Review of GPS based Running Applications Part 2

In this article as promised I will review according to my experince the perfomance of the Garmin Forerunner 405 and Nokia Sports Tracker. I will also make relevant comparison with the iPhone based GPS tracker apps that I have used namely the Runkeeper and Trailguru. In my previous article I reviews the Runkeeper and the Trailguru apps.
Garmin forerunner 405 is a GPS device which also doubles up as a digital wrist watch. You wear it on your wrist as you do with any watch.

From a technical point of view it is packed with very usefull features for running, cycling or any other dry land and distance based sports. Like the Iphone based apps the forunner uses GPS satelite link to track your runs. It relies on up to 22 satelites and is therefore very reliable and up to date it has not failed me. It delivers what it says on the tin.

Some notable features are;
* setting up training targets in terms of distance, calories to burn and time.
* You can also set up a virtual buddy who basically kicks your ass each time you fall behind him/her. This bootcamp buddy can be set to suit your needs. Each time you fall short of the given target range the forerunner emits an audio beep to alert you of your, shall we say incompetence.

One of it's biggest advantage over the iPhone based GPS apps is that the forerunner has hardware accessories namely the Heart rate monitor and a footpod. If you are a cyclist you could have a cadence instead of a footpod. These accessories gives the Forerunner some extra dimensions and experience to running workout. Heart rate monitor which is strapped across your chest, will record your heart bit per minute in real time. This allows you to set heart rate training limits in order to achieve your specific target. For example you can set workout zones for either aerobic or anaerobic targets.

* Heart rate monitor also allows for a more accurate burnt calorie calculation. Needless to mention that the heart rate monitor helps you keep focused on maintaining a safe workout by way of ensuring that your heart rate remains within the safe zone



The other accessory is the footpod which really is like a step counter. The footpod is attached to the laces of your shoes and literally count your steps as you jog away. It is caliberates using the GPS or a known specific distance. The footpod is very useful when training indoors for instance if you use a trademill. Because GPS does not generally work indoors this is a usefull replacement for GPS function when indoors. All your vital statistics except a route map of course, will be collected as normal. Of all the 4 applications that I am reviewing here the forerunner is the only gadget which has a footpod accessory.

If satelite link where to fail while running outdoors the footpod will provide adequate backup. If caliberated correctly it can record amazingly accurate statistics. []

Garmin like the other apps has a website where you upload your workout data for personal use or sharing it with friends or better still the wider world. The Connect Garmin website is really cool. It has a provision for you to replay your workout on the computer and you can analyse and see how your perfomamce was at each and every point in time. If you worked out with a heart rate monitor and footpod the respective data is also uploaded and becomes part of the record.

The garmin forerunner doubles up as a digital wrist watch. While Garmin might want to market it as a alternative to a fashion wrist watch I find it's appearance to be rather geeky despite claims to the contrary. I would not feel comfortable wearing it anywhere other than during workout.

It's a pity that this is case especially given the fact that it does not come cheap. It's introductory price was €300.00 minus the heart rate monitor and footpod. Heart rate and footpod can fetch up to €60 depending on where you buy it from.

You would have thought that Garmin could have spend a little more energy in working out it's austhetic appearance.

Other than that the gadget is superb and most of all very reliable.

The new kid on the block at least for me is the Nokia Sports Tracker Beta. As it's name suggest it's still in it's early infancy. I would like to believe it's compatible with most smartphone nokia phones that have inbuilt GPS The Nokia Sports tracker like it's competitors is a GPS based application which uses satelite link to track your outdoor distance based workout. I have used this application on the latest Nokia n97. Though not yet officially available for Nokia N97 if one is resourceful enough they can download a version that is good enough. While the version I use may not be optimized for N97 it still does it's job very well.

Nokia Sports Tracker essentially works the same way as the other applications. The Sport Tracker application can work in the Background unlike iPhone based applications. This will allow you to do other things with your mobile phone while recording continues in the background. For example you can shuffle your music on the go. The battery for the Sport Tracker seems not to be a power hog. I completed a 10 mile run yesterday using this app. I also played the music on the Nokia for entire 1 and half hour workout. No significant battery drain occured. I also recorded the entire run on the garmin forerunner

During the same workout I had the runkeeper on the Iphone. I only managed to run 15km before the battery ran out.

In fairness the iPhone was not fully charged. However this was at the end of the day after normal daily usage. You would therefore want to fully recharge your iPhone before you go out for more than an hour's run. A little bit inconvenient if you want to do a spontaneous work out. According to the documentation for the Nokia Sports tracker one should be able to take Geotagged photos as they run and these photos will appear on the corresponding position on the map on the Nokia site. I have not yet used this feature and I will certainly review when I have done so. I presume with the generally high camera quality on Nokia's upper end smartphones the pictures should be of high quality too. This feature compares with a similar feature on Trailguru. I have used this feature and it's really cool. The only thing with this types of feature is that you generally have to stop in order to take a good quality picture. If you are running for fun this is no big deal but if you take your running very seriuosly then stopping to take a pictures would be an inconvenience.

Nokia also has a heart rate monitor, the Nokia Polar Heart rate belt which I have not laid my eyes on yet. Apparently it was originally made for the N79 but there is generally a belief among Nokia smartphone enthusiasts that it will be available across all GPS equiped Nokia Smartphones.

Nokia has a website where, like all the other reviewed apps, you set up a free account where you upload your data onto.

One cool feature of the website is that you can broadcast your workout live to Members or visitors of the website. This of course requires data connection. Basically you broadcast your GPS position via the website and people will be able to view your progression on your route map course in real time. Pretty cool hey? I have not personally broadcast my workout but I have watched other people's broadcasts and the feature is quite good.

You can see how others are getting on with their workouts and hopefully you should get inspired, get off your ass and go out and do the same.

The site like all the other sites reviewed allows you to analyse your data. Another feature on Nokia Sport tracker is the ability to upload the name of the music you were playing on your Nokia phone while you where running. I have not used this feature yet.

Among all the reviewed application the replay feature on Garmin is the best. Trailguru's replay feature is also good.

The garmin website tends to be less stable than the other websites. Too often you cannot access you data when you need it and sometimes it tends to be slow. Recently the synchronization of forerunner data with the PC/mac has been satisfactorily fast. It used to take forever to upload the data via the supplied USB wireless connector.

All the websites allow you to share your workout with friends on Social Network websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace etc.

All of the sites can make it possible to link your pages to your blog or email provided your data is categorised as public rather than private. Runkeepr does well in this aspect in that it allows you to embede a your map route to your own webpage. This makes it easy for the visitor of your blog to get the information on same page rather than having to be linked to another external website. You can see the example below.

Gold Medal

So which application takes the Gold among the 4 apps. Well each all the apps tend to have the basic features that are essential namely the GPS hardware and corresponding websites on which you can upload your data. It all depends what you are looking for as a runner.

Here are some guidelines to help you make a decision on what to use

Garmin Forerunner is reliable, light to carry and has fantastic accessories than can give you am extra urge. It has no MP3 player and their website is not the most stable that you can come across although when it does work it offers great features. Garmin forerunner 405 is relatively expensive. While Nokia smartphones and Iphone are expensive by comparison they provide vast other functions, the obvious ones being that they are mobiles and music players. Forerunner on the other hand is a dedicated running mate whose only other function is a

digital watch and possibly a campus.

Nokia Sports Tracker runs on most GPS Nokia mobile phones. The size of your Nokia phones varies and they are not the lightest mobile phones on the market. Nokia sports Tracker can also work with the inbuilt music player which allows you to play your music during workout. Most Nokia phones allow multitasking. The GPS link seems to be very good and reliable. The application seem not to use a lot of battery power and one can use accessories such as a heart rate monitor.

Runkeeper on Iphone is an ever improving applications which is very easy to use. If you are looking for a simple app thatbis easy and fun to use then Runkeeper is your app. The simplicity if the Iphone makes it a joy to use runkeeper and Trailguru.

Runkeeper has a cool website which is ever evolving and introducing new features. Because of the way the iPhone works there is no multitasking except playing your music on the inbuilt Ipod. Because the app has to be on screen while working out, the iphone based apps are compromised by battery. There is a high tendency of the application crushing especially following updates or upgrades. Runkeeper has a good audio feature that makes it easy to access your statistics in midflight.

Trailiguru is another iPhone based app which benefits from Iphone's user friendly features. Trailguru itself is a free application such that if you have at least an Iphone 3G then you can use Trailguru. Trailguru allows you to upload pictures onto te website as well. Like Runkeeper most of the problems with Trailgiru are because of the shortfall of the iPhone. No multitasking except for picture taking and playing music. Battery Consumption is high and no other accessories like heart rate monitor or footpod can be used with these two applications. So when the satelite link is not good on that day as is sometimes the case with me, then you basically cannot use these applications.

So I will leave each individual to make their own decision on which app they want to use depending on their needs and resources available to them.

Total tally since the blog commenced 66 km

Review of GPS Apps for Running Part 1

Today I thought I should review the GPS and running applications that I use and rate them accordingly In the past year I have used 4 applications, all of them GPS based; namely Runkeeper, Trailguru, Garmin and lately Nokia Sports Tracker.

Runkeeper and Trailguru are Iphone based applications which utilise the inbuilt Iphone GPS hardware and Google Maps.

All you need is to be outdoors with your Iphone so that you gave direct satelite link. It generally takes a a minute or less for one to get a satelite link but time varies with location. I have also noticed for some reason that during the winter times and when weather is bad sometimes it takes a while to get a good satelite link or at times non at all. Sometimes there is data interference


Once link is established you are good to go. Pressing the appropriate button on either of the applications will initialize the tracking of your run. The application will calculate the route, the direction, the speed, the altitude, time taken and the overall distance covered. All these parameters are available in real time.

With both applications you can toggle between the dashboard of the parameters or the map route showing your current geographical location. I guess this feature requires a data connection to the network in order for the current map location to be downloaded.

Runkeeper is really cool in that it has an audio feed which if you touch the screen of the iPhone it will tell you your current pace, distance covered up to that point. This is useful for me when I am running because when running you want to maintain your concentration and it's very inconvenient for one to visually check for statistics on the phone. I find audio feeb better in this regard.

Trailguru also has it's own cool feature which allows you to take geo tagged pictures which can be uploaded together with the other running statistics information.



Both of these applications allows uploading of the statistics to the respective apps websites where you create a free account. You can store your data for individual review or you can share it with friends or anyone who cares to see it.

Both applications, through their websites allow you to review your runs in great detail and this helps you if you are training for some upcoming event.

The biggest shortfall that I found with both applications is that they do not have any external accessories that are compatible. At the moment you cannot use a heart rate monitor or a foot pod with either application. So information like the calories burnt during the run is calculated from your BMI index and age together with GPS data rather than a direct link to your heart rate. The calculation is therefore less accurate but I have to say the error margin is low.

The other issue is that of the battery. This problem which can be blamed on the way the iPhone operates. The application has to be open and on the screen for it to be active. This means that the all the resources that are needed to keep the application in front are being used during the workout. AS far as I know there is no iPhone application that can run in the 'screen save' mode except the Ipod application and the camera.

Generally with my fully charged battery I can only run a total of about 2 hours before the iPhone runs out of battery. I therefore cannot reliably use the iPhone applications for a full marathon. Having said that, the developer of Runkeeper and other people on his website has pointed out that they were able to run the full marathon with the Runkeeper application.

Usually when you have software updates on the iPhone sometimes some old problems are solved and new ones can be created from the updates and this may course the applications to behave abnormally. There is nothing more frustrating when you go out running and halfway during the run the application crushes and fails to save your data. This has happened on some occasions.

One beautiful thing with both applications is that you can play music in the background while working out. You have to set your music before you start your application because you will not be able to do this in the middle of the run otherwise you would have to shut down your application first.



I believe you can take calls while using the applications. What I do not know is whether the application stops recording while you take a call or it recording still takes place in the background. The reason I do not know the answer to that is because I generally always ignore calls while I am running. Sorry folks if anyone tried to get in touch with me during the said time, at least I had the courtesy to call you back!

These are two very versatile applications which are always being updated particularly runkeeper. New and exciting features are always being added both to the Iphone apps and their respective websites.

They are worth taking a look at if you can live with the minor shortfalls discussed. There are other applications for the iPhone available from Itunes App Store but I have not used them therefore cannot write a review about them.

In my next article I will review the Nokia Sport Tracker and Garmin Forerunner 405. I will make relevant comparisons to the Iphone apps, Runkeeper and Trailguru.

Irishrunner 5 mile challenge- novice 's viewpoint

Today was the day of the truth- the day when i participated in a professionally organised race. Phoenix Park Dublin today saw a convergence of close to 6000 race participants and among that multitude was myself.
I was not expecting such a large crowd but hey it was fun. I was used to train by myself and today i was going to meet a different challenge altogether
When you train by yourself you are largely in control of the your own pace that you would like to maintain and you have no external pressures except if you use virtual training partners which comes with other GPS gadgets like garmin forerunner. I am trying to train with a focus on 40km marathon. This means that my body anatomy and physiology is biased towards endurance rather than speed.
I found the general pace of the race to be faster than what i am used to. I gave it all my best. No wonder why i recorded my personal best of 40mins .03 sec. I finished number 1175 out of a total of up to 6000. I came to the race hoping to finish under 1000 so i have to say i was disappointed by the outcome. In my category which i presume is for people over the age of 35 i came out number 195 which i think is not bad for a first timer.
i came to the race knowing very well that discipline was vital. i needed to maintain my speed and ignore other athletes who woild be zooming past me. I did not follow that wisdom at least at the beginning of the race . i think this resulted in me loosing my pace in the middle of the race.

i must have hit stop activity button by a accident at the 6 km peg om my runkeeper application but i captured the whole event on the garmin forerunner device.
i hit a top speed of 3 mins 36 sec at one stage but this was really taking it to the extreme. The poor old pump must have got the shock of its life!!
The hard part was seeing older folks than me sprinting past me as if i was a signpost or something like that. I took a lot of inspiration from that and i will be better prepared and more wiser in the next race.

It seemed to me everyone was trying to overtake me perhaps mistaking me for a native Kenyan, not knowing that i come from further down south were there is no known marathon pedigree.

Nice part was to take home my souvenior.



Total tally stand at 50km so far. The next competitive race is the 10 miler in a month's time. Bring it on.

5 Mile Marathon Part 3

Phoenix park is the largest urban green park in Europe. This is the venue of the next 5 mile marathon that is scheduled for the 18th of July 2009.
I thought i will have a final preparation practice on the venue of the marathon. So i headed off to the park straight after work to practice on the match venue as football teams team when they visit a another team's home ground.

I thought I studied the route map well but i was slightly off the mark.


However I still managed to do roughly 5 miles and the results where not so bad. The second lap is quite challenging because you have a steep incline. the incline is quite steep that an old bus or truck will have to change down the gear to number 2 or 3.

The heart rate jumped to an unprecedented 179 bits per minute. I guess I was pushing a bit too hard. Funny though most other fellow runners i met where going the opposite direction. I do hope I did not get the directions wrong.
I was roughly 15 seconds slower than on during Part 2 training.

Having received my race number and the time chip i guess i am ready for the challenge. Theoretically I am should cross the finish line!

Total Tally now stands at 42km

5 Mile Training Part 2

I was in the Phoenix park zoo today for a birthday party for the son of one of my work collegues today.



Saw a beautiful peacock in the zoo.



After the party I decided that I should check out the venue for the route for the upcoming marathon. Unfortunately I could not locate the website where I saw the route map. I only remembered the start point and I created my own 5 mile route.

Fortunately I had my garmin tools. Again runkeeper failed to initialize, so i have no data from that application.

The vital stats looked good, with a top speed of 3min 39 second per km which i think is roughly 2.4 times slower than Useng Bolt's 100m top speed.
I managed to complete the run in under 44 mins which I think is not bad. The rains helped to keep me cooled down and the heart must have been glad too, for it behaved well and kept the top pumping rate at 171 beats per minute. Wonder how much more the old steam engine can go.

This is the actual course of the upcoming marathon and I was not far off though.

So the tally now stands at 34km since the blog began.

Preparation for 5 Mile Marathon

This coming Sartuday the 18 July 2009, is the day of the Lifestyle Sports - adidas Irish Runner 5 Mile in the Phoenix Park, Dublin Ireland. My plan it to try that out. It's going to be my first marathon ever in my 36 years of existance on this earth.

I first need to recieve my Marathon numbers and time chips from the organizers. Time is running out! I will be waiting impatiently for the post man to duly deliver unto Realbigdhara what belongs to Bigdhara. If the postman fails to do so in time then all my preparations where in vain. I would have to hope that the organizers may organize something for me on the big day.

My muscles where aching from last Friday' s 10 km run. So yesterday I decided to do some Yoga stretches laced with a bit of isotonic exercises. I felt that I should not train very hard the week before the marathon. Am trying to be like the 5 biblical virgins who were well prepared for the for the Master. Don't know if this strategy will work. It remains to be seen.

I like to work out using the Iphone Application, Fit Builder which I find to be very well organized and is great for self training.
Together with that I usually log my vital statistics with another Iphone application Absolute Fitness which gives allows me to track my weight, Body Mass Index, fat calories burnt during workouts, and other vital statistics.

I am hoping I will be able to carry my usual staff to the race. I will need my Garmin 405 Forerunner GPS Watch complete with the heart rate monitor to ensure I won't overdo it, my music by Tongai Moyo ( Nemumvura mese),

and not least my two legs.

The plan is to cross the Finish line at whatever cost!! Bring it on!

10km run after work

So how did the jog go.
It was a beautiful day today, especially for the sun bathers,


It could have been better in terms of the vital statistics
When I go out running I like to carry my GPS gadgets with me. I normally take 2 sets and use them simultaneously in case one of the gadgets fails.
They rarely fail but sometimes they do and today was one of those rare days! My Runkeeper application which runs on the Apple Iphone failed to initiate today so I do not have data from that application. My garmin application is usually reliable and it was reliable today.

I ran as hard as I could in the warm weather but the results where only modest. I managed to run for 10km total. If all goes well on the marathon day (5miles) I should be able to finnish. Yeaah!

Meanwhile the total tally since the blog started, now stands at 26km

Preparation

So it's all nice and shiny unlike the other night which was stormy and all.
It's after work and drove straight home to prepare for a run. There is an upcoming 5 mile marathon race in about a week's time and I need to be in shape for that one.
It's actually going to be my first ever participation in an organized event and it will be a wonderfull debut.
So how far can I go today? My plan is to target the first 5 miles and see how I get. It will be interesting to see how the statistics will look like given that it's a bit warmer than the previous outing.
So I will be back with the results later.