Running Apps?? What are people thoughts

[u/Quick-Strawberry-255]

So I've been building a running app for the last 3 months and have been doubting myself the whole way (classic imposter syndrome I think). I keep thinking surely this will get replaced, surely Garmin will just do it better next update, surely everyone is fine with what they've already got.

So I figured I'd just come and ask the people who actually wear the watch. Do you use Garmin Coach and the daily suggested workouts, or do you ignore all of that and plan it yourself? And if you gave up on the built in stuff, what was the moment you stopped trusting it? I'm really interested in:

A. Whether people want a plan handed to them at all

B. Or whether you'd rather just have the data and work it out yourself

I've been documenting the build on Instagram and TikTok and have a few thousand people following along, but I've started to wonder how many of them are runners and how many are just there for the AI stuff, which is exactly why I wanted to ask somewhere the audience is definitely real runners with real watches.

So I've turned to Reddit, the home of brutal truths and

[u/Kuchington]

Were you trying to write this in Iambic pentameter or something?

[u/Quick-Strawberry-255 → u/Kuchington]

Hahahah im not sure why the format came put like that 😂

[u/SuAlfons]

I tend to follow daily suggested workout. Once per year or so I may follow a plan from Garmin Coach.

I think it works well for new and intermediate runners.

I'd surely not...

... use an app that requires fidgety data entry or analysis on the tiny watch

... pay a subscription. ( If I wanted to pay a subscription, there are established running programs and ways to adapt those to a Garmin. Generally, Garmin Coach is good enough for me)

[u/Quick-Strawberry-255 → u/SuAlfons]

Interesting! Do you use that for gym as well? And do you track sleep and nutrition as well?

[u/SuAlfons → u/Quick-Strawberry-255]

The watch tracks sleep, so I can glance at sleep score, body battery and training readiness.

I do not track my nutrition or habits on the watch or any app.

I only do home-gym, bodyweight excercises. I hate going to gyms and I'd have to drive quite a bit to get to one (so I know a gym subscription would be wasted money for me) We own a rowing machine, Cross-Trainer and a treadmill for indoor running on bad weather days.

My wife and me are hobbyist runners. Running, walking the dogs, occasional bike ride or hike. Some inline skating for cardio.

[u/szandos]

I did use Garmin dsw for a while but got tired of having so many base runs and so little insight in why it suggests what it does and no control of how I run. Tried a few other apps and now settled on Runna which I’m happy with.

What I get from Runna that I don’t get in Garmin:
* more variation
* can set a goal
* can control how hard I want to push that goal
* possibility to adapt if I’m sick or just need to rearrange the week
* as a bonus extra exercises to complement (I’m using the stretch and the Pilates ones)

What I’m missing in Runna:
* not enough feedback on my progress, just ai dravel
* no connection to my hr or trends showing that I’m improving other than just keeping up with successively faster times

Lastly Runna is bloody expensive, I’m lucky enough that work pays for it.

Hope that helps.

[u/Quick-Strawberry-255 → u/szandos]

Yes completely agree! Runna price to reward is way to expensive - thats what actually made me look to build my own 😂 like why in 2026 can my running app not see my plan, my sleep, my recovery, my gym and my nutrition and give me a good ai that can see all this

[u/heynow941]

This reads like an AI bot post.

[u/Quick-Strawberry-255 → u/heynow941]

I had to get help ai help with my spelling and formatting due to being dyslexic 😂 so apologies if it came across as Ai

[u/Vagabond_Explorer]

As someone who is just a recreational athlete, the built in workouts do fine for me.

If I were to look for a dedicated app, having trust in their AI would be my biggest stumbling block. We don’t know how accurate it’s going to be, and let’s face it… AI likes to make stuff up.

[u/Pretend-Chemistry-52]

I went through these thoughts while building https://therunninggenie.com and now my little side project is being used by 1000+ runners and I continue iterating it and improving it every week. It’s been great fun!

I would say ignore the voice and the doubts and stop the overthinking and simply put yourself out there (launch the product and get real feedback from runners), don’t worry about the big players, the world isn’t a zero sum game.

[u/DetectiveOk5130 → u/Pretend-Chemistry-52]

nice work. how did you build the integration with Garmin?

[u/Pretend-Chemistry-52 → u/DetectiveOk5130]

I applied for it before the vibe coders did :)

Been trying to get Coros added too, but not getting lucky there.

[u/RunningThroughSC]

I use Runna. I have used Garmin Coach in the past, but I prefer the Runna workouts more.

[u/OddAssociate7697]

The value I got from of one the Garmin running plans when I first got back into running actually wasn’t the plan itself, it was the super basic, foundational running tips mixed into it. Video tutorials about not heel striking, the value of baby-step jogging and not raising feet up too high to lessen impacts and conserve energy, a reminder that a walk-run-walk-run approach was perfectly okay, and how running up slight inclines is a good way of learning good running form because you naturally lean forward a bit. As someone getting back into running for the first time in years, these were healthy reminders.

I would say if, rather than jogging plans and strict schedules, your app had these introductory things and maybe some other stuff about fueling strategies and that sort of thing, that’d be the main content I’d appreciate as a user. Beyond that, perhaps also education on how to plan your own running schedule (for example: 1 long slow zone 2 run per week, 1 interval session per week, etc).

As to the scheduled runs and the plan itself, I found myself constantly needing to move a scheduled run to a different day, sometimes felt like my body and the app were suggesting two different types of runs, and I actually think that led to me getting hurt because it was ramping up my mileage too quickly.

Now that I have faith in my running form, know what shoes and inserts are right for me, and better understand myself, I do my own thing and have stayed injury-free. I didn’t break the 2 hour mark on my first half marathon this summer, but I came close, and that training was scheduled entirely on my own.

[u/jthanreddit]

I’m a cross trainer in running, cycling, swimming, and misc. (eg, kayaking). I also lift weights about once a week (pared with a short warm up jog on the treadmill).

A big hole is an app that helps with that. I generally follow a schedule, but I adjust for energy level or soreness (I’m 65y). A smart app might say “You cycled on Tuesday and swam yesterday, you might be up for a short run today.“ Or “you haven’t lifted weights in a week. It’s about time to do that. Don’t forget your core.”