the pod and the shoes by starting fresh.  Since I did not have a new pair when the pod arrived, I passed it on to the next most trusted tester I could think of, one of my high school XC athletes named Cecelia.  Along with her teammates, Cecelia logs tons of miles of all kinds (long runs, warm ups, track work) throughout the season.  Fortunately, she had a brand new pair of shoes and she was fired up to give it a go.  After lacing up and synching up, she was off.  Here's her review.

MILESTONE POD: Mileage and shoe tracking.  Smart and simple.

  

The Device Details:
The Milestone Pod has a large variety of uses. It automatically keeps track of all the mileage a shoe has run or walked.  The pod acts as almost a permanent fixture on the shoe, and only has to be replaced once your shoes do.  The Milestone Pod also turns your run into a series of numbers, including footstrike, cadence, stance time, rate of impact, stride length, and leg swing, and generates a total “runficiency” score based on all of these metrics.  Runs can be synced to an app available for apple as well as android products, which only takes a few seconds. The pod is also rain, and more importantly, puddle proof.

Benefits:
As someone who is constantly looking at my watch, it can be hard to relax and just run based on how I feel.   Milestone pod gave me the tradeoff of being able to run without a watch, while at the same time being able to record how far I ran. It also gave me a better idea on how I ran, and things that I could improve on. The app is very straightforward and easy to use.

Something to note:
For walkers this wouldn’t be an issue, but as I was primarily using this for running, one issue I had with this was it didn’t differentiate when I walked from when I ran.  It also didn’t save my warm up, run and cool down as separate runs, but one long run. For this reason, it was not accurate in timing races and keeping track of my pace for workouts.  You need to wear a watch in order to keep track of timing and pace.

Summary:
The Milestone Pod is super cool, user friendly device.  If you want to track the mileage on a specific pair of shoes, it's perfect.  You won't be able to track the different types of mileage you do (walks, warm ups, track work, etc.) in a single pod.  But, if you're simply looking to know your mileage on a day to day basis, regardless of what you're doing (running, jumping, cutting a rug, whatever), than this is gadget is for you.  And, the best part, in my opinion, is knowing when it's time to buy a new pair of shoes.  Because we can never have enough, right?

THE GIVEAWAY:
Want to give one of these puppies a try?  The good folks over at Milestone Sports have offered to send one out in the color of your choice.  Details on how to enter are below.  Winner will be picked via random.org on Tuesday, 11/17.  Many thanks to Milestone Sports for both reaching out and for providing the cool gadget.  Happy tracking!

TO ENTER:
1. Comment below.  What's the longest you've gone without replacing your shoes?  Or just say "I want the Pod".  Your call.
2. Comment on Twitter with I want to track my miles with @MilestonePod and @runningwmusic.
3. Send me an email with "Give me the Pod" as the subject.

Listen to this:
Off the Ground - Bit Funk (ft. Shae Jacobs)