Page 32 - RCI EV Asia October 2015

TRAVEL HEALTH
Stay the
Course
DON’T SKIP OUT ON YOUR DAILY JOG. THESE TIPS HELP YOU KEEP IN SHAPE WHILE YOU’RE ON VACATION
BASED ON ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2015 U.S ENDLESS VACATION MAGAZINE, WRITTEN BY HANNAH WALLACE.
Just a decade ago, runners on vacation had to find new routes on their own, either dodging traffic in unfamiliar cities or asking their resort concierge for an easy 5km loop. These days runners have so many online resources to choose from, the question is, which one to use? We asked Elizabeth Comeau, digital editor
at Zelle, Runner’s World’s new online magazine for women,
for the best ways to find great runs when you travel.
Crowdsource your run
So-called map apps can be full of information, allowing you
to search runs by location and length. Comeau recommends MapMyRun.com, RunKeeper.com and Strava.com. These apps,
all of which are free, also have a community aspect: They let you upload your run and share it with other runners. (You can make your profile public or limit your audience to people in your social network.) “If there’s a route you do a lot, you can save it and even name it,” says Comeau, who had one called “Elizabeth’s lunchtime Castle Island Run” when she lived in Boston. All three apps have robust membership internationally as well as domestically, which means that you can find routes in Amsterdam, Munich, Tokyo or New York just as easily as in Singapore or Seoul.
Map it online
Though it’s not an app, Runner World (runnersworld.com) has a route finder with a perk. You can search by surface type: grass, asphalt, and trail, track and so on.
Yelp it
Turns out Yelp in not just for restaurant reviews. “When I really have trouble finding a route, I go to Yelp,” Comeau says.
She enters the city she’s about to visit, clicks on the Talk menu (a general Q&A forum) and then fires away. “Yelp has really loyal users-and a segment of them happen to be runners.”
Run with a club
Most cites have at least one running club, and it typically offers several daily runs. “A bonus you run with will tell you where the best coffee is, “Comeau says. Most running stores know about local clubs, but you can also find a directory at coolrunning.com.
Wear a fitness tracker
Though they don’t find you a route, wearable fitness trackers,
like Misfit and Fitbit, are more accurate than apps at tacking your distance, pace, calories burned and heart rate. They can also be synced with amp apps, and this makes it easy to get the best out of both tools. Comeau wears a Fitbit on her wrist but says Polar and Garmin make good fitness trackers as well. A fitness tracker is also easier to run with than a clunky smartphone.
30 OCTOBER 2015