I’ve been running with Nike+ for about six months (fine…off-and-on for six moths, happy?) and while I’ve certainly found it motivating, frustrating, helpful, interesting and angering to the point of mild injury, there are a number of things I’d change about it.

Let me sync my runs wirelessly. Not only is it very 1990s to make people attach a physical cable to something to make it sync, the amount of data being transfered is minuscule – shouldn’t be a problem to sync over a cell network. After I’m done with my run I should be able to hit “upload” and have my stats published to my Nike + profile, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

To top it off, iTunes hasn’t even been working properly, requiring me to sync my phone at least three times before the data actually gest uploaded. C’mon. If you’re going to use antiquated technology at least make sure it works properly.

Customized progress announcements. As it stands, Nike+ updates me as I progress through my workout, usually at mile markers and a countdown from 400 meters to the end of the run. Let me change the frequency of the notifications (every half mile, for example). Also, alert me if my pace varies too much from a designated rate.

GPS tracking/directions. Once you have a free Nike+ account you can login to see routes people have uploaded in your area. It’s a nice feature to add variety to your runs.

However, you currently have to memorize the route. Not a big deal if you know the area and the route is simple. But if you’re exploring a bit and the route involves, say, a trails, it’s nearly impossible to find your way.

This happened to me the other weekend. I was running a trail and there was a certain point I was supposed to turn and head back out into a neighborhood. I saw an exit from the path into a neighborhood, so I took it. Turns out I should have waited for the next exit and I ended up running through the suburbs looking for a way to get back to my car.

A simple, “Turn right up ahead” would be very useful.

De-Flash the Online Experience. Nit-picky? Sure. But the entire site is made in Flash which makes it hard to link to specific pages and most pages take forever to load. While it’s definitely no small task, I’d love to see a cleaner version of the site.

Your ideas? Anyone else use Nike+? Any other suggestions on how you’d change it?

See also my recent Half-Marathon training update.