Guides
Learn the plan, the numbers and the coach.
Short how-tos for setting up RunBuddy, reading your plan and understanding what each number means.
Start here
Getting started
Sync your Apple Watch
Grant Apple Health access and pull in runs with GPS and heart rate.
Understanding your numbersReadiness score
HRV, resting HR, sleep and load in one score, and what to do on a low day.
Training with the planMissed a session
How adherence works and how to ask the coach to rearrange the week.
Getting startedSet your heart rate zones
Max and resting HR, zone models, and why age formulas are a starting point.
Getting started
Connect your watch, set your zones and build your first plan.
- Sync your Apple Watch Grant Apple Health access and pull in runs with GPS and heart rate.
- Set your heart rate zones Max and resting HR, zone models, and why age formulas are a starting point.
- Create a training plan Soon Goal, race date, sessions per week, and where starting volume comes from.
- Add your plan to your calendar Soon Subscribe in Apple or Google Calendar, and rotate the link.
Training with the plan
What each session asks of you, and what to do when life gets in the way.
- Read your plan Soon Base, build, peak and taper, session types and prescribed paces.
- Missed a session How adherence works and how to ask the coach to rearrange the week.
- Interval sessions Soon Warm-up, repeats, steps and cool-down, step by step.
- Strength for runners Soon Guided strength sessions, the exercise library and the rest timer.
- The run/walk method Soon Couch to 5K, run/walk structure and how the breakdown is detected.
Understanding your numbers
Where each number comes from and how to act on it.
- Readiness score HRV, resting HR, sleep and load in one score, and what to do on a low day.
- Fitness, fatigue and form Soon 42-day vs 7-day load, and why form dips before it rises.
- Training load Soon What TRIMP-based load is and how to judge a hard week.
- Race predictions Soon How predictions come from your PRs, and when they run optimistic.
- Rate of perceived effort Soon Logging effort and feeling, and why it makes the coach better.
- Track shoe mileage Soon Shoe states and when to replace a pair.
- Segments Soon Create a segment and track your attempts over time.
The AI coach
Talk to the coach, see what it remembers, use it in Claude.
- Talk to your coach Soon What to ask, editing the plan together, and coach personalities.
- Coach memory Soon What the coach remembers, and how to view or delete it.
- Use RunBuddy with Claude Connect over MCP, with example prompts.
Self-hosting
Run RunBuddy on your own server and keep every byte.
- Self-host RunBuddy Docker Compose, single-user mode, and connecting the iOS app by QR code.
- Export your data Soon One ZIP with GPX for every run plus JSON for everything else.