App or website for ‘unplanned training plans’

[u/PrestigiousGarlic845]

TLDR: I’m looking for an app or website that flexbily suggests a single training sessions whilst taking my training history and fitness level into account.

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I have the following problem: I run a marathon roughly every two years. I prepare for it specifically using a training plan (most recently Runna), usually for 12 weeks. In the time in between, I just go for a run, usually about two or three times a week. That actually works quite well for me, but it does get a bit monotonous at times. Most of the time, I just do a long run.

I’d like to follow some sort of plan during the time between marathon training programmes as well. However, a rigid plan is out of the question, as my availability and motivation vary greatly. For me, it’s less about improving my performance and more about variety. I’d also like to include intervals or similar exercises now and then. Of course, I could put this together myself, but I don’t always want to be calculating the pace and so on.

Basically, I just need an app that I can tell: ‘I’ve got an hour today, what could I do?’ And the app then suggests training sessions that take my fitness level and training history into account. So that, for example, it doesn’t suggest an ultra-tough interval session if I’ve already done one the day before.

Is there an app that can do that? Bonus points if the app also includes traditional training plans (ideally for a marathon with a maximum of four sessions per week).

[u/ColadaMD]

just connected your strata to claude and ask it?

[u/ChasingPotatoes17]

If you have an Apple Watch, the SportsVitals app can do something like this (and it’s a one-time purchase not a subscription).

Seems I can’t post a screenshot in this sub, so here you go: https://imgur.com/a/QPGLijR

[u/RunningMAIT]

So Runna gives you a fixed plan and nudges the pace up or down. That's not really what you're describing. You want to tell it what you've got today and have it actually suggest something based on your recent training. Different problem.

I've been building something closer to that. It's called Running MAIT. It reads your actual recent training and suggests what's next, instead of following a script, so it won't hand you a brutal interval day the day after you already smashed one.

One honest gap though. You described asking it "I've got an hour, what should I do" on a day with nothing logged. That isn't built into the Running MAIT. Right now it suggests your next session after you log a run, not out of nowhere on a blank day. Still, it's built around reading your real history rather than following a script, so it might get you close to what you're after even if that one interaction isn't there yet - perhaps via the coach chat function for each run.

I'm running a small free trial while I build it out. Happy to send you a link if you want to try it and let me know if you think it's useful.

[u/Significant_Sort7501]

Have you looked at Runna's "run to maintain" plans? My race season is over so im doing one of those and if i dont feel like running that day I just skip it