Run Development Roadmap

The most recent version of Run as this is written (0.7.2) is already a very stable one. However, Run at the current state has only a part of planned or at least intended functionality implemented. This is alright for now, since Run is despite its stability an application that's still in its infancy. Thus the purpose of this roadmap is to outline major additions and to put those additions in some kind of implementation timeline.

In the past several months there have been quite a few functionality additions and enhancements implemented in Run. Among which the most important are definitely Shoe Management and Splits Calculator. However, there are lots of other functions or enhancements that will still be implemented. Read below about everything that's comming up in Run.

And since Run is all about you and your running, I would greatly appreciate all your comments on its current state and what features would you like to see in the future. Drop me a line: mladenz at users dot sourceforge dot net.

Mission

When completed, Run will be runner's premium training tool. With the help of Run you will be able to train smarter, track and measure your progress easier, recognize your fitness patterns and avoid the most commonly overlooked causes of injuries.

In the RunLab

Below is a list of features or functionalities that are in the RunLab at this very moment. You can expect to see everything listed below to be part of the next Run release.

• User management. Since first drafts Run has been thought of as an application with multiple users in mind. Hence it's been developed on open web technologies that best serve more than one user. However, it turned out the initial idea of a multiuser environment was not the best one. That's why I went back to the drawing board a few weeks ago and have been busy since developing a truly scalable multiuser environment.

  What does this mean? This mostly means that user administration will be improved on greatly. If you are the only one using Run, you won't see many changes, since the concept will remain more or less the same. However, if you are an administrator and the number of your runners is increasing, this means that it will be a lot easier for you to maintain Run once user management is completely overhauled. This also means more flexibility for coaches that need to create groups of runners and then manage their runners by groups.

  When: March 2005.

• Authentication. User authentication is tightly knit with the user management improvements in which I have just explained. Currently users of Run basically have no genuine authentication if they do not decide to use the web server built-in authentication mechanisms such as is .htaccess. I am aware that this is a considerable downside for all those users that want to offer Run as a part of their web site, or want true user privacy. That's why proper user authentication is also a high priority task.

  A variety of authentication concepts and ideas were considered along with user management planning. Which means that authentication will be completely overhauled with the user management. After the overhaul, you can expect to see a true user authentication which will be much more elegant then the current system of authenticationis. You will also have an option to set either only .htaccess or only native Run authentication, or both, if you choose to do so.

  When: March 2005.

What Can You Expect Soon?

So what are the other most eagerly expected features already on the drawing board (and some of which also might already be in the RunLab). Here's a list of what you can expect in the next few releases of Run.

• Injury and Illness reporting. Every serious runner notes in their running diary all their injuries and illnesses, besides their running activities. Run has been lacking this functionality from day one. Since this is a major deficiency, injury and illness reporting has been marked high priority and will be dealt with as soon as I am done with user management and authentication issues.

  When: late April 2005.

• Vitality data. Keeping an eye on your vitality data such as how many hours you slept and what is your morning or resting heart rate, is just as important as are proper hydration and diet. Your vital signals can warn you early enough so that you do not overtrain or even develop an injury. And since one of the main missions of Run is to help you train wiser Run will make tracking your daily vitality changes much easier and hopefully help you recognize patterns and thus improve your training and progress.

  When: late April 2005.

• Statistical overiview. If you want to analyse your training data in the current version of Run, you still have to do it "manually" by going through the entries for a selected period and infer what a set of training entries might mean. And if you want to come to the right conclusion you are still more or less left to your own intuition and skills. Doing manually what can be done by computers is complete nonsense. That's why you can expect to see introduction first of some inelaborate and later complex statistical analysis integrated in Run.

  Statistical overview will consist of inelaborate statistical analysis such as are training summaries for different periods. But this is just a rough outline of the feature, since I haven't given it much thought yet. You can expect more information on this feature when it moves to the RunLab.

  When: May 2005.

• Different display modes. Currently you can view all information about your runs only in one single mode: a table like display where everything is listed in chronological order. This view mode has its advantages, but also a few drawbacks. A definite advantage is that you can see all your data for the selected period on one screen, whereas, for instance, displaying all that data in calendar mode would demand cutting and thus favoring some fields over the others. Some users might like that summarizing of that, and some might not. Although I have a few ideas on how to please both groups and everyone inbetween, those ideas still remain to be materialized.

  This is just a rough idea on what I am thinking about implementing, and as you can see it is not very concrete yet. When this feature gets closer to its implementation, you can expect to see more details on its inner workings and look-and-feel.

  When: June 2005.

Longterm development

In this section I will only briefly describe some of the upcoming Run features, but won't give any fixed time estimates on when they will be developed. I'll just say, that hopefully you'll be able to try them out (maybe even just as ideas that won't be integrated in Run just yet) by the end of 2005. But don't hold your breath on these.

• Interactive visualization of data. Your running data presented as interactive charts and graphs.
• Complex statistical analyses. Run will sift your running history and tell you how you should train in the future.
• Route planning tools. Scan maps of an area where you are planning to run and use this tool to plan your running route.
• Running tips and plans. Want to achieve a specific goal? These plans will help you out. Tips will keep you motivated in those times when you don't feel like running.