Last winter I installed the free RunKeeper app on my iPhone 3G. RunKeeper uses GPS technology in your iPhone to track your fitness activities, and I thought it would be a great way to keep track of my cross-country skiing and mountain biking trips.
Unfortunately, the GPS receiver in the iPhone 3G didn’t work that well, and I found GPS apps such as RunKeeper and Navigon (for driving directions) to not be usable. This spring I upgraded to a Verizon iPhone 4, and an unexpected bonus in the upgrade is a hugely improved GPS function, making these previously unusable apps work extremely well.
My first test of RunKeeper on the iPhone 4 was a hike in nearby Foothills Park. RunKeeper tracked the entire event, recording my position, elevation, pace and giving me audio coaching on my pace and speed at quarter mile intervals. It reminded me of my old high school track coach yelling out interval times on the quarter mile track, but with a more pleasant voice!
When you’re done with your activity RunKeeper will upload your event from your iPhone to its web site. You can then view your route on a Google Map, along with a graph showing your pace, elevation and speed, along with a table of split pace/elevation recordings. Plugging in your age, weight and gender will also let RunKeeper estimate the number of calories you burn on each event.
I recently used RunKeeper to record a road bike ride and found it to be a great pacing coach. I had my iPhone in my back shirt pocket, and RunKeeper would tell me every time I did another mile, what my total time was, and my pace. And when I came back home to my starting point and hit “Save Activity” on my iPhone the event was immediately uploaded to runkeeper.com.
There’s a lot more to RunKeeper then what I’ve mentioned here – I’m looking forward to using it on mountain bike rides, downhill skiing days, and snowshoe hikes. I recently used it on a backcountry ski adventure at Carson Pass near Kirkwood and it proved really useful as I forgot to bring my GPS navigator.
More serious athletes may want to try RunKeeper Elite – the paid version of RunKeeper. RunKeeper Elite adds a bunch of interesting features such as Fitness Classes – classes that you take with other RunKeeper users following training programs developed by expert coaches.
Overall I’ve found RunKeeper to be an incredibly useful app to help me analyze and keep track of my distance-related fitness activities. And it’s free!
Click to view RunKeeper activity on the Web
RunKeeper is available for the iPhone as well as Android and Windows Phone 7 phones. Download it here.