Anna Lee Anda

Must remember to do blog posts straight away, instead of retrospectively! I’m also working on amendments to my ethics application and trying to work on sorting out the blog I’m going to set up for the participants and equipment. It’s a bit worried if I find it hard to blog and I have a vested interest in this, how do I get participants without a vested interest to blog on a somewhat regular basis.

I’m starting to read a book by Dr John Ratey called Spark which discusses how physical activity is good for your mental and physical health. I’m using some of his material as part of my research. He discusses the effect on emotional well being, concentration, and other areas. So far it’s fascinating.

This run I did on a treadmill, the previous one outside, I think the variety of the location/scenery keeps it interesting. Also I realised I’m not a social runner, I like running on my own, even in a public place when there are a lot of runners I feel I can make it competitive even though I’m not interested in competing and that puts me off.

Photo credit Gret@Lorenz è una combattente!

So I tried out making music playlists using Tangerine and Powerade Pulse to see if it would affect my running in a positive way and it had some element of novelty because I didn’t really know what it had pre-selected for me out of my huge playlist and the theory behind it seemed really interesting however it didn’t work for a few reasons, for me at least. I found the songs it selected ones that didn’t fill me with passion or energy or any kind emotion that I could translate into energy for running, and the change of pace of the songs doesn’t match the voice commands of the C25K app. It’s fun to play with none the less. Tangerine’s interface is more user-friendly, but Powerade Pulse had more appealing results in the playlist. Powerade Pulse does eat all my computer’s memory though, rendering it slow as hell. Both have different settings for the style of the run you want to take – methodically increasing and then decreasing or random.

Screenshot of Tangerine! at work.

I’ve figured out why it’s so difficult for me to do the program or any other fitness activity, its not the motivation to do it, once I’ve started there is no problem, it’s the motivation to make time or accommodate it in my lifestyle. I think what Woody Allen said is highly relevant here – “Eighty percent of success is showing up“.

Good news about the ethics application for my research (the first one), it’s been approved pending changes.

So I’m back to the training again, I have been busy doing nothing really I can’t see a good solid excuse whey I couldn’t fit 3x 30 minute sessions into my week. It has been a real struggle for motivation. Today, I used a treadmill and I noticed a slip in the distance I had achieved in the weeks before. But I must say the hardest part is getting to the gym or starting the run, once you started its much easier and the time flies.
I’m reading a few books surrounding the area of my research:

• Funology
• Nudge
• Rules of Play

I’ve submitted one ethics application, now working on two more.

How do you stay motivated?

I’m looking at using Hasslebot and Google Calendar to remind myself or the participants to keep training but it would be cool if there was kind of feedback system so that you are asked if you have exercised and it keeps asking you until you have.

Other factors or ways to motivate I’m now looking at include music, also looking to develop a group blog or some kind of portal/forum.

This weekend I’m going to play a game called Carcassonne, I’ll also see if there are any principles I can take from that and observe the interactions between people.

I was considering integrating fitness with something like Restaurant City or Farmville, but my supervisor has serious doubts about Farmville (he thinks it’s sociopathic).

Today finally the new Nike+ kit arrived and arm band for iPod Touch, but they are for second generation iPod touch, fail! So I can’t test the Nike+ capability yet.

Photo credit Parka81.

So I just completed another session of C25K. This time I did it again at the local park while the weather was good. To make up for increased calorie intake and postponing session I did another round of the park half walking half running.

I realised that even though having the app tell you when to walk and run really interupts flow or once you are in the zone, if you’re no where near flow its a great way to be motivated by micro goals within the one session, which are obtainable.

Photo credit kaneda99.

I also noticed when I run on the treadmill it seems slightly easier and it’s as if I’m running against myself, but when I’m at the park I feel conscious of surpassing people and ensuring I stay ahead of them. Running outside, provides something distracting which is good because the time passes faster but also bad because it is distracting and hard to get in the zone (when not running the C25K app). As a passing note, all the people I saw today who had an mp3 device were holding them, no arm bands and certainly no one was using an iPod Touch or iPhone.

I’m thinking also of reducing my caloric intake to really challenge myself. Back to my ethics application..

Yes I skipped today due to a mix up in my diary and simply being too busy/tired. I know its no real excuse so I’ll be catching up tomorrow.

Photo credit Tambako the Jaguar

On my research I organised a design workshop with various health and technology experts to get an idea what the system should look like, I’ll be piloting it firstly on a group of hospital staff and from my circle of friends then moving onto the patients with mental illness later in the year. I just(!) have three ethics hurdles to jump. What I like about the hospital staff participating is its a kind of participatory design as they can be involved with the patients at a later stage implementing the system and insuring it runs smoothly, as well as the features which need to be in the system and features that should not be in the system at all.

It seems the platform we will use is an iPod Touch and a Nike+ kit, I want to add elements of social networking, betting/bartering/contracts and some form of game/playfulness but for the patients it has to be a game where they cannot lose and therefore make them feel worse about themselves.

This question is really bothering me: Is it possible to design a game where you can’t lose? Is that in fact a game?

This morning it was excusearama – I hadn’t slept enough, my toe was hurting, it is cold outside, other pressing priorities like work and my research but I set the alarm and after a number of times I pressed snooze I got up. Even writing this blog entry is a mission somehow my password doesn’t work and I’m running late for work. But it’s a slippery slope, I’m aware of it and I think it’s important to have a system to handle all the excuses. For example, I’m lucky enough to have access to a gym in my building, what happens if it was bad weather and I/the participants are supposed to run outside?

Also I’m beginning to think the C25K system isn’t designed for someone like me (not that I am super fit but I am not completely inactive either), it’s good for getting into a habit of training three times a week and having the time to do interval training but today, I did the programme I ran 4.1km.
For walking I took a pace of 6.5 on the treadmill and running varied from 10-12, building my way up to 12. Calories burned (if the treadmill was accurate) was 265.

Still trying to figure out how to post to Twitter and Facebook in a way to virtually tell my friends about it, I think peer pressure in a good way can get participants active. I know I have told my friends about it and they always ask me offline how it’s going giving me pressure to keep going. I’d also like to tie in online “contracts” about completing tasks which could be good and using Hasslebot.

Photo credit ario

As a part of my research, I’m trying out the Couch to 5K running program before making the participants who I’m observing try it out. I took advantage of the good weather to try it with a nearby park. Today I was 200m short of completing the whole loop, the total program time was 31 minutes including warm up and cool down.

I noticed with an iPod Touch, it’s really important to have an arm band as when you’re running you can accidentally toggle the C25k app or change the music, however a good side of holding the iPod Touch is that you can see how much of your run/walk is left. Also the app allows you to Tweet and Facebook your results however you have to be connected to the internet at the time so I’m wondering if the data can be extracted or tweeted/facebooked another time. The voice commands are really useful as well as adding your own music. Also noteworthy older Nike+ kits, like the one I use with my iPod Nano cannot be used with iPod Touches so once I get a new one it’d be interested to see how Nike+ and C25K app work together. I will also be trying out other apps if I find this one to be unsuitable.

Credit to lgh75 for photograph.