PacePal

Whether you are just exercising or training for a marathon, sometimes you need a coach to help you maintain an ideal, healthy, and productive pace. And a coach that lets you multi-task is even better.

PacePal is an innovative iPhone application that lets you create any number of personalized programs that let you vary the pace of your exercise, minute by minute. Use PacePal while you work out on an elliptical trainer or treadmill or rowing machine, do reps at a gym, or simply walk briskly through the neighborhood. And PacePal can do its work in the background while you listen to audiobooks or podcasts on your iPod, or watch television, or even use PacePal alone.

OK, heres the "why" of PacePal.

My aerobic exercise routine is on an elliptical trainer. I usually listen to a set of songs on my iPod, all chosen for their individual pace or beats per minute. Then, I just naturally try to match the rate of my to-and-fro movements with each songs beat and not slow down (tending to take it easy) or speed up (and wear myself out too early). BUT, what I really wanted was to be able to listen to audiobooks, or podcasts, or watch TV or a DVD while I exercised, and still vary and maintain a certain pace during each segment of my routine (actually, to match the segments of varying resistance of the built-in elliptical routines).

And thats where PacePal comes in.

Now, I can start up an audiobook or podcast on my iPod, then start one of my custom exercise programs, adjust the volume, and I can listen to a tick-tock, boing-boom, whoosh-woob, or any combination of a dozen sounds, in the background along with visual cues that help me maintain the desired pace. And when each pace segment finishes, PacePal signals the change and moves to the next segment at a new pace until the entire program is finished. Now, rather than just listening to the same old music, I can be productive while exercising and catch up on any spoken audio and, at the same time, optimize my aerobic exercise.

FEATURES
Create your own exercise Programs, each with any number of Segments of a specified time, pace, and volume.

Listen to a metronome-like audio pacer using dozens of sounds during your exercise while at the same you are listening to audiobooks, podcasts, or watching TV.

Manually or automatically scroll through information screens showing Program Time Elapsed, Program Time Remaining, Segment Time Elapsed, Segment Time Remaining, and Total Cycles

Adjust the pace, volume, and Segment while exercising

TIPS
Start your iPod audio first, start PacePal, choose the workout Program to match your activity, then adjust the volume so that it does not distract from your audio but is just loud enough to remind you of the desired pace.

On the Console screen, tap on the Program name to edit the name, or swipe the information display to scroll through the views.

On the Program screen, tap on any Program to select it, or tap the blue Detail button on the right to edit the Segments of each Program.

Experiment with different pace sounds, including the "silent" sound, to create unique pace reminders.

KEYWORDS: Exercise, fitness, training, rowing, running, walking, workout, gym, marathon, fitness, elliptical trainer, treadmill, reps, metronome, pace, rhythm, audiobooks, podcasts