I was sent a MilestonePod to review recently, this came at the moment that I was switching over to using my Skechers running shoes more. I knew they had 20 miles on them from my earlier testing, but I have been dreadful at keeping track of mileage on my shoes in general. It’s like the compartment in my brain that can remember to document that data just disappeared after I had a baby – 3 years ago. That function has not been restored.

So let’s back up… at first glance MilestonePod is just a doohickey that attaches to your shoes and can keep track of the mileage you’ve put on a pair. And it’s great to have that task just taken care of for you. You go for a run then the MilestonePod can communicate with an app so you have that mileage data on your phone.

The device/app combo promised a lot of cool benefits right out of the box: measuring distance/pace/cadence/stride length. Mileage tracking. No buttons to push, it just starts and stops automatically.

You can use it to get a general idea of your run distance/pace if you don’t want a GPS device.  The information isn’t as precise, this run was actually 3.4 miles so the MilestonePod was a little generous. But that also made my average pace a little faster, which is a nice ego stroking!

If you tap on the screen you get further details into your run. It tells you what percent of the run you were a heel striker, midfoot striker or toe striker. It tells you your average cadence, best cadence and a tip about the ideal for that metric. (It’s said that 180spm is ideal for runners.) You get info on stance time (the average amount of time your foot is on the ground), rate of impact, stride length, leg swing and grants you a “runficiency” score. Basically it’s generated from combining several elements and then grading you. I think it’s on a scale of 100.

So I’m going to share my results with you and explain what I thought worked well, what made me mad and what is awesome. I almost didn’t upload this, it feels like exposing myself to you! LOL!

Run Details:
Again, these are a little off from my GPS numbers.

Footstrike:
This made me angry. I have had my form evaluated a few different places and I’m always told I have a midfoot strike. I’m running in Skechers that have a rounded midfoot plate that encoruages a midfoot strike. So why does this silly thing think I’m hitting on my heel?!

Cadence:
I have always had a pretty good cadence. I am usually in the 180-190 range and this just validated that.

Stance Time:
This is one that I’m unsure of. I chose that as my “insight” to focus on for a bit. Perhaps I need to improve this, perhaps not. I had runs that improved and runs that declined from my baseline measurement with the pod/app.

Rate of Impact:
At least I don’t have a high impact rate, but perhaps improving that stance time would lower the impact rate. Hmmm…

Stride Length:
I don’t know what I’m going to do with this information, but I have it now and I feel a little better knowing a number. 😉

Leg Swing:
I’m always in the mid range on this. So there’s that.

Runficiency:
So I’m a B student in the school of running? My perfectionist, Type A brain can’t handle that. But my logical side looks at it and says, “Okay.”

In the app settings, there is an Insights panel. This is where you can choose on one of the “Insights” to focus your energy and work on improvement. My initial instinct was “All of them. I want to check all of them.” But it doesn’t let you do that. It’s kind of a “Patience Grasshopper” thing… So I marked stance as my Insight focus.

After a run you open the app, make sure the pod is nearby and run the sync. All of your run data will transfer to the app, the pod will check for a firmware update every single time, you’ll find out how much battery life you have left. (My brand new, out of the box battery had 77% battery life. Just thought that was interesting.) And the second your info hits the app, you receive an email with your stance tip of the day. This was a good day, I’d improved.  The tips are kind of generic and I don’t know if they are really tailored to improving that metric or not. I’m going to change my Insight focus to something different to see if it gives me different information.

The Pod is weather-resistant and is good for walkers or runners. (I refuse to acknowledge that they include another category on their site for “joggers”.) I think it’s a little bit big, it would be nice if they get it scaled down to a slimmer profile. I will adjust it move it closer to the front of my shoe to see if it stops thinking I’m a heel striker. Or put it on a different pair of shoes. Worth experimenting!

The MilestonePod retails for about $24.95 or you can pick one up on Amazon for $21.20 (aff link) right now. If you get a new pair of shoes, just move this on to them and reset the data.