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RunKeeper Pro is free through January -- there's no excuse to be a couch potato
If you read my recent roundup of exercise and dieting apps for iOS, you'll probably remember that one of my featured apps was RunKeeper for iPhone, which I use to track my walks and bike rides. Up until this time, I've used the RunKeeper Free edition, which lacks the customizable audio cues, coaching features and improved fitness class experience of the Pro version. Well, I just upgraded to the Pro version for free, and you can, too. As a way of encouraging people to get off their couches, and to thank RunKeeper users for their support over the last two and a half years, the company is making RunKeeper Pro free to download through January 30, 2011. It doesn't matter if you haven't used RunKeeper Free in the past, you can still get the Pro version at no cost. This giveaway comes in the wake of RunKeeper Pro being named by Apple as one of the Top Grossing Apps of 2010. Note that the Elite service, which allows others to follow your progress while you're out exercising, still costs either US$4.95 per month or $19.95 annually. For TUAW readers who use Android smartphones, you'll be happy to know that RunKeeper Pro for Android is also free through the month of January.
FitnessKeeper introduces enhanced RunKeeper website
If you're a RunKeeper iPhone user, you'll be pleased to learn that the makers of the app and its supporting website have introduced a new service called RunKeeper FitnessReports. Like the normal RunKeeper web service, it uses the iPhone data you collect during your runs that are posted to the site. An optional subscription service, FitnessReports emphasizes what Founder and CEO Jason Jacobs calls "actionable intel." He told TUAW, "FitnessReports enables you to see how your key metrics are trending over time, spot areas for improvement, and see how your performance compares to others on your RunKeeper Street Team." In English, that means that you can more intensely analyze exactly how your runs are going. The new service, which will cost $4.99 a month (or $19.99 for the first year, if you sign up during their introductory special), provides tools that, according to Jacobs, "drive ongoing improvements to your fitness performance," i.e. help you run and walk better. With its enhanced charting capabilities, you can track how your pace and distance improve over time, compare your calories consumed during workouts, and create analytic reports that estimate how different factors like pace and elevation affect your distance during runs. Jacobs emphasizes the utility of tracking performance details over time. "It's the Hawthorne Effect," he explained over the phone. "You've got to measure yourself in order to improve. Plus, RunKeeper adds a sports element to the process making it fun to compete against yourself and the entire application is very social. You can share your profiles and automatically post your runs to Facebook. Last month, we got more inbound traffic from visitors looking at their friends' shared RunKeeper runs on Facebook than traffic from Google search." The new FitnessKeeper service builds on this very human desire to analyze and share performance details by adding new ways to view and use fitness data. RunKeeper [iTunes link], already has a strong, loyal following. TUAW reviewed it positively last November. Although pricey, this new web feature may be exactly the thing the fanatical runner inside you has been looking for to complement the existing iPhone app.
Hands-on (and feet-on) with RunKeeper Pro
The $9.99 pro version of RunKeeper [iTunes link] serves as a nice alternative to Nike+, especially for the interval-training minded runner. While the Nike+ kit serves a means to an end for many runners, it may not suit everybody's needs. There's the additional cost of the transmitter and receiver (USD $30) for iPod nano owners -- iPhone and iPod touch owners need only purchase the transmitter for USD $19. Then there's the cost of Nike running shoes, which are the only shoes that accommodate the Nike+ transmitter; or as a workaround, you could get a pouch that fits the transmitter on your shoelace; and these usually run about $10. And then there's the issue of accuracy. I personally find a calibrated Nike+ kit very accurate. For instance, during a 4 mile run (I mapped out the trail on walkjogrun.net prior to running) RunKeeper Pro showed that I ran 3.95 miles while Nike+ showed 3.90 miles. Others, however, have not been as fortunate. And this is understandable, as the kit works by detecting the steps a person takes; and as runners' gaits and strides can sometimes change during a run, this may affect the kit's accuracy. Accuracy issues aside, RunKeeper Pro, at face value, appears little different than Nike+: at its core, RunKeeper Pro aims to track your running progress, albeit with different technology than Nike+. But dive a little deeper, and what you'll find is a training gem, especially for interval-based workouts.
