Measuring the Miles

Hello, how are you all?

It’s April 12th and the shops are re-opening as the next phase of lockdown restrictions are being lifted.  I wonder how miles you could clock on a shopping trip perhaps combined with a trip to the hairdressers.  Gyms are also opening for individuals, so if you think it’s a bit chilly for exercising outside (snow in April!) you could go tot up your miles on the running, rowing or cycling equipment.

Using a static machine makes it easy to measure how far you’ve ‘traveled’ but if you are on the open road it’s a bit more tricky.  Seasoned sportspeople out there will probably already have a favourite app or device to monitor and record progress but if you are wondering how to measure the miles this week’s blog will hopefully help…

We would like to introduce you to a few apps you can use on your smartphone – we have only included apps that are free to download and use in their basic forms – to track your progress.


Strava

Strava is free to download for IOS and Android. There is extra functionality you can pay for but to be able to measure your mileage and keep track of your activities it’s free and easy to use.

Strava can track Cycling, Running, Walking, Swimming, and Hiking.  Strava can work alone on your phone or together with your other devices –  such as a GPS watch or head unit, heart rate monitor – and records your performance and mileage. Recording an activity with Strava is easy, and afterward you’ll have a detailed activity map and tons of performance data.


SIL on Strava

We have set up the SIL Club on Strava – Join us if you want to keep track of fellow challengees, like a bit of friendly competition or to see how Euan is going with his personal challenge of doing 2500miles and at least one 100 mile bike ride.

https://www.strava.com/clubs/904255


Map my fitness  

The MapMyFitness family of apps includes MapMyFitness, MapMyHike, MapMyRide, MapMyRun, depending on your activity preferences. As you walk, the route you have taken is marked in red. The app tracks elapsed time, distance, pace, speed, elevation, and calories burned. You can choose audio feedback to announce distance, pace, calories burned, and other data every mile, half mile, or another interval. When you finish your activity, you can save your workout data and view it on the app and on the MapMyWalk website.


Runkeeper

You can track not only running, but also cycling or fitness walking. It allows users to view a detailed history of activities. You can listen to audio coaching and follow in app training plan workouts or create your own. Runkeeper also lets you set goals and watch your progress to stay motivated.  For runners training for races, this app offers personalized training routines, complete with helpful reminders to keep you on track


World Walking

A fun way to discover the world while you walk. Pick one of over 300 routes from around the globe and World Walking will give you a summary of the area and highlights of the walk ahead. Then, as you stroll around your neighbourhood and gain distance, you’ll receive photos of milestones you hit along your global path.


Adidas Running

You might know it better by Runtastic, if you’ve seen Adidas’ app before.

Adidas Running will measure your times, speed and distance while also providing customized voice coaching and cheers to help motivate your progress. A configurable dashboard lets you track only the info that’s important to you. Community features, challenges and goals can provide extra running motivation.  Adidas Running is free, but a premium subscription also includes training plans, route planning, interval training and more.

Your smartphone

Check the functions/apps in your Smartphone – lots already come with fitness trackers built in or their own app already loaded – they will clock steps and exercise.  My Samsung phone comes with Samsung Health, a preloaded app that clocks 10 different types of exercise from Walking, swimming to weight machines and circuit training.  It counts my steps,  and auto recognises when I do exercise; if I’ve got my phone with me!

Fitness trackers/ pedometers

Lots of us are wearing fitness tracker watches these days in an effort to reach the recommended daily 10,000 steps.  These usually have accompanying apps which translate your steps into miles or record activities.

A simple pedometer can keep count of your steps in a day.  A little bit of math multiplying your step distance by the number of steps taken and you’ve got a total distance.

So now you have a few options to help you keep track of the miles you’ve covered don’t forget …

However you clock those miles remember these 4 things:

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