ProsoStride — A bit of reflections

My Running and Walking Companion

I’m still waiting for approval from Apple, but today I’d like to take a moment for reflection.

And today, on July 9, the application was approved.

Creating anything is not easy, and when you add the necessity of handling everything that comes with the process by yourself, the difficulty doubles. The excitement and joy of the flow, the ability to fully express yourself, and the complete freedom in deciding every aspect of the project — all these intertwine with periods of doubt and resignation, which fuel a lack of self-confidence and belief in the purpose of what you’re doing.

But after many struggles, highs and lows, and weekends spent from morning till night on the project, I finally have something (okay, not completely yet, since it’s now up to Apple).

About 7 years ago, I had a moment in my life when my weight started to exceed 120kg. It was terrifying for me. That’s when I decided to take control. I ran a lot, really a lot — it’s hard for me to imagine now, but it was well over 100km per week. And so the weight dropped, and dropped — until I managed to get down to 84kg. From that period, I have memories of a wonderful sense of lightness and a few pairs of jeans that I have no chance of buttoning up now.

I wanted to repeat this now (although thankfully I’m far from the 120kg of years ago), but… when I threw myself into running, I immediately got injured and had to take a break from any physical activity. I remembered about MAF (I’ll write more about this someday), and I also started getting back into running through walking. First short walks, then gradually longer and more intense ones, sometimes power walks, sometimes Nordic Walking.

So, partly as an experiment, I decided to create a tool that would help me get back into running — something that would assist me with MAF and help me stay in tune with my body during exercise.

The app’s use case is specific, but that was the intention:

1. I wanted to be able to walk or run and get feedback on whether I am in the desired heart rate zone, if I need to speed up, or if I am going too fast and need to slow down to calm my heart rate.
2. Additionally, I love listening to audiobooks, lectures, or podcasts — running time can be fantastically utilised to deepen my knowledge.
3. The watch’s vibrations were never sufficient for me; I needed something more concrete that I could recognize. I decided to use audio feedback, which would be mixed with the currently playing content: audiobook, podcast, etc.
4. The watch was to serve as a remote controller for the app running on the phone, and it had to be functional even when the Apple Watch’s Water Lock was activated (which I always use).

I built three main operating modes into the app:

• Free Run: This mode doesn’t play any sound, it just provides information about my heart rate.
• With Zone: This is where all the feedback-related features come into play. Audio feedback is provided, and performance is measured (something that allows me to assess myself after the workout).
• Metronome: What started as a toy turned out to be a very useful tool.

And of course I can change the mode during exercise by turning the watch crown. In my case, all this works brilliantly.

The second part of the app is related to customisation — everything that defines how the app should behave, when and how it should send feedback, calculators for determining the target zone. Also I’ve noticed that proper configuration of feedback intensity can be very motivating during a run: I slow down or speed up according to the signal that appears in my headphones.

I have been using ProsoStride since December, continuously making improvements and adding user interface elements. I’ve already had a small success — after a few months, I replaced walking with running and also managed to lose 6kg.