Show HN: I run too fast, so I made an app to slow me down

http://pace.fm

by vinnycoyne • 13 years ago

24 48 13 years ago

pace.fm

usaphp• 13 years ago

I would change the title of the post.

fredley• 13 years ago

To what, and why?

dunudu• 13 years ago

It 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.

th0br0• 13 years ago

Out of curiosity, what was the motivation for doing this? What is so bad about running too fast? How is "too fast" defined?

vinnycoyne7• 13 years ago

I'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.

ScottWhigham2• 13 years ago

I 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.

mikegriff3• 13 years ago

Have you tried running with a club?

There's usually someone there who takes it upon themselves to rein in the speed on longer runs.

k-mcgrady2• 13 years ago

I find that I can run much longer on a treadmill because the pace is set for me. I can't manage it as well myself when running outside and burn myself out too quickly.

ScottWhigham2• 13 years ago

Everyone can run much longer on a treadmill though. That's not unique to you. I always wondered just how much of a marketing ploy that was - "I love my Acme Fitrun machine - I can do 12 miles in just under 1:30!" Meanwhile that person finishes a half marathon in 3:14.

netrus• 13 years ago

Think about the physics of running on a treadmill. The only part of your body constantly accelerating are your legs - your upper body hardly moves. When running outside, you have air resistance, speeding up / slowing down to avoid obstacles, slight side-movements .... Your body simply is working harder.

rjk909• 13 years ago

If 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.

vinnycoyne7• 13 years ago

BPM is something I'm very interested in playing around with!

aquark• 13 years ago

This 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• 13 years ago

Had 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• 13 years ago

I'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-mcgrady2• 13 years ago

Great 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• 13 years ago

Recommending this to all my novice running friends. Nothing like annoyance to help set a good habit!

vinnycoyne7• 13 years ago

Thanks!

marknutter3• 13 years ago

This is a great idea, but unfortunately doesn't help us runners who find music distracting while running.

ndepoel• 13 years ago

Try using a metronome then. I'm sure there's plenty of apps available for that.

jaynos• 13 years ago

I picture a "Tell Tale Heart" scenario. This would drive me crazy.

brianbreslin• 13 years ago

I use my gps watch for this. So I try to stay over a certain pace.

zupa-hu• 13 years ago

Genious! I am still running on treadmills just because of the feedback loop. That app might change my life :)

seivan• 13 years ago

I 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.

pearjuice2• 13 years ago

With 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?

vinnycoyne7• 13 years ago

I 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• 13 years ago

I'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.

pearjuice2• 13 years ago

I 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• 13 years ago

I 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.

iambateman2• 13 years ago

When 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• 13 years ago

Just curious, could you run with this accuracy on any route or only on your regular run?

iambateman2• 13 years ago

Last 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• 13 years ago

9km/h is slow :-P !

facebiff• 13 years ago

First, 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.

Show HN: I run too fast, so I made an app to slow me down

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