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FitTrend began as a personal project of Marc Bilodeau. Marc
is not a well-known or world class runner. He hasn't written any book or won any
famous marathons. Marc is your typical mid-packer who loves to run. FitTrend
began taking shape back in August of 2001. Its purpose was to simply store
running data using a web browser and a web server that was installed on
his personal computer. Examining his training log in 2001 wouldn't impress
anyone. Marc logged anywhere from 8 to 15 miles a week running 3 to 4 days, some
cases less.
As FitTrend began to evolve, functions were added to help Marc achieve his goal. He simply wanted to run faster. His interest in running began to grow and he ran more frequently logging close to 20 miles a week. He wanted to see how well he could perform, so Marc entered his first road race in April 2002. He chose the Red's Shoe Barn 5 Miler. When it was all over, he finish in 45:39, a 9:08 minute mile pace, 13 of 13 for his age group, and 259 of 366 overall. He was determined to improve.
He began adding more features to FitTrend to track how well he did in races. He began reading books and continued to train. It was difficult to stay consistent, and on some weeks he would log a modest 10 miles. But improvements were steady. He entered several races and ended up that year with a personal best of 25:13 in the UNH 5K Homecoming Race. A whole minute mile improvement from his first race.
The 2002 Race season ended for Marc. Yet with the successes he's had, he still has felt that improvements were slow. He felt he still could do better. So, he bought himself a treadmill for Christmas and decided to formally follow a training plan. He added functionality to FitTrend to allow him to manage a training plan. At that time, the training plan was very basic. However, he plugged daily workouts into the system and began to religiously follow his training plan. At first it was hard to follow the plan, but he managed to stick with it and consistently ran 4 to 5 times a week logging over 20 miles. FitTrend helped keep him motivated using one of his favorite views, the monthly calendar view. It was nice to see the winter months fill in with daily runs. He entered the data every day he ran and began to loose weight. When he started running in January 2001, he weighed 186 pounds. By his first race of 2003, he was 155 pounds.
He couldn't wait to see how much he has improved. Marc entered the 2003 Red's Shoe Barn 5 Miler and finished 39:01,a 7:49 minutes mile pace, 8 of 13 for his age group, and 149 of 401 overall. An overall improvement of 6 minutes and 38 seconds. Although he was happy with the results, he still wanted to run faster. Today, FitTrend is a vital tool to his running. Not only does he use FitTrend to log his workouts, he uses it to keep himself motivated and to remind himself of the hard work he has dedicated to running. As of the time of this was written, Marc has improved his 5K personal record is 21:46, a 7:01 pace. Marc is working hard to break that 7 minute mile barrier in 2004.
FitTrend was slowly developed since August 2001 based on books, magazine articles, runners, and the personal interpretation of Marc. It is our hope at Project FitTrend that our member can use FitTrend to achieve their running and racing goals. We certainly would like to hear your feedback, suggestions, and comments to help us make FitTrend the best running software ever.
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Available Languages: English