Saturday, November 26, 2011

Running and Tech Part 3


Gear that Gets You Going


Runkeeper v2.9 Review



Anyone with an  iPhone or Android based phone can attest to their "swiss army knife-iferousness" they can call, surf,  play, snap, and many other one syllable verbs. After getting a Sprint HTC Evo last may I found that there is one application no Android ( or iPhone) should be without. This lil app is called Runkeeper. It sounds simple enough, but the wealth of information the app coaxes out of your smartphone is awesome.


Activity Type


Activity Type is where you set Runkeeper's calculations for your workout - there are many activities to choose from that set Runkeeper up to accurately calculate the amount of work done ( i.e. 30 miles of biking burns less calories than 30 miles of running)




Routes


Google Maps, Google maps that you can draw on, Google maps that you can draw on that save the drawings and tell you how far you've drawn. Is this cool or what? Everybody has their old comfy routes that they know like the back of their hands, why not document them so you can share them with others? I've found this feature useful now I can tell friends that want to go running with me exactly what they are in for. 




 
Real Time Data and Feedback


Real time data, without having to look at your device. This is a nice feature and in Runkeeper it is VERY configurable - You get to choose the audio data and when you hear it. Pace, speed and distance can be provided at the specific interval; you choose if you want to hear it every 10 minutes or every 2 miles. On a personal note, I really like hearing the cues, I have mine set for every 5 minutes. Runkeeper delivers them seemlessly - it will operate transparently with any other audio you have running.  The info is nice and allows you to focus on the activity, not checking your watch every moment or so. Depending on the speaker phone power of your device, you may be able to hear the cues without too much difficulty while doing other activities as well. It's pretty much a non-issue, but can be an issue if you keep it in your pocket on bike rides


The Website
From the webpage, all the information is at your fingertips, a very nice way to show pace and elevation. Breaking out the split times in mile intervals is helpful in building consistency and seeing the effects of adjustments you make during your run.


I did not have a heart meter for this review, but I am looking into them - heart rate is a very important stat in training.


Social

Runkeeper does one thing well - it is an awesome app for measuring fitness progress, but even smarter than that, they leverage the 200 ton gorilla that is Facebook to increase their networks reach and leave the "social" to the experts, but you can also link directly to your friends within a feature called Street Team.


The folks at Runkeeper realize that everyone is social on twitter and facebook - you can choose  to let built in connectors post your activities to  the social networks.





Runkeeper was not satisfied just to let you tell folks what you have done, they want you to be able to tell them what you are doing, right now without having to fumble for your keyboard on a long run







This is so techy-cool, your friends can track you live, They will see if you fall down a well, Lassie is now redundant

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