The Best Running and Riding Apps

Source: Urbane Women Mag

Summer is here, and now we’re running!

One of the greatest things about living in the Southern Hemisphere is the fact that we get to experience glorious sunny weather in January.

The sun beaming down on us raises our serotonin levels and our moods, the warm weather just begs us to go outside, and there is so much activity going on at once – the Australian Open Tennis, the cricket, the A-League, the NBL…

All of that warmth, sun and fun makes it much easier to turn our New Year’s resolutions into a reality.

So where to from here?

“For most people, exercise starts losing its emotional stimulation after about 4 or 5 weeks…”

Getting started with an exercise program is one thing, but keeping motivated is a completely different challenge.

For most people, exercise starts losing its emotional stimulation after about 4 or 5 weeks because it’s in the same location, it’s exactly the same activity and it involves the same level of effort.

For this reason, it is really important to track your progress as the year goes on. And what better way to do that than with phone apps?

There are currently a number of apps on the market that can be used with both your phone and GPS-enabled heart rate monitors. 

Amongst the most popular are MapMyRun and Endomondo. Both of these programs will track your speed, route, heart rate (with a heart rate monitor device), altitude and splits. Both also have social connectivity to allow you to join with your friends. Paid versions allow you to access more data and course maps.

By far my favourite is the Strava app. Strava does all of the above with one really important feature: it very easily integrates what are known as ‘segments’.

Photo: Strava

Segments are lengths of road or paths that can be created very simply by a user. The system then searches through its database to see who has run or ridden over that segment. And a leaderboard will form, highlighting the fastest people who have travelled over that segment.

Segments can be filtered by gender, age (paid version) and various other categories. In addition, you can filter the results so they only show your own scores or those of the friends you’re following.

“Strava has provided us with an opportunity to race a wide variety of people…”

This allows you to race against everyone else to see if you can get higher up the leaderboard – or you can just compare your time against your past times and your friends’ times.

Either way, the app provides you with a constant challenge every time you head out for that run, swim or ride.

Strava is becoming so popular that some segments have a leaderboard that is over 10,000 competitors long! 

And it doesn’t end there. You can follow professional runners, cyclists and triathletes to see how they train.

Strava has provided us with an opportunity to race a wide variety of people – friends who can’t make a running date, strangers with competitve scores, and athletes we will never actually meet.

It’s a great way to keep yourself motivated, fit and challenged.