Zwift Running (#zwiftrunning) is an app [details on Zwift.com] that allows for the gamification of your treadmill workouts. Currently it’s free, and from what I gather, will continue to be free for a while. It has many of the same functionalities of the extremely popular Zwift Cycling app, which has well over a million riders and has worked with the IOC to investigate adding virtual racing to the Olympics.
For more info about the major impact of Zwift Cycling, read this article on Outside Magazine [here].
Zwift Running provides Free Running Training Programs internally, and while a bit wonky last time I looked, also via Training Peaks, which has a free level of membership, provides connectivity to Zwift and much better stat collection and analysis than inside Zwift.
Some type of footpod is essential to connect with the Zwift App to provide speed, distance, and pace metrics. It’s possible to connect via BLE with a handful of treadmills, though the connection is read-only. You can’t use Zwift to control the speed or inclination of the treadmill. For footpods, I myself prefer the Stryd Footpod over the Zwift Runpod because of the much higher level of accuracy with no need for calibration right out of the box. That comes at a price though, because the Stryd Footpod is nearly 10x the price you can find the Zwift Runpod at.
I meant this as a brief overview and will end this for now before I get too excited and launch off into pages and pages of either gushing praise or cynical criticism. For now watch this short video I posted giving a brief insight to the Zwift Running environment, with lists of riders and runners nearby, chat windows, goal setting, experience points, etc.
YouTube Video of Dec 4 Running Experience
I’ll be back later with a lot more information about Zwift Running and how I feel it is an amazing method to keep track of your treadmill runs and walks (note I’m mostly walking in this first video) while providing something interesting to do during what is normally considered a boring slogfest.