Many beginners, advanced runners, now face a challenge: How plan and measure your running route correctly? Learn more about how to plan your running routes.
This article will learn the simplest ways to plan a running or cycling route, measure it, and understand more about your performance.
Why should you plan your running route?
It is essential to plan your running routes. Otherwise, it isn’t easy to know how far you want to run, leading to underestimating or overestimating oneself and lower training success. Runners tend to turn faster and “give up without a fixed running distance.” But even experienced runners should plan their running route before the run and measure it during the run. In this case, an appropriate time measurement is crucial and will help you better understand your progress and not lose the fun of running.
Plan a running route with Google Maps
The most popular tool for planning your running route is undoubtedly Google Maps, and the good thing is that it is easy to plan your running or cycling route with this app.
Use the internal route planner for the app. Here you can set the start and endpoints for your running route. To individualize, enter one or more stopovers. The walking distance is displayed as the length of the course.
But since most people do not want to run in the city center and you often feel better around the mountains or in the countryside, you also have the opportunity to plan the running route yourself with Google Maps in just a few steps:
- Open the Google Maps app or website
- Click on the map (press and hold a card). A needle is displayed
- Select “Measure distance” on the computer
- Now tap on it and also select “Measure distance.”
- With additional mouse clicks on the map, you can set all waypoints.
- On your smartphone, click “Add point.”
The distance between the points is measured automatically.
Other possibilities than Google Maps
Google Maps is not the only alternative. Many websites and apps on the internet are made for this. Tools like onthegomap.com work similarly to Google Maps but are more intuitive to use.
You also have Strava, MapMyRun, or Komoot that can help.
Measurement of running distance and time
All the above applications, of course, also offer the ability to measure distance traveled, running pace, and many other parameters during the activity. Then, this is especially useful for keeping track of your progress.
But of course, there are also many apps for measuring activities, each with different advantages and disadvantages. Here’s a shortlist of our favorites:
- Asics Runkeeper
- Adidas Runtastic
- Nike Run Club
- Strava
- Under Armor MapMyRun
The functions of the mentioned apps are essentially the same. Via GPS, the apps measure distance traveled, time, and many other parameters, such as covered altitude meters, calories burned, and much more.
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