The Ugly Duckling of Blogs

Boot Camp for Blogs

Not one to shy away from the truth, I am the first to admit – we must have one of the Internets worst Blogs! I think its horrible! I’ve seen more life in an empty fish bowl!!!

Couldn’t get more honest then that could I!

So, instead of sitting here painfully (and embarrassingly) continuing with this ugly, dysfunctional blog we decided to call in the professionals or as we call him ‘Our Blog Guru’. What this man doesn’t know about blogs isn’t worth mentioning! (more about him in later posts)

The Walk with Attitude Blog is going to the ‘Boot Camp’ for blogs… this ugly duckling will soon emerge as the ‘Blog of the century’ (OK, maybe that’s a little ambitious)

So if you have just popped in, please bookmark us to pop back in a few weeks to see the incredible transformation, and hopefully you will become a regular follower and/or contributor to the ‘All new’ Walk with Attitude Blog!

Stay tuned for updates…

Logging your steps via your Phone

We are really excited to announce that we are currently half way through the coding for making the Log Walk calculator ‘mobile’! Yipeee!!

That means that you will be able to log your walks via your mobile phone. Will keep you posted.

New Site Updates

Since the launch of the ‘new’ Walk with Attitude in October 2009, you might think the team has been kicking back relaxing…that couldn’t be further from the truth…

You asked for it – you got it!

We’ve had so much positive feedback from our members since the launch and also some great suggestions for future enhancements – they have been put on the list I promise! We are also very proud to say that we have managed to implement some of them in the last couple of weeks for you. Read on to find out…

Global Leaderboard

All Leaderboards

• 22nd Jan – Flag Icon added to Username – Instantly see where in the world your fellow walkers are located

• 1st Feb – Global Leaderboard now ‘Zippy’. ‘Tweaking’ of the Leaderboard code has made a huge difference to the loading times. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s now loading incredibly fast!

• 9th Feb – Walking Challenge & Walking Buddies Leaderboards now ‘Zippy‘.  Jason our web developer has spent days looking for ways to increase the speed of  the ‘on the fly’ data retrieval required for the Challenge and Buddies Leaderboards. We’ve been able to wipe off several seconds, you’ll love the end result.

Log Walk / Activity Panel

Log steps and Activity for Multiple days

• 11th Feb -Most requested from our members – Ability to easily enter multiply days Steps or Activity without refreshing the Challenge map. We have seamlessly integrated this new feature into your existing Log Walk /Activity panel. Now you can select the date you would like to start entering steps from and enter multiply days without your challenge map refreshing after each entry, and still receive notification  when you reach a waypoint! Very clever!

For example, if you have 3 days worth of pedometer steps to enter  10,11 and 12 Feb. Simply, select the 10th as your first date from the calender enter you steps – click Add Multiply Days , it will automatically change the date to the 11th, enter your steps and so on. Once you have finished adding all your activity you can either refresh your browser or go to your challenge map to view your position.

But, wait there’s more…

Fitness Tools

Walking Pacer Calculator

• 11th Feb Walking Pace Calculator – Convert walking distance (miles or km) into steps.  Well now you can! You can also see how fast (speed) you have walked and how many steps in a minute! Simply, enter the distance you have walked in Kilometers or Miles and your **stride length (non members) hit calculate to reveal the results.

**Note: Members,once logged in your  stride length automatically appears in the calculator –
Take a look at the Walking Pace Calculator now

Walking Challenge Maps

Virtual Map

• 11th Feb Challenge Map History- View your completed challenge map from your Challenge History page. This new element needs dancing girls, brass bands, streamers and loads of boisterous clapping!

The Walk with Attitude Team is very, very excited about this new feature! Seeing is believing – Members Go to your Challenge History section in your Passport (Passport – Walking Challenges -Challenge History).  Go to one of your completed challenges, we have added two buttons ‘History Challenge Map’ and ‘View Leaderboards’. Click on the map  button you will be able to view the challenge map even after you have finished! Click on the Leaderboard button and you can now view your previous challenge leaderboards! Very cool!!

2 great reasons why you want to access this;

1. Imagine you’ve finished the ‘Great Ocean Road Challenge’ but you still have 3 walking buddies in the challenge. If you want to know how they are going, this new map feature allows you to view their exact position! Yes, we are able to ‘on the fly’ show their position on your challenge map – You gotta love that!

The other reason to view you Challenge Map History…

2. See yourself at the challenge Finish line, ‘Gold Trophy’- savour the moment!

Last but by no means least…

Challenge Pacer

Pacer with Attitude

• 11th Feb Challenge Pacer goes Turbo – Now, your little Green Man matches those walkers who have Turbo Boosted their challenge. Love him or hate him the Pacer is now able to give  those walkers who chose to Turbo Boost  a run for their money! Instead of your Pacer being way out in front, we’ve been able to ‘tweak’ his program to ensure you are both on an even playing field.

Turbo Boosting a challenge is highly recommend for walkers averaging 15,000+ steps  a day.

Before you Log out of Walking with Attitude today, take a moment to explore all these enhancements

Love the enhancements? Please leave us a comment.

Remember your feedback, encouragement and ideas are very important to us. We appreciate all the personal emails you send, many of the ‘tweaks’ and enhancements revealed here today are a direct result of your feedback.

Happy Walking!

Jackie, Kate and the Team

Wicklow Way Walking Challenge with Attitude

Ready for fresh mountain air and the luck of the Irish?

Then pull on your virtual walking boots, it’s time to explore the granite mountains and sheltered glens of North Wicklow, Ireland. Our Wicklow Way walking challenge will lift your spirits and have you yelling “Top o’ the morning to you. From the bottom o’ me heart”

Read more about the Wicklow Way Walking Challenge with Attitude and view the virtual map here

Complete the virtual challenge and have this stunning Trophy sitting in your Trophy Room!

Wicklow Way Virtual Trophy

Great news everyone!

After a week of analysis and a whole heap of ‘tweaking’ you now have Global Leaderboards that load a whole lot faster!
No matter if you’re on page 1,2 or 10 the loading time has been significantly improved. Check out the Global Leaderboard for yourself- you’ll love it!

What about the Walking Challenge Leaderboard?

Your Walking Buddy & Walking challenge Leaderboards will always load a little slower, due to the real-time challenge data being displayed (Trophy and % of challenge complete).

A BIG thanks to Jason our Web developer who spent days and days reviewing  thousands  of lines of code to find just the right optimization.

Happy walking and enjoy!

Jackie

With the launch date of the Road Trip USA challenge fast approaching we thought you might like to have a look at the trophies designs.

On average a walking challenge takes around 250 hours to create, from discussion to launch date. One of the more fun elements that involves all of the Walk with Attitude team is the challenge trophy design concepts.

With coffee’s in hand we try to fill the office white board with as many ideas as possible in 15 minutes; Cowboys, Hot Rod cars, Boots, Statue of Liberty, Eagles, Big Apple, Hot Dogs, Pretzels and loads more…it was a long list!

Our creative team have chosen to immortalize:
Elvis, California surf culture and Uncle Sam’s hat.

From these sketches your virtual challenge Road Trip USA walking challenge trophies will be created…which trophy will your strive to collect?

Now see the finish product
- imagine seeing one or all three in your Trophy room!

USA Walking Challenge Trophies

Road Trip USA walking challenge is in the ‘Tighten & Tone’ Category
Launches 25th January 2010

See you there!

USA Walking Challenge

Road Trip USA - It’s All About Me!

Road Trip USA Walking Challenge is the ultimate 9 week walking program and step challenge that will have you walking faster, feeling leaner and burning calories -it really is all about YOU!

Featuring a walking program designed by our walking guru, it’s going to shake up your dedicated walking session, have you seeking out park benches for tricep dips, busting your butt with lunges and hitting your lounge room floor for tummy tightening crunches.

Kickstart 2010 and never look back!

Start date: 25 January 2010

See you there!

What a wonderful Christmas, Birthday and New Year celebrations I’ve had. It wasn’t easy, but I packed a years worth of relaxation and celebrating into my 10 day break.

Today, everyone is back in the Walk with Attitude office and ready to tackle an exciting 2010

It’s time to pack away the tinsel, swap the champagne for water and get back into your walking routine.

The Walk with Attitude team wish you all a Happy New Year!

Jackie

Gone on Holidays!

Merry Christmas from us all at Walk with Attitude

It’s been an amazing year for us and we thank you all for your patience and support whilst the new Walk with Attitude website was being built. But it was worth the wait! . We very much look  forward to walking with you in 2010.

From the entire team at Walk with Attitude we wish you a very happy Christmas and look forward to a fantastic 2010.

Merry Christmas and Be Safe!

Final Result for Team Attitude – Race to Santas’ Grotto

Sorry guys, we almost made it but fell short by a just under a million steps! It sounds a lot but its not that many when you remember how big our team was. We did have a few members who registered but didn’t add any steps at all, which did hold us back a little bit I’m afraid – pile the guilt on I say

OK here are the final stats:

Total Steps walked in 7 days: 3, 007,700 (Just over 3 million!) Great effort Team!

Total % completed: 75%

Our average daily steps as a team: 429,671 (just under 1/2 million steps a day!) Way to go!

We only had another 992, 300 steps to go to reach Santas’ Grotto

I hope you  enjoyed this little mini challenge. We have plenty more in store for you!

Team Attitude Trophy and Certificate

Remember to check out your trophy room  and have a look at  your special Xmas Team Attitude Trophy (even though we didn’t reach Santas’ grotto – you still deserve the Trophy!)

And if you go to your challenge history page via your passport you can also download the Team Attitude Certificate