Would you pay money for a running log?

maybe, if it was better than the one I use right now.

It would have to be really good, really popular, really easy to access, and I'd have to be able to see other people's logs too. In fact the site would have to have a bunch of collegiate and professional runners using the log there, like the site I use now does before I'd consider it.

Right, the community is probably the most important feature. Hard to guarantee that.

What site do you use now? I'm using logarun.com.

Nope.

I like to use a simple lined notebook. I keep some summary notes in digital form, but will never go wholly over to a computer based log book.

Highly unlikely. I keep all my data "online," in that I keep it with google in a spreadsheet, but it's private to me, and it does everything that I need.

I use a notebook as well

It would have to be able to import my old logs (which I can download in a pretty simple format).

I use Garmin's Training Center, which is about as bare-bones as it gets -- but it's free. I also have access to Garmin's web based Connect logs, which I use to upload runs that I share.

It would take a great product to get me to pay. Although, I'd be much more willing to put up with an advertisement for Sport's Authority or Dick's Sporting Goods embedded into each page that I used.

Internet == Free

Mobile <= $0.99

There are lots of logs out there so you better make it really good. I would suggest making and ad supported Internet app first and then developing a mobile app if the first one does well.

Thanks for the feedback. Agree with the approach of a free web log at first, then expand to mobile app only if/once a critical mass is obtained.

I definitely used to use paper-based logs. I wonder if high school/college runners these days are moving away from that?

Why have a specialty app?

I use an Excel-based log that is synced in the cloud via one of the free services like "Dropbox" or "Zumodrive". It works great, even on my phone.

I'd be far more interested in a quality timing app like the one that made a brief appearance in the thread below...

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3654480

No, I wrote my own in Java.

I've been a web developer for about 15 years and a programmer for 30. I got enthused about creating the perfect training diary a few times.

Strangely enough, I am using a text file synced between home/work with Dropbox too. Nothing every worked so well. I also have a couple of spreadsheets alongside it, one for a weekly summary of training and one for upcoming races.

I've been discussing helping out my local track club by creating an online diary, and have a fairly detailed design, but I am under no illusions about the time it would take to create a genuinely smooth, usable hosted system. Making things look great and be simple to use takes a LOT longer than many developers realise. I would go for an interface that looks like a text diary, but allows click-to-edit, rather than filling in hundreds of forms for every session.

If you just want to build it, consider an open source collaborative approach. You will learn more from the other collaborators and possibly get a lot further. But if you really want to make money from software, I modestly suggest that a runners' training log is probably not the best route to riches.

Thanks, appreciate the opinion. (I never said anything about getting riches from this effort though, and I'm quite aware with the amount of time it takes to build high quality software.)

Also, hosting is not a huge concern with things like GAE and Amazon's EC2 - depending on the size of the app.

One thing you lose out on with a text-based approach is the analysis of your data. (e.g. stupid example: Am I more likely to run a PR on a Saturday or Sunday?)

I use a spreadsheet. The problem I see with most training logs is that they have TOO much information.

When I say 'text-based approach', I mean to display it that way. The system still needs to understand it - add up mileage, know what's an interval session and so on.

When I'm not editing, I'd like to read stuff like this...

Monday

total 16 miles

resting pulse 55

weight 72.2kg

07:00 easy 6 miles

18:00 steady 10 incl. 5m in 29:20. Felt great.

Tuesday...

When editing, at some point you probably need dialogs asking what kind of session and letting you fill in more. But most diaries I have used online are terrible in this respect - endless dialogs to add a session, demanding more info than I have etc.

To record a run there are many fields you MIGHT want to fill in, but usually only 2-3 are needed.

The real fun would be in writing good analytics that can recognize similar sessions over time....

Lots more thoughts to share but got to go now...

My college used Etraxc.com

About as good as it gets IMO

Unlikely. I use a Google Docs spreadsheet, and I can't think of any feature I want that it doesn't have.