The Problem With Runna

The problem with Runna

6 January 2025| Running Ramblings

Google, its infinite search results and Excel have for many years been my training partner of choice. I’ll plan a 12 or 16 week programme, printing a colourful sheet detailing all the easy, long and interval runs I need to complete leading up to the next event, neatly laid out week by week.

The noticeboard in my home office has seen a succession of these sheets throughout the years, especially toward the end of 2023 and into 2024 as I prepared for events which started in January with my 24 hour treadmill run and then onto the 50K Doughnut Run London in April. Both events were of my own design that I took on solo to raise money for various cancer charities.

Information I found online helped me design the training block and the Nike Run app would serve me up some interesting runs when I was looking to mix up a tempo, interval or hill repeat session. And largely these programmes worked, I completed each event and nursed sore legs in the days following, these are the two measures of success I have for running.

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And then all changed

Come mid year it all changed. And that’s when the problem started.

If you’ve not seen Runna over the last couple of years then clearly you are not on social media and you stare at nothing but your feet when out running. Their name is everywhere, my Instagram feed full of adverts, every event I turn up to seems to have their logo somewhere and I often pass another runner sporting a Runna t-shirt. Top marks must go to their marketing team.

It was one morning, eating a breakfast of porridge and greek yoghurt, with a splash of honey and red berries that I visited the App Store and downloaded the Runna app. There is no turning back once you take this step, so proceed with caution. The app asked for my 5K time and half-marathon too, don’t be tempted to be overly enthusiastic when entering these details, resist the cocktail party embellishment of saying you run a 13 minute 5K as this will result in your legs falling off in the very near future. Runna uses your answer to calculate your pace targets.  You have been warned.

A typical week in Runna

I had another event on the horizon, UTMB Cote d'Azur. The app asked me what I was training for, a hilly 50K I entered, and when the event was, November. It asked what days I was available too run and when I’d like to schedule in the long run, that’s a Saturday for me. And with the wave of a magic wand, a sprinkle of fairy dust there in front of me was a full on, well presented, colourful 12 week programme. It even gave me the option to print as a PDF, which I duly did and attached to the noticeboard.

Diving into the app

Tech is an iPhone and Apple Watch Ultra 2, both are my trusted running partners. The watch especially and it’s usually the only tech I carry on my run. Runna works with both. Start the run by firing up the app on the watch, clicking on the days run, a short description tells you how the run is made up, useful for interval sessions as I can plan which part of the old rail trail I’ll run these on, I choose a section without the lovely dogs and their poorly behaved owners who take delight when their prized pooch trips me up usually followed by a quiet soulless ‘sorry’, and louder call of ‘come here Rex’.

Runner's Apple Watch app

App come running coach

Shokz Open Run Pro 2 headphones are a perfect accompanyment to the app as this turns a tracking app into a full blown, you are not working hard enough, running coach. This is most evident on tempo, interval and hill repeat sessions. Runna divides each section of these runs into a LAP, a little like this

• Lap 1 – 1.9mi warm up max 8.05/mi

• Lap 2 – 2.5mi at 7.00/mi

• Lap 3 – 1.9mi at 6.55/mi

• Lap 4 – 1.2mi at 6.40/mi

• Lap 5 – 0.60mi at 6.30/mi

• Lap 6 – 1.2mi cool down at conversational pace

• Lap 7 – take selfie, collapse.

Laps in the Runna app

Ok so I added a lap at the end there but we all know that’s what we do at the end of a hard run, or if there are others in the car park watching, we style it out by doing some cool down stretches, then collapse once they have lost interest in you or are chasing down Rex.

During laps 2 – 5 the app will be monitoring your pace, giving frequent audible feedback. There is a pace range with the target pace sitting right in the middle, so lap 2 may have a target 7.00/mi and a range of 6.50/mi – 7.10/mi as way of example. 

Fall short and run slower than the range and a cheery voice will tell you to speed up slightly or just to speed up, the difference maybe subtle but when coach drops the ‘slightly’ you know you are way off the pace target. There is no guessing needed as coach tells you exactly what your current pace is, then you need to turn your legs a little faster to achieve the ‘on target’ feedback. It also works when you are running too fast, telling you to slow down or slow down slightly. I often get the ‘slow down’ on the first interval, I am fresh, eager and full of pre-workout.

Imperceptible gains are huge

Now comes the clever part of the app. The imperceptible gains. As the weeks progress you’ll notice the pace targets falling, what was once a warm up at 8.35/mi has inched it’s way to 8.05/mi and the laps too, times in the 7’s are now in the 6’s. It happens without you noticing, the gains individually small, the cumulative huge. Doing it this way I’m sure helps prevent injury and follows the mantra of small steps are the friend of the runner, large steps will lead to injury.

In my current Winter Maintenance programme, a 12 week programme between my last ultra, UTMB Cote d’Azur in Nice and my next training block starting mid January ahead of my first ultra of 2025, I’ve PB’d in the mile, 5K and 10K. All without trying and thanks to the app coaching me through those imperceivable gains. I close 2024 a fitter, faster and more confident runner.

Of course it has AI, doesn't everything

And now comes the AI. Of course Runna has to get AI in the app somewhere, it’s the buzz word of the last couple of years, much like Turbo was in the 80’s and Digital the 90’s, who could forget the Ford Escort RS Turbo (under 40’s Google it), we all wanted one and in white too, or my Mum’s 1990’s Electrolux vacuum cleaner with it’s oversized DIGITAL sticker on the front, quite what was digital about a vacuum cleaner is still beyond me, but I’ll take the white Ford any day.

Everything has AI!

AI monitors your performance through speed sessions, namely tempo, intervals and hill repeats seeing how performance stacks up over time, it then throws recommendations at you to adjust your programme, perhaps increasing your pace targets if your legs are turning quicker than expected, or adjusting them down a little if you are finding it harder.

The coaching instructions through each run, the frequent small gains and AI add up to be a powerful tool, it sure beats the printed spreadsheet I used to have on my noticeboard.  Runna is far more than just a schedule of your upcoming runs, it acts as a personal coach, with you every step of the run

I’ve been telling everyone at my gym about the app, many have gone on to download and rave about it too. It’s personal to you, to your running style, goals, times and targets. It becomes a part of your daily life as you scroll through the upcoming runs of the week.

The problem with Runna...

So I hear you cry, what is the problem with Runna. 

You’ll become a faster runner, and that leads to a higher spend on shoes. My current intervals are going so well I am considering a pair of £230 Saucony’s just for these sessions. You’ll become more confident and want to challenge yourself, like the UltraX in Nevada I am looking at next year, that’s £2500 for a weeks running.

Inevitably you will need to call a meeting with your boss, lay it on the line that all this running is getting expensive and you need, no you deserve, a pay-rise to fund all the new shoes and race entry fees.  And that's the problem with Runna, it leads to the awkward boss conversation.

But hey, at least you'll be a better runner.

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. Article written January 2025

. Original photos by author

. Author is not an employee or sponsored athlete of Runna

. Views expressed are own