Most people track their runs using a wrist-worn device, whether it be an armband, a sports watch, or a full-fledged smartwatch. As powerful as those things are for activity monitoring, you’re still measuring things your feet do with sensors on your wrist, making its accuracy just slightly questionable. The Nurvv Run should be able to acquire more precise information.
A sensor-equipped pair of insoles, the device captures its running data right from the part of your body that actually comes in contact with the ground, ensuring it gets the most precise readings with very little inference involved. They call it a “running lab on your feet,” which sounds nice, we guess. At any rate, it definitely feels more reliable than the usual measurements done on a wrist-strapped wearable.
The Nurvv Run consists of insoles with a dongle-like device that hangs by the side of your shoe, so it’s not entirely right under your feet. We’re guessing the insoles hold most of the actual sensors, while the dongle house other electronics like the Bluetooth chip, onboard storage, and battery. A total of 32 sensors are onboard, with the device able to identify not just common data like cadence, but more complex ones, such as step length, foot strike (it can detect how you use your forefoot, midfoot, and rear foot in each stride), pronation (how your foot rolls when it impacts the ground), and the symmetry between your left and right feet. Suffice to say, this can get data that’s totally unavailable to people using traditional activity trackers.
Based on the data it gathers, the device can give you’re a running health score, which indicates the sustainability of your current running style, how prone you might be to injury (based on both technique and training load), and how you can improve. It can also give you detailed tips on how to use technique to improve your running speed, as well as give you achievable goals to go after, so you can level up in controlled increments.
The Nurvv Run can provide real-time coached workouts, provided you have your phone (iOS and Android) or Apple Watch (series 3 and above) on hand, with an electronic voice delivering prompts straight to your earphones. According to the outfit, it will give real-time step length and cadence coaching to keep your pace on track, as well as alerting you of various milestones (e.g. when you’re on pace to beat your personal record).
It works in any indoor or outdoor environment, so you can use it while running around the neighborhood, streaking across backcountry trails (it can handle rain, mud, and puddles), or sweating it up on a gym treadmill. It can be used without bringing your phone along, as well, with the system simply storing any data on the onboard storage, which it can then sync later when your phone is nearby. That means, if you don’t like wearing belt bags and vests to bring your phone along, you won’t have to.
Slated to ship January 27th, the Nurvv Run is now on preorder, priced at $299.95.