4....

I must have told a lot more people around that I am running than I thought, I've had several ask me if this is the weekend and if I'm excited.  Yes and....Yes.  Tomorrow is my last training run before my race.  I just can't believe it.  This week I wanted to share a few things I've found helpful in my training.
The first is Runkeeper.  My husband found this app over a year ago when he got his android phone for Christmas.  (Yes, I am the best wife ever.  He even got it early not, too long after it came out)  He showed runkeepr to me and it was just what I needed to make the switch from treadmill to the road.
I LOVE keeping track and charting things.  On any given day you will find me making small calendars to track certain goals, logging things away.  One thing I loved about the treadmill was instantly seeing how far I had gone and how fast.  Then the next time I would see if I could do any better.  I've since found out that the speed trackers in treadmills aren't entirely accurate. No wonder I could do a 12 minute mile on the treadmill but on the road I could only make it 3/4 of a mile before I would have to stop.  It's just not the same folks.
Now where was I.....oh yeah,  obsessively tracking things.  The runkeeper app is what convinced me to finally join the world of smartphones.  After my contract finally ended with the old phone, we went and bought me samsung intercept.  First thing I did when I got home?  Downloaded runkeeper.  The free version, I just couldn't make myself pay for the pro yet.  It was fine, tracked my distances but that was about it.  Then came the new year and with that, an awesome gift.  Runkeeper let everyone download the Pro version...for free!  This was MUCH cooler.  The running I do usually involves walking intervals(in case you hadn't noticed)  And the pro has coaching on it.  I simply program either how long or how far I want to run or walk and a nice ladies voice comes on and tells me when to switch.  I love it.  I didn't have to look at my phone to see when it was time to run anymore, I just listen for the voice.  For those of you who don't walk when your out, the intervals are actually labeled slow, steady and fast.  That way, if you are doing speed intervals, you know when to kick it up a notch.  Another feature (that I haven't tried yet, it costs more money) is the fitness class.  They have these pre-programed schedules that you can download made by professionals.
So thats it, a [not so quick] rundown of the tracking program I use.  I like and haven't really looked for anything else yet.  When I get more comfortable with my skills I may look into new apps, or *gasp* pay for a Garmin!  But not yet.

*All opinions expressed are my own, I didn't receive any compensation for this"review"  In fact, runkeeper doesn't even know I wrote it.  I just like the app that much ;)