Keeping fit at 32 cents per workout (FitStar by Fitbit)

Exactly two weeks ago, I received a notice from Google Play that my card had been charged $39.99. It was for FitStar, the exercise app that I started last year and helped me break my Diet Coke habit. My year subscription was up and I auto-renewed.

Last year I did 124 workouts, which comes roughly to 32 cents a workout. It was a pretty good deal to me.

All the workouts are body weight, maybe stuff I should have been doing anyway, but really needed some kind of organized program to get me going. I feel like during the year I've made vast improvements in all around strength, especially in my core, arms and legs. It was nice to read articles in Runners World about recommended exercises for runners and to know that I'd been doing them anyway.

It definitely showed in my running. Last year, I broke my PR for the half marathon twice, set a PR for the 10K and later in the year set official PRs for the 20K and 30K distances during the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

One thing I found was that during marathon training it was hard to keep up with the workouts. In those months I did between four to six workouts a month. But now with a more open schedule (meaning I'm not actively training for a marathon right now) I find it's nice to continue the FitStar workouts. Tonight was my ninth workout of the month.

In tonight's workout, there was a twist -- the workouts were formerly led by former Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez, but now there are new trainers leading the way, maybe as part of changes after Fitbit acquired the app last March.

Some of the dialogue is exactly the same but there are slight changes in technique, including during Muay Thai kicks, bench dips and bicycle kicks.

Last year I told myself I would do this for a year before deciding whether to enroll in a CrossFit gym. I think given my running goals and the time commitment I'll continue doing these exercises and might instead opt to hire a running coach to get the most out of my feet.