Times were smashed and new records set at the Gold Coast Marathon over the weekend!

Kenyan runner Nicholas Manza, 26, set a new course record of 2:10:01 for the 42 km Gold Coast Marathon.

And it was a groundbreaking day with a record number of 24,726 runners participating in the events over the two day weekend.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Gold Coast Marathon.

YOU ARE ALL WINNERS!!!

Cheers Diana

Distance = stride length x steps

This is the formula that your Aussie Fit Sport Pedometer calculates distance. Simple, easy, no GPS required!

So what is stride length?

Stride length is the distance covered in an average step which is measured from heel to heel or from toe to toe.

Some pedometers (AFSDTC, Et-dsm and Slimeline) require you to enter your stride length so they can calculate the distance you walk in kilometers or miles. They do this by multiplying the number of steps by your stride length.

For example:- 0.8(80cms) x 10000 steps = 8000meters/1000(meters per KM) = 8kms

This is a calculation and not an exact measurement.  Stride length is dependent on your leg length and how fast you’re moving. It’s longer when you jog or run, compared with walking, which means your step count will be different for the same distance depending on your mode of activity.

For example,   it could take 2,000 steps to walk a kilometer and 1,800 steps to jog   it. Fast walkers take smaller, more rapid steps to go faster, and so they will take more steps in a kilometer than when walking slower.   Likewise, you will take more steps walking uphill than when walking on the  flat and so you need to consider that when assessing your activity level with a pedometer.

Your Aussie Fit Sport pedometers – AFstep, AFSDTC, Nano-sm, ET-dsm, Slimline –are designed to be worn on the waistband – in a line straight up from the middle of your knee, which is half way between your centre and your side.

It is also essential that the pedometer is in the vertical position – not leaning forward back or side to side. If it tilts forward or backward it will affect the accuracy of the mechanism that counts your steps.

Remember that it’s accurate if the error is within 10% of your count (90-110 steps if you walk 100 steps).   Move the pedometer forward or backward on your waist or even switch sides and walk another 100 steps if the error is more than 10%. Repeat these trials until you find the right position.

[youtube width=”340″ height=”275″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idYxq4tqXlM[/youtube]

Call Aussie Fit Sport or return the pedometer if you can’t get accurate readings after repeated attempts.

Are pedometers accurate?

Accurate pedometers are those with step-count errors less than 10%, high or low. That is, your pedometer should not count more than 110 steps, or fewer than 90 steps, if you walk 100 steps.

Research shows that pedometers tend to count steps more accurately at speeds greater than 4.5 kms per hour (kmph) than at slower speeds.

Inaccuracy can occur due to the insensitivity of pedometers to detect steps when people shuffle or drag their feet at slow speeds. Detectable vertical movement of the hips is necessary for pedometers to work well.

A pedometer is a small device you wear on your waist that counts the number of steps you take.

How do pedometers work?

Aussie Fit Sport pedometers are pendulum or spring levered (AFstep, AFSDTC, Nano-sm, ET-dsm, Slimline).

Pendulum/spring-levered   pedometers use a spring-suspended horizontal lever arm that moves up and down in response to the movement of your hips as you walk or run.

The movement opens and closes an electrical circuit, and as the lever arm makes contact, a step is registered.

Pendulum/spring-levered pedometers must be placed in a vertical plane, perpendicular to the ground, in order for them to work. They don’t work if they tip forward or tilt back.

Pedometers work when you walk, run, dance or climb stairs, but they don’t work if you’re biking, skiing, rowing, or swimming

It’s already shaping up to be a cold winter. Snow is falling again on the Aussie ski fields. And that’s great for the skiers!

But for the rest of us it’s getting harder to get out from under the doona!

The mornings are cold and dark and it’s much more appealing to snuggle back into your warm bed, rather then get out into the great outdoors to exercise and keep up your fitness regime.

So here are some tips to keeping you fit and exercising and also keeping the weight off during the winter months.

• Join a gym or fitness class – this will keep you indoors where it’s warm and dry.
• Find an indoor pool that’s heated.
• Exercise outside later in the day when it’s warmer.
• Embrace the cold mornings but make sure you start off warm and wear layers that can be shed as you warm up.
• Take a holiday in a warm spot! Like Queensland – there are beautiful beaches to run and walk on and the water stays warm enough to swim all year round.

A customer rang the other day to ask if our Strapless Heart Rate Monitors were accurate.

It was very important to him that they were accurate for two main reasons.

One was because he had just bought one! And the other was that his Cardiologist had advised him to get a heart rate monitor so he could monitor a problem he had with his heart.

We said ‘YES’ they definitely are accurate and advised him to take it to his next appointment, so his Cardiologist could check to make sure it was detecting his abnormal heart beat.

And then our customer rang us back and told us -YES the Pulse QT Strapless Heart Rate Monitor checked out to be accurate with his Cardiologist.

We often get asked if our Strapless Heart Rate Monitors are accurate.

And the answer is YES. Definitely! And we wouldn’t sell them if they weren’t.

Their accuracy was proven in an independent study that evaluated the S-Pulse technology used in our strapless heart rate monitor watches.

This study showed it to be a reliable heart rate monitoring method with a proven accuracy level comparable to that of ECG recording used in clinics and hospitals.

For those of you training for the Gold Coast Marathon there are only 24 days until the big day when all your hard work is going to pay off!

But the days are getting shorter and the mornings and evenings colder. Your body might be feeling tired and sore in response to your training. So it’s important not to lose momentum now and sometimes, even with our goal insight, we can lose motivation.

So here are some tips to help you maintain that driving force to achieve your goal:-

• Train with a friend who is also doing the race. A friend will  keep you committed on those mornings when it’s dark and cold.
• Monitor your resting heart rate (RHR) with a heart rate monitor to ensure you are not over training. If your RHR is increasing ensure you are having adequate rest days.
• Eat well. Don’t miss meals and make sure the food you are eating is good  quality, highly nutritious meals. It’s a perfect time for hot vegetable soups that are packed full of vitamins and minerals.
• Stay hydrated. Make sure you drink lots of fluids. Dehydration can lead to exhaustion, muscle fatigue, cramps, loss of co-ordination and even make you more susceptible to colds and flu. So drink water before, during and after exercise.
• Have fun – don’t forget your family and friends. It’s important to make sure your life is balanced so you, or your family, don’t feel resentful of the training you do.

Rob Summers has been taking some extraordinary steps to get up and walking again after becoming paralysed in an accident five years ago. This is ground breaking stuff that is due to an incredible team of Scientists and Doctors and Robs motivation.

Rob is motivated by his goal to play baseball again and this keeps him doing the hard work that has enabled him to make these first steps.

For most of us going walking is easy and we don’t think twice about it. Infact we take it for granted!

And we put off going for a walk or a run because it’s too cold or dark or we’re too tired.

So having a goal that motivates us to get off the couch is essential. And once we have that goal it is important to have some tools that can measure our progress, such as heart rate monitors or pedometers. The information they give can encourage and keep us motivated by seeing the improvements we are making.

There are only 40 days until the Gold Coast Marathon on the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of July.

So it is essential that you stay injury free.

And to do this it is important to listen to your body.

By monitoring your heart rate, especially resting heart rate, you can determine how your body is responding to your training. If your resting heart rate is getting higher this could mean you are over training which puts you at risk of illness and injury.

Also be aware of pain in muscles and joints. Over training painful muscles and joints can cause, what should be short term discomfort, to become long term damage and prevent you from competing.

So make sure you have rest days to allow your body to recover. When you avoid overstressing your body this maximizes the efficiency of your training and reduces the risk for injury.