Apps

Appin’ Up a Cross-Training Solution

December 6, 2019

No one loves sit-ups.

If they say they do, they’re lying to you. I mean, you can get some valuable fitness outcomes from slapping your face into your crotch over and over again, I guess, but if sit-ups didn’t lead to six-pack abs, no sane person would ever do one twice.

Or whatever. Suit yourself. But I hate sit-ups. I have a little app on my phone that let’s me progress towards being able to do a million sit-ups and sometimes I even remember to use it. I also have an app for push-ups. And a few weeks ago I signed up for that whole Peloton app things so I can make my iPad yell at me about pedalling faster on my spin bike while I listen to mediocre EDM. Yay, apps. Feel the love.

Last time I seriously tried to get in shape for a marathon (as in not half-ass like literally last time I ran a marathon, to which I’ll defer to a later post for explanation, but last time I actually tried) the whole app thing wasn’t a thing. I recorded workouts in spreadsheets and kept track of runs with my garmin. But apps? 

Now I have apps.

Not that I know if it will matter at all, but I’m going into this one full app-mode. Apps up. App-a-licious. Notificatation-driven-to-win-it. (Well, finish. Let’s start there.) And the apps are gonna be the answer to my cross-training dilemma. That’s the plan, at least.

Let’s inventory.

Peloton. Jumping in with both feet on this one. I’ve been trialing the subscription app for a couple weeks, online spin and strength classes, and I think I’m going to attempt to round out my training schedule plan with at least two 30 minute spins twice per week. It may mean some early morning rides, or squeezing in on Saturday morning, but this is my new plan to help prop up the burgeoning virtual spandex industry… and low impact my cardio buzzwords.

Runtastic. Makes those situp, pushup, squat apps I alluded to a few dozen words ago. I used them a few months ago. Even paid for the pro versions. So, dammit, they are going to get used again. I will do a million situps if it kills me. Or I’ll stop shortly before that point. This isn’t about the abs. As a mid-40s dad, I don’t require abs for much beyond looking less tubby in family photos. But my core strength is going to be an issue if I don’t sort out some way to balance out the whole middle strength quandary.

Strava. Nothing new here for me. I’ve been on Strava for years, but I thought I’d list it to cope with my obsessive list-making completionist mindset. I’ll be tracking everything and putting it in this social media platform for health wonks (of which I am clearly a card carrying member, he insists lovingly.) Progress shall be tracked and kudos shall be had. 

Now if only my phone was waterproof, I could start swimming too.

Strava Makes For Random Data Fun

September 11, 2015

I’ve been tracking my runs in Strava for a while now but I think one of the features that I use most often is the flybys. This is a little animated review of your route overlaid on a map which, though it itself would be pretty cool, has the added interesting factor of showing all the other random people who you may have encountered on your run. In the context of a race, this is neat. But on just a training run it also leads to random finds. For example, today I went for a short run into the river valley with my camera. At one point I was taking some video and this guy on a bike rolled through my frame and I had to retake the shot. No problem. It happens. But reviewing the Strava flyby, that guy who bike-bombed my video was also tracking on Strava. This is not useful information, but it is interesting to poke through and see what someone else was up to leading up to and following that fleeting and glancing encounter on the trails. He was on the return leg of a ninety klick bike ride whereas I was geekily taking running video selfies under a bridge. I think he wins this round. And meanwhile I’ll need to keep sleuthing through Strava to find someone with a less interesting story than me.