Over the past year, I have tried online websites, iPhone Apps or a combination of the two, to track my running, to see which one best fit my personal needs and preferences.
During all of this searching, for some reason or other I maintained my own spreadsheet to track my running.
It might have been a very good choice to have done that looking back with 20/20 hindsight.
Since last year, I have tried a dozen or so apps/websites and while a couple have really “interested me” me, none did everything I wanted, so I kept searching for the perfect combo, until I gave my iPhone to my son-in-law a few weeks ago.
Moot Point
Now which website I use is pretty much a moot point, because I have to enter my data manually and there are no GPS files to upload to a site. Since I no longer have the GPS device/app capability, I am looking at how I log my running data and how that data is used, a little differently.
Auto-sync let’s you conveniently forget, how much data you are actually providing a website whenever you upload your data:
- Personal Information
- Location
- Running Habits
- Type of runs
- Running Times
- Distance
- Weight
- Activity
- Usually shoes and the mileage they have on them
- What kind of weather you are willing to run in
- and whatever else the App/site collects
This information provides a great deal of information to the site about your running and they can do a lot with it. No I am not trying to scare anyone, but we give away a lot of data when we sync to that free website – don’t we.
I also noticed
There were a couple of things that I noticed while doing this search for the perfect running app and corresponding website:
1. Certain sites do not allow you to manually enter data to their site or correct the data entered by your GPS device into their system. Also in some instances, you have to have either one of their GPS devices or their current iPhone App. They have complete control of what is in your data files.
I have a major problem with this type of system, since it is a completely closed system that does not let you choose the data being collected (but do you with any of them?).
Of more importance to many runners is that GPS is not as accurate as many would have us believe and what happens if your GPS device isn’t working, is lost or heaven forbid the battery isn’t charged, there will be gaps between your actual running and what the site says you have (which could be a lot or a little).
2. How difficult it was to migrate my data from one site to another.
It is almost as though some sites make it purposely difficult to leave their site with your data. Either they had no way to download my data, make it difficult to find how to do a bulk download of your data or you could only export your data as a certain type of file (usually not one that allows you to upload your data quickly and easily to a different site).
You don’t have to use the service!
Oh I can hear it now, well you voluntarily signed up, provided your data and used those sites, which are usually free to use, when you didn’t have to provide them with your data. Very true and I have no argument with that.
However, many of these sites are really quite awesome, help motivate you and provide you with your data in ways that is far more useful than simple numbers on a line. I guess you have to make a choice whether their site provides enough benefit, to make it worth you giving them your running data.
However, it sure would be nice when for when I find that “perfect” combination of App and Website that meets my needs that I would be able to transfer/move/upload all of my data to that one and not have my running log spread over a dozen websites.
Read the Terms of Service
Like a majority of the users out there (shame on me), I haven’t bothered to go through and read the Terms of Service agreements that govern each site that I have used for my running data – I just wanted to use their damn site. I am sure that the companies that are providing these websites and apps, cover their butts, quite nicely with the legalistic terms therein their TOS, regarding how they use and how I may access or export my data.
The reality is that
I tend to believe that my running data is my running data, even if I “signed” away my “rights” to my data, in exchange for the privilege of using their site. If I wish to export my .gpx or similar files, it shouldn’t take an act of you know who, to make it happen or that I should have to go on a grand quest for the hidden check box and download command, that might be buried within the site.
Sure some websites make it easy to find these things, but others do not and that is when I have to ask the question:
Who’s Data Is It?
Questions
Has anyone out there ever wanted to switch your online running log, but found to make the switch, you would either have to start over at the new site or that transferring the data was such a hassle that you just stayed where you are?
- Do we own our running data or once we agree to use “their” site?
- Does our data, become their data?
- Is that just the cost of using their apps/websites in today’s online world?
- What do you think?
I am Glad!
All this makes me glad that I maintained my old Spreadsheet running log as well as the online versions. This means that I still have my data in one place and don’t have to go back and re-create the wheel, plus I know that I can access that data pretty much when I need to.
Otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue about how many miles I have run this year. Not with all the different apps and websites that I have tried out since last November, because I can’t either export the data out of some sites in a useable format or there is no way to manually enter or correct GPS data.
Sometimes I do wonder if we do give up too much, to use these “free” things that are so easily available to us and convenient to use.
When I stopped and thought about the data that I so freely gave, to so many sites, during my search for the perfect app/site combination, it made me stop and wonder.
Was it worth it?
I don’t know.
That is the honest answer, but I will be a lot more careful about who I give this information to in the future.
Sometimes, I wonder if it would just be easier to go back to the Pen and Paper log that I have sitting on the shelf of my desk. Naw – I am too much of a geek for that, but it sure is tempting sometimes.
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Erik
August 2, 2012 at 3:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You know what? I just started keeping track in excel. At the end of each week, I just use the auto formula to add the data together (though it’s not that hard to add up to 20 or 30…maybe I should make it a problem of the week for my students…). I do use DM and also upload to the Garmin site. but the Garmin site is missing a couple months as i needed to drop data so I can add more laps to my Garming but forgot to upload it first. Oh well. I say it’s our data, but I’m sure they have a sitewide thing where they can use it to help promote Garmin/DM, etc..
Harold L. Shaw
August 2, 2012 at 3:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I still don’t know why I really kept the spreadsheet, but I am glad that I did
That would be a great problem for your students to have to figure out and then make charts and graphs from the data 
Elle
August 2, 2012 at 5:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I used to use my own spreadsheet and then started on line tracker last year.. hmmmm… thanks for giving me something to think about re all of this.
Harold L. Shaw
August 2, 2012 at 7:56 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Elle – that was really all my goal for this was to get people to think about where and who they are giving their data to and what happens if you can’t control your data.
Alison @ racingtales
August 2, 2012 at 7:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Great point, Harold! My problem is that I hate spending time filling out all that stuff. I used to keep my pen and paper log by my bed and just write in the mileage before I went to bed. Now I find I’m entering how I felt (sometimes takes me a while to decide because how I felt when I started was often different from when I finished), what shoes I wore, etc. etc!
Harold L. Shaw
August 2, 2012 at 7:55 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Alison – I don’t ever see me voluntarily going back to a pen/paper log, but I plant to be a lot more aware of who and where I am going to give my personal information and data now.
Aaron Smith
August 4, 2012 at 6:22 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hi Harold,
Awesome post! I too keep my own spreadsheet, albeit not as detailed as you. I used to use RunKeeper.com with my phone. Then when Mrs. Smiddy bought me a Garmin, I started using Garmin’s site, as well as my spreadsheet. I agree, the sites do have some value, I always seem to rely on my good old spreadsheet. The thing I cannot do with my spreadsheet that the sites do do is make those pretty maps. I suppose I could download the GPS data and figure out a way to place it into a spreadsheet too. I like how you have your routes labeled in your spreadsheet, maybe that is the idea, name my routes, then post my splits via the route, and overall time, along with the GPS data file location. The spreadsheet is a very powerful tool. You can do pretty much everything the sites online do with it and more, since you have the raw data at your finger tips, you can manipulate it how you wish.
Thanks for this post, again. You’ve inspired me to look at ways to improve my spreadsheet.
Harold L. Shaw
August 4, 2012 at 9:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Smiddy – The spreadsheet is the only one where we own our own data it seems, so I will probably go ahead and keep it. Someday when I get another GPS device, I will probably use the website that goes with that device, but will do double-entry into the spreadsheet. There is so much you can do with a spreadsheet, it is just a matter of how you set it up and decide to interpret the data.
. Good luck with improving yours, I am sure it will do what you want and isn’t that the bottom line, having our running data in one place so we can keep track of our running 
.
LesserisMore
August 6, 2012 at 9:27 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
FYI – there are other options out there where you can “own” your data. Sporttracks is one of them and I’ve been using it for more than 4 years. It is free (for the trial version) and has plugins that allow you to import from a wide range of devices that are always expanding. I’ve been keeping all my Garmin data in there for years and it is kept local on my computer, so nothing is being shared with anyone else. Also, you can create categories and add workouts even if it isn’t gps based, so there is always a way to capture anything you do. The paid version is only $35 anyways, and well worth it for all you can do with the data and the plugins.
Harold L. Shaw
August 6, 2012 at 9:46 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thank you I will look at Sporttracks more closely, hadn’t really heard of it before
.
Sean Roland (@mountainCLYDE)
August 14, 2012 at 8:37 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks for the post, Harold. As a guy building an online website for planning, building and logging workouts, I really appreciate your insights. One of the things I noticed years ago using Polar’s site is that they were only interested in doing the bare minimum necessary to support people buying their HRMs. But if I ever wanted to move to a different site, or also use Garmin for my bike rides… I was outta luck!
My philosophy when building my site was that we’ll provide our service for free, focus on continual innovation and delivering the best services possible, and we’ll push ourselves to figure out ways to make money which don’t include selling your personal data or charging you to do something on our site that most people are already doing for free. The tradeoff question is – are you comfortable receiving ads (or whatever) becuase I know you wear Brooks running shoes, and in return you continue to get an increasingly better product experience in return? My personal answer to that was – yes!
For downloading your data, it’s harder for a small company to prioritize that above everything else that people are asking you to build (we all have day jobs and work on this nights/weekends). But after reading this, we’ll look more closely at our development roadmap.
Harold L. Shaw
August 14, 2012 at 9:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sean – thank you for taking the time to read that blog post. I have been frustrated with many of the “larger” sites and how they hold your data hostage or make it nearly impossible or difficult to export your data. If it helps you with your website development and makes it better for the end user, that is a good thing. Good luck with your site and I hope it is successful.
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