Previous version already had ability to share your best pace to Twitter or Facebook. In 2.0, sharing options are greatly expanded. As before, sharing is available from the run view, so you can brag about your results as soon you’re done running or you can do it afterwards, when reviewing run details. Icon for the sharing is changed to (more or less) official icon:

The share panel is greatly enhanced:

You can choose do you want to share the best pace or the distance covered. Below that, you see the main new addition: ability to share full details of your workout to dailymile.com, one of the most prolific running communities on the web.

dailymile

I wanted to add dailymile integration for ages, ever since I saw one of these gorgeous infographics website can automatically generate for you (I found that linked graphic through random search).

Once you tap the dailymile button, you will see this screen

Here you can edit the message shown, choose how you felt during the run and decide do you want to post the track as well. In essence, you can post full details of the workout in just two taps: one to choose the “felt” and then tap “Post”. Everything else is pre-populated and sent automatically. Easy-peasy.

You are not forced to send the run on the day you did it – you can do it at any time; Go Couch to 5k will send the correct date of the run as can be seen from my dailymile profile.

Facebook and Twitter and…

As before, Facebook and Twitter integration are present and are updated to latest APIs they provide. Twitter integration is using iOS 5 Twitter framework thus make sure you have your accounts predefined (through Settings app). Facebook integration is using their single-sign-on, so if you have Facebook iOS app installed, you will not have to login again, it will pick up the login credentials from there.

If you tap the “more…” button at the bottom, you will see additional ways to share your run details, through either SMS text (or iMessage, depending whom you’re texting) and also through email.

We did all we could to make the sharing as easy as possible and least time-consuming and we hope you will like it and use it often.

How we tested

On iOS, Core Location is the framework responsible for finding and tracking one’s current location. It uses several different technologies to do that, but the most precise one is based on GPS. This is available since iPhone 3G, although our tests show that GPS is usable for walking/running starting with 3GS and on. Current generation – iPhone 4S – goes one step better then its predecessors since it includes the support for GLONASS, which is similar system developed and maintained by Russia.
All together, this makes iPhone 4S the perfect test phone.

We used a straight path in the middle of New Belgrade (Serbia’s capitol), exactly 400m long.

View Larger Map

Before testing each app, iPhone was reset, to eliminate GPS cache influence. Then we went walking the path two times, one test walk after another.
Why like this? Well, as you will see, tests and experience tell us that Core Location updates are wildly inaccurate at the very start, while iPhone is still trying to triangulate user position. The theory says that for a good match, you need to receive position info from at least 3 different satellites. On iOS though, we have no idea when this happens – Core Location handles this transparently and all you get is an object saying: this is your lat/long position and accuracy is +/- 10m or 30m, like that.

So lets see how competition fares. We tested:

• Nike+GPS (currently best-selling app of its kind on App Store, uses MotionX engine)
• Active.com Couch-to-5k (a Top 10 app at the moment)
• MapMyRUN
• RunKeeper
• RunMonster
• Runmeter

All of these are almost always in Top 50 of the Healthcare and Fitness category on the US App Store.

First test walk results

Here are test results for each of these apps on cold-start, after iPhone was restarted. For each one, we waited until they reported GPS signal as maximum and then started the walk test.

As you can see, both from the measured distance and the maps, each of these has significantly missed the target 400m range, reporting values from 1.25km (Nike+GPS app) all the way to almost 3km – 3-7x the actual length!
The one exception is Active.com Couch-to-5K app which was nearly perfect:

Our kudos to their developers, they did a really good job in filtering out the crazy outlier positions.

This test walk was around 4 minutes and for each app, immediately after we got to the end of the test path, we would start another test walk in the opposite direction.

Second test walk results

As you can see, all the apps are very good to perfect. We did test Active.com app as well, but it basically repeated the results from the previous run, thus no need for a screenshot.

What this means is that iPhone 4S probably needs about 2-3minutes to fix the device position properly; when that happens, CoreLocation API call distanceFromLocation: is returning usable values (we suspect that most devs are using this value to calculate covered distance).

How Go Couch to 5k fairs..?

Our current live version (1.7) is acting the same as majority of the tested apps. Our new engine – which is still in development – is near the perfect results. We are currently filtering bad position updates so strictly that we calculate the distance under the 400m :) – this is the cold start test walk:

You can see from the screenshots that even though map shows crazy zig-zag line, our measured distance is very close to actual path length.

We intend to get this perfect for the 2.0 release. Stay tuned.

At the end of the program, you’ll be able to run 5km for about 30minutes, without stopping. Interested?

Go Couch to 5k has the same feature set as Guerrilla Cardio:

• near real-time speed and distance tracking
• animated display of pace changes
• automatic highlight of the maximum achieved speed during the run
• full run history with extensive details about each run
• plot of the each run on Google Maps
• voice feedback during the run
• ability to choose music inside the app, even construct a playlist just before the run
• share the best pace on Twitter and Facebook

This is a perfect starting program for new runners . It takes off as lightly as possible, gradually increasing the pace, but nothing really major. And what’s even better, it can be perfectly combined with Guerrilla Cardio. Don’t do it from the start, but from say 4th or 5th week of Couch to 5k program.

Then you can do:

• Mon/Wed/Fri – Couch to 5k
• Tue/Thu/Sat – Guerrilla Cardio

Start this in the spring and by the summer you would be as it as you ever hoped to be.

Go Couch to 5k is available worldwide on the App Store, for $2.99.

Guerrilla Cardio implements the best known HIIT training program developed by Ph.D. Izumi Tabata and his colleagues from National Institute of Health & Nutrition in Tokyo, Japan. This is ”the ideal“ aerobics training protocol and Guerrilla Cardio makes it easy to follow and complete the program.

Real-time speed updates during the run

This is challenging program, aimed at people in good shape who want to get rid off that stubborn belly and/or thigh fat. This is possibly the best known high impulse interval training (HIIT) program ever made.

App features are designed to motivate you to improve through-out the program:

Program overview shows the best pace - it challenges you to beat it

We invested a lot of thought and time into this app and can’t wait to hear from you. Don’t forget to read more on the app page.

It’s available now on the App Store, worldwide for $2.99.

There will be opportunities to discuss this more, but for now, here are icons for the two of the upcoming apps:

More details soon.

Photo by: Vicky McCormack on Flickr

I was in terrible shape last autumn – I would get tired just chasing a bus a short while. I hated this but all my attempts to get into some regular workout failed. I’m also a bit overweight, but that did not bother me much like the out-of-shape state. I know people more over weight than me and in way better shape.

So I gave Nike’s plan a chance. If you haven’t checked it yet, Nike’s plan is basically this:

• Run 4 days a week: Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun
• Mon, Wed, Fri are 20mins workout on average
• Sun is more relaxing, but lasts 30 to 40mins
• It lasts 6 weeks; on the last Sunday you should be able to run 5km with no stopping

First week looked easy. 1min walk, 1min easy jog, repeat 10x. Easy, yes?
Like hell.
I would be hyperventilating after 10mins, which was just plain embarrassing. I realized just how badly out of shape I was. So, instead of pushing myself into injury, I repeated first week 3 times, until I got into good enough shape that I felt comfortable to continue with week 2.

This is the key: do not follow this blindly, you’ll end up injured and it will do you no good. If you can’t walk home after finishing the workout, you’re overdoing it.

The program lasts 6 weeks, but it does not says anywhere it should last exactly 6 weeks. It’s just a plan. What’s important is that you stick with it ’till the end, regardless of how much it takes you.

Why?
This summer, I started the same plan again, after not running for over 6 months. I went through first week like a breeze and continuing with the second. There was enough “shape” left in me from those 8 weeks last autumn, even after entire winter and most of spring of not exercising almost anything.

You don’t have to get into serious running. Stay casual and still be in good shape. But don’t give up.

p.s. Run Mate is perfect companion to these plans. Check out why.