Nike Lunarglide+ Review

I got the Nike Lunarglides in the mail about a week after I started running again following the birth of my daughter, Jaelyn.  Nothing like a brand new pair of shoes to try out!  I had heard about Nike's "Plus" technology that could record the time, pace and distance of your runs, but I never thought I'd try them out because I have never liked Nike running shoes very much.  I was always partial to Adidas for their "pillow-like" cushioning and wider toe box.

I was pleasantly surprised at the feel of the shoe.  While I've had "pillowier" shoes, they're definitely comfortable and wide enough in the forefoot for me.  Since I started wearing them, I've gradually increased the mileage, up to a 15-miler last weekend.  On that run, I noticed that a tendon on the inside of my lower shin was starting to hurt around mile 11.  I stopped, re-laced the laces through an extra set of holes on the inside of the shoe to try and get more support on the inside of my stride.  It worked like a charm!  Gotta love a shoe you can mess with because it is rare to find a shoe that perfectly fits your foot without any adjustments.

Now on to the technology: the Lunarglides come with a "chip" that you slide into a little spot below the insole in one of the shoes.  You don't feel it there at all.  Then you wear a wristband (the Sportband) that has a removable piece (the Sportband Link) that serves as the watch/odometer.  Somehow the chip and the Link communicate with each other.  You can remove the Link and stick it right into the USB port of your computer.  When you do so, it connects your computer to the Nike Plus website, uploads any new runs and gives you endless ways to track your progress, connect with other people tracking their progress, and brag about your progress on various social networks such as Facebook.

The good news is, the shoes are comfortable and the Sportband is both addicting and motivating.  Running without it makes you feel like the miles don't count because you can't upload them!  And I love waiting a few runs to finally plug in the Link and watch my total mileage jump up.  It's like having a coach who always writes down your mileage for the day, no matter what (e.g. my college coach!). It keeps you accountable and that is a great thing.

The bad news is, it's just not very accurate.  Sometimes when I run to the beach from my house, it says "1.37" miles and other times it says "1.56". My GPS watch says it's 1.4 miles every single time.  Huge difference.  There is a way to calibrate it, but that didn't help much. It seems that if I pick up the pace during the run OR if I go for a run much longer than 6 or 7 miles, it can't handle it and the distance measurement is waaaay off.  That's disappointing because I would gladly fork over the dough for more pairs of these shoes if the measurement of distance was accurate.  And that's saying a lot because I've NEVER paid for my own pair of shoes (in high school, my parents bought them. In college, the athletic department supplied them. Until last summer, I was sponsored by New Balance and they supplied my shoes.  This past year, I've been using pairs I had leftover or getting some from my hometown running store in exchange for web design.) It would be worth it to have a watch that replaced my GPS watch AND was easy to use AND non-bulky.

So I hope Nike continues to hone the technology in its Plus products so that they are more and more accurate.  The have a great thing going and have done a really good job providing a motivating environment on their Nike + website. Speaking of which, check out my "Nike Mini" below.  I got to design her on the site and she brags about my workouts for me ;)

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• Filed Under:  
• Running, Sports, SportsPLUS, Gear & Equipment

• Tags:
• Running
• Training
• nike plus
• lunarglides
• running shoe review
• marathong