Android App Review: Ontri Trainer

Although there appear to be several marathon trainers for the iPhone, if you enter “marathon” in the android market there are only a couple of applications: Triathlon and Marathon trainer by Ontri and Race Trainer by CRE.  Since the Ontri application is free (instead of $1.25) I decided to go with that one.

Pros:

• I just have to enter the date of my race and the type of race and it calculates what I’m supposed to do each day
• I just have to log a workout on my phone and it publishes it to facebook (because I’m vain like that although I’d prefer twitter)
• It sends a weekly update with the miles logged that week
• There is a web community, although I’ve never used it.

Cons:

• The UI could use some rework.  Many of the runs have a specific technique that should be associated with certain times.  Beyond a few lines it’s cutoff.  Also it takes some reading to figure out what today’s workout is.  It’s at the middle of the screen and is not highlighted
• The training plans are done in time instead of distance.  As a slow person I should focus more on distance since my 2 hour run doesn’t cover the recommended 10 miles…more like 7-8.  Shorter runs have no suggested distance.
• The weekly long run falls on a Wednesday/Thursday for a weekend marathon instead of the weekend which is when I have more time for a 2 hour run.

For a free application it definitely meets my needs.  I can quickly punch in a new race date and it recalculates for me.

I have Endomondo to track my runs with a GPS so when I run outside I use that in conjunction with Ontri, but since I mostly use the treadmill Ontri is my main system of record.

Another solution would probably be just to find someone with a google calendar or something of suggested trainings and sync that to my phone.  That doesn’t have automatic facebook integration though.  Having everything on my phone means I have no excuse for not knowing my next workout.