The web's becoming a fancier place all the time, especially in the health and fitness arena, so today I'm sharing a few of the sites I hit on a regular basis.
MapMyRun.com
For those without the benefit of a GPS watch, this site is awesome. Essentially it allows you click points on Google Maps to plan your next running route and calculate the exact distance you will go. Your training plan calls for 12K this weekend? No problem, just go to MapMyRun, enter your starting address, and start plotting your path. If you do have a GPS watch, you can actually export the route to your device to help you navigate. Very cool.
MotionBased
I've been using a Garmin Forerunner 205 fo about 2 years now and rarely run without it. It gives me the elevation profile and exact distance I run, but as an added bonus I can upload this data to the MotionBased site and start analyzing the data. It not only gives me a map of my run, but it has a large number of graph outputs to visualize and analyze various aspects of my workout. MotionBased also supports the upload of other Garmin fitness watches, so you can upload and analyze heart rate data as well. (Note: MotionBased, which desperately needs a facelift, is getting just that and will be relaunched as Garmin Connect in a few months.)
Active.com
This is a great general health and fitness website that also does sport specific subsites. Great for finding info on cool races coming up, healthy recipes, training tips etc, and for interacting with others via member blogs and the community forum. Also included are a bunch of handy fitness calculators--calculate your Body Mass Index, Ideal Weight, Daily Caloric Needs, Nutritional Needs, and Target Heart Rate. And of course, there's the ever handy pace calculator.
Running Mania
This is a Canadian running community site. The main thrust is the forum (admittedly very Web 1.0) but they do have event reviews and training plans available as well.
iLovetoPlay.com
This site is essentially a sports matchmaking service. Looking to join a soccer team for the summer? Ultimate frisbee more your thing? Maybe you want to just shoot some hoops every so often. iLovetoPlay can help you do all of these things by matching users together based on what they're looking for. Great idea, but right now I don't think the site really has the user base to make it as useful as it could be. I've had my profile up looking for a tennis partner for about a week now and haven't received a nibble. (Maybe a Google or Yahoo acquisition could give this site the exposure it needs to hit critical mass! Larry, Jerry, you reading this?)
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