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Show HN: I run too fast, so I made an app to slow me down
- usaphp 13y agoI would change the title of the post.
- fredley 13y agoTo what, and why?
- dunudu 13y agoIt sounds really arrogant. I'm so amazingly fast that I have to use an app to stop myself from taking off into the air like Superman.
- vinnycoyne 13y agoI see your point — I didn't intend it to sound like that! I'm a novice runner, so I tend to run too fast for my fitness level and burn out too early.
- soneca 13y agoDon't worry, that is exactly the words you must use when talking to other runners, who will understand this is about long-distance and everyone know that running too fast is a problem. For the HNers not used to running, every long-distance running is more a matter of strategy than speed. Even in the Olympics. Go watch a 5,000 meters of any Olympic Finals and try to analyze why the losers sometimes could have easily ran faster than the time of the winner (according to their historic results) and still they didn't.
- bradleyland 13y agoI think it only sounds arrogant to someone who doesn't run, or who has never experienced the problem. I started running in March of this year, after having lived 35 years of my life believing that there was something wrong with me that physically prohibited me from running. Every time I tried running, I would end up gassed very quickly, with my heart rate shooting up to 180 bpm. I tried all sorts of things, but it turned out, I just ran too fast. Surprisingly, this isn't something anyone thinks to tell beginning runners: slow down. I found that I had to focus on running slower than was comfortable in order to get my endurance up. It required real, conscious effort to slow down. I don't know how many people experience this problem, but I know it was a giant hurdle for me. Your app seems like a really fantastic idea.
- mikegriff 13y agoI think that's something that most beginner runners don't think of. Endurance base is so important but also the one that is neglected a lot of the time. It's easy to think "I want to run fast so I have to train fast" but it's harder to get into a mindset of "I want to run fast so I better not tire out as quickly". Long steady runs are the best way to build this up (long being relative to your level, of course)
- tfgg 13y agoIt's a fairly normal problem when you start running. I definitely found that I had to slow my pace down significantly from what I naturally wanted to run at before I could make 5k/10k distances.
- codfrantic 13y agoDidn't come across as arrogant to me, excellent choice of music in the screenshot too... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOSxM0rNPM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOSxM0rNPM)
- a-priori 13y agoThen read it as "I run faster than I should and tire myself out prematurely".
- th0br0 13y agoOut of curiosity, what was the motivation for doing this? What is so bad about running too fast? How is "too fast" defined?
- vinnycoyne 13y agoI've just started long-distance running, and when I run too fast, I tend to burn out long before my target distance (and end up walking the rest of the way home). With Pace.fm, I can set a desired speed and the app will help me stay approximately on-pace.
- ScottWhigham 13y agoI always try for a negative split (slower first half than second half). It's always better to have that extra energy to burn - which feels better: passing 50 people during your last five miles of the half marathon or getting passed by 50 people? Most people start out too fast - just let them pass you and smile as they do. Deep down you'll know that you will pass them in mile 10.
- vinnycoyne 13y agoThanks for the tip! :)
- mikegriff 13y agoHave you tried running with a club? There's usually someone there who takes it upon themselves to rein in the speed on longer runs.
- vinnycoyne 13y agoI've tried running with a club, and it's been a great help. Unfortunately, my schedule frequently clashes with theirs - hence the app ;)
- mikegriff 13y ago
- rjk909 13y agoIf you're looking for an idea for a pro feature, have users calculate their stride length (they'd need to run say a mile and count their footsteps) then convert that to a tempo in BPM for a desired speed (that's like a five minute math problem there, to quote my math profs, it's an exercise for the reader) then play songs within 5% of that BPM. Boom. Pace yo self.
- vinnycoyne 13y agoBPM is something I'm very interested in playing around with!
- aquark 13y agoThis would be very interesting to try -- I don't trust the GPS accuracy of my phone over short distances, so using GPS to detect pace changes could be error prone. As an extra advanced trick: adjust the stride length for incline changes ... though I don't know how you get that information accurately enough!
- ErikAugust 13y agoHad this idea - except mine would be a variation for training. Instead of too fast, it would make an insane buzzing sound if too slow. The problem I would think is accuracy. You hit a bad area, suddenly you are being annoyed even though you are on target.
- stereo 13y agoI've configured my cycling GPS to auto-pause when I'm going at less than 5 km/h. So sometimes, while I'm struggling to pedal up a big hill, my GPS adds insult to injury and auto-pauses with a sad beep.
- k-mcgrady 13y agoGreat idea! Not sure exactly how much I like the idea of changing the speed of the music. Did you consider beeps? e.g. set a target pace, as you drop below it app beeps and increase beeps as you continue to slow (and the same for pace increasing).
- chrislawrence 13y agoRecommending this to all my novice running friends. Nothing like annoyance to help set a good habit!
- vinnycoyne 13y agoThanks!
- marknutter 13y agoThis is a great idea, but unfortunately doesn't help us runners who find music distracting while running.
- ndepoel 13y agoTry using a metronome then. I'm sure there's plenty of apps available for that.
- jaynos 13y agoI picture a "Tell Tale Heart" scenario. This would drive me crazy.
- brianbreslin 13y agoI use my gps watch for this. So I try to stay over a certain pace.
- zupa-hu 13y agoGenious! I am still running on treadmills just because of the feedback loop. That app might change my life :)
- seivan 13y agoI walk fast. It hurts my leg, and I walk to work everyday. I found what worked, was that if I was walking with someone I'd normalize my speed. Because other people somehow can pace them selves, I can't. Wonder if it's related to ADHD.
- pearjuice 13y agoWith Android having a magnitude bigger market share, why is that so many companies, PoCs and MVPs tend to bootstrap for iOS? I get the whole "they are big spenders, so they are more likely to buy my app", but if your concept is so great why not invest a little more time in also deploying for that massive Android audience?
- vinnycoyne 13y agoI can't speak for others, but my company is a one-man show right now. I'm an iOS dev by trade, hence the app is iOS-only for now.
- atonse 13y agoI've only developed for iOS, but the 2 weeks I spent 2 years ago developing for Android, I was simply relieved that I only had to target one Android tablet, so my genuine question: Is there any such thing as an "Android audience?" Calling it a "Samsung Galaxy S4 audience" or "Moto X audience" might be more accurate, right? Because if you want to reach that so called entire Android audience, you have to target much older operating systems and set that as your lowest common denominator.
- pearjuice 13y agoI am not sure about Android development these days, but 2 years ago cross-device support was horrible, yes. I think Android >4 solved most if not all of these complaints by standardizing core aspects of the system. You still have a whole bunch of devices running on Android <4, so you do have to invest more time in 100% device coverage, yes. It is an advantage that with Apple there are only a handful of devices with tight integration in the SDK, but due to its openness Android was (and still is to an extinct) very segmented.
- hibrian 13y agoI think there's an "Android Audience". Regardless of device, they/I want portrait and landscape, android look 'n feel (Actionbar, etc), desktop widgets, background push, and so on. There are fairly easy ways to support some new and old APIs without resorting to lowest common denominator, such as checking the version before making the API call, and reflection. It is a continuing support and testing issue to support "This works on 4.0+ only" features. The big problem with testing is interacting with OEM and 3rd party apps for your own core app functionality. Such as launching an external camera to take a picture: who knows what camera app the user has installed, and what it will return back to your app.
- iambateman 13y agoWhen I started running, I didn't have the discipline to keep pace. So my splits were like 9...9:30...10:15...10:30. But developing discipline to know your own body and abilities might just be the most important part of training. Hopefully this helps you be more aware, not less. (FWIW, after 8 months of training, I've learned to run miles within 10 seconds of each other, without a metronome.)
- ollysb 13y agoJust curious, could you run with this accuracy on any route or only on your regular run?
- iambateman 13y agoLast week I got 8:12, 8:16, 8:20 on a circle route with no traffic. On a less-known route I imagine the variance would go up, but not because of starting too hard out of the gate.
- JavascriptMan 13y ago9km/h is slow :-P !
- facebiff 13y agoFirst, congrats to this guy for building and releasing software that solved a problem he had. But in my experience, a good way to improve your pace, become more consistent, and improve your running form in general, is to NOT WEAR HEADPHONES. You need to be very aware of your surroundings, mindful of your breathing and heartrate, and aware of your cadence to really have a good sense of your form and speed. Seeing an elite runner wearing headphones during a race is very rare; most claim it's because they need to _concentrate_. Playing music while running not only makes is harder for you to hear what's going on around you, hear your own footsteps, etc, but it's a huge mental distraction (for me at least). If I'm listening to music, even passively, I'm more likely to revert to a sloppier form, change pace, etc.