Nike Run Club 4+

This app really is amazing. I’m one of those people where if something doesn’t really work for me, it really doesn’t work…if it works for me, it really works. This app really works for me so far. The guided runs are really helpful to reduce stress/anxiety about runs. The advice and information the coaches give fills up the time and is oftentimes humorous so it takes your mind off of the work you’re putting in a little bit. The training plans have also been really helpful for me because they make it easy to just get out and run and not really stress about planning, pace, effort, progress, etc. They get you where you need/want to go as you run. They also track a bunch of metrics for you so you don’t have to bother with keeping track of it yourself. I hope they add more training plans because the only ones I see now are the beginner plan, 5k plan and the half marathon plan. I would love to see training programs for 10k, running fast miles, marathons etc. Hopefully that’s in the works. Still, at the very least, I would recommend everyone try out this app. It’s at least worth the shot and a few weeks of running to see if it’s for you. Oh, and it’s completely free.

I’m really impressed with the coaching available as part of the app. I picked up running recently and had started tracking runs in Strava. I decided to check out NRC because a friend of mine is using it and referenced it. I’m sure glad that I did! Previously I would just go out and run hard. But it’s hard to motivate for that kind of pain. I decided to try NRC’s 10k program to give me something to work toward. It has me doing speed runs, recovery runs, longer distances, etc. As a new runner, it has made running accessible and even kinda fun.
My problem is with the app itself. My 10k program from Nike is a PDF and it says which “Guided Run” I should do in the app. It begs the question why isn’t the program itself in the app? Failing that I should at least be able to search the guided runs for the name provided. But, no. So that’s why 4/5 ⭐️.
It seems like they could do so much more with this app too. The coach doesn’t know my pace so can only say the level of effort I should put in. But the app does! It doesn’t seem like it would have to be very sophisticated AI to customize the training plan to me. Age should be considered too. As a 50-something I’m just not going to build strength and stamina at the same rate as a younger runner.
In short, I’m happy. I’m glad I’m using the app. You should definitely download it and give it a try. AND there is still a lot of opportunity for it to grow and improve.

When I began running 5 years ago, I loved the app because it motivated me to run. The guided runs were always fun and uplifting to listen to during a run. I also really liked the coaching tab that had coaching for beginners, strength building, and for racing. I started out with coaching for beginners, then went to coaching for strength, and then coaching for my first half marathon race. Fast forward five years now, and I’ve outgrown the app because they’ve taken away the coaching for racing that adapts to your runs automatically. Now the coaching is “canned”, static, and does not adjust to the runner. Also, I’d like to sync my runs to running community apps, like Strava. However, the Nike Run Club app doesn’t sync to anything which makes it hard to share my progress with friends and my local running groups. Nike Run Club doesn’t have any running clubs in my area. They are only in the biggest of cities. For this reason I gave Nike Run Club app three stars. I would be happy to give it more stars if they brought back the adaptable coaching and allowed the app to sync with other apps. It does sync to Apple Health, but Apple Health won’t easily export all the run data, like splits, intervals/laps, etc. Apple Health only exports summary run data to other apps. Nike Run Club needs to build a direct integration to popular running community apps so all the run data can be viewed and analyzed in those apps.