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Best apps for training

Training for a marathon or a physically challenging adventure? It can be made a whole lot easier using smartphone technology to track your progress. It also helps to stay motivated, focused and enables you to share your fitness achievements with friends. Most mobile apps include share functions that will broadcast your achievements and your progress as you train.

hiking legs stand seaside mountain peak

While your friends and family probably aren’t interested in hearing about every single workout and every bead of sweat you generate, sharing some of your training milestones with them is a great way to keep them in the loop of where you are at with your training.

Making your training ‘social’ shows your commitment to the challenge you have undertaken and proves that it is no easy feat to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro, trek through the jungles of Borneo or cycle across Southeast Asia. Your friends and family will be able to read your updates while they are enjoying a lazy Sunday breakfast (or recovering from a big night out) and they will be able to appreciate the effort you are going to for your Inspired Adventure. They will be impressed that you have completed a 25km training hike in the rain while they are only just sitting down to eat breakfast!

Here are some great apps that we have come across to boost your fitness and add some fun to your training plan:

Nike+ (free)

The Nike+ app allows you to add friends and strangers, which is great for a little healthy competition. Using GPS technology, Nike+ tallies your total kilometers from the moment you start using it. The app uses gamification strategies to keep you motivated. It tracks your fastest kilometre, 5 kms, 10 kms and other achievements, unlock badges and prizes as you hit these milestones. Imagine what it feels like after months of training to see the total amount of kilometres you’ve run; it will probably be in triple figures!

Map My Run ($2.99)

This app has a separate computer log-in which allows you to create running goals, running routes and store further information. Using GPS technology, it will alert you to every 1.6 kms you have run or walked, and the pace per kilometer.

ZombieRun ($4.49)

For a bit of fun, how about pretending that you are running from a Zombie apocalypse? You will hear commands through the headphones that inform you how close the zombies are – maybe running for your life might make you go a little faster?

Runkeeper (free)

Runkeeper is also based on GPS locations and will track a number of different physical activities including running, walking, cycling and it allows you to input your training manually if you do a session at the gym. It will even coach you through your headphones while you are training and inform you how far you have gone and at what pace.

At the end of your activity, Runkeeper breaks down your session by kilometre and averages out your pace. It even generates a map with flags at each kilometre marker. You can connect with friends and share you progress with anyone who is interested (and even with those who aren’t!).

My Fitness Pal (Free)

This is a great app for both fitness and nutrition tracking. Preparing for an adventure can mean changing your diet to match your training needs. This is a good app to monitor calories, protein, carbs and fat intake. If weight loss / lifestyle change is one of your goals, definitely check this out!

Note for all GPS apps: Be mindful if you are trekking or trail running where there is limited reception, it will be hard to monitor your workout with GPS.

Feeling inspired?

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