Tempo

Inspiration

Running: freedom and ecstasy for some, and a daunting task for many. It has been a staple in cardiovascular health since the dawn of time. While running has been proven to significantly improve both physical and mental health, why do so few people do it—even gym-goers? Running is often seen as repetitive, boring, and difficult to keep pace with, which can lead to a lack of motivation. This inspired us to create Tempo, a web app that generates a playlist based on your running goals.

What it does

Tempo is a web app that considers your goal running distance, time, and height to calculate your optimal running stride pace. It then curates a unique playlist based on your preferred songs or chosen genre, matching the tempo to your stride pace. This allows runners to subconsciously maintain their pace throughout their entire run, without needing to consult or adjust any metrics.

How we built it

Tempo was built using Spotify's API to build playlists and find songs. It is run on a backend server using Node.js and Express.js, and the frontend was built using React.js and regular CSS.

Challenges we ran into

Our group faced several tough challenges throughout the hackathon. On the back end, getting started with JavaScript took up a significant amount of time since our experience was primarily with developing Chrome web extensions rather than server-based web apps. Additionally, integrating and manipulating Spotify's API to create a playlist in a user’s account proved difficult. On the front end, converting the initial Figma design into HTML and CSS was quite a nuisance.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of our team for successfully integrating the front end with the back end and completing the web app that generates playlists to match your running goals.

What we learned

We learned the crucial role music plays in our lives, particularly during exercise. This experience showed us how to leverage music effectively, using its tempo to help pace running.

What's next for Tempo

We are currently exploring how to develop a system using an Apple Watch to monitor current BPM and step rate, allowing us to actively select songs from the playlist.