Training shoes recycle option

[James Winzenz]

OK, this may be a small thing, but being one of the people who uses the shoe features on the blog instead of adding it in parentheses (I don't want to have to calculate how many miles my shoes have), it would be really nice if there were an option to restart the shoe mileage counter (like a new shoes button or something).  Maybe also an option to identify your shoes (i.e. Adrenaline Blue, Adrenaline Yellow, etc.) instead of trainer 1, trainer 2, racer.  A small thing, but having recently bought a new pair of shoes, I had to start putting them under the racer section to differentiate them from my other trainers.

[Paul Petersen]

Most online logs have well-developed shoe-counters. By far the best I've seen is at RunningAhead.com. You can enter your shoe brand, model, and misc. comment, as well as the price you paid for them. This is done through a separate shoe manager. I currently have 6 pairs of shoes in my rotation, so having 6 separate text fields would not work for me. Rather, a drop-down box selecting the shoe for a given run would be more appropriate.

http://www.runningahead.com/logs/3bd304da39294ede840f576dd54b3c53/shoes

This leads into another blog request, some way to identify or isolate doubles (two-a-days). If I do two 7-mile runs in one day, it shows up in my records as "14". I would like it to show up as one A.M. run and one P.M. run.

[jtshad]

I also log my runs on coolrunning.com (started several years ago) and they have a good shoe mileage counter that is a drop down menu from shoes that you load in yourself.  Active.com purchased this website this year and I heard changes are coming soon (likely start of 2008).   This is a really good log site that is currently free (I do double logs and will likely stop soon) that calculates and tracks pace, mileage, different activities, shoes, HR if you want.   However, you don't have the connections to other runners like you do here and thus my transition to FRB!

[Paul Petersen]

Jeff, at earlier this year I was planning on doing a review on online running logs for thefinalsprint.com. I ended up not writing it, but for a while was logging on three different sites PLUS the fastrunningblog! So I was exposed to a lot of different ideas and innovations while doing so. I stayed with the Blog because the human interaction and networking was superior to the other sites. However, the other sites (CoolRunning, RunningAhead, and Runstoppable) all had much better analytic/database features. I think the fastrunningblog would rise as cream of the crop if it had the analytical powers of these other online logs (ie - its competitors), plus the interactive elements that it already possesses.

[Maria Imas]

I completely agree with Paul about other sites' features. I still double log my miles on athleticore, primarily because of the shoe counter functionality (plus, Hansons goup logs there, and it's always interesting to read). Like Paul, I have 6 or 7 pairs that I rotate for training, or use only in racing, and there is no way I could keep track of them all without a counter. I asked Sasha about this about a year ago, and he implemented the basic counter for 2 trainers and a racer, but without a recycling option. One day he will get to it, hopefully. I also have an account on runningahead, and find it very impressive, but have not kept it up to date. But none of the logs out there have a feature of comments on individual runs (at least none that I know), and this feature here creates a great sense of community and allows the spirit of support and encouragement that we all enjoy.

[Ruth Hilton]

Where is this shoe mileage counter on the blog? I, being one of the 'parentheses' users, would like to know, so I can simplify life a bit.

[Maria Imas]

Ruth, the counter that I'm talking about is actually part of the blogging template. You'll have to switch your template to the one that has all the usual columns, plus Trainer 1, Trainer 2 and Racer. Now, come to think of it, I'm not sure if Sasha made this template public, but hopefully he did. Just keep in mind that you cannot reset this counter!

[Kory Wheatley]

If I had access to this site I could help Sasha add some of these features.  I've currently done development in Mysql and PHP.  Sasha has done a great amount of work already for this site. It's hard for one person to do everything.

[jtshad]

I totally agree with what Kory is saying about the job Sasha has done on this site.  I am likely going to stop double logging once coolrunning.com transitions to ActiveTrainer at the ends of this month (they are taking away some of the features and making you pay for them...e.g. shoe tracking).  It would be great if there was a way to access other folks skills (and this type of work is definitely not one of mine!) to continue to, as Paul says let FRB "rise to the cream of the crop."

[Paul Petersen]

Something I have thought about offering is making some custom buttons and rollovers for the various blog links. I'm not saying I'm a great (or even good) graphic artist, but I could definitely lend my eye and software tools to giving the look of the blog a facelift. I have no time these days, but maybe this winter, if Sasha is willing to let me help.

[Sasha Pachev]

Kory:
I'll give you a call to see what we can do together. Paul - you will definitely beat me in the area of graphic art. Any help is appreciated.

[Michelle Lowry]

So changing my template to add the shoe counter won't delete or mess up the data I have input so far, will it? 

[Sasha Pachev]

No, it would not.