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Target calendar (Read 868 times)

cnlifeasitis


    Is there a way of having more than one calendar for the training personal calendar? Probably best explained with my scenario. I found a training program which I would like to follow over the next few months. Rather than printing it out and using the piece of paper, it would be nice if I could manually enter into my RunningAHEAD calendar the 'aims' for the day. Such as: * The course to be run * The mileage to be covered * The 'time' or 'pace' I should hope to aim for This could be one calendar, like 'TARGETS'. Then the other calendar which functions exactly as the current calendar does, captures all the 'ACTUAL RUNS'. Then maybe introduce features and benefits like: * Each calendar is output into a seperate coloured graphs which can be compared ontop/alongside eachother to see how you have progressed * Users can see if they have hit, missed or exceeded their targets. * Help users improve and regain motivation when they can see where and how often a TARGET run has been missed. * Helps keep them on track with their running program * Reduces waste (I hate having clutter and printing out loads of different papers) * Encourages further use of RunningAHEAD as a one-stop place (Only been using this site for one day and I already love it lol) Im not a programmer so dont know exactly how much development needs to go into it, but just my thoughts Smile In my scenario, I run everyday (dont worry I do include easy recovery days) and it would be great if I could log in each morning and know EXACTLY where and what my aim for the day is and then when I come back enter into the ACTUAL calendar my running details. ...Or there may already be a feature like this and I could be completely blind and not been able to find it lol
    If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got
    Wingz


    Professional Noob

      Right now you can't do exactly what you're describing. Working in the ability to do a "training plan" is on Eric's rather long to-do list, but it's actually a major feature upgrade. I'm not sure when he's going to be able to do it. In the mean time, I enter my goals as "events" using the "new event entry" feature listed in the drop-down box where you usually select "new running entry." The numbers and text you enter there doesn't get added in to weekly mileage, so your totals won't get screwed up that way. Another way I've seen it done is to create a run type called "Planned Run" (or in your case, "Target Run") by using Options --> Workout Types --> Running and then filling in "Target Run" in one of the blank boxes. (You can change the colors of your bars here, too, by the way!) Then, you would enter in your target run data, using future dates. (You can do this!) The only problem with doing it this way is that your statistics will get all messed up unless you detlete your "Target" runs as you go along (or "edit" them and change the run type to easy/hill/whatever and fix the actual time/distances). It also changes your stats for weekly miles, so if you're in a pace bunny group this won't work for you. Hope this helps! Janell

      Roads were made for journeys...

      cnlifeasitis


        Aha! Fantastic. Thanks very much for that. May have a play around with that at some point this evening.
        If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got
          I second (or third) the need for this feature. It is very common to plan out into the future for a race and motivating to try to keep to a plan. In case this is looked at anytime soon, here's my thoughts: I think it would be nice to enter them a week at a time (there's already the concept of when a week begins). The UI would have a page for each week and a line for each day in the week, and each line would show you the date and have entry fields for distance (6 Miles), time (45:00), type (easy, long etc) and a description (1 warmup; 4 @ 9:20 pace; 1 cooldown): Mon 1-8-07 [dist][time][type][description ] Tue 1-9-07 [dist][time][type][description ] etc [< prev="" week][next="" week="" />] You then fill in the distances for the week according to plan, filling in dist or time depending on your goal. Potentially you could have time in HR zones too. Also, you might want to do either specific daily planning, or just a goal for the week. When you've entered that week, you'd click 'next week >' and move onto that. There could be a 'copy goals from prev week' button too. Some other thoughts: -You'd want to see the goal on the calendar (perhaps in gray, or a grayed version of the run type color) (btw, it would be nice if you could see the type of run as a color on the calendar - perhaps a little colored dot next to the log entry if the colors will clash with the text, and that any workout colored the whole square a slightly off white color) -You'd see the weekly goal (or total) at the end of the week on the calendar -You'd want to graph actual verses goal (I've seen the actual as a bar graph and the goal as a line) - Clicking on a goal in the calendar which is in the past would allow you to turn it into an actual run, filling in what is known. - It should display on the Home page what the goal for the day and week are. - It would be really cool if it emailed it out at the start of the week. - And even cooler if it was an iCal calendar so you could subscribe to it with Google Calendar.
            I dunno. Not that it doesn't sound cool, but I've seen too many websites where the amount of features diminishes user-friendliness. I think one of the great things about RA is its intuitive nature and relatively simple interface. (although the graphing page goes a little overboard with options - does anybody really want to graph only their runs that took place on partly-cloudy days? Wink)... Adding more gray boxes to the calendar windows, another calendar on top, creating comparison features to show planned vs. actual, separate graphing....it all sounds a little clutterish. Maybe it's just not a feature for me, but I fear superfluous option boxes would push the site a little too far over the "technical" side. But here I have to admit that I'm the personality type that feels no need to plan for anything beyond the next 24 hours of my life! Big grin Roll with it, I say.
            JakeKnight


              I dunno. Not that it doesn't sound cool, but I've seen too many websites where the amount of features diminishes user-friendliness. I think one of the great things about RA is its intuitive nature and relatively simple interface ... Adding more gray boxes to the calendar windows, another calendar on top, creating comparison features to show planned vs. actual, separate graphing....it all sounds a little clutterish. Maybe it's just not a feature for me, but I fear superfluous option boxes would push the site a little too far over the "technical" side.
              XanaduStone: I have exactly the same concerns. Personally, I like things just fine as they are ... and I too have seen too many good sites get played with too much. It's like a cook that keeps adding spices to the soup. Might make it better, might ruin it. And unfortunately, when I've seen it happen, by the time it's noticed, it's too late to stop it. Which is why I have just one request (other than my dancing cheerleaders, which still haven't shown up): I'd like one box to check so I can turn all the bells and whistles off and keep it basic. The maps and the log, just like they are now.

              E-mail: eric.fuller.mail@gmail.com
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                It seemed from reading the forum that this was a feature that was going to be added sometime, so the comments I wrote are just my thoughts on it. I don't think it needs to make the site more complicated. You need 1 tab at the top (perhaps) for Training Plan. Then under that you can edit and create your plan. Maybe it can just be another 'Tool'. If you don't want to plan anything then don't press that one button (or tab). If you don't make a plan then nothing will show up in the calendar (or the graphs) and the site will be exactly the same It doesn't add clutter. I maintain that many people run based on a plan.
                CherryDG


                  Another way I've seen it done is to create a run type called "Planned Run" (or in your case, "Target Run") by using Options --> Workout Types --> Running and then filling in "Target Run" in one of the blank boxes. (You can change the colors of your bars here, too, by the way!) Then, you would enter in your target run data, using future dates. (You can do this!) The only problem with doing it this way is that your statistics will get all messed up unless you detlete your "Target" runs as you go along (or "edit" them and change the run type to easy/hill/whatever and fix the actual time/distances). It also changes your stats for weekly miles, so if you're in a pace bunny group this won't work for you.
                  Hi all, I was trying to figure out a way to track my planned vs. actual runs and came across Janell's suggestion. I ended up doing something similar except that instead of creating a new run type, I created a new workout (under Other Workouts) called "Planned Runs". I just started doing this, so I'm this approach probably lacks something that I haven't thought of. For me, it works out well because it tracks my actual vs. planned run distances separately. The only thing that some may find to be a pain is that you still have to manually enter your actual runs. Personally, I like doing this since I kinda equate it to putting a gold star by name when I was a kid. Cherry