Trenara is adaptive. I explained that again in this video. But that adaptivity is largely automated and usually depends on how you executed the workout, together with your feedback afterwards (RPE). In practice, you often already know before a session whether what’s planned is realistic or not. Your schedule sometimes simply takes priority over Trenara’s. Until now, we didn’t have a solution for that.
Until now, that is.
Shorten your easy runs
Although the plan determines the physiologically “ideal” duration, it doesn’t always match how you feel or what your day looks like. In sports terms: the session doesn’t match your current load capacity.
That planned slow long distance on Sunday might simply take too much time when you have a family event. Moving it doesn’t help, because there’s no room on other days. So you cut it short. Until now, you were basically penalised in that situation, both through my feedback and through algorithmic adjustments. Your lack of time could actually lead to even longer runs afterwards.
From now on, you can have the typical coach conversation yourself:
“Christophe, I’m really not up for running 90 minutes today. I’m going to cut it short.”
“Perfect!”, I’d say. Because per type of run, you can now adjust the distance within my coaching logic. We’re now combining post-session adaptability with pre-session flexibility.
Extend your runs
For others, runs may actually feel too short. A free day, blue skies, fresh legs. Then you simply want to stay out a bit longer, without me complaining.
That’s now possible too, again within my coaching logic. Recovery runs, which I already consider a bit of a contradiction, can’t be extended. Long runs can, but only within limits. Preventing overload remains the key to progress, and that principle is built into this new feature.
The same for interval sessions
With interval training it works slightly differently: you can adjust the number of repetitions, not the duration of the reps themselves. That way I keep control over the goal and quality of the session.
The option to remove the cooldown already existed, and remains useful when you’re short on time.
And what about intensity?
We’ve thought about that too. Most workouts can now also be adjusted slightly in intensity. Not that you can turn fast interval reps into an easy jog. But small shifts can make a big difference when you start a session tired, or on a particularly busy day.
It also works the other way around. Sometimes you may want to run a bit faster during an easy run, for example with a tailwind. That’s fine. But an easy run will never become a hard one.
So from now on, you can align your training plan even better with how you feel and with your real-life schedule. Because the foundation of Trenara remains what it has always been: real coaching logic, not a plan set in stone.
