Running with an iPhone

10 months ago when I started at Wahoo Fitness, I was a Garmin addict. I love long course running and triathlon and after 2 years of training with my trusty Garmin 305, it was going to be tough to pry if off my wrist. This GPS watch had been my partner on too many hill repeats to count (actually 324 or so after checking my Garmin Connect account) and I wasn't ready to give it up.

The problem? I am head of sales and marketing for Wahoo Fitness. I am supposed to be pimping our products! The first 10 times I ran with Chip (our founder), I still had my 305 and I took a lot of crap. I loved riding with my iPhone in our Bike Case but it was tough for me to make the switch on the running side. I soldiered on with my Garmin, leaving the house with the GPS watch on my wrist, iPod Nano clipped on my hat, and sometimes my iPhone in a plastic baggie in my fuel belt (for long runs). My pre-run countdown was now 20 steps long (grab Garmin, charge Nano, wave hand around in the air to get satellite signal…) 

After a month, i made the switch to running with my iPhone. To quote the old adage, "Change is good but transition sucks."  I'll be honest,  it took me three runs to get it right--  the right screen, the right voice prompts, the right settings. BUT, I think back to the first time I ran with my Garmin.  For the first 6 weeks I ran with three fields - time, distance, and instantaneous pace. The pace jumped all over the pace and drove me crazy. It wasn't until a friend (who also had a Garmin) showed me his field settings that I was able to see the right data and use it as an effective training tool.  

Fast forward 9 months. I love running with my iPhone. I use either the Wahoo Fitness App or Runmeter (I had access to the beta with HR - sweet!). I listen to either NPR podcasts or Pandora while I run (love the internet access). I leave the house with one device - nice and simple. And to dispel a myth - the GPS in your iPhone is just as accurate as any GPS watch, sometimes even more accurate!

 If you’re interested, here are my voice prompt settings for the Wahoo Fitness App. Note: I like listening to Sunni - she's my training partner! It's cool listening to her voice over my music.

 

How to set up voice prompts: 

Quick settings --> Trigger settings 

Every 1 mile

- Auto Lap
 

Every 0.5 mile (voice prompt)

- Time: Running W/O (total time)

- Pace: Workout

- Pace: Lap (I want to know if I am running this mile faster/slower than my workout average)
 

Every 0.2 mile (voice prompt)

- Pace: Current (I use a footpod to get this, great for intervals)

 

That's it! We would love to hear about your experiences running with an iPhone or Android - email us your stories at IAmARunner@WahooFitness.com!

Did you know that 2013 will be the Year of Wahoo?

You might be thinking, "2013?! It's still only 2011!" or "No silly, 2013 is the year of the Snake and a Wahoo is a fish."

You may be right, but 2013 will definitely be the Year of Wahoo -- at least on that 26.2 mile journey from Hopkinton, Massachusetts to the Back Bay of Boston. Three of us at Wahoo Fitness are training and planning (and hoping!) to qualify for the 2013 Boston Marathon. The next few months will be part of the Tour de Wahoo, putting our Wahoo keys, heart rate monitors and stride sensors to good use... and we hope to see some of you out there!

Our first qualifying attempt will be Molly, who will be taking on the BayState Marathon in Lowell, MA in less than two weeks (no pressure, now that I've just announced it to the world). She's been putting in the training and has a great support team up in Mass, but at 3 hours and 35 minutes, her BQ time is a whole 25 minutes faster than her last marathon (Atlanta ING last March).

Our second qualifying attempt will be Chip, who will be racing the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Gulfport, MS. This marathon is famous for a race director who starts the marathon with a starter gun and then runs (and usually wins) the marathon and then sits at the finish line to congratulate all of the finishers. Isn't that awesome?! A great example of the cool people we meet out running!

Our third qualifying attempt will be Mike, who will be racing the Albany Marathon in Albany GA on March 3rd. This was formerly known as the Snickers Marathon, but Mike ate them all.

Hopefully, we will have a live telemetry feature in our app soon so you can all watch us run (which should be as exciting as watching your neighbors paint dry) with real-time location, pace, and heart rate. You know you want to!

We hope to see you somewhere along the Tour de Wahoo or in Boston in 2013!

Wahoo!
-Mike