This running coach designed a weeklong workout plan around 'Pokemon Go'

Mark Abadi

Aug 5, 2016, 06:37 IST

Jose Miranda

Screenshots of the "Pokémon Go" featuring Oddish and Weedle, two of the Pokémon Jose Miranda encountered during a "Poké-break."

"Pokémon Go" isn't just taking the gaming world by storm. It's transformed the way at least one athlete works out.

Jose Miranda, a running coach and co-founder of the company Educated Running, wrote last month how he incorporated the popular augmented reality game into his daily runs around New York City.

In a blog post for Educated Running, Miranda detailed his workout plan - a mix of half-mile repeats, hill-sprints, and distance running, totaling 30 miles for the week.

Each workout afforded him short "Poké-breaks," during which he would sample the local Pokémon wildlife while catching his breath.

He designed the workouts so that when it was time for a break, he'd be in high-density Pokémon areas like Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx or Columbia University, his graduate school.

Miranda said he had been struggling to get back into form after running a half marathon, and came up with the idea to keep him motivated.

"At first it was like, when can I stop and play Pokémon?" Miranda told Business Insider. "But as the workouts progressed, my mind started to focus more on the workout."

Miranda made sure he had Pokémon eggs incubating at the start of each run, so the miles he cranked out would help them hatch. The game tracked his distance more accurately when he was moving slower and when he wasn't running on a track, he said in his post.

Jose Miranda

Jose Miranda on one of his "PokéRuns"

During his runs, Miranda encountered a number of fellow Pokémon trainers using the game for exercise. John Hanke, CEO of "Pokémon Go" developer Niantic, has said one of his team's goals for the game was to make it a sort of low-pressure fitness app. And countless users on social media have commented on the amount of exercise playing the game provides.

"I wouldn't advise this as the only way you work out. It's not the best way to catch Pokémon. It's also not the best way to work out," Miranda said.

"But if you like playing the game, you can use it as a motivator just to get out the door."