RunKeeper Go

I discovered fitness 18 years ago, at the age of 29.  At that time, I discovered that running is the cardio exercise my body is best suited for and that (coincidentally?) I like the best. Now, I'm not going to try to sell anyone on running in this blog entry, because I believe the best cardio for anyone is the cardio THAT THEY ENJOY, or at least don't hate.  (This is why I don't swim.  I hate, hate, hate swimming laps.  But others, like my dad, enjoy it.)  So, do the cardio you enjoy the most.

Back to my topic of the day.

In the "old days" (meaning the early 2000's - ha!), I tracked my mileage in yearly logbooks.  I knew roughly how far I was going on the roads because I used my car's odometer to measure.  Sometimes I ran race courses or on a school track or on a treadmill, so I knew those distances, too.

Then my husband surprised me around 2004 (I think) with a Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS.  What a nifty gadget.  I wore it on my wrist.  I could glance down and see exactly how far I had gone up to that point.  I loved it.  It had a special cable to plug into the computer and some kind of software to download the information.  I never really used that though, as I continued to write in my paper logbooks.

Then in 2009, I got my first smartphone - an iPhone 3GS.  On my running forum, I heard of this neat free app called RunKeeper.  I downloaded it.  Oh my goodness, this was even better than the Forerunner.  Not only did it do everything the Garmin did, but I could even swipe the screen to look at a map to see where I was!  Everything was so much clearer.  My data was automatically uploaded to the RunKeeper site, where I could log in and do even more with it.  How convenient!

Note:  If you are thinking, "But I'm not a runner.  What would I do with this app?"  Never fear - you can enter ALL KINDS of activities.  Running, Cycling, Mountain Biking, Walking, Hiking, Downhill Skiing, Cross-County Skiing, Snowboarding, Skating, Swimming, Wheelchair, Rowing, Elliptical, Yoga, Pilates, CrossFit, Spinning, Zumba, Barre, Group Workout, Dance, Bootcamp, Boxing, Meditation, Strength Training, Circuit Training, Core Strength Training, Arc Trainer, Stairmaster/Stepwell, Sports, Nording Walking, and "Other."

It wasn't long before I could connect RunKeeper to Facebook as well.  I don't often share my workouts on Facebook, but sometimes if I have a particularly good one or if I take an interesting picture while on my run, I'll share it so people can see.

You can now link your RK account directly to your SparkPeople activity tracker.  I don't know when this became an option, but it is.  You don't have to enter your exercise into SP if you do it through RK.  It's all automatic.  You can also link your activity tracker to your nutrition tracker so that it raises the calories you can eat for that day based on your physical activity.

This was a great revelation for me because up until now, I thought you had to enter your exercise manually at SP and mentally keep track of the extra calorie burn in regard to your daily food intake.  That was a big reason I quit entering my nutrition (and activity) here at SP a couple years ago.

It's so convenient that I have no excuse not to track everything.

One last feature about RK that I love is the option (for a yearly fee) to purchase RunKeeper Go (formerly called RunKeeper Elite and RunKeeper Live.)  This allows people to see where you are in real time as you're running/cycling/walking/etc.  If you just use the free version, your workouts won't show up on the RK website until you are finished and it automatically uploads.  I like RunKeeper Go because I often run in the countryside and my family can look online and find me if they want.  Now, you have to make your activities "public" for this, so that's something to consider in case that bothers you.  However, I feel safer knowing that my family can find me at anytime.  It's a matter of personal preference.

There are other popular smartphone apps out there for tracking.  A lot of people I know use MapMyRun and I think SparkPeople has its own device that measures activity.  However, I thought I'd share my RK experience because my mother asked me the other day about borrowing my old Garmin Forerunner.  First of all, I'm not even sure where it is.  And second, I think the apps that are out there now are a lot better than my 12-year-old Forerunner 201 (although if you still use one and it gives you what you need, great!)

Please feel free to share your own experience with apps that you use in the comment section, because there are a lot of options out there!