Fitness
Zwift Run: the online multiplayer game every indoor runner needs
Lacking motivation on the treadmill? Rather be playing a video game instead? Enter Zwift Run, a fitness app solving both these dilemmas and changing the fitness landscape as we know it.
Hitting the treadmill for a lengthy run can be a tedious experience. After all, there's only so much muted Sky Sports a person can stomach until they're staring blankly at a brick wall – and if your gym's had a recent refurb, you’re not just watching paint dry, you’re paying for it.
Curate all the Spotify playlists you like, when you start to hit the 10k mark, it won't be long before your mind wanders and you’re left empty, unchallenged, unmotivated, resorting to sly tactics like clocking your neighbour’s speed to get your competitive juices flowing. Keeping motivation levels up indoors isn't easy.
Well, prepare to have your mind (and legs) blown by Zwift, a fitness platform born from gaming and currently used by elite cycling teams and millions of keen bikers across the globe. Having revolutionised the two-wheeled market, the firm is in the midst of bringing its state-of-the-art 'multiplayer' technology and huge communities to the indoor running scene.
Zwift: where multiplayer gaming meets fitness
© Zwift
Previously only available as an aside to paid-up members of its cycling programmes, Run Free Access is now a full-on community for runners, presently offered free of charge. It's a beta right now, but it's growing by the day.
We dropped by the UK HQ to find out some more – here's what we learnt.
1. The kit is gloriously simple (and cheap)
Runners co-exist with cyclists on the same maps
© Zwift
Unlike Zwift's cycle users, who normally require a turbo trainer to work in tandem with their workout and let them cycle indoors, joggers need only buy a Bluetooth footpod (available from £29.99) to sync with iOS devices, Apple TV or laptops. This can be neatly clipped to your shoelaces and once you’ve spent a few minutes letting the Zwift app capture your speed and stride, you’re good to go.
Oh, and you will need a treadmill to run on, but then most gyms will suffice in this regard.
2. It's going to change our relationship with gym spaces
Fed up accidentally locking eyes with that sweaty, grunting weightlifter across the room? Fear not, as pretty soon you’ll only have eyes for your Zwift – as easy as taking your phone, or iPad if you're feeling bold enough, and plonking it in front of you, you’ll be transported to another landscape in no time at all. And with a rising number of Bluetooth-ready treadmills such as the TechnoGym MyRun also connecting directly to Zwift, you may not even need the footpod at all.
3. There's always a run happening
Night or day, you'll always have a running pack to join
© Zwift
We've all got those friends who are flakier than a Head & Shoulders advert, letting us down at the last minute having promised to go for a run two weeks earlier. Not that you need to worry about that anymore - with thousands of runners across hundreds of communities, including pros (Red Bull athlete Lucy Charles is a big Zwift fan) in search of the very best training and everyday sorts looking to get stronger and faster, there's always something occurring on Zwift. Choose a big community run (a nice 5k, for example), or simply drop into a world at random and see who fancies eating your dust.
4. You can run toward a volcano
Watopia. Population: You
© Zwift
On paper it's not the safest training route, we grant you that, but what better motivational tool than a belching live volcano on some exotic island? Spanning three different locations – London, Richmond (Virginia, not the UK) and the fictional volcanic island of Watopia – we'd say the latter's exotic climes are the best of all. You won't get a tan but you will get faster.
5. You'll run more
Zwift was originally a revolution for cycle training
© Zwift
The stats back it up. Data shows that people using fitness tech will by and large workout for longer. Members of Strava, who signed up to Zwift’s cycling app cycled 10 per cent more per annum, while you can be sure the app's game design, offering brightly coloured gateposts for you to run towards as you complete your miniature goals, will help push you on to new heights. Your PB won't know what hit it.
6. The training plans are tailored to your needs
With personalised workouts, Zwift is the PT of your dreams
© Zwift
Sometimes we all need a little help. So where better to get it from than the Zwift Run app, featuring a library of training plans tailored to runners of all abilities. Workout Mode is a smooth looking format which helps you smash your goals, while Group Runs are broken down by pace, so Zwifters can find a run that best suits their own needs.
7. You can Level Up to earn rewards
By completing fitness challenges you can bag new gear for your avatar
© Zwift
One other way the 'gameified' experience adds focus is by rewarding you shiny new items in your digital armoury whenever you Level Up, a move clearly influenced by Call of Duty and the like. Take on challenges to move up levels, unlocking gear from real life running industry brands such as New Balance, Hoka and Under Armour. You won't get any mushrooms turning your avatar into a 12 foot flaming monster rampaging at lightning speed and decimating in its path, but, hey, those shoes will look very fetching.
8. It fits around your lifestyle
If you happen to be away for work, or on holiday, and fancy a run, head to your hotel gym to get your Zwift fix. You may also be glad to know that integration with Strava allows Zwifters to share runs with their community of friends, recording virtual miles and keep record of best times across Strava segments. As of last month, virtual miles recorded in Zwift can also count towards Strava challenges. Not a mile wasted.
