Testing TrailRunner

There has been absolutely no mainstream native training software for the Mac since the birth of Jesus. Top gadgets, such as GPS receivers or specific watches for training never delivered compatible software. Instead they showed off with Windows software, which usually were so renownedly buggy, many people like me, and a remarkable number of windows users, were forced to choose online services, which in turn lacked many killing features. 

The situation has changed. As Macs continued to gain more marketshare and Mac OS X came out, some of the innovative gadget manifacturers like Garmin or Nike started embracing life style oriented mac users, who continued to spend generously, and disproportionally on lifestyle gagdets, instead of simply warning them off due to silly incompatibility.

And as USB advanced, the hardware incompatibility vanished. This resulted in a growing community of independent programmers. Today, there is not only enough Mac software for those typical Windows domains (GPS, Mapping, Navigation, Training etc), but also many top quality alternatives to their Windows counterparts, not to forget the choices due to the highly evolved Windows emulation on the Mac.

I've been logging my outside ventures since 2003. In those past 5 years, I tried many different approaches: online services (Polar, Nike, Garmin), emulated Windows software (Polar Precision) and a few web sites with logging functionality. All that with mediocre success.

I have been using some top of the line gadgets since then, a Polar 725 S watch and a Garmin EDGE 305 GPS receiver. Both are not only great devices, but also downright great standalone devices, without any software. 

Recently I downloaded the latest version of Garmin's Mac apps, made my periodic web search seeking training solutions and discovered a new gem: TrailRunner. TrailRunner, as Berbie Software puts it, is 

TrailRunner - Route planning for long distance sports

TrailRunner is a route planning software for all kinds of long distance sports like running, biking, hiking, inline-skating, skiing and more.

TrailRunner integrates a wide range of GPS, mapping and workout related scopes. These include a workout and geo visualization for Garmin ForeRunner and Edge devices. Native Apple + Nike iPod Sport Kit workout import. Export of route directions as NanoMaps for all color iPods. Import and export of Polar HRM, GPX and KML file formats.

THIS is exactly what I'll do. On my MacBook Pro, with TrailRunner and my gadgets. And I will share my experience here on Outside Daily, step-by-step.