Instead of playing Angry Birds on your phone to pass the time—and therefore not giving your all during your workout—use your cell to stay motivated and crank up your effort with one of these.
MotionTraxx’s Treadmill Coach Album ($7.99,
motiontraxx.com)
Download this 60-minute treadmill music session, led by Dixon, directly to your iPod. The songs' beats per minute match her speed, incline, and intensity cues, helping you run at the right pace. “Having a coach in your ear will not only provide you with a sound workout so you aren't wasting your time, it forces you to actually connect with your intensity,” Dixon says.
Interval Run ($0.99, iTunes)
For those who prefer to control the playlist, Delta Vee’s app allows you to listen to your favorite tunes while following 5K, tabata, one-hour runner, and other pre-programmed training plans. And if you're a complete control freak, you can also set up your own intervals. Either way, say good-bye to spending your entire run looking at your watch.
iSmooth Run (free,
iTunes)
Take a pedometer, a heart rate monitor, and a training log, put them all together, and you get this app. It tracks your pace, speed, mileage, session length, and how fast your ticker works and turns all that info into customizable graphs and charts so you can follow your progress. There's also a GPS function if you want to go off-mill and auto pause so that anytime you need to tie your shoe or grab a drink of water, you don't have to worry about messing up your stats.
