Nike Team Camp
A week in Portland doing all things Nike.
Looking out the airplane window right now, it’s dumping snow. Portland doesn’t often get storms like this, it’s been wreaking havoc on the city. The Nike campus was closed yesterday as the icy snow covered the streets, so we had to adjust plans for our final day of the Nike Trail Team summit. I’m en route to my first race of the year on the island of Gran Canaria, but I’ve been in Portland for the past five days.
This is the first time in recent years that I’m aware of that the whole Nike Trail Team has converged on campus to meet together, and certainly my first time seeing everyone on the team in one place. I hadn’t met everyone on the team yet, and one of the highlights was connecting with each member of the trail team and getting to know them beyond a quick hello at races. It’s been action-packed, fun and productive, inspiring and tiring.
Without getting into all the specifics, here’s what our days looked like. We’d start the day off with a quick breakfast at the hotel before heading over to Forest Park or the Nike campus gym for a run or cross training. Media people were out and about in the forest getting pictures and videos as we ran. Some days we’d toss on a pair of shoes we’d talked about with product teams the previous afternoon to take them for a test loop. During those miles we’d be focused on how the shoe fit, how the foam felt, if our steps felt stable and our feet secure, any feedback we might want to report back.
Our next stop would usually be the campus locker rooms for showers and then the Lebron innovation building for lunch. The Lebron building is insane. It’s where some of Nike’s brightest minds are spinning up new ideas and experimenting with what you may see athletes wearing in the future. Seriously so cool seeing some of what’s being considered and iterated on that could be huge for trail running, it got me very excited about being able to use it when it’s ready.
The rest of the afternoons were usually filled with meetings and labs. Product teams came prepared with discussion questions and samples for us to wear, jog around in, pick apart, and brainstorm about. I felt like our feedback was truly valued and was helping shape these products that will be released. In addition to collecting our thoughts and feelings about these products, for several of them they’d have us hop on treadmills in various controlled environments where they could capture quantitative data. Sensors and cameras everywhere. How much did our efficiency change in these shoes vs those shoes, in this apparel vs what we’d been using previously? Curiosity took over and I’d ask questions about the rationale behind certain tests, and they’d break it down for me and talk me through the data they’d later analyze from my lab, giving me a live preview. I had never realized the amount of real science going on behind the scenes during the innovation and testing process, but it was intense.
Fashion is completely lost on me, but the past few days have also given me more of an appreciation for design. Nike has a dedicated color expert, and design is discussed frequently. I’m learning that colors and designs are used strategically to highlight special features and technologies within shoes and apparel. Colors evoke feelings, and getting to know an athlete’s mindset while training and racing shapes the feelings that are targeted in those designs.
Clearly Nike’s got some experience having athletes around, because they knew we’d want constant access to food and drinks. Healthy fresh juices, snacks, and frequent catered meals kept us happy and got us through to the evening, when we’d go out for an activity and dinner with one of the Nike teams. We all watched the Super Bowl together, got some great Peruvian food with leadership teams, had pizza and got our competitive juices flowing racing Go Carts with the innovation teams, etc.
On our final full day in Portland, a snowstorm closed down campus and product teams came to our hotel instead. We commandeered the main floor with discussions of the Nike trail shoe lineup and more brainstorming. By then, I’d started thinking about the next leg of this adventure—the trip out to race Transgrancanaria. So that brings me to now, sitting on the tarmac while this flight is delayed, hoping that it can get de-iced and take off in time to make my connecting flight in New York. I’ll be lining up a week from today for an epic cross-island showdown. Stay tuned for a little surprise dropping as the race starts…