Fitness?

This ties into the Zombie app sorta. The makers of the Zombie app mention that in a future update they will add a distance thing, calories burned, maybe heart rate...stuff like that. In the reviews of the zombie thing, one of the reviewers said he/she uses Endomondo in the background of zombies. I will now (hopefully) link to the google play page for it, and NOT the home page for it. If the link works, it's easier to read a list of the features. Endomondo

So, you can read the features there, so I won't bore you with that. I will say I ran endomondo in the background behind zombies whilst I ran my first mission. Since I won't be posting my stats to facebook, and I doubt I will find any of you on the web version of endomondo (well, maybe one of you ), I will share my first "OMG I'm out of shape BAD" on here!

This is the standard info output at the end of an endomondo workout, with my first tracked stats...

Distance: 2.19 miles
Duration: 0:42:07
Avg. Speed: 3.12 mph
Avg. Pace: 19:14 min/mile
Calories: 223 kcal

I have no idea what a kcal is, but I'm pretty sure I didn't burn 223,000 cals doing a 20 minute mile! I will have to find out what a kcal is. Oh, and in case the link above doesn't work or the features don't explain enough, I quickly found that Endomondo has built-in tracking presets for what looks like close to 100 exercises/activities, from walking, to bicycling (3 or 4 different styles), to skiing...just amazing all the stuff it's got for FREE.

For those who found this from the link in the Zombie thread, I would like to add HOLY CRAP my legs are burning! The little muscle and cartilage groups in my knees that don't fit right cuz of my birf-defected kneecaps are a bit over worked

Now then, WOWIE!!! First, a 'kcal' IS in fact a thousand calories! Or the equivalent of 4,184 joules of energy! I did that!

So, just to fully know what the hell I signed up for with this Endomondo, I logged into the web version. I was first greeted with a box telling me I should link my facebook account so I can make friends with any facebook friends who use endomondo. SKIP! Then I get welcomed with 4 challenges from endomondo, fitness challenges. Read the first one, which was mountain biking...but I am NOT going to Idaho to race professionals!

Then I clicked on workouts. There's a calendar, set to today, and it shows the run I did. I mean it SHOWS it! Overhead map (courtesy of google) with a blue line for everywhere I went. Damn thing is so sensitive you can even see when I crossed water street! Aside from the info in the last post (taken from phone app), this page also has max speed, high/low altitude, and high/low elevation! There's a share button, and I copied the embed link, so if this works, come see what I did! Okay, didn't work... here's the direct link... my run

And I will try the embed here... hehehe WOWIE!!!

I'm reading this while eating a McDonald's breakfast burrito. Yay processed foods!

You bastard! A McD's breakfast burrito sounds DAMN yummy right now! I haven't had one of those in a long while.

But the point here was just the neatness of the stat tracking when combined with the zombie game mentioned in the other post. Add in that the zombie game is a GAME, and YOU (me?) is the controller! More people get on board with this, things could get awesomer! Imagine if Sony put up a few satellites that tracked Move controllers, and they actually made a game where you pick zombie or survivor, and could chase people around your town! Of course, NE wisconsin would get the connections almost a year after all of the world records are set...

Little bit off subject for this thread! It's too bad they don't have manual stuff to enter on Endomondo, just for stat tracking, like if you just entered manually how many miles you walk in a day or something. But it says right on the main site it's pretty much ALL handled by GPS. Hmmm...perhaps a deal can be made? Maybe if I reach a certain goal... 1 billion kcals... or 30 miles... something like that... at that point your significant other would say "okay, he made it, now you can get a Droid and the zombie game!"

An update. Just got back from a run/walking wheeze. Decided not to do mission 2 on the zombies for 2 reasons: I didn't want to be out for an hour and a half (or however long the mission would be), and I wanted to test the music abilities of Endomondo. So I turned on the music, and Endomondo (endo? like from now on? Ok...endo it is) tells me it can't open a music player on the phone, which is odd since I'm still using the stock music player the phone came with, which is also odd since I changed damn near everything else, but that's off topic. SO, since endo runs in the background of pretty much anything, I opened the music player, set it to shuffle, and away I went.

About a block away, ankles started getting sore, probably still not used to running from the other night. Walk walk walk. About a block and half I decide to start running again, and get spooked by a 'short' light and movement. That's 3 times now I've caught one of my distant neighbors on his knees in his front yard vegetable garden, way after dark, with a stretchy band head lamp, picking weeds or talking to worms or whatever the hell he's doing on his knees in a garden at midnight! I wasn't breathing right, ankles were sore, and I was walking a lot more than running again. I felt like I was doing a lot worse than last time, and figured the zombie game must be the driving force.

On my home stretch, I decided to force myself to run a whole block. Made it about 3/4 of the way. Walked a block in disappointment. Next block I decided I can at least run from sidewalk to sidewalk! Um...like the little chunk of corner sidewalk that slopes down to the road, basically one block. I did it!!! Got home, and as soon as I got in the door, I checked my heart rate (yep...there's an app fer dat! ). 114 BPM. Not horrible, and not in my danger zone.

Jump online, and go to the endo website (as soon as you hit stop on the phone, it uploads the exercise). On the homepage there's a news feed. It was updated.
"Mike S was out running. He tracked 1.16 mi in 18m:31s.
Personal best 1 mile of 14m:35s which is a 2m:12s improvement."

Holy crap!!! I did better! 221 kcals! I then manually entered my heart rate for the exercise (endo recommends 2 heart rate monitors that use bluetooth, and endo will auto sync with them if you have one or the other. Too rich for my blood, so I'll use the free app and manually enter), and now my exercise calendar is moving right along. I'm just stoked I improved!!!

OH...AND...though endo couldn't open a music player, when I went to the detailed exercise page (like the one I embedded above), I opened up the exercise playlist, and the damn thing listed all the songs I listened to! Dammit, man! They know where I went, altitude, elevation, how fast I was, AND what music was playing?! Big Brother is exercising with me!!!

To help with your cardio, I have one of those Gold's Gym weighted vests... normal velcro / plastic clasp vest with 50 one pound weights... that you can borrow. Yes, your heart rate will jump up accordingly, but that's what you want.

Thanks, but I don't think I need the extra weight right now. Small goals, ya know? Like last time I made myself go a block, next I want a block and a half, then 2 blocks. I will keep it in mind for the future though!

I remember when you said you got that, and you were going to use it for swimming. How is that working? If you haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend it for a great workout! Maybe let me borrow all your comic related stuff first...

I'm going to blame the heat/humidity and the fact that I took a water bottle this time. That, and I started and stopped the app at bad start/stop points this time. I really need a routine for that. Long story, and I'll skip it. Also apparently don't remember how to drink out of a bottle while maintaining a run/jog, so I slowed every time I got thirsty.

Let's see... 73 degrees... 94% humidity. Copy/paste from my news feed:

Mike S was out running. He tracked 1.16 mi in 18m:53s.
Personal best 1 mile of 14m:32s which is a 0m:02s improvement.

That's right! Still improved despite stupid hotness and water trying to slow me down! Furthermore, I made my block and a half... 3 times! Which really makes me scratch my head as to how I only gained 2 seconds. Or when the 'bitchin betty' says "One mile in fifteen minutes, forty-three seconds" but the news feed says 14m32s...hang on... my workout report shows 15m26s?! Crap, there's countdowns and warm-ups and various time altering stuff between the app and website. And it looks like if I'm GPS'd through my wifi, when I have to go cellular there's a phantom time while it locates the satellite. Well, for free it's still awesome!

Okay, I've managed to turn this thread into a tale of running from zombies and stuff. Since it looks like I will be doing this for a while at least, I have moved my updates to a new thread at here. From now on I will stick to reviews of the app here.

Since I don't really have any updates on app features or issues, I will just say for now that I really do love this app, and it's counterpart website. I really enjoy being able to actually see the routes I take, when, and what my stats are. Then I can try to beat myself next time! IF I felt like sharing my... well, my anything on FB, I could invite friends to join the website version and we could like/share each others news feeds. But I would prefer an app that lets me run FROM facebook, not FOR it!

One thing I will add about some features of the app that I haven't used ONLY because I keep forgetting about them, is the ability to set goals. You can set a distance goal for your workout, and apparently the bitchin betty will inform you as you go how much further you have to reach your goal. There is also selections for a timed goal, and a calorie goal... but both of those are only available in the PRO version. There is a menu for setting a goal of beating a friend's stats, but I cannot view that menu as I didn't friend anybody on EndoMondo. It seems the choices are importing contacts from Google+, FB, or Yahoo... and it's unclear if doing that automatically starts posting your crap on said site or not. ANyway, there are also menus for setting workout goals of beating one of your own previous stats, and another settings for 'interval training'. Beating yourself, and interval training are also only available in PRO. PRO version weighs in on the app market at $4.99, which really isn't bad considering everything it's capable of. However, if you just paid $7.99 to run from zombies, it might be a little steep. Maybe I will find a 'friend' or two to compete with on there, then think about upgrading so I can use their stats for my goals!

Warning: There's a LOT of 'professional' athletic types on Endomondo! You can't search for people, but if you check the challenges, you can see the leaderboard. For example, I just checked the 'running' challenge titled "2012 Miles in 2012." In first place so far, a Mr. Michael Hass with 2769.52 miles so far this year! Doesn't he work?! WTF?!?!?! Or how about first place in a 'most miles in mountain biking' challenge? 4726.46 miles!!! Oh, he's from Germany and he does 'events'... Still, that's a lot of miles! I will NOT be setting his stats as a goal anytime soon! I should point out, it's possible to start up 'teams' with your friends, and the team can then enter team challenges! Get a droid or iphone and join me!