Would you pay money for a running log?

There's so many free smartphone apps and free web logs available. It's saturated already.

OP - are you in the UK by any chance? I am, and the phrase 'club runner' vaguely suggests to me you might be too.

I'm with most of what Malmo says. But I think you can be even more flexible by typing free text and having it recognize things. For example, sometimes somebody might want to track weight, but not for ever; no need to have an input box for that (and 25 other things) on every session input. But if I type "weight: 72.2kg" it could recognize it.

More simply, I want to be able to input 'a.m. easy 6' and it could figure out that I did 6 miles easy in the morning.

With intervals, you probably do need some sort of grid, but it would be great if the compact display you read weeks later could say "10x400 [200 jog] in 64-68".

The combination of easy input, readable (publishable?) logs and some smart analysis tools that might give me some handle on how hard a week it was or when lots of stuff is stacking up too close together would be a real winner. Designing the latter part will be a challenge, but a fun one.

FWIW I am utterly mystified by the idea of tracking shoe mileage - I retire mine either when they wear through or get up and walk out the door.

Bah... a running log is so easy to create that you wouldn't be able to make any money.

I wrote one using Silverlight, and it works for me. It's more more geared toward being able to work with splits.

For instance, with my Garmin, I auto lap every 1km. But generally speaking I analyze my data over 5k blocks. So I can upload my Garmin file (I discard the GPS data, only take the lap data) and use that as the base. Then you can select splits and combine then. Split 1 through 5 is group 1, split 6 - 10 is group 2, etc. Further more, you can group the groups.

So for a Half Marathon race, you can see the 1km splits, or splits per 5km, or splits per 10km, or any combination you feel like doing.

You can also name the groups via a tagging system.

So what it gives me is that I can say "What was my average 5k split at Sharon Woods while running CCW?" Maybe it's pointless info, but it gives me a check point to how my current fitness is to what it has been for similar training runs.

The fields I track aside from date / distance / time, are Temperature / Dew Point / Time of Day (ToD is the date stamp from the first lap, or manual if using manual entry).

I feel I need the last 3 bits of data because I like to see how the conditions affect me. What I don't track though, are things like HR or Perceived effort.

Oh, I also store the splits in whatever units a user specifies (Miles, Kilometers, Meters), and I have the UI convert those to whatever is specified when viewing. You don't want to convert input to a standard measure, because you will start to have precision drifting if you allow editing of the data.

I use logarun.com as well, in what way would your log be different from that? Cause I really like how logarun is set up

Only if it tastes good. I have yet to try any of those energy bars that didn't taste like dirt.

You create a "5 hour" running log that tastes good and you would be a millionaire.

malmo: I like the customizable form idea.

dev2: I'm actually from the states. When I said club, I meant I run for a post-collegiate club, in the Northeast.

Jose Liebermanez: Agreed there are many free choices out there already. The point is to identify why people don't like the current choices and make something better. My real driving factor is just to get some more development experience outside of work stuff. It will help keep me going if it's a tool I can actually use or share with friends.

Rational Economist: To your point about "so easy to create" - there was an iphone app which cost $100, and the only feature was that it displayed "I'm Rich" on the screen.

Interesting idea: I agree, logarun.com is pretty solid. Mainly I would strip out all the crap that no one cares about, referenced by malmo. Also, was thinking of basing the app more around clubs or teams - e.g. create a team/club, share on a map where a group run was happening on a given day, aggregate team mileage.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to charge money for a running log, and the small amount I could get away with wouldn't be worth the hassle. I'm surprised in the fact that so many are interested in this topic though.

I would not. My own spreadsheets work great for me.

runningahead does this.

logger wrote:

runningahead does this.

It does exactly everything that I don't want in a running log.

Malmo: It does exactly everything that I don't want in a running log.

Such as?

You do realize, you don't have to log all that stuff. You can just log what you want.

I think there's a lot of potential.

The running blog that I use has a "course tool". You synch up gmap pedometer with some algorithm that calculates how pace changes with grade.

You could also convert all race times into IAAF performance scores. This plus the course tool allows me to compare different races.

You could also have a workout analyzer. (And it could adapt based on people entering more data about their workouts and races).

Jogger Logger wrote:

Malmo: It does exactly everything that I don't want in a running log.

Such as?

You do realize, you don't have to log all that stuff. You can just log what you want.

My point is that if you don't need that stuff why have it? It's like giving someone a Swiss Army knife with all of the blades open. Close the blades that you aren't going to use.

We add more commentary shortly.

If you have a Swiss Army knife all of the blades need not be open. In fact, I'd prefer to take most of the blades away.

Here is a simple log on Excel. Basically cells for text entries and other for adding mileage.

http://www.bunnhill.com/BobHodge/TrainingLogs/MalmoLog.xls

What I think would be ideal in a Running Log application whether in a cloud or local, is for the user to be able to open up the preferences and choose from a library of form formats. If a user picks from the sample defaults fine. If the user wants to customize the defaults, or even create his own form from scratch then he could do that too.

Imagine if you could choose from a library of 10-20 forms and an inventory of 150 fields. I pick one that is close to what I like, then delete the fields that are useless - HR, morning HR, bodyweight, etc, then peruse the field library and drag and drop them into the form that I want to see. I get something like this:

Time AMorPM (check box)

Loop name

Distance

Time

rest distance

rest time

Commentary (easy, moderate, hard, very hard, race, tired - the option to enter text or add check boxes)

Temp

Dew Point

Distance and time would be part of a table

All of the fields would be available in the form, but you have the ability to choose which ones are "active" and which ones are "dormant".

I choose AM/PM, distance, time and commentary to be "active" the rest are grayed out and dormant.

When I enter a workout I simply click "AM", ENTER, cursor goes directly to the next active field, type "5", ENTER, field says "4 miles" and cursor goes directly to the next active field, I type "24:00", ENTER, and cursor goes to the next availble field, where I type "easy". After the last available active field the cursor goes directly to ENTER WORKOUT button, where I click and the workout is logged.

Suppose as I was entering the data I wanted to add the loop name. I simply click on that field and it becomes "active" and part of the data entry sequence for that workout record. I enter "mini magneto loop".

Suppose it was an interval session instead. I simply type

"4" ENTER "24:00" ENTER "warmup" ENTER then click ADD LINE on the table.

Then "10" ENTER "400m" ENTER "1:01.0" ENTER "200m" ENTER "1:10"

Which registers as

10 x 400m @ 1:01.0 w/ 200m rest @ 1:10

or if I wanted I could type

"1" ENTER "400m" ENTER "1:01.0" ENTER "200m" ENTER "1:10"

add line would auto copy the previous line then simply

ENTER, ENTER, "1:00.6" ENTER, ENTER, ENTER

ENTER, ENTER. "1:00.2" ENTER ENTER ENTER

or have the ENTER at this point scroll automatically to the next time field.

"1:00.7" ENTER

"1:00.5" ENTER

"1:01.5" ENTER

if you needed to change the distance or rest the use the Left or Right

"1:01.5" RIGHT, DELETE (indicating standing rest), "2:00" ENTER

copies down the previous line.

LEFT, "800" ENTER "2:08.2" RIGHT "400" RIGHT "2:00" ENTER

"2:06.5" ENTER

"2:07.3" ENTER

"2:08.2" ENTER

"3" ENTER "21:00" ENTER "warmdown" ENTER

You see the logic here? A minimum of keystrokes.

If you wanted to enter the temperature you simply click on "Temp" and it is activated for the record you're working on. If you wanted to have "Temp" always activate, then go into your preferences, select the customized form and activate that field. The next tie you create a record that field will come up active.

Meh. Sounds like too much work. I use RunningAhead. It is great. I go for a run, enter in the 2 or 3 things I need to log. I am supremely capable of ignoring the rest. And I click submit.

Sometimes I do want to use the other stuff. It is all right there for me, clean and easily available.

Mostly, I just plug in my Garmin and hit upload. RunningAhead does the rest. Just a few clicks and I'm done.

It is supremely easy to generate custom reports there too. A few clicks and I can see my weekly, monthly, annual milage, compare my pace to the ambient temperature, trend my PRs. Whatever. It is all there.

And what is more: I don't have to program it myself or ask the wild west of the internet for it, I don't have to pay for it and I can easily back up my data, and the developer (who is a runner) encourages feedback and takes new ideas seriously.

To that final point, maybe y'all should head over there and offer some constructive suggestions. He may even listen...

I get a free monthly planner from Menards. (home improvement store) I just use that.

I use a simple text editor (gedit). I don't think I would want to use anything more complicated than that.

malmo wrote:

If you have a Swiss Army knife all of the blades need not be open. In fact, I'd prefer to take most of the blades away.

that makes no sence. its like buying a iphone and only use it to make 911 calls. if you dont want most of the blades, get a regular knife quit wining how the knife do too much.

swiss army wifer wrote:

that makes no sence. its like buying a iphone and only use it to make 911 calls. if you dont want most of the blades, get a regular knife quit wining how the knife do too much.

Imagine that?