As you know from our earlier blog post, three members of the Wahoo Fitness team are on an epic journey to qualify for the 2013 Boston Marathon.  The first stop on our quest for Boston glory was Lowell, MA where I ran the 23rd annual Baystate Marathon.  It was a perfect day to run- cool and sunny- and the course was a dream- flat and scenic.  I had an awesome team of parents, sisters, grandparents, aunts and cousins who came out to cheer and high five me in person and an equally awesome group of folks who were cheering me on from afar-- sending support via text, Facebook, Twitter, smoke signals, etc.  I snatched my BQ time with an official clock time of 3:34:03... In by 57 seconds!  I felt good about my training, but you never know what they day will bring and I was just grateful that I had enough in me to hold onto the pace at the end.  Awesome day!
And now the pressure is on, boys!  Stay tuned to hear how Wahoo Chip does in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Here in the good ol’ USA we are lucky enough to have a lot of freedoms; Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, and Freedom of Apps, to name a few. In this age of incredible technology and widespread use of smart phones we are free to choose from a vast number of apps that make daily life just a little bit better. Tired of calculating tips?  There’s an app for that. Want your daily horoscope, numerology, and psychic reading?  There’s an app for that. Want to generate random office sounds -- mouse clicks, keyboard tapping, rustling paper – so you can nap at work without notice? Oh yeah, there’s an app for that too.

And of course there are apps used to track fitness data, including our own (awesome) Wahoo Fitness App.  But there are hundreds of other great fitness apps out there too, each with its own style and functionality.  Everyone has a favorite App – we recognize that and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

So we decided to partner with as many of them as we could. We developed our technology, wrote our API and released it to the world – for free.  Why?  Because at Wahoo Fitness, having an open philosophy is just part of how we operate.  Our goal is to make fitness technology easy, so you can spend less time plugging-in, charging-up, computing and calculating—and more time out there having “Wahoo!” moments. All with YOUR favorite App – not the one you are REQUIRED to use with a certain dongle, case, or accessory.  This way, you get to choose the app that fits you and your workout best, and still get all the great functionality of Wahoo Fitness products.

So we wanted to take a few minutes to tell you about the latest and greatest updates from some of our partners- in case their app is your cup of tea.

Cyclemeter 6.0, Runmeter 6.0, Walkmeter 6.0

Our friends over at Abvio make some kicking apps. They’ve just released version 6.0 of their award-winning Cyclemeter, Runmeter, and Walkmeter apps that offer a ton of features designed to help you improve performance and fitness. Cyclemeter, Runmeter, and Walkmeter are all available on the iTunes App Store for $4.99 each. One voice, for hearing replies from Twitter, Facebook and dailymile.com, is included free. Subsequent voices are $0.99 (US) each via In App Purchase. Note:  The Runmeter, Cyclemeter, and Walkmeter apps are compatible with Wahoo Fitness heart rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors.

Features we like:

• Target Alerts to provide real-time feedback of heart rate, speed, pace and cycling cadence. When you are outside of your target range, an announcement gives you feedback, such as, “increase speed” or “decrease heart rate” along with your current statistics.
• Support for Twitter, Facebook and dailymile.com.  Your friends, family and coaches can reply to your posts on these social sites and their replies are then spoken to you using text-to-speech technology during your workout!

Runtastic Roadbike

From the makers of Runtastic comes a new cycling app, runtastic Roadbike, which was developed by bikers for bikers. With more than 50 features, the app offers a wide spectrum of functionality and features a completely new user interface design. The runtastic Roadbike app is now available for $9.99 in the iTunes App Store. Note:  Runtastic Roadbike is compatible with Wahoo Fitness heart rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors.

Features we like:

• Offline maps download so that you can use your maps without an internet connection
• Customizable screens and audio feedback in 5 languages (English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish)

MapMyTracks OutFront 2.2

The Map My Tracks OutFront 2.2 app now extends the range of ANT+ enabled devices that it is compatible with and adds power in the mix, as well as heart rate, cadence and speed to give cyclists a full set of metrics to monitor and broadcast live on the web. MapMyTracks OutFront 2.2 for iPhone is now available for $0.99 in the iTunes App Store. Note:  Map My Tracks OutFront 2.2 is compatible with Wahoo Fitness heart rate monitors, speed/cadence sensors, and any ANT+ power meter.

Features we like:

• Cool graphs and distribution zones for speed, heart rate, cadence and power
• New support for ANT+ power meters