Pounding the towpath on my lunchtime runs, in my head I was still clocking six-minute miles like those I ran in 10k races over a decade ago. But my first experience with a run-tracking app – using a phone’s GPS to detail my exact pace for every mile run – revealed I was less a wannabe Mo Farah, and more a sprightly version of Ed Balls.
This year, after discovering my colleague Adharanand Finn ran the New York marathon in two hours 55 minutes and learning that several other Guardian runners were planning to crack the significant milestone of sub three-hour marathons, I set myself the masochistic task of trying to run next year’s London marathon for charity in under three hours. The fastest I’ve done one before is 26 minutes slower. In a bid to close the gap, I’ve turned to technology.
Can an app make you run faster? Yes, for me at least. Beat-yourself challenges and virtual leaderboards keep you on your toes and away from complacency if you run alone most of the time. And the dashboard and tracking tools of iOS and Android apps, as well as GPS watches, mean you can’t lie to yourself about whether you’re racking up, say, the 40+ miles a week you should be for a sub three-hour marathon.
But there are big differences in how the services line up, as outlined below. I’d love to hear your experiences. I left out Runstar and have heard good things about Zombies, run!, so let me know in the comments how you’ve fared with either of those.
Endomondo
Recently given a complete design overhaul on the Android version, this popular app is intuitive and easy to use. The web dashboard where you can get an overview of your runs, by comparison, is a bit ugly and fussy in terms of design, plagued by low-rent Google ads as well as constant plugs for its paid-for ‘lounge’ service to compare yourself against other runners, even if you’ve bought the Pro version of the app.
The good: Auto pauses when you stop; ‘beat my run’ mode; clean interface; interval training on Pro version; auto sharing to your Facebook timeline (if you want it) and Twitter (at the start and end of runs, if you like); decent audio updates; classification by workout type (eg can list cycle rides separate to runs).
The bad: Lack of granular control over social media sharing (for example, you have to share a map of your run on your Facebook feed); web dashboard could be clearer; free versions now have ads.
• Available on Android (reviewed) and iOS. Free version available; ‘Pro’ version costs £3.99.
Nike+
While many will hate the ‘inspirational’ voiceovers from celebrity athletes that you get after breaking a personal best using this app, I loved its cheesy post-run feedback. It’s a fun, slickly designed app that in a welcome move puts your pace much more prominently than rivals’. It integrates nicely with your phone’s music collection, too.
The good: Smart interface; music support; granular control over social media sharing to Facebook and Twitter; friends can ‘cheer’ you via Facebook; celebrity feedback; easy to set prominent goals; can recalibrate distance of runs in-app if you know the GPS was wonky.
The bad: Promos for Nike kit; notoriously buggy website with regular log-in problems even after its recent redesign.
• Free. Available on Android (only O2 phones in UK so far) and iOS (reviewed).
Strava
The go-to app for cyclists is also excellent for runners. The star attraction is the ‘segments’ – sections of a route chosen by one of Strava’s users – that you can compete on a virtual leaderboard against other runners. Whether your GPS will match you properly to the segment is fairly hit and miss – it was only accurate about half the time in my tests – but it’s far more of a motivator than ‘beat yourself’ and ‘shadow runner’-type modes on the other apps. Clean interface in-app and on the online dash.
The good: Legible audio updates; easy sharing to social networks; well-designed in-app interface and online dashboard; lively online community of users.
The bad: Segment mapping can be hit and miss; audio updates are extremely fast and possible to miss; no auto-sharing to Facebook.
• Free. Available on Android (reviewed) and iOS devices.
Runkeeper
For such a popular running website, the companion app for Runkeeper is surprisingly poor. The app consistently clocks runs at the wrong distance (and therefore pace), usually overegging the distance by as much as 10%, which, while it makes your pace look nice, is simply wrong. The app is ugly as sin, too.
The good: Free app; lots of users online; email alerts; good online dashboard.
The bad: Wonky GPS tracking; ugly app interface.
• Free. Available on Android (reviewed) and iOS devices.
Nike+ Sportwatch [summer 2012 version]
This newly redesigned version of a GPS watch made in partnership with satnav folk TomTom is a decent step up for runners looking for a more discreet and comfortable alternative to a smartphone in an armband. It’s stylish, and just about small enough to wear when you’re not running, and the interface is surprisingly easy given it only has three buttons. Overall it works well, but the GPS can be frustratingly slow to get a fix at the start of the run, and won’t let you start the counter until it has locked on to enough satellites.
The good: The styling; cheesy ‘crowd go wild’ exhortations at the end of the run; decent accompanying PC software.
The bad: No audio updates; no wireless connectivity; slow to lock on to GPS at start of runs; USB charging only (no mains adapter).
• £130-150. Available in four colours (£150 black/anthracite model reviewed).
Garmin Forerunner 610
This GPS watch is far and away the most fully featured tracking option in this roundup, aimed squarely at serious runners. The option to race against yourself is good, and the lapping and stats options are great. But the touchscreen – the first in Garmin’s range – doesn’t really add much to the usability, and in fact is often harder to use than the Nike Sportwatch, because it’s designed to be used with a fingernail to avoid accidental brushes.
The good: Very accurate GPS tracking; discreet to wear; very detailed online dashboard.
The bad: Wireless transfer means you have to sacrifice USB port to dedicated Garmin wireless receiver (doesn’t work via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth); confusing number of services (eg myGarmin for firmware updates for the hardware, Garmin Connect for run tracking); fiddly interface; sometimes slow to lock on to GPS signal.
• £310 (reviewed), £340 with heartrate monitor.
• Adam Vaughan is running the 2013 London marathon for WWF.
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