Last year running created some problems with my knees so I stopped. I’ve never been a huge runner. As I told a friend just enough so I can eat what I want. A comfortable 5k is fine for me… although a marathon is on my bucket list.

I tried a couple iPhone apps to help me get back into running. You know the couch-to-5K plans. The plan was to slowly resume running on a treadmill and see how it went. Here are two apps and what I liked and didn’t…

RunTrainer. I bought this one before trying it and ended up regretting it. The nice part is that it has modules for different distances which seemed really handy… for over optimistic me! It integrates with GPS to tell you where you are and where you’ve been. On a treadmill, this feature wasn’t very useful. The display provides feedback on running time (the amount of time you’ve run), distance (based on gps), average speed and calories burned. It continued to operate through calls and texts, a nice feature. It also integrates with your iPod capability, another nice feature. One feature that I missed was a count down for each leg of run/walk segment. For anyone starting out that anticipation/expectation is huge! So I looked for another and may come back to this once my “runs” aren’t run/walk intervals.

5K Runner. This is pretty basic, and is just what I was looking for! It’s an 8 week couch-to-5K plan with a nice graphical display of where you are and good feedback of the time in each segments and overall. You can track your progress, but it’s very basic… and exactly what I was looking for. It’s great if you’re just starting back into running.