.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT SHOOTOUT
.TITLE Hit your stride with these five running log programs
.AUTHOR Heather Wardell
.SUMMARY In this article, Heather Wardell puts five fitness applications through their paces, so to speak, and make recommendations for other runners and fitness enthusiasts.
.OTHER
Like many people, I find it difficult to just get out and exercise without some sort of goal. And if you’re going to set a goal, why not make it a wild and crazy one? And so, I decided to train for a marathon, specifically the Toronto Scotiabank Waterfront marathon held September 30th.
In this article, I’ll put five fitness applications through their paces, so to speak, and make recommendations for other runners and fitness enthusiasts.
.TEASER Let’s take a look at each of the programs in more depth.
Let’s take a look at each of the programs in more depth.
.H1 MySportsTraining
As the name implies, this program tracks more than just running, and it does it with ease. Figure A shows the data entry screen, which is clear and well-organized. Tabs along the side of the screen allow you to enter notes, heart rate and weight information, energy levels, exertion, and just about anything else you might want to track.
.FIGPAIR A MySportsTraining’s data entry screen is easy to use but collects a lot of information.
Where this software really shines, though, is in the statistics and graphs it creates. Want to see how much time you spent this month on each of your activities? With a few clicks, you get the graph shown in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B MySportTraining’s graphs are clear and easy to read.
MySportTraining also excels in tracking weight training programs. Each individual exercise can be entered, along with the number of sets and the repetitions for each set, and the program will show you how you’re improving over time.
For a multi-sport enthusiast, or anyone who likes to try out and track a variety of exercise programs, MySportTraining is outstanding. There is a desktop version available as well; I tried it out briefly and found it just as good as the Palm version, with excellent synchronization.
.RATING 4
.H1 MyRunningLog
This program is essentially a subset of MySportsTraining, only permitting you to track your running. This specificity allows the software’s statistics screens to be very focused, as Figure C shows.
.FIGPAIR C MyRunningLog’s statistic screen shows you how your running is coming along.
Just as in MySportsTraining, this program’s data entry screens are clean and easy to use. It doesn’t track quite as much information as MySportsTraining does, but it still keeps pretty much everything a runner would want. The only exception? It doesn’t keep track of how much mileage I’ve put on a particular pair of running shoes. I can never remember how long I’ve used a particular pair of running shoes. When I ran a maximum of ten miles a week, it didn’t really matter. Now, it does, and I wish MyRunningLog kept track of that for me.
.RATING 3
.PAGE
.H1 Runner’s Log
This software was last updated in 2005 but it works well on my Treo 680. It has a bare-bones look and feel, a bit of a disappointment after the slick appearance of MySportsTraining and MyRunningLog, but Runner’s Log’s features keep it in the game.
The data entry screen is simple and clean. My favorite feature of this program is shown at the bottom of Figure D’s screen: the equipment tracker. Runner’s Log makes it easy to know how many miles I’ve put on my various pairs of shoes.
.FIGPAIR D Runner’s Log makes it easy to enter a run.
The program has eight built-in activities, seven of which can be renamed or deleted. The first, "run", can’t be changed. Still, having seven open slots to use for your own activities makes Runner’s Log useful for more than just runners.
The program remembers the ten most recent routes that you entered. You can choose them from a pull-down list and the software automatically fills in the route’s distance. This makes it easier to track your workouts.
Runner’s Log is the only program I tested that permits turning off things like weight and heart rate tracking. If you disable them, they are no longer visible on the data entry screen. I appreciate being able to remove things that I won’t be using; it makes the screen much easier to navigate.
On the log screen, you get a simple list of what you did, but the use of pull-down menus makes the list surprisingly configurable. As well, you can filter it to see only the kinds of workouts, or races, or equipment, that you want to see. The program does not provide any graphs of your results.
There is a desktop version available as well, and the Palm version can export its data to the Memo Pad for use in other desktop applications such as Microsoft Excel.
Runner’s Log holds its own against more expensive programs in everything but looks.
.RATING 3
.H1 RunPlan
I was excited about this program, which allowed me to enter my training plan directly and then (I thought) mark off the workouts as I completed them. I keep my training schedule in Excel; it would be nice to have it and my results all in one program.
Unfortunately, RunPlan is not the program I was hoping it would be. It looks great but just doesn’t seem to operate the way I expected it to.
.BEGIN_KEEP
The left-hand side of Figure E shows the Plan screen, with one planned workout entered, a tempo run of eight kilometers. Ready to log the workout, I tried clicking the "Log" button, but that took me to the list of logged workouts. Back on the Plan screen, I clicked in the blank space under "Log" in my workout’s row, which opened the screen on the right-hand side of Figure E. Even though I had set the workout’s distance and pace and expected time, none of those things came through when I attempted to log it.
.FIGPAIR E RunPlan’s Plan and Log screens don’t share information.
I did read the manual and it appears that this is how the software is intended to work. To me, though, I’m now entering everything twice. I can’t see why I would do this. What is the benefit of using RunPlan to plan my training schedule if I have to remember each workout as I enter it into the log? Far better to keep using Excel and then just track the completed workouts on my Palm.
I won’t be using RunPlan for this, though, because I find the data entry screen more difficult to use than some of the others. The little icons aren’t clear to me. I keep having to look them up in the manual. As well, there are no graphs of results. The program does show the results as a table, but that’s all.
.RATING 2
.END_KEEP
.H1 TriHard
TriHard is another program that permits entering a schedule, but again it doesn’t perform as I’d expected. Here, as Figure F shows, you can enter a schedule based on the time for each workout or the distance. You can’t enter both, and if you change from time to distance, the program assumes your numbers stay the same. My 4.5 miles became 4.5 minutes, and the program made this change without asking me for approval.
.FIGPAIR F Entering a planned week in TriHard means deciding to track all workouts by either distance or time.
When you then go to enter a workout, the program autofills the duration or distance based on what’s in your plan. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to bring over the type of workout. Figure G shows the data entry screen, with my planned one-hour run. The one-hour part came over, but the type of workout did not.
.FIGPAIR G TriHard’s data entry screen is pretty much empty.
The biggest problem, though, is the crashes. I was testing the weight training tracking section, pressed the Log’button to record data and the program soft reset my Treo. I went back in and it seemed to be okay until I tried to get a list of workouts filtered just for running, and again it crashed.
TriHard appears to be a promising start but the repeated crashes are a serious problem. TriHard really needs to try harder.
.RATING 2
.H1 Summary
Table A shows a summary of each of the programs.
.BEGIN_TAB_TABLE A Comparing the programs
.TAB_TABLE_ALIGN LEFT CENTER CENTER CENTER CENTER
.TAB_TABLE_WIDTH 200 50 50 50 50
.TAB_TABLE_HEADER Option MyRunningLog MySportsTraining Runner’s Log RunPlan TriHard
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Allows you to transfer your workouts to the DateBook? No No No Yes Yes
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Editable sports? No Yes Yes Yes No
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Equipment tracking? No No Yes Yes Yes
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Rating 3 4 3 2 2
.END_TAB_TABLE
I cannot recommend TriHard because of the crashes.
RunPlan’s tracking system is probably of value for a serious runner, but the planning system does not appear to be fully functional.
Runner’s Log is basic yet customizable, and its ability to track multiple exercises puts it ahead of MyRunningLog, although MyRunningLog would be great for someone who exclusively runs. If you like graphs, MyRunningLog is a better choice.
MySportsTraining really does do it all. It’s not quite as good at determining run-specific statistics as MyRunningLog is, but the ease of tracking all sports is impressive.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Learn more about [[http://www.vidaone.com/mrl_palm.htm|MyRunningLog]].
Learn more about [[http://www.vidaone.com/mst_palm.htm|MySportsTraining]].
Learn more about [[http://fitnesslogs.com/runnerslog/index.htm|Runner’s Log]].
Learn more about [[http://www.marathonpeople.de/en/runplan.html|RunPlan]].
Learn more about [[http://homepage.mac.com/laborcoach/trihard/|TriHard]].
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
