Adidas teams up with Spotify to supercharge your run
Whether slow jog or all-out sprint, there's a tune for that
Running can be a dangerous business what with all the cracked pavements and speeding traffic but Adidas and Spotify have teamed up to make it just that bit safer.
Every running enthusiast will have experienced that moment of rhythmic confusion when their pace has changed to match that of the current track blaring through their headphones. Most people do this without even realising.
Beating (or jogging as is more likely the case) to the music’s drum is problematic from a fitness perspective – the runner isn’t dictating their pace by listening to their body’s cues or their proximity to their goals.
The new Adidas Go app aims to invert this process, allowing the runner to set the pace of their workout, with the music automatically following their cue.
The app streams Spotify tracks that match the user’s musical interests as determined by their play history. Each track is also selected based on the user’s current pace, which is read using the phone’s accelerometer.
What if I don’t have a Spotify account, you ask? Those without are automatically signed up for a seven-day Spotify Premium trial while they give the app a go.
At the end of a workout, users can review the stats of their run as well as add any new music they’ve heard to their collection.
We remain sceptical that the BPM of each track won’t always end up influencing the BPM of the next track, though. After all, if you’re already running at a certain pace, and the current track is matched to that pace, won’t it still require a significant amount of concentration to ignore the music and run faster?
Still, if you have the mental willpower to go with your physical fitness, the idea is a sound one (no pun intended).
It’s also important to note that Adidas Go isn’t the first app to tackle this problem: Pace DJ, jog.fm, and RockMyRun all offer a similar service, albeit without the benefit of Spotify integration.
Download Adidas Go from iTunes (£free)
Now read this › Adidas Smart Ball hands-on: can it level up English football?
Justin Mahboubian-Jones
Contributor 
