I’ve just launched RunTrackr. It’s a site where you can create a running route in order to track, among other things, distances. It’s designed to be a tool to aid anyone who runs/jogs a lot, either recreationally or for training. A training log is also provided so that you can easily keep track of your running records and record your progress during training or just to watch your personal improvement.
Here’s a quick overview of what’s possible with RunTrackr as well as what we have in store for the future in terms of improvements to the site.
Adding/Creating a route
Creating a route probably the main reason you’d want to use RunTrackr. By creating a running route, you can measure its distance and keep track of it in your training log every time you run it.
Plotting a route is very easy; all you need to do is enter your location (Eg. “Belleville, ON”) and then click to add points. Existing points can be dragged around to alter the route. When you’re done, just click “Save Route” to finalize! You can also choose to enter a short description, tag your route with descriptive labels or rate your route’s difficulty.
Later on, I plan to add support for uploading automatically-generated routes/plots from GPS devices like those from Garmin, et al. This will make adding routes even easier for those who have access to such devices.
Searching for routes
Searching for routes is a great way to find running routes in your area submitted by other people. Simply enter a location and click “Search”.
If any routes are found, their location will show up on the map as markers and in the sidebar listing. Clicking on one brings up a preview of what the route looks like; clicking the preview image takes you to a full-sized view where you can see other statistics about the route.
Viewing routes
Going to the full view of a route brings up all of its details, such as the distance, description and any tags. You can also choose to add a route to your “Favourites” so that you can easily keep track of it in your Training Log.
Training Log
The Training Log allows you to keep track of the routes you’ve run and provides an easy way to record your progress. Here, each time you’ve run a route you can enter how long it took along with any other comments about the run. Calories burnt are automatically calculated based on an approximation that takes into account your weight and the distance.
The training log is very basic at this point and several improvements will be forthcoming, such as weekly/monthly/cumulative totals as with as some other statistics and graphics like charts and graphs. (Because everyone, myself included, loves colourful pictures)
Summing it up
Registration is optional but takes less than a minute and allows you to use fully use the service. We’ll be rolling out more features as times goes on. I regret not being able to launch this site earlier in the year (when the weather was starting to get nicer and people starting to get out more) but sometimes that’s just how things turn out.
As always, I welcome all feedback about RunTrackr, including any suggestions you might have about how to improve the service! In the meantime, please check out the site if you’re interested and enjoy your time there.