July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

In the wake of Thanksgiving feasting, finding the motivation to exercise is as challenging as buttoning a pair of skinny jeans. It helps to have people around you who are lacing up their sneakers and encouraging you to do the same.

Just in time for the holiday (i.e. eating and drinking) season, Yog has launched its social running app that connects runners from around the world to run together in real-time.

Studies have shown that having a workout buddy, even a virtual one, dramatically bolsters exercise habits. Social pressure and competition are powerful forces. For many, working up a sweat is far more enjoyable when not done alone. But it is not always easy to find someone ready and willing to work out when you are, which is where Yog steps in.

Yog is an international community of runners brought together by an iOS app which connects them in real-time. The platform lets users schedule runs by selecting the date, time, and distance. Runners can either invite people to their run, or join other “yoggers” on theirs. During a run, audio notifications and on-screen visualizations simulate the experience of running with a friend. The app also gathers data during the run to measure and track performance.

“The majority of people don’t exercise, enough,” said founder Peter Pelberg. “We’ve seen how exercising with others positively impacts the frequency and level at which people exercise. Yog’s point of differentiation is that the app is entirely synchronous. Our community members are not tracking activities in isolation and sharing them to a stream after the fact, they’re running together, from all corners for the world, in real-time.”

The quantified self movement has been picking up steam in the technology community of late. Social fitness products like Nike+, Runkeeper, Endomondo, Strava, and MapMyRun are extremely popular amongst fitness buffs, casual exercisers, and those trying to get in shape alike. Yog strives to enhance the actual experience of running, rather than creating measuring and sharing tool for after the fact.

It was founded by two former athletes who struggled to maintain their exercise regimens in the absence of teammates to keep them on track. They began working on the app in 2011 and since then have found “yoggers” in 55 countries around the world. Distances range from one miles jaunts to half marathons, and hundreds of runs have been scheduled in the past week alone.

As for me, the only running I am doing today is between my desk and the leftover pie in the fridge. Maybe tomorrow.

Yog is based in New York, New York. The company has not received any institutional funding.

Fitness-tracking app Runtastic is harnessing this fascination/narcissism with physical achievement by teaming up with Google Earth to provide 3D footage that can be played back and shared.

The technology collects GPS data while you traverse a marathon course, ski down a mountain, or cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. It also works for leisurely strolls through a park (high heart rates are not required for the app to function).

After you finish working out, a 3D video will reflect your journey. If your motivation is to impress coworkers with your physical prowess, send it around the company email chain. If your goal is to remember the exquisite flower fields you biked past on vacation, save it with your trip photos.

“We saw that running, cycling, and outdoor sport activities could be more interesting than only seeing a number at the end,” said CEO Florian Gschwandtner. “You can’t share your experience with data, you need images. It becomes a memory.”

Runtastic is a popular free app that tracks sports data like elapsed time, average speed, calorie consumption, and heart rate while exercising. The collected information can be uploaded to the site, as well as shared on social networks.

There are more apps in this area than miles in a marathon — MapMyRun, Endomondo, AllSport GPS, Fitness Pro, SmartRunner, Nike + GPS, and SparkPeople to name a few. Runtastic is doing well in this particular race, however. It recently hit the 10 million download mark and became cash flow positive.

Like true athletes, the founders are fueled by competition. They strove to distinguish themselves from the pack by continuing to innovate and develop technology. This latest feature is available under the Runtastic Pro app for Android, which costs $4.

Runtastic was founded in October 2009 and has never received institutional investment.

If you haven’t started training for the next Olympics, there is no time like the present.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Mobile fitness tracking application Endomondo launched additional features geared toward making a social network for cardio training today and announced that it has raised $800,000 in a seed funding round at the CTIA Wireless 2011 conference in Orlando, Fla.

It’s one of a new series of applications that are trying to turn fitness into a game by giving users the chance to compete with friends and earn points for their fitness achievements, such as Runmeter and Nike GPS+. Endomondo tracks runs, cycling circuits and other cardio exercises and records distance, time and a few other health elements. Users can then see how they match up with their friends through the app’s network.

The company added voice feedback to the application, it announced today. The voice-over tells users how far they have run and, if they are competing, tells them how much faster or further they have to go to beat their friends.

The company is also adding a “social support” feature, which lets other Endomondo users cheer on their friends with short messages through the application. The idea is to use the application to encourage people to workout harder and faster — although I would probably find myself using that feature to trash talk the competition as much as possible.

I’m a big fan of cardio-tracking applications because they gives me the opportunity to post times whenever I break a personal record. But more importantly, they let me brag to people whenever I lay a solid beat-down on a previous record-holder for a running circuit. Earning points for being healthy is great, but the biggest opportunity for these applications lies in creating competitions amongst users — that by itself will inspire runners and cyclists to push themselves even harder.

Endomondo launched in November 2007. The application is currently available on Android devices but will launch on the iPhone in the next few months, said Endomondo founder Mette Lykke.