If you’re running is for entertainment, the following information won’t rather be useful to you (at most as curiosity). But if you think of a more serious approach to running, you want to work on improving their skills, or you are thinking about participating in any competition – you should take your time and make a good use of these tools.
I’ve been discovering these tools browsing the Internet, but most of all I first wasted loads of time experimenting on my own body. If someone had shown me the appropriate calculators and told how to use them, I would’ve saved myself a lot of time and pain.
It may seem to you that all the calculation and planning is pointless at the amateur level, but if you want to raise your skills, you should have a point of reference. If you designate a place where you are now it will be much easier to achieve your goal. The web is full of whole bunch of training plans for different distances and in different stages of development. But which one to choose in order not to harm yourself? That’s why you need to define some basic parameters and see where you are at the moment.
Below I placed a short list of tools available on the internet that I have tested and recommend.
SPORT APPS
ENDOMONDO – Perhaps the most popular application for smartphones, used to keep track of sports activities. Ideal for all kinds of sports, not just for runners.
The app enables precise monitoring of your training, sharing with friends, and competing with other users. It puts great focus on social aspect, which plays a vital role in motivation to make further efforts.
Through the use of GPS and Google Maps, the app shows us the path traveled graphicaly on a map of the area. The application also allows use of the optional sensors such as speed and cadence sensors on the bike, as well as ANT+ Heart Rate Monitors
The application is free, with additional paid options.
SPORTS-TRACKER – With this appl I began my running adventure. Just like Endomondo, it tracks sports activities and has a social network, but with much less focus on that part than Endomondo. If I were to compare these two applications, I would say that Endomondo is more of a social network than a training tool – analysis of training is sometimes less accurate than in the Sports-Tracker, but it makes up for it with the enormity of communication capabilities for users.
Sports-tracker is primarily a training application. We may share our workouts and comment friends’ workouts, but the main emphasis here is placed on hard data analysis. The application in a very clear and pleasing way presents different charts and a map of our training. I extremely like the option of training calendar, which is for me the most legible of all so far encountered.
The application is free, with additional paid options.
TRAINING ZONES CALCULATORS
Very interesting and developed calculator, and really easy in use. Just fill in really basic data (only maximum heart rate can be a novelty – how to calculate it you can find in the article „Training methods„). After entering our data (height, weight, age, heart rate and best result from any distance), we obtain a set of data, such as:
- Time equivalent for other distances
- Training pace
- Interal pace
- Influence of weather conditions to our result in a 10km run
- Influence of different weight to our result in a 10km run
The first two charts are the most interesting and important – on their basis we can determine our current condition in numbers and even see how well woud we perform on longer distances. It should be noted that everyone is different and tolereate long efforts differently, so the caltulation for a marathon from a 5km result is only approximate. However, in my case the numbers are fairly consistent with the truth.
Another training zone calculator available in the Internet. We have to fill in identical data than in the previous calculator. As a result we receive only 3 charts:
- Training- HR training zones shown by percentage and in number for various trainings
- Race- time equivalents for various distances
- Vo2Max – comparison to best competitors on various distances, from various sport disciplines
In fact useful are onle the first two options. The calculator is much simpler, but in turn much more legible and in the beginning I recommend to use this one and learn how to read properly the basic data.
CALORIE LOGS:
Very good calorie log. It has a huge database of products from around the world, including Polish. It really deserves attention – we can find practically everything here, including private label products from popular shops and supermarkets.
The log is unfortunately in English (the website you read is aimed mainly at Polish residents), but this is probably the best tool I’ve found on the Internet. We create our profile, determine the goal we want to achieve … and start recording our meals.
I highly recommend to use this log, at least for a month, recording in detail everything we consume. You can then clearly view and analyze your eating habits and mistakes.
IT’S A REAL EYE-OPENER!
Another log, this time Polish. This app I did not use for a long time – definitely myfitnesspal.com is my app. However, it also has a large database of products and is a polish app, so if anyone has a problem with the English, this is a good counterpart.
Very legible and easy in use – same as above, we create our profile and determine our goals. The page of course suggests professional (i.e. „paid”) help at every step, but we do not have to use it. The free version is enough to examine your eating habits for some time.
About the energy demand, I wrote here. Of course, the application will calculate the your demand, but you can verify, just to be sure, whether the calculation is correct.
VO2MAX CHART:
Here you will find a VO2max (oxygen uptake) chart, numerically expressing your fitness level. I do not recommend counting maximum oxygen uptake using calculators, because I believe physical fitness can not be calculated from weight and age. However, the chart itself already presents some comparison, so if you know your VO2max (eg. you have done a specialized test), the table is quite useful and can be the indicator used to build training plans.