Everyday we’ll suggest original stocking fillers for the active person in your life.

Today technical essentials for the modern athlete.

In the past we were quite happy to go for a run or a cycle, time ourselves with a stop watch and guesstimate how far we travelled using a road atlas and a ruler. We entertained ourselves on route by admiring the scenery or chatting to our club mates and we were motivated by self satisfaction of our achievement when we got home.

But now going for a simple run or bike ride has got technical. So here are some technical ‘essentials’ for the modern recreational athlete – All perfect gift ideas whatever your budget.

First of all we now need music for entertainment and motivation. Personally I prefer to listen to music at the tempo I’m aiming to run at, whilst others like to listen to music with a running in the title such as Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. If you can’t decide on your own running playlists then there are enough readymade playlists and podcasts to buy and download from  or iTrain.com giving you motivation whatever the sport.

Next we need the mp3 player. iPods have become the staple accessories for the recreational athlete. You first begin with an iPodto listen to music. Then you think you can’t run without the Nike Plusattachment to measure your pace and how far you have travelled, with the added excitement of Paula Radcliffe congratulating you at the end that was your longest ever run.

But why just measure how far you have cycled or ran, why not map it? Subscriptions to online services such as MapMyRun.com allow you to map your route, measure the elevation, record your training in a log, suggest alternative routes from fellow athletes in your area, and calculate the calories burnt.

Then we have the iTouchwith all the great sporting apps. Measure the distance to the hole in golf, download a free weight program for the gym, monitor your calorie consumption, and use the GPS in the iPhone to go geocaching or use the adidas MiCoach app to record your training run.

Whilst it is not really an essential, I would love to have this piece of sporting technological kit by Oregon Scientific: The world’s first HD All Terrain Action Camera with G Sensor and GPS. The New ATC9K HD  is described as being specifically designed for extreme sports enthusiasts and professionals who want to capture every high action moment, on the slopes, on the waves or on the road.

Not only does the camera capture 1080p professional quality high definition video and takes photos of 5MP, its built-in G-sensor can also measure the force of gravity during acceleration, deceleration and hang time. This makes it perfect for extreme sports enthusiasts, sport trainers, professional sportsmen and those who wish to record and review every detail of their performance. Additionally it’s the only action camera water proof to 20m without external casing making it ideal for scuba divers, the self-contain design is also shock resistant.

A built in LCD screen and laser pointer help you line up the camera , with the LCD screen also allowing you to play back the videos where ever you are. The camera also comes with a full set of mounting accessories that enables users to mount it on any handles, bars, and helmets and use it for a wide variety of extreme activities. Simply mount it onto anything such as you bike, car, helmet or attach it arm, strap or sleeve. Recording straight onto a Micro SD (up to 32GB) the all in one design is the ATC9K is you perfect companion, hands free, shock resistant, water proof tough enough to follow you into the most extreme conditions.

As a special offer to celebrate the beginning of the Ski Season Oregon Scientific are offering a free GPS unit worth £50 with every ATC9K.

I love linking my Garmin Forerunnerdata from my running races to Google Earth and so my favourite part of this bundle is that it comes complete with a unique GPS plug-in that enables you to map your location, speed and distance travelled using Google Maps or Google Earth. While watching the video clip playback on a computer, you will also see your corresponding location, acceleration and altitude on Google Map. Keep track of each trail and race with this useful tool designed for trainers and sports lovers.

The ATC9K including free GPS unit is available for £249.99

Of course the essential piece of equipment to make use of these programs and gadgets is a computer.

If you already have a home computer chances are it’s already overworked with school projects and research, or filled with holiday photos. If you have a laptop for work, your IT department probably won’t allow you to download so many non-work related programs and software. So you may have to invest in your own laptop or notebook and there are lots offers available this Christmas before the VAT increases.

So there you go. My Christmas wish list technical gift suggestions, all essential, I think you would agree, for the modern recreational athlete.

The first two generation iPod Nanos did have a small screen, but this was when iPods were just used for listening to music and the screen was just used to find the track you wanted, and it was sufficient. Nike had teamed up with Apple to launch Nike+, the accessory all casual sports enthusiasts had to have, and sports clothing began to have convenient Nano sized pockets.

Then along came the third generation, an inch shorter and great for wearing whilst exercising. The problem was whilst the iPod hit the stores in early September the accessories took a while to join them, with it taking 2 months to get armbands on the market and it took Nike till the Spring/Summer range before their clothing could hold the latest version. Now the latest generation has seen the return of the long narrow version so we can have a wider screen, obviously essential for listening to music. Now the pockets of sports clothing currently on the market no longer fit as they are designed for the previous generation.

The development of the new iPod Shuffle was good in theory; half the size of the previous version but the controls were located on the earphone cord. This would be fine if I could run in the supplied earphones.  I personally prefer Bose ear buds for exercising in, the alternative sized ear bud tips ensure they stay in my ear no matter how energetic the exercise. But with the controls fixed to the Apple earphones I am limited to what I can do listening on the new iPod Shuffle.

I have no issues with companies upgrading their products each year adding extra memory or an additional gadget. Their business is to sell their product and most music lovers don’t only own one iPod. I personally own an iPod Classic as a comprehensive library for my music, an iTouch for gadgets and email, and a third generation Nano to use during training.  The new Nano’s unveiled today seem to be unsure who they are aimed at. The built in radio and video camera that you can send to YouTube is heading towards the iTouch market. The addition of a pedometer or the ability to connect to a compatible cardio machine is attracting the fitness market. Of course most of us athletes know of someone who has accidentally washed their iPod with their sports kit, if we haven’t done so ourselves, and would we rather risk $59 for a shuffle or $149 for the new Nano with gadgets we don’t need.

As both a music and fitness lover I love iPods and they allow the combination of my two passions. I do however wonder if the people who design these products are just geeks who want to combine as many gadgets as possible. Or do they actually consult sports enthusiasts who will buy and use the products if they need a video camera whilst training and racing, or ask the rock fiend if he really wants a pedometer.

I also wish Apple would not make the previous version obsolete especially when they make such radical changes to the shape and design, or at least coordinate with other accessory manufactures. If we are to be forced to buy a new version when we damage our old one it would be nice to have an armband or running top available to use with it.

No matter what my opinion is now I’m sure I’m going to eventually end up buying a new fifth generation and will be grateful of the video camera when I next come across a YouTube worthy moment whilst training.