What the AI Coach is
The RunExpress AI Coach is a chat interface backed by your synced Strava activities, personal bests, training load, and scheduled plan. It references specific runs by date, applies VDOT-based pacing, and follows conservative progression rules — long-run placement, weekly volume caps, and hard/easy balance.
It is a recommendation layer on top of your data, not medical advice. For the philosophy behind that approach, see our earlier post on how an LLM fits into your coaching loop.
Plan — advice, stats & race plans
Plan (£2/mo or £20/yr, 14-day free trial) includes:
- Personalised race plans via the plan wizard (5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon)
- VDOT-based pacing and volume shaped by your recent fitness
- AI coach chat for training advice, run analysis, and stats
- 50k coach tokens per day
- Manual edits on your training calendar
On Plan, the coach advises — it will tell you exactly what to change, but you apply edits yourself on the calendar. Standard race plans are built through the wizard, not generated from chat.
Coached — plans and calendar edits from chat
Coached (£7/mo or £70/yr, 14-day free trial) includes everything in Plan, plus:
- Custom plans from coach chat — race, ultra, maintenance, or base blocks built to your profile and goals
- Automatic calendar adjustments — move, edit, add, or delete workouts directly from conversation
- 500k coach tokens per day — room for longer back-and-forth and multi-step plan work
- Adaptive plan suggestions — daily coaching can propose tweaks when your training drifts off course
Ask in plain language: “Build me a 12-week marathon plan targeting sub-3:30”, “Move Tuesday’s tempo to Thursday”, or “Shorten this week — I picked up a cold.” The coach calls the right tools and updates your calendar; you confirm before changes apply.
Example questions to try
- Plan or Coached: “Was my long run yesterday too fast given my marathon in six weeks?”
- Plan or Coached: “Compare my last two training blocks — am I running more quality than last cycle?”
- Coached: “Regenerate my plan with long runs on Sundays and no more than five run days.”
- Coached: “Add a 6×800m session next Wednesday at threshold pace.”
- Coached: “Clear next week and give me an easy recovery block.”
Connected to the rest of RunExpress
Coaching sits alongside the analytics you already use: PB progression, marathon readiness, block comparison, and your training calendar. Activities flow back in after each sync or phone recording so the coach’s context stays current. The Android companion lets you follow plan sessions on your phone with GPS cues.
Privacy & limits
Coach conversations are processed via OpenAI’s API. History is capped at 500 messages and deleted when you delete your account. See our privacy policy for full details. Daily token budgets reset every 24 hours; if you hit the limit on Plan, upgrade to Coached for a higher allowance.
Get started
- Create a RunExpress account and connect Strava.
- Explore your dashboard, PBs, and readiness charts on the free tier.
- Upgrade to Plan or Coached — both include a 14-day free trial.
- Open the coach chat, set your race goal in your profile, and ask your first question.
