The Daily Mile

Dawn Lowell is currently training for her first full marathon, the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon, in June. After four months of training and what seemed like endless running, she received a tip from a friend, revolutionizing her training. Introducing the Daily Mile (www.dailymile.com). The Daily Mile has crafted a fitness niche in the online world by letting users log their miles from pavement to the pool.  “I was thinking, ‘Oh another Web site I need to check up on,’” said Dawn. “Well I looked into this dailymile.com and signed up.”

Dawn and her reason for running with NF Endurance, daughter Ava.

Here is why Dawn has fallen head over sneakers for this online training log.
1. Twitter-like Training – “It is very much like Facebook or Twitter but for athletes!  You can log running, cycling, swimming, weights, walking or cross training. You can connect with other athletes in your area and even make ones you know your ‘friends.’” Be warned, said Dawn, “Once you have friends it becomes sort of competitive because you will receive weekly e-mails on how you stand with your friends…You can even map your routes and even sync with your Facebook or Twitter if you so wish.  The best part for me is looking back on past weeks and looking at all of the miles I have logged, how I felt and my comments on each run.”

2. It’s F-R-E-E.

3. It does the math. “For me now as soon as I get home from a run, I immediately go to the computer, log on and log my run (sweating and all!).  All you have to do is put in your miles and how long it took you and it will calculate everything for you and even give you your calorie burn.”

4. Find new routes. Users can search for new routes based on location, mileage and sport.  An events schedule shows a plethora of opportunities to stay active all year long.

And, if you are interested, add Dawn as a friend. “It has made this rookie marathon runner’s training a bit more fun and motivating!”