Running shoes evaluation

So RMIT started a research contract with Mizuno a couple of years ago to basically look at how Mizuno running shoes perform as compared to other popular running shoes in the market. The definition of performance in this study was not purely from a technical point of view but it was also about how users (your average everyday runner) feel about wearing the shoes. This is what is known as Kansei engineering and as defined in Wikipedia, it is the development or improvement of products and services by translating customer's psychological feelings and needs into a product's design parameters.

Here's a video that encapsulates the idea of the project:

Recently, Pat (one of the guys in the video) who is in charge of the project needed a bunch of people to do some actual running shoes evaluation and I was approached to be one of the participants. The tests involved include: 1. Running on a treadmill and giving initial thoughts and feel about the pair of shoe I was running in; 2. Force plate measurements of foot strike and traction; 3. A user survey about how my overall feel of each pair of shoes. The easiest test to do was actually the force plate measurements because it didn't require me to think, I only had to go through the motion. It was the survey and giving of my feedback about how each pair of shoes felt when I was running on the treadmill that kinda had me stumped. But thankfully I got the hang of it by the third pair of shoes, which is pretty much halfway through the tests because each tester only tested 5 pairs of shoes.

The boxes of shoes in the Sports Eng Lab

Those 5 different shoe models included 2 pairs of Mizuno, 1 Asics, 1 Brooks and 1 Nike. Other than Mizuno which is the reason for this tests, the rest were considered the more popular running shoe brands based on surveys that were done earlier on. Personally, I have owned two of the popular brands, namely Asics and Nike (not the same models as these ones of course). Anyway, before I did this test, my opinion was that Asics made better running shoes - they were not only durable, they ran well. On the other hand, Nike ran pretty well too and they usually look good but they were definitely not as durable. As for the other running shoe brands, I never really bothered to try them for whatever reason.

By the end of the testing session, I was quite surprised to come to a conclusion that my favorite pair (among the 5) was the Brooks. This is in terms of the level of cushioning, traction, the fit of the shoe on my feet, how it feels when I run in them and other psychological factors. The next in line of my preference would be one of the Mizunos, followed by the Nike, then the other Mizuno design and finally the Asics. I never thought I would rank Asics last but I did, and this was mainly possible because I could try 5 different pairs of shoes within a short period, actually run in them on a treadmill (for a couple of minutes) and had to be objective about them.

Which means, the only reason I had stuck to Asics and Nike was purely due to the perception I had of their shoes; and this is probably the effect of marketing. I mean, I am not saying Asics & Nike shoes are not good but its just that based on my running style and preferences, the Brooks actually feels better. So this evaluation is mostly about personal preferences. 

Very enlightening. Don't trust marketing all the time. They lies!
 
The sweet thing about participating in this evaluation (other than finding out what's my preferred shoe) was that I scored myself a pair of Brooks! Yeah, Pat was kind enough to give away the shoes since he was done with testing them. So now I can really try running in them. It should be good since I tested them.

New shoes!

Paddling across a mini fall

The weather has been fantastic recently, not too cold and not too hot. So I thought I should take the opportunity to get into the kayak and do as much paddling as possible before it gets too cold and I get too wimpy. Today was one of those nice weather days and its such a relief to be able to go to the canoe club after a day of insane data crunching at uni.

Now the water level has been a bit low which makes it difficult to paddle down stream because there are certain parts of the river where the paddle almost hits the ground (or river bed). Also, there is this part of the river in front of the Fairfield Park Boathouse and under the Fairfield Pipe Bridge, where the river bed has a slight drop and it is only becomes obvious when water levels are low and the rocks become exposed creating sort of a mini fall (its hard to describe how small it is but its small).

View of the Pipe Bridge from the Boathouse (photo from here)

View from Google maps

Anyway I would usually go upstream instead to avoid that mini fall because I run the risk of running the club's kayak over the rocks, but for some reason I decided to go ahead this time. The trip downstream was actually fine and I managed to avoid hitting any rocks as I simply allowed the flow of the river to carry me across that mini fall. After that I continued to paddle happily till I reached the 3.5km mark where I turned back.

My 7km paddle route

It was all good until I came back to the mini fall and this time I had to go against the flow of the river and up the mini fall. Coincidentally, there was another guy on a kayak in front of me. He looked like an older and more experienced paddler. What he did was he decided not to go against the mini fall and instead he just got off his kayak at the side of the river and did a portage. In my mind I was thinking: "it can't be that hard to paddle up that tiny little fall". I went ahead and attempted to go across. I failed. My paddle was hitting the rocks and I couldn't get enough momentum to overcome the faster flow across that mini fall. But I was really not keen on doing a portage as I would have to jump into the river and who knows what slimy creepy stuff lies on the bed of the river. So I made a second attempt to cross the mini fall and this time I didn't even come close to it. As the sky slowly turned darker, I knew I had to do the portage or I would be stuck there. I went to the exact same spot where the guy got off his kayak and thank God there were some rocks that I could stand on and managed to get off my kayak without having to step into the river bed. It took me a while to get back into the river because I could not find a easy spot to launch the kayak. If only I had followed that guy (who is obviously more experienced) when he did his portage, it would have saved me some grieve. Oh well, guess sometimes I just learn things the hard way.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)

Going on with the Phd

It has been a month since I came back to Melbourne from the two months 'break' in Singapore, and I have pretty much gotten back into the swing of things and more or less picked up from where I left off last December. Well almost. The difference is that I have decided to focus more time and energy on the Phd - which means I dropped the part-time work (quite reluctantly because its good fun) and for the sports science traineeship at VIS, I simply didn't put my hand up for anymore projects.

As I made the decision to focus more on the Phd, somehow I was filled with many doubts - like why am I doing this Phd, what good is it going to be, is it worth all the effort? Reading this article from the Economist doesn't really help. It was basically explaining why doing a Phd is a waste of time. Firstly, most people get paid very little to do the Phd and very often the research done is not very relevant to the industry yet, which makes it hard for the graduate to find relevant work in the industry. Then for those who do find work in the industry, they would probably not be paid much higher (if at all) than their colleagues with bachelor or masters degrees. Also, the option to stay on in the university as an academic, or to work in some research facility is only for the lucky few because there are so many Phd graduates and so little openings in universities or research institutes. So based on that article, not only is doing the Phd a tough journey, the career outlook isn't very promising which makes it a waste of the individual's time. By the look of my current situation, it seems so true. That's because even if I finished this Phd (assuming I do finish and not crash and burn because it is bloody difficult) in sports engineering, I may not find a job opportunity in that field because it is a very niche field. Although on the bright side, my chances of finding opportunities here in Melbourne is much higher than in Singapore.

But even before I think about landing myself a job, I still need to cross the hurdle of actually finishing the research and writing up a thesis, which as I said before is taking the life out of me. I have gotten a fair bit of data from my tests; but going through the data and trying to make sense of it and wondering about the accuracy of my methods and contemplating if I should collect more data plus a million other things are all making me go nuts.

Here's a clip of what a typical Phd student would say; it is pretty hilarious but sadly true:

On a more positive note, I have a lot of support to do this Phd - mentally, financially, physically and spiritually. Mabel plays a big role in that and I thank God for her everyday. I know that God has allowed me to do this Phd, and whatever happens after that, I am going to leave it to Him. Although I have just said that, I am pretty sure that from now till I finally finish the Phd, I am still going to get doubtful now and then, and I am just going to keep reminding myself of this couple of things:

•  I did ditch my previous job and a couple of other opportunities to pursue this Phd in sports engineering, so I jolly well suck it up and just finish it.

• Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson said: Don't waste your life in doubts and fears: spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours or ages that follow it.

• Last and most importantly, as written in Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV): For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Parents have no holidays

Mabel and me decided to take a long (10 week) holiday with the baby to Singapore. The rational is: it has been quite a while since both of us visited the sunny (and humid) island, plus my folks have yet seen their first and only grandson, it will give us the opportunity to celebrate Christmas and Chinese New Year with the family; and my dad's health isn't that great and he's feeling a bit down, so hopefully letting him spend some time with his  grandson will cheer him up. We were also secretly hoping (prior to the trip) that we could leave Gideon with the grandparents for a couple of days while we go for a short escapade on our own. But after spending 6 weeks here in Singapore and with 4 more weeks to go, I don't think that short escapade will eventuate. Here's what happened in our first 6 weeks in Singapore:

1st week: arrived in Singapore and on the same day, my dad got warded to the hospital because his limbs were swollen. So we spent quite a bit of time visiting him at the hospital.
2nd week: my dad got discharged (Yay!), but Mabel got a cold, my mum has to work, which leaves me to take care of Gideon and Mabel. By the end of the week, Gideon gets diarrhoea (maybe it was a result of me taking care of him?). Brought Gideon to a GP and got some diarrhoea medication but there was no improvement after 2 days of diarrhoea medication - I went online to find out about the drug and found out the dosage as advised by the clinic was wrong! After giving Gideon the proper dosage, his condition improved slightly but he was still having diarrhoea for the next 3 days.
3rd week: We decided to go to a paediatrician. This time, the paediatrician advised us to send Gideon to the hospital and put him on a drip so as to rest his gut. Gideon was also put on a course of antibiotics because the doctor suspects a viral infection. I felt really terrible that Gideon had to have a needle stuck on his hand for the IV drip, but he was a real trooper - only cried for 2 seconds when the doctor inserted the needle! Anyway, at least his diarrhoea got much better after 2 days and got discharged just before Christmas!

Gideon with the IV drip at the hospital

The little Christmas elf! 

4th week:  Mabel has fully recovered from the cold. But all of a sudden Gideon started rejecting food during the week. He was rejecting milk from a bottle and fussing when fed rice cereal or mashed veggies. He had his usual "I'm hungry" type of cry, but once we put food into his mouth, he would cry even louder and throw a tantrum. We were clueless and decided to go to another child clinic. This time, we found out that one of the side effects of babies finishing a course of antibiotics, is that they might lose appetite for a couple of days. Thankfully the symptoms did go away after 2 days and he did go back to his normal appetite.
5th week: Now that Mabel and Gideon were both well, it was my turn to fall sick. Not sure what I got, but I had these typical flu symptoms of fever and body aches. The body aches were pretty bad such that my calves would cramp up when I wake up in the morning. For some reason, I didn't think it was so serious that I had to see a doctor (I think I was resenting the fact that I had to go a doctor every week for the past 4 weeks), so all I did was take some Nurofen (ibuprofen), took plenty of fluids and rest as much as I could; and thankfully Mabel and my mum-in-law (MIL) took turns to take care of Gideon.
6th week: The best week so far and it's the week before Chinese New Year. Mabel and I actually managed to leave Gideon with my MIL and took an afternoon off to catch a movie!

So as I was saying, parents have no holidays. Although we managed to have our time-offs from the baby (courtesy of the grandparents) and we do enjoy our time with family in Singapore, but it's just not the same. My idea of a holiday (and what we used to do before parenthood) includes - doing stuff at the spur of the moment, having late nights (not because the baby is crying), sleeping in during the day, having long meals and doing absolutely nothing as a couple. Parenthood makes these almost an impossibility. So far, about 70% of our energy is spent doing things related to the baby and about 25% thinking about the baby. Going out shopping is usually for getting baby stuff - either his food, or what he wears, or what he needs to use; and because we are away from home, and we can't possibly pack everything that Gideon uses into the suitcase while travelling, so not everything is as convenient (as home), and we have to make do with make-shift alternatives that takes up twice the usual efforts or resources. For example, without a change table, changing Gideon's nappy on the bed or floor now requires 2 persons instead of 1. Then for some reason, Gideon's sleep patterns have been insanely irregular, which means our sleep is irregular as well. Sigh. 'Holidaying' with a baby is tiring, either that or we are just noob parents and haven't gotten the hang of travelling with a baby yet. There is a silver lining to all these - that Gideon has brought great joy to the grandparents. :)

Gideon cheering up my dad with his
raspberry blowing

My MIL - the beaming grandma

Anyway, I just read this interesting book recently: The Road Less Travelled by Morgan Scott Peck. It is an interesting read about growing (mentally, emotionally and spiritually) as a person and finding one's purpose and meaning in life. The author wrote a couple of chapters about love - how true love requires work and effort and how it requires us to overcome the laziness that is so inherent in everybody. For parents, loving a child means we need to put in humongous efforts to raise him up, to nurture him, to provide security, to really listen and to ensure that he is well developed as a person. This can only be done with a love that is sacrificial, one that overcomes any fear of stepping into unfamiliar territory, and one that is disciplined enough to take the right action at the right time. It is hard work and I know there is no other way to do it but to live by the Spirit as written in Galatians 5:13-26 and the fruit of the Spirit is love.

No wasted efforts

Its amazing how October has gone so quickly and November is almost gone. As I look back at the past 6-7 weeks, it has been pretty hectic although I am not sure what I have actually accomplished.

Some of the activities that took my time include:
1. volunteered for a Talent ID testing session for Canoeing Victoria (VIS attachment)
2. got a bit involved in a cycling crank angle measurement project (VIS attachment)
3. analysed wheelchair rugby match data (PhD)
4. trying to develop a sensor for a cricket project (PhD related)
5. wheelchair racing testing (PhD)
6. figuring out application of the ANT+ protocol (PhD)
7. part-time work stuff at Catapult (work)
8. write & submit abstract for 2012 ISEA conference (PhD related)

Only one of those things listed above can be considered done and closed (at least for me), and that's the Talent ID testing. The rest of the stuff are either on-going, in progress, or requires follow up or more work.  It sounds like I am saying the same thing but it is actually different.

Firstly, on-going stuff is like my part-time job - as long as the company is still running and has work for me, it is on-going and the scope isn't going to change much.

Secondly, stuff that is in progress would be me analysing wheelchair rugby match data and getting the ANT+ thing to work the way I need it to. They are in progress because I haven't reached any sort of milestone or goal yet and I know more or less how I am going to get there.

Thirdly, stuff that requires follow up would be the cycling project. I have done my part and now the ball is in someone else's court. I may or may not have to do more work on that but that is what I need to follow up and find out. To be honest, I have a feeling that my bit of contribution would not be used in the end, which would be slightly disappointing. [The up side is that I did learn something useful during my involvement that I could apply in the cricket project]

The last category is stuff that requires more work; this includes the cricket project, wheelchair racing testing and the 2012 ISEA conference paper submission. The cricket project was a bit of a bummer initially because I spent a couple of weeks trying to troubleshoot an issue with a micro-controller that turned out to be simply a wrong boot loader burned onto it. But as I mentioned briefly earlier, I transferred what I picked up from the cycling project and ended up with a simpler solution of using a simple data logger board instead of programming a micro-controller. If only I came to that solution earlier (pfft). Anyway there is more work to be done in this project like testing and other stuff. The wheelchair racing testing and the conference paper submission are inter-related. The plan was to run some lab tests (which I had done); from the lab test results, work out a field test protocol, run the field tests and publish all those results in the conference paper (since the abstract I submitted was accepted). Unfortunately, the results from the lab test was not exactly what I had expected and it would take some brainstorming before I could go ahead with the field test. Plus the fact that I am planning to go for a extended holiday beginning of December, this means I would not be able to finish all the work and meet the paper submission deadline which is 21st Dec. Sigh. So actually there is no more work to do for the ISEA conference because I will not make it!

Nevertheless, the work of the wheelchair racing project still has to go on. Hopefully at the end of the day, I get some results or analysis that can give the athlete some insight into how he could improve his performance and win some (more) gold medals!

The racing wheelchair 

So for all the effort that I put into doing stuff the past weeks, some worked out according to plan, some efforts were kinda wasted (submitting the abstract only to realise I can't submit the full paper) and some worked out in an unexpected way.

Going back to the first activity on the list: the Talent ID testing. There was actually something interesting that I learned from that experience. I realised on that day that none of the young people (13 - 22 year olds) who turned up for that testing had any experience in canoeing prior to that. Most of them were either in life-saving or triathlon or some other sport. I had expected them to have a certain level of physical fitness but I was wrong. I guess the whole point of that exercise was to find talent outside of the sport of canoeing; and if it was detected that there was some potential in a particular person, he/she would be put under a canoeing program and monitored for the next year. From there, the VIS would then decide if it was worth training and mentoring that athlete, and also for the athlete to decide if it was worth pursuing the sport of canoeing competitively. Looking at the selected squad, it seems more than half the people who turned up for the testing did not make it through. But I can't say they have wasted their time or effort in going through the testing because they probably found out a bit more about themselves that day, and this might just lead them to understanding where their strengths really lies.

Working intentionally

I do work everyday, whether it is paid work or volunteer work. For me, volunteer work includes doing my PhD (because I chose to do it on my own free will & I am not getting paid to do it), helping out in church stuff and doing housework (if that counts). Paid work is of course just work that pays (monetarily). For a good part of my life, I worked on a reactive kind of mode: something happens and I react to it, or somebody tells me I should do something and I do it. It is probably the way that I was brought up - to follow a certain pattern of doing things, to follow instructions and 'protocol', and take on whatever comes my way. But over the years I have began to feel tired of working that way; and at some point I decided to make some changes - to pursue the things that I have a passion for and try to avoid doing things that doesn't interest me (at all). So I came to Melbourne... and I am still on that journey... trying to work out some way to do the things I like and hopefully get paid (enough) doing it.

Recently I had this meeting with the boss (of my part-time job) to get some review of my performance in the past four months and to find out if I met the expectations of the role. I was given some positive feedback and also some suggestions of areas where I could improve on. Overall it was quite a standard type of review meeting and in my opinion, the outcome was positive. But there was something else that I took out of the meeting.

The boss was explaining to me during one part of the conversation about spending time and resources on a project and how every bit of effort put in could have some outcome. However, some input could have a slightly worse outcome and some could have a much better outcome. But what really counts is when the outcome goes past a threshold and becomes profitable or successful. That could be like: developing a consumer product that goes through a few prototypes and finally becomes mass produced and sold to the customers; or a new software update that has gone through a few rounds of testing, then it is finally published and it benefits the end-users. But then, not all developments become a final product or something deliverable and useful. Some just stop at a certain prototype stage and 'die' off. So the goal is to have as many 'deliverables' as possible with the amount of resources spent. I imagine this would require having some form of vision of the outcome, proper planning, and working intentionally - spending adequate resources (time, effort & money), not getting distracted by other things and making sure that every effort spent is intended to reach the goal.

I am not 100% sure if that was exactly what I heard but that was what stuck in my head. It made sense to me, and I think I could definitely apply that while working on my PhD because I really need to work more intentionally, to have outcomes that count - like doing testing and analyses that will complete certain chapters in my thesis or even publishing journal articles & conference papers from my research. There are many interesting ideas and 'projects' that distract me every now and then, but I really need to start intentionally filtering them and just stay on track to finish this PhD and finish it well.

APCST 2011

The 5th Asia-Pacific Congress on Sports Technology was recently held in Melbourne (for a second time). Almost 100 people from around the world turned up for the congress which took place in the Storey Hall - RMIT's premium exhibition and auditorium facility. The attendees include academics from various universities, scientists and researchers from sport institutes, engineers of various disciplines from organisations of technology and innovations, and representatives of sporting goods companies.

Keynote speakers

The first two days of the congress was packed with keynote speeches and presentations discussing the impact of technology on sports. Sessions were organised either according to the type of sport (winter sports, swimming, ball sports, cycling, track & field), engineering methods (design & analysis, modelling & simulation, aerodynamics), sports wear (garments & footwear) and the most popular topic in this congress which is sensors & measurement methods. Use of inertial sensors and the application of smart phones in various sports covered more than half the presentations under the category of sensors & measurement methods. I too, had the opportunity to present a paper on the use of inertial sensors and smart phones in wheelchair sports. 

Obviously the potential of wearable technologies or wireless technologies in sports is huge, which is why more and more people are getting into the research and development of this area. One of the reasons for this is it's increase in demand. It probably started with the sports institutes where coaches and sports scientists recognised the advantage & benefits of tracking and measuring their athletes' movement and performance not just in the lab, but in the field during training or during actual competitions. It then trickled down to the professional team sports that has the funding to use inertial sensor technologies. Then what more, with smart phones such as iPhones and Android phones that are built with inertial sensors and a-GPS, and SDKs that allow almost anyone (with the interest and programming knowledge) to develop customised Apps for sports applications. There are Apps that simply use location data to track running or cycling routes, giving the user information on their speed, distance and elevation. There is an iPhone App for rowing and there are iPhone Apps that simply gives you access to the accelerometer and gyroscope data (which I used extensively for my research). Anyway, my point is that more people can have access to wearable technologies with the development of smart phones, and thus the growing interest.

I actually came across this blogpost that criticised the conference and the purpose of research in sports technology. The writer had the mindset that research in sports garments for improved performance (reduced drag) or analysing the aerodynamics of balls (golf & soccer) or instrumenting sports equipment for performance analysis is a total waste of time. That seems to be a very narrow-minded view of sports engineering. Objectively speaking, many new technologies that are developed from sports engineering research, whether in universities or research institutes are often adopted later on by other industries either in healthcare, manufacturing, construction and even aerospace engineering; and vice versa. The innovations developed may not have an immediate impact but it often brings people to a new level of understanding of the possibilities of such innovations. Also, who can deny that controversies in sports science and technologies make interesting discussion topics? Here's one for example.

Louise Sauvage showing us one of her racing chairs

But back to the conference itself; other than the many thought provoking discussions related to sports technologies, a highlight of the conference is the social events. On the second night, there was the dinner at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that was combined with a tour of the National Sports Museum. Louise Sauvage was a special guest for the dinner and she gave a special closing speech to mark the end of the conference. She shared about her journey as a disabled athlete, the different struggles she went through and some of the experiences she had that were truly epic. It was the perfect closing speech for a sports technology conference; because not only is she an Australian Paralympic wheelchair racer who has won numerous gold medals (Paralympic games, Olympic games and international athletic championships), she experienced first hand the impact of technology in the improvements of her racing wheelchairs. But even though technology had a bit to play in her success, I would say the major contributing factor is her discipline in training and determination to succeed. A truly charismatic and inspiring person; I am sure she has been a huge inspiration to many Paralympians in Australia and I am pretty sure she inspired many engineers and scientists that night during the dinner.

Industry tours: There were some industry tours on the third day at different locations including the Kookaburra Sport manufacturing facility, Sports Technology International - a sports surface manufacturer, and the Victorian Institute of Sport combined with a sports science presentation from Catapult Sports. There are several more sports technology companies based in Melbourne that I have come to know since I started my post-graduate studies in sports engineering. Then there are at least 2 universities with sports engineering programs (Victoria Uni & RMIT); which really makes Melbourne a sort of hub for sports technology developments, and I am pretty glad to be a part of it. :)

The APCST is a biennial conference, so the next one is going to be in 2013 and if I'm not wrong I think its going to be at Hong Kong. Two years might seem like a gap but there is still the 9th ISEA conference that takes place next year! In the meantime I better get some more work done so that I can publish more ground breaking stuff!!