Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

As excellent as the Cool Running Couch to 5K Podcast [iTunes Link] is, I have to admit that I would MUCH rather listen to my own music. I dreamed of an iPhone app that would let me program intervals that would break into my workout playlist and tell me when it was time for me to run.

I got my wish with UltraTimer.

• UltraTimer [iTunes Link]

With UltraTimer, I was able to program in the Cool Running Couch-to-5K Running Plan so that it would tell me when to run. I could even record my own voice saying, “Increase speed to 5.0 mph.” This has been so helpful to me because I don’t have to look at the iPhone screen while I’m doing my workout. I just listen to the prompts that I recorded for myself.

I was worried that it might be difficult to use, but I found it incredibly easy and I was running with a program that only took me about five minutes to program, and that included recording the voice prompts. At the end of the workout, I even have a voice prompt that tells me that I did a good job and that I’m proud of myself.

There is even a way for me to export my workouts, so soon, I will share my running plan with you (since the Couch to 5K basically leaves you wondering what the heck to do if you’re a REAL beginner). If you own an iPhone, creating and downloading a running program just got a lot easier. Try out UltraTimer today!