The New Year has officially kicked in and the hangovers are (or should be) over! So the usual course of action at this time of year is to join a gym…and then never go. So why join a gym in the first place, right? There’s a whole world out there to make your gym! I know running isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But if you’re considering it, then this might be something for you to get a head start.
There are so many apps out there for those who run, to track your every stride and show you your results. But apps such as Map My Run offer a bit more encouragement to get yourself out the door. One of the hardest things about starting out, is where to run. Will this route be too long or too difficult? And if you’re unfamiliar with the location, you might even be worried about getting lost and not being able to find your way back.
Map My Run, as you’ve probably guessed by the name, maps out the route you’ve taken when you activate it. However, it goes that little bit further to avoid being pegged as just another exercise tracking app. It creates a database of everyone’s maps that they’ve created. All you have to do is type in your location and voila! Every route that has been created and is close to you will appear, and you’ll get that here’s one I made earlier feeling.
Once you’ve selected the route you want to take, it tells you the total distance, the ascent (if you’re not ready for those big hills just yet!) and shows the start and finish marks so you know exactly where you’re going to end up. Once you find your feet with the whole running situation, you may feel the need to change up your route. You can do just that, and then share it with the rest of Map My Run.
I have mentioned in one of my previous posts about the app called MyFitnessPal, that has its own fitness social media element to it. Well, Map My Run has the exact same concept. You get a whole profile, the ability to post status’ and like others’ posts. It even calculates the total of your entire progress. For example, on my account I have achieved a total of 137k calories burnt and 203 workouts done. My total kilometres of 14k isn’t as high as I would like overall. But hey it’s the new year, there’s time to improve!
One of my favourite features of this app is that you can connect your MyFitnessPal account to Map My Run and log your workouts as one. So, if you work out so much that you end up with a deficit in your calorie tracker on MyFitnessPal, it will be included in your overall calories burnt in Map My Run. Pretty handy if you don’t fancy doing a bit of mental maths at the end of the day to figure it out. The physical workout was more than enough! What’s better is that the same app is available under the same name, but for ‘ride’ and ‘walk’. This allows people to be grouped in the same cluster as those doing the same workout. Nothing would be worse than riding your bike to find out it was a walking route! Might be a little shorter than you planned!
So there you have it, just another one of the many ways that web and mobile communication has evolved to help us out in one of the simplest forms. We all need that little bit of extra encouragement to get out there in the open for some real, foot to gravel pounding. It just happens to be all there waiting for you on your phone…
Katy xo
If MapMyRun is something you’d be interested in, check it out here!!
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