Interview with adidas' Paul Gaudio, on the adidas mi-Coach SMARTRUN, by Larry Eder

The adidas mi-Coach SMARTRUN was announced on October 16. The mi-coach platform had been introduced several years ago and was seen as a very technical and competent way of providing training information during workouts for runners, soccer players among others. The biggest deficit with the adidas mi-Coach was the number of moving parts.

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The adidas mi-Coach SMART Run has everything boxed in your smart watch: GPS, pulse, mp3 player, and linked to the adidas mi-Coach training website, and you are off!

The product was sold at the adidas booth at the 2013 ING New York City Marathon and is available on the adidas site, where it began being sold on November 1. Watch for a roll out at Run Specialty over the next month.

RunBlogRun caught up with adidas Innovation’s Paul Gaudio, and he filled us in the evolution of the adidas mi-Coach SMART RUN.

RBR, #1. Can you tell us about the evolution of mi-Coach?

Paul Gaudio: We have been providing a service for athletes to help them train and get better in their sport. We originally started with the mi-coach Pacer/heart rate monitor and the feedback we got from consumers was that they didn’t want to carry too many devices.

We then developed the mi-Coach mobile application that could sync with smartphones and allowed the athlete to carry less devices but the feedback continued to be that when running they didn’t want to carry their phone.

Athletes wanted one device that did it all – heart rate, GPS, music, etc. The miCoach watch includes everything and can be worn on the wrist – it has training plans, a heart rate monitor, GPS, music, wireless capability.

RBR, #2: Tell us about the watch and what are the most important features.

Paul Gaudio: The heart rate monitor is the most innovative, but there is also GPS built it and music that can be played with wireless headphones. Music provides motivation, inspiration and entertainment during workouts. It has a touchscreen color display – we brought the interface from the mobile application to the watch.

RBR, # 3. Why should a retailer carry this product?

Paul Gaudio: There is nothing like this on the market right now. There is the existing business for tech watches but there no watch that is specific for running. The product is relevant for anyone who has a fitness goal, no matter how small the goal is.

RBR, # 4. When will the watch be available? Where will it be sold?

Paul Gaudio: It will be available on November 1 starting with own retail and then will be in running specialty later this year.

both photos courtesy of adidas communications

Author

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.

Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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