Utah-based Altra has added a set of sensors to one of its flagship running shoes. The Altra Torin IQ (priced at $220) is among the first commercially-available “smart shoes.” Inside the midsole are pressure sensors, a tiny battery, and a microchip that connects with your phone via Bluetooth.
As you run, the sensors measure the pressure your foot exerts with each footfall. Data on impact force and location, contact time, and cadence are collected with the aim being to improve your stride and make you a more efficient runner. The concept is meant to improve running form, which helps runners avoid injuries, move faster, and run longer.
The app divides the bottom of the foot into sectors: heel, toe and left and right sides. A built-in audio assistant helpfully offers tips for correcting runs in real time. And when a run in finished, it shows a breakdown of how you landed. The data also tells you the time spent running, cadence, distance, pace and more. The sensors in the shoe hit a Bluetooth transmitter which communicates to the Altra app connected with the shoe. The app records the data according to four different metrics that provide runners with more information about how they’re running.
Aside from recording time, pace and distance, the shoe also provides the following data:
- Impact rate: how hard each foot is hitting the ground.
- Contact time: how long each foot is in contact with the ground.
- Cadence: how quickly the runner is taking steps or their “pulse."
- Landing zone: the part of the runner’s feet that are making contact with the ground.
Golden Harper, Altra’s co-founder, has been noted in the press as saying "It might tell you, 'It looks like you’re overstriding, try to do this to fix it,'... or, it might tell you to keep your elbows back behind your hips because if your elbows extend beyond your hips, that’s going to cause your foot to land out in front of your body... Altra is all about teaching people how to run properly, helping people become better, more efficient runners and avoid injury."
So, are you ready for a "smart shoe?"
From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),
Paul J. Staso
_______________________________________
Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek
Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:
- United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
- Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
- Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
- Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
- The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
- Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
- Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
- Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
- Some Cycling Moments From The Past
