Tracking progress is always important. It’s good to know where you are compared to
where you've been. It lets you know if what you are doing is working and can be
an amazing feeling to see how you have progressed. But the opposite can also be true. If you haven’t been working out for a while
you might not want to see the decline.
This is where apps like RunKeeper come in handy. Most people have heard of RunKeeper for
tracking runs, hikes, walks, and so on.
However they have also come out with some additional useful
features. The good folks at RunKeeper recognized that it is important to always
focus on the positive. To this ed they
were able to write there algorithms to congratulate you for any number of
achievements. This includes things like
best time, most elevation change, and farthest distance. These cover multiple time frames such as best
this month, week, and so on. This way
you always get positive encouragement.
This is exactly what I needed on my most recent run.
I have not been training
for a long time now. I finally had some
time to go for a respectable run the other day and I wasn't very impressed with myself. That easy stride I used to have was completely gone. By the end of the run I felt pretty crappy. Thankfully RunKeeper pointed out that I was 9 seconds away from my best 5k time. (I race faster than I train) The point is that a positive attitude is key for improvement. If your tough on yourself like many people are it's nice to have positive reminders. There are many apps available that have similar notifications and tracking options
