Welcome to our "Coolest Things" series. Each week, the running editors at ACTIVE.com will tell you about the coolest things happening in the running industry so you're never a step (or fartlek) behind.
The first week of 2016 brought no shortage of awesome news and products for runners. But these two things rose above the noise to grab our attention—and hold it.
Technogym Music Interactive Treadmill
The hottest technology companies are in Las Vegas this week to show off their latest wares at the Consumer Electronics Show. For the running world, this means fancy new gadgets that promise to make us faster, our runs easier and generally our life as a runner a little better.
Technogym, maker of home gym equipment, just debuted the world's first music interactive treadmill. Using technology that detects a runner's rhythm, the treadmill creates a personal music soundtrack for each session.
Using the "Running Music" function, the runner can listen to his or her own music playlist and the treadmill will automatically choose the most suitable tracks according to the runner's number of steps per minute. So whether you're having a Taylor Swift workout or running to a Drake jam, you should be covered.
Running to music with a certain rhythm—beats per minute are the preferred measure—can help you maintain your pace; not to mention, studies have shown that listening to music can increase your performance in a variety of disciplines.
That's one treadmill we might not mind—as much.
Mark Zuckerberg's Year of Running Challenge
The start of a new year means all your Facebook friends are posting about their resolutions—Mark Zuckerberg included.But when Zucks does a resolution, he does it big. And he expects the world to do it with him.
The CEO of Facebook challenged the social network's users to run 365 miles in 2016, creating a public support group on the site where those who accept the challenge can share their progress.
On the surface, 365 may seem like a lot of miles, but it breaks out to only one mile a day—and that's totally doable in our book.
Check out the Facebook group here. Are you in?