For running athletes, performance apps have begun to enhance motivation and results, and inspire new participants

Recent studies and data analyses have found that running apps have the ability to enhance athletic running performance and encourage new running participants. Apps provide on-the-go performance analytics, which produce data that high-school, college and professional athletes can analyze to better hydrate, operate and perform. For the casual runner, the encouraging narration and data monitoring, which current running apps include, motivate runners to perform better and set personal goals. For the new runner, apps provide narrative encouragement and map running plans to smooth the transition into running and provide inspiration. 

Health and fitness apps, an app category which includes
running apps, accounts for the majority of overall app
downloads. Photo Source: Flurry Analytics 

Running has become an increasingly popular form of exercise over the last few decades. Social media news feeds are filled with photos of friends running marathons, half-marathons and 5Ks. With the increase in running's popularity comes the increase in running devices and running apps. 

Running USA's 2014 study reported that, "52 percent of runners today track themselves with some sort of GPS-enabled device, like a smartphone, a fitness tracker or a specially designed running watch." There is a growing appeal in the ability to monitor personal fitness and health data, which explains the growing popularity of the sport and the plethora of fitness app downloads.  

Today, smartphone apps have the ability to track distance, calories burned, pace, and elevation. More advanced devices are able to track health data such as oxygen consumption and vertical oscillation, also know as the amount of "bounce" in your step. Every major print or digital publication has written an article about the best running and fitness apps on the market. All of these modern developments raise an important question: Can technology actually motivate runners to perform better? 

Performance apps have the potential to influence athletes' running and performance goals

The evolution of running apps has led to the development of more advanced training apps used to enhance athletes' performance. Apps now include scientifically developed features that help determine specific data about an individual's running patterns, nutrient reserves and capabilities.  

Jim Hagberg, a Kinesiology professor at the University of Maryland, is the developer of the Training Optimization System (TOPS) app. TOPS functions to provide athletes with a mobile app that enhances training and performance. The app includes features such as measuring oxygen consumption, personalized rehydration plans and injury prevention assessments. The app also measures, "water, glycogen, carbohydrates and fat burned or lost in workouts (and) formulates a rehydration plan to restore the athlete to top shape," according to an article in Terp Magazine.

The infographic illustrates the percentage of specific
bodily resources depleted during running, which are 
measured by the TOPS app.
Photo Source: Terp Magazine

The infographic to the right illustrates a breakdown of the data TOPS is able to measure in order to enhance athletic performance. The app breaks down various natural body processes that occur while running or participating in other athletic activities. By determining the percentage of a necessary resource depleted during physical activity, the app can then calculate the resources needed to replenish the body.

Mobile apps have the ability to track revolutionary running data, which other forms of technology cannot. The Metis Trainer is a revolutionary mobile app and tracking system, which provides detailed data about pressure points that allow runners to, "self-correct balance and form to achieve optimal performance." 

The Metis Trainer app works for experienced runners as well as new runners due to its primary goals, which include helping runners enhance perfect form and stride, ideally resulting in injury prevention. The Mettis Trainer tracks cadence, foot landing technique, percentage of weight distribution, counts steps, and monitors speed, distance and progress toward running goals. 

This running data ultimately helps runners prevent injury and enhance their running performance. The correctional information encourages runners to perform better and practice their stride and form. These technical analyses of form have the ability to suggest improvements not visible to the human eye. 

In the below interview clip, Professor Hagberg discusses the diverse appeal many running apps have. No matter what level of running expertise an individual has, he/she can still benefit from the information provided. 

Hagberg's app, as he explains, specifically deals with rehydration, which is critical to any runners health and performance. That being said, for a professional or semi-professional athlete attempting to break records and push themselves to their maximum potential, the replenishment of nutrients becomes increasingly crucial. 

Though the basic data measured and feedback given applies to anyone exhibiting physical activity, athletes like those on the University of Maryland Field Hockey team, which Hagberg coaches, can benefit highly from these high-tech apps.


Running apps use encouragement and motivation to inspire new participants

For those who have never participated in running as a workout, the activity can be fairly daunting. The New Jersey Herald recently published an article about running apps' ability to inspire middle-aged people, also known as baby boomers (a term used in the article), to run outdoors and gradually increase mileage using an app-designed workout plan. 

Author Beth Harpaz, who tested some of the modern running apps on the market writes, "At the end of the nine-week program, I was doing over 3 miles. I added more time and distance using the "free run" setting so the app's log could keep tracking my data." Running apps are encouraging new generations of participants to create and implement running plans within their daily lives. Apps are increasing the popularity of running as a form of casual exercise. 

Many new runners are not running immense distances during one workout. Progress for new runners is gradual and can seem slow if not tracked over long periods of time. Running apps use longterm progress tracking so runners have visual evidence of the progress they have made, which in turn encourages further goal setting. A study about positive and negative feedback, conducted at the University of Chicago, found that positive feedback given on an action performed is more likely to encourage goal setting and enhanced performance. 

Longterm progress tracking is a form of positive feedback. Runners are able to see a large sum of progress as supposed to a smaller quantity, which inevitably will not be as impressive. If a new runner sees they've only increased their distance in the last week by 0.2 of a mile, they will feel disappointed. But if an app illustrates a 4-mile distance increase over a 3-month period in a colorful graph, that is progress a new runner can feel proud of. 

In the video below, Professor Hagberg discusses how running apps can be positive motivational factors for the average runner. People perform better athletically when their body has access to the appropriate resources and nutrients. Running apps have the ability to convey which of these resources have been depleted and what actions we need to take to return to a healthy state. 

New runners are not use to the nutrient depletion that occurs while running. Running apps can ensure runners maintain a healthy balance between physical activity and nutrient intake. Feeling unwell as a result of running will otherwise deter individuals from continuing the activity. Running apps get individuals involved with and educated about how the body works and it's fundamental needs. 

Another form of positive feedback on running apps is narrative coaching. Many apps offer verbal affirmations throughout the duration of a workout. In a New York Times article about improving running stride with the use of performance apps, the author writes, "My new iPhone app told me that my running form was “superb.” 

Personalized coaching within running apps assesses new runners' areas of weakness and uses verbal encouragement to remind runners to correct these problems during their run. The personalized coaching also helps new runners feel confident in their capabilities, encouraging them to achieve personal goals and overcome challengessuperb.” 

The variety of features within running applications enhances performance for all athletic levels

Current running apps include a diverse array of functions and utilities, which range from measuring distance traveled to the calculated depletion of bodily resources. Some of these app features are an integral part of the achievement of motivational and performance goals. 

Sharing running progress and data with friends and other app users is a huge motivational quality for new and experienced runners. Professional athletes can share personalized running data with coaches and trainers, and new runners training for a 5K can share distance progress with friends.

Screenshot of the Human app, which utilizes a network
of encouragement to motivate runners to push their
performance.
Photo Source: Human.co

For the newer runner, Human is a running app that acts as a personal fan base. The app encourages smaller and obtainable steps toward achieving goals, enables users to send motivational tidbits to fellow app owners and provides the option for runners to hire a personal coach. 

Human also encourages walking and tracks daily activities and movement to encourage users to be active throughout their day. Since the app's main goal is to inspire people to run and be active, app users, especially new runners, feel a positive sense of encouragement. This encouragement and feeling of achievement inspires new runners to delve into running as a sport and pass time. The app becomes a source for positive feelings and therefore a positive cognitive association is created between running and the runner.

For a more advanced runner or professional athlete, Runtastic is a running app that measures detailed running data to help users enhance their performance and reach fitness goals. Runtastic creates graphs that track elevation, pace, speed and heart rate throughout a run, implements a color-coded system for tracking changes in speed, and uses modern health software to track changes in weight loss and endurance. 

These app's features allow runners to enhance performance through the use of scientifically calculated fitness statistics. For example, if an athlete is training for a marathon, the color-coded system for tracking changes in speed allows athletes to determine where they slowed down on their run and ideally design a plan for ways to push themselves during those weak points. In the video below Professor Hagberg discusses an app that measures specific performance data for the Women's Field Hockey team. 

As Professor Hagberg mentions in the video clip, the app the Women's Field Hockey team is using measures heart rate and distance traveled, like a GPS. This is an example of running app technology being applied to a college-level athletic setting. 

In a running-based sport like field hockey, it is difficult to measure distance traveled because the players aren't traveling in straight patterns or on a specific route. The app enables coaches and trainers to determine how far the women have run by the end of practice as well as how hard their heart was working. This data helps the players and staff set challenging personal and team fitness goals that lead to better performance during competitions.  

The future of running apps lies in better methods of data analysis

Running apps have many motivational and educational qualities that lead to performance enhancement at both professional and causal levels. The flaw that various experts in athletic performance fields are now talking about is what to do with all of this incoming data. Jennifer Stahl of The Atlantic comments, "Knowing that I’ll be able to see evidence of my improving distance and pace—and that other people will be able to see those numbers, too—has often been the thing that pushes me out the door." Though that is the ultimate goal and benefit of running apps, there is something wrong with this statement. 

Stahl uses the word "numbers" implying that she knows her various fitness and performance data does not know the meaning behind it. The running data acquired from apps is advanced and vast, but how do we analyze it and what does it mean? Professor Hagberg comments below about the future of running apps and how our understanding of running performance can improve even further.  

When using running apps, people are able to determine good and bad within their personalized data. If the distance traveled is a higher number than the previous run and the duration of the run was a lower number than the previous run these are positive results. That being said, Hagberg explains that we don't have a scientific understanding of the data yielded from running apps. 

Running apps have undergone monumental changes over the last 25 years, but will all of this development, the scientific reasoning behind it has become somewhat lost. The next phase in running apps is data interpretation as a means of further enhancing athletic running performance.