Pro app needs more features

[Scott]

How about a target pace feature?

[Chris Pratt]

I wouldn't hold my breath.  Noom has pretty much abandoned CardioTrainer.  There hasn't been an update in 11 months.
  (*Chris*)

On Sat, Nov 3, 2012 at 8:19 PM, Scott <scott...@gmail.com> wrote:

How about a target pace feature?

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[Mr Angel]

I signed up for pro so I could get the interval training thing. But its pretty much useless; it gives a choice of 12 difficulty levels, but without any way to fine-tune them. Nearly every option has 3.1mi/hr (5km/h I think) for the slow bits, but walking so slowly is extremely uncomfortable and causes ankle pain for me.

I've got a training regimen that a friend's written out for me, and it has things like "Walk 1 minute / run 2, repeat for 20 minutes". Well, that's fine except that I don't want to keep looking down at my phone to see the time when I'm running.

So ... I think there's 3 things that would make this feature of CardioTrainer useful:

1) Voice ("Get ready to run!"/"Walk now" or something) or sound effect to tell you at the end of your interval; so you don't need to look at your watch.

2) An audible alert when the speed graph goes red/blue. Maybe just a slow beep-beep-beep in 2 different pitches to tell you if you're more than a certain % above or below your target speed. You could even have the beep get faster the further off target you get.

3) The ability to adjust the number of minutes per walk/run cycle, preferably independantly. So I could set it to "walk 1/run 1", then move up to running 2 minutes, then 2/3, and 2/4, as I go through my plan. Preferably also being able to adjust min/max speeds, to create custom workouts. It would be nice if I could save my options, too, so they'd appear alongside "Example programme 1" and similar in a list.

I know we don't see much development on CT, but I think if I've paid for something, it should at least be useful.

[Darin Markford]

I completely understand your disappointment with the interval feature of CT, I think it’s one of the weak spots of the app.  Intervals were part of my motivation for buying Pro but I also wanted the race against yourself and other features and wanted to help fund further development of the program I enjoyed so much.

 

When I started a Couch to 5k two years ago, I used a C25K app by Guy Hoffman to time intervals and receive audible prompts.  I had CT tracking my overall workout.  The C25K app had a 5 minute warm-up and cool-down interval which I didn’t want to track with CardioTrainer, so I set up a 5 minute countdown on CT and started both apps at the same time.  Then I stopped CT when the cool-down interval started.

 

My wife liked the C25K plan, but wanted to modify the interval times. So I found a program at the time called ExerTime.  It came with the C25K plan built in or you could build your own custom intervals.  It was just a bit tedious and I needed to look at the built in workouts to figure out how to set up a new one.  Bu it was worth it for my wife to have the workout she wanted without having to closely track her watch.

 

If I were trying to set up a custom interval workout today, I would try Run / Walk Intervals Timer by Ron Bendele.  I haven’t tried it yet but it looks good and I’m thinking about using it because I could use a customized workout for the next few weeks to build up to 10k training.

 

If receiving warnings about pace are important to you, and you don't minding paying $$ -- You could get RunDouble C25K Pro for $0.99 and you can buy additional training plans for it.  It has a programmable target pace feature.

 

Anyway, it would be nice to have everything in one integrated program.  But don’t be afraid to run multiple apps at once. There are several free app solutions for customized interval training that you could run simultaneously with CardioTrainer so you can have your intervals while having CT track all your workouts.  Back when I was doing C25K, I enjoyed having the audible updates from CT during my workout while having the C25K app prompt me to switch between running and walking. Yes I had to start two apps, but I only had to stop CT as the interval app stopped by itself after the cool down interval.

 

Hope this helps.  Unfortunately, we’ll probably never get an improved interval module from Noom / CT.  It’s a shame because I’ve tried several popular apps while some have some nice features, I still haven’t found one where I like the voice prompts or the history screen as much as I like it on CT.