How far? How long?

[icandothis]

I keep reading how people have run x Km in x minutes, how do you know? I dont have a clue how far I run or at what speed.

[juicydee Graduate]

They probably have a device of some sort - there are apps you can get for smartphones (Mapmyrun and Endomondo are the ones I know about) or GPS watches (Garmin) if you want to spend a lot more! I have a Nike+ Sportband which is about £40 and does the biz for me. You wear a chip in/on your shoe and it transmits to the watch; you can check your pace/distance/elapsed time as you run, then when you get home you upload your runs to the Nike+ website to get all the stats.

The easiest way to start though is probably just to use mapmyrun.com to plot a measured route, then time yourself running that route with an ordinary watch. You won't get the 'splits' but you can work out your average speed. However - don't worry too much about speed and distance if you're in the early stages of the programme......just follow the podcasts.

[andystev Graduate]

Simple stopwatch combined with google earth/maps works fine. GPS gadgets are as cool as all get out, but a touch costly. If you've got a smart phone there are plenty of apps, I really like Endomondo.

[Anonymous36 Graduate]

I use my iPhone and micoach app.

[Burstcouch Graduate]

I use my own music say for 35 mins, stop when it finished , the come home and go on map my run, once you enter the details, last thing it ask you is how long it takes. I have mapped all the runs and the long walks I have done over the past few weeks.

You can find my runs under my name.

[Oldgirl Graduate]

I use Good Run Guide to map my runs before hand and then use a stop watch to time start to finish or use Laura's time to stop. I prefer to keep going that little bit further and finish my planned route though if I can. GRG gives you exact distance you fill in your time and it calculates your cals burned and other info. It works out exact distance covered taking into account gradients included in run which can add quite a bit to your distances if you have a lot of ups & downs which where I live are not that steep but they are long sometimes and unavoidable.

[DuncanS Graduate]

Endomondo on iPhone for me. Dead simple to use and I have to say I really like knowing all the stats, it gives you a really good motivation to keep on trying to do better.

Duncan

[icandothis Graduate]

Thanks everyone, that has given me some ideas