Really terrific app
A couple of days ago I was building a training schedule for myself. That was an easy proposition; I’ve used many plans and read about the ways one should go about creating such a plan, and, I have SO MANY spreadsheets I have used over the years under a variety of conditions, so plan creation would be (relatively) easy.
But one thing bugged me - neither Apple Health nor Apple Fitness currently give you a readiness score that you can use as a “sanity check” to compare to how you feel. This despite the fact that my Apple Watch collects all the data that would be needed to derive such a score. Then I read that Apple will be providing that sort of score for its latest Ultra running watch, but that, as of now, it does not appear that feature will be available for my year old Ultra 3. So I went searching for an app that used Apple’s Health data to compile such a score.
And I found it right away: Runnerd. Runnerd is a free app created by Norma Steller of Germany that you can download to your iPhone and your Mac. The iPhone version is fully functional but the Mac version is just easier to read in the way that laptops are always easier to read than a phone. If you prefer working on your iPhone, that’s fine - you can do everything there as far as I can tell. But, if you’re like me and it has always driven you kind of crazy that you can’t work with your training app on the Mac, you now have a way to do that.
In case you’re wondering if Runnerd uses artificial intelligence, here’s the answer given in the FAQ on the app:
No. All calculations in Runnerd are based on established sports science formulas, no machine learning models, no black box, no cloud inference.
TRIMP & PMC —-— Banister model, published 1975. Still used by sports scientists and coaches today.
Race Predictions — Jack Daniels' VDOT system from Running Formula (1998/2014). The standard reference in performance running.
HR Zones ————— Karvonen heart rate reserve method (1957) or classic % HRmax. Both proven for decades.
Readiness —-—---- Statistical Z-score comparison against your personal history. No model that learns from other people's data.
What you see in this FAQ is literally everything Runnerd does. And if you want, you can verify the math yourself! Your data never leaves your device for calculations.
—— That very last comment is very important to me. I was a Garmin user when they suffered their ransomware attack and I temporarily lost access to my account just like everyone else. I created some workarounds and got around the problem but having worked in IT for a number of years, the idea that Garmin had a “single point of failure” in their system bothered me. As did the possibility that my personal information might have been compromised. Apple’s approach is privacy-first and Runnerd, following this approach, never sees your data - the app runs on your computer, reading data stored on your private cloud.
I also like the fact that the app does not use AI to generate its plans. I use AI as a research assistant all the time in my job and it’s great for that. But when you ask AI to generate something like a training plan there is something of a black box effect - you’re never 100% sure where the plan is coming from. Runnerd uses established plans and formulas to come up with its recommendations and you can do your own math to see if it’s right. I love the design of this app from top to bottom. And the price is right - free for all but crazy people who want to be overly ambitious. Those people have to pay a little extra. (Um, yeah, I decided that the $7.99 was something I could afford - call me crazy!). Great app! Thank you for all your work, Norma.
But one thing bugged me - neither Apple Health nor Apple Fitness currently give you a readiness score that you can use as a “sanity check” to compare to how you feel. This despite the fact that my Apple Watch collects all the data that would be needed to derive such a score. Then I read that Apple will be providing that sort of score for its latest Ultra running watch, but that, as of now, it does not appear that feature will be available for my year old Ultra 3. So I went searching for an app that used Apple’s Health data to compile such a score.
And I found it right away: Runnerd. Runnerd is a free app created by Norma Steller of Germany that you can download to your iPhone and your Mac. The iPhone version is fully functional but the Mac version is just easier to read in the way that laptops are always easier to read than a phone. If you prefer working on your iPhone, that’s fine - you can do everything there as far as I can tell. But, if you’re like me and it has always driven you kind of crazy that you can’t work with your training app on the Mac, you now have a way to do that.
In case you’re wondering if Runnerd uses artificial intelligence, here’s the answer given in the FAQ on the app:
No. All calculations in Runnerd are based on established sports science formulas, no machine learning models, no black box, no cloud inference.
TRIMP & PMC —-— Banister model, published 1975. Still used by sports scientists and coaches today.
Race Predictions — Jack Daniels' VDOT system from Running Formula (1998/2014). The standard reference in performance running.
HR Zones ————— Karvonen heart rate reserve method (1957) or classic % HRmax. Both proven for decades.
Readiness —-—---- Statistical Z-score comparison against your personal history. No model that learns from other people's data.
What you see in this FAQ is literally everything Runnerd does. And if you want, you can verify the math yourself! Your data never leaves your device for calculations.
—— That very last comment is very important to me. I was a Garmin user when they suffered their ransomware attack and I temporarily lost access to my account just like everyone else. I created some workarounds and got around the problem but having worked in IT for a number of years, the idea that Garmin had a “single point of failure” in their system bothered me. As did the possibility that my personal information might have been compromised. Apple’s approach is privacy-first and Runnerd, following this approach, never sees your data - the app runs on your computer, reading data stored on your private cloud.
I also like the fact that the app does not use AI to generate its plans. I use AI as a research assistant all the time in my job and it’s great for that. But when you ask AI to generate something like a training plan there is something of a black box effect - you’re never 100% sure where the plan is coming from. Runnerd uses established plans and formulas to come up with its recommendations and you can do your own math to see if it’s right. I love the design of this app from top to bottom. And the price is right - free for all but crazy people who want to be overly ambitious. Those people have to pay a little extra. (Um, yeah, I decided that the $7.99 was something I could afford - call me crazy!). Great app! Thank you for all your work, Norma.
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Response from developer
Thank you. Anyone with that many spreadsheets knows how much work a plan is, so I'm glad Runnerd could take some of it off your hands. Enjoy the running.
