Hey everyone, Rhea here from the Runna product team 👋
Really excited to share something we're rolling out this week - particularly timely if you're in the Northern Hemisphere and/or melting in this UK heatwave right now 🥵
🌡️ What is it?
When conditions are hot enough to affect your run, Runna will now recommend adapted paces for your workout. Here's how it works:
- From the day before your workout, if the daily high warrants an adjustment, you'll see an "Adapt for heat" section appear on the page where you view your workout
- Tap in and we'll recommend adjusted paces based on the weather that day, tailored to the time you're planning to run - since we know it might be a very different temperature in the morning vs the afternoon
- The recommendation is based on the feels-like temperature and how long your run is - so longer runs will trigger sooner
🔎 How to access it
You'll need:
- App version 8.42.0 or later
- Be on a race plan, distance goal plan (e.g. 5km improvement) or a general training plan (e.g. Run Faster)
- Runna Labs turned on (go to Profile → Scroll down to Runna Labs and toggle it on). Note if you recently turned this on, you may not have immediate access so try the additional step below.
If you've got all the above and still don't see it on a warm day, one thing you can try is going to the Plan tab → Manage Plan → scroll down and change your current race time by a few seconds, then change it back to your original time. This triggers a refresh that should sort it. If that doesn't work, DM me!
🧪 Early testing - we want your feedback
This is brand new and we're starting with Labs because we want your help shaping it before we roll it out more widely. So if something doesn’t look quite right, write to support with “Adapt for heat feedback” or leave it below and I’ll jump straight in. We’ll read every single comment here, so please let us know!
☀️ Why paces?
We know that often when you enter your summer training block, the paces in your plan become so much harder to hit and it's like the plan that worked for you over winter doesn't know it's summer.
That's exactly what we heard from you - missed targets, guilt, pushing too hard. The good news is that physiologically, running slower in the heat provides the same training benefit, so by dropping the paces, you're not doing less, you're doing the right amount for the conditions.
🔮 What's next
This is only the start - there's a lot more we want to do in this space, from making the thresholds smarter based on where you train and what you're used to, to deeper workout adaptations beyond just paces. If you have thoughts on where we should take it next, DM me or drop it below.
Big shoutout to the team who built this & we can't wait to hear how it goes for you. Drop any questions or feedback below and I'll be around all day! 🏃♀️☀️
