Increasing awareness of health benefits derived from physical exercise and participation in athletic events has spawned an increase in the numbers of individuals engaged in these activities. Many individuals train or work out in clubs or indoor gyms using exercise equipment that include various sensors for measuring physical and/or physiological parameters associated with the user's workout. For example, treadmills, elliptical trainers, stair steppers, stationary bicycles, and the like often provide electronic devices that measure or estimate various physical and/or physiological parameters associated with a workout or training exercise, such as the distance traveled, the elapsed time of the exercise, the altitude climbed, the inclination level, the movement rate (e.g., miles per hour, etc.), the heart rate, the power expended, the calories burned, the rate of calories burned, etc. In some gyms or clubs, data relating to an individual's workout may be transmitted automatically from the exercise equipment directly to a computer system and stored. Athletes, their trainers, and/or their coaches may gain access to this data, e.g., for post-workout analysis, to gauge progress or improvement, to develop future workout routines or plans, etc.
Some athletic workouts, training routines, or events simply do not lend themselves to the use of indoor gyms and/or stationary exercise equipment of the type described above. For example, long distance runners (e.g., marathoners), cyclists, triathletes, and the like typically cover long distances during each workout, and they must train over a variety of different terrains and conditions. Such athletes also may quickly become bored when using stationary, indoor exercise equipment for the length of time required to prepare for the events in which they compete. Moreover, some individuals simply prefer being outdoors and working out outdoors as compared to the confinements of an indoor gym or club. Working out individually and outdoors additionally has advantages over use of indoor facilities in that an individual outdoor workout typically will not require club or gym memberships and their associated membership fees, thereby eliminating at least some of the expense involved in keeping fit and participating in athletic events.
While monitors and sensors are available to collect data relating to athletic performance and to provide real time data to athletes as their performance is taking place, such monitors and sensors typically have limitations. For example, accelerometers and other pedometer-based speed and distance monitors for use when walking or running have accuracy issues, particularly when used at speeds and/or over terrains or under other conditions that differ from their initial calibration conditions. Some sensors, such as accelerometers and barometric pressure sensors, tend to drift from their calibration or “zero” point over time, thereby limiting their accuracy and/or requiring frequent recalibration. Such portable devices typically also do not store data and do not correlate their measured data to other measured physical and/or physiological parameters associated with the performance. For example, conventionally available portable devices typically do not correlate the measured heart rate, altitude, speed, calories burned, and the like to one another and/or to the elapsed time and/or distance into the performance, and such conventional systems do not store a large volume of data for later analysis or use. Thus, these conventional portable exercise monitors do not allow for extensive post-exercise analysis and data processing.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for portable athletic performance monitoring systems and methods that correlate measured physical and/or physiological data associated with an athletic performance to other data collected during the performance including the elapsed time and/or distance in the performance. There also is a need in the art for systems and methods that will automatically store data associated with an athletic performance and make it available to athletes, their coaches, and/or their trainers for post-performance analysis. There also is a need in the art for improved athletic performance monitoring systems and methods that will allow athletes to better use data generated from past performances, e.g., to gauge improvement or change, to set goals for the future, and/or to devise plans and/or strategies for upcoming events.