How your coach
is evolving.

Sunday is your call. At 6pm on Sunday I ask if you’re ready for next week’s plan: build it now, or tell me something first. If you don’t answer, I build it at 9pm, once the weekend’s sessions have actually synced (a 6pm build was missing over a quarter of them). Anything you tell me during the week, like “keep Tuesday free”, is kept for that build. And when your plan runs out before your race, extending it is one tap.

Small plan tweaks come with an Undo. When a week needs a nudge, like two days swapped or an easy run turned into rest, I make it, show you what changed and give you an Undo button. Anything bigger still asks first, and your Yes applies exactly the change you were shown, not my second attempt at it. Prefer to be asked every time? /settings, Plan tweaks.

A rough night changes today. Tap a poor night’s sleep on a day with a hard or long session and I offer to ease it, one tap. If your watch says you slept eight hours but you tapped poor, I go with how you feel.

I read your private notes. The private note you write on a Strava activity (“only you can see this”) now reaches me alongside the description. “Calf tight from 5k” is exactly what I should know. It’s only ever shown back to you, and deleted with your account.

Zones from day one, and I ask when they look wrong. Heart-rate zones worked out from your own data now arrive with your first sync, not the following Sunday. If your recent sessions disagree with the zones on file (peaks well over your max, an hour-long race held above your threshold) I show you the evidence and ask you to check them. I never change them myself. Riders with a power meter but no FTP get one estimated from their rides, used for training load only, never to mark a session; and Strava’s estimated watts no longer count as power.

I find out how your race went. After a goal race I find the activity, note your time against your target and remember it. If you didn’t start, your word is what counts. And when I build a plan for a race, I quote the real time left, not the plan’s length.

Plans checked against published ones. Marathon plans are now measured against well-known published plans for weekly volume, long runs and taper, and the gaps that turned up are fixed: a taper keeps one sharp session, the long run sits at a quarter to two-fifths of the week, and cycling and triathlon builds peak in hours that match the event. Before a new plan quietly builds towards a race still on your calendar, I ask.

Mornings that know what you’ve done. If today’s session is already in, the check-in won’t preview it as still to come. Its time follows where you train, unless you picked your time zone yourself. If you leave a lot of morning check-ins unanswered I drop to Mondays only and tell you; one reply brings daily back. Anything about your safety still reaches you, whatever else I’ve gone quiet on.

A memory that keeps up. Tell me an injury’s healed and I stop asking about it; mention it again and it’s back on my radar. One-off requests, like “this Sunday I want 2 x 8 km at marathon pace”, now expire after the day or week instead of hanging around, and the profile I keep about you gets tidied every week.

Replies that read like a person wrote them. Dates like “Sun 27 Sep”, no “Morning!” an hour after we last spoke, and the debriefs for several activities in one message rather than a burst. “A few seconds softer” now always means a slower pace, never a faster one. And an old “just reply here” prompt can no longer swallow your next message.

Garmin, without Strava. Don’t use Strava? Connect Garmin with /garminconnect and I read your activities straight from Garmin. One source at a time, so nothing is ever counted twice.

Room for a human coach. If you have a coach, they can now work alongside me. Send /coach with their code, see what they’ll be able to see, and tap to confirm. They see your training and our chats, can tell me how to pitch your coaching, and can suggest plan changes that only apply when you accept. /coach on its own shows who your coach is and lets you leave.

Smaller things. Your first Strava import starts the moment you connect; redoing /setup no longer restarts your calibration fortnight; a mistyped command gets a suggestion (/week2 → /week 2) instead of silence; /aboutme works for long profiles; /findpbs stops offering rides as running PBs; /last shows your real cadence; reconnect links work when you tap them; and slow replies stall far less often.

I remember what you’re capable of. Your plan used to be built from the last four weeks alone - so three weeks of holiday and I’d be “rebuilding your long run from 12 km” for someone who ran 45 km in June. I now hold what you’ve actually done over the last six and twelve months - your longest run, how often you’ve gone past 21 and 30 km, your usual weekly volume - and build against that. A quiet month is a fact about the month, not about you.

Is the goal reachable? I’ll say so early. With a goal time, a race date and enough results to go on, I check whether the plan actually gets you there - long runs long enough, a peak week that matches the distance, fitness heading the right way - and tell you in good time rather than let race day do it. No solid number to judge against, no verdict: I won’t invent a fitness figure to measure you by.

Down weeks that are actually down. The easier weeks in your plan are now held to when a week is rebuilt on a Sunday, not only when the plan was first written; I don’t prescribe a reset in the middle of a race build; a rest day can’t quietly disappear from a week (that used to be spotted and then ignored); and a week that spikes is judged against your normal, so a fictional “big jump” warning doesn’t land on an ordinary week.

“You did it - but not quite right.” The Sunday review can now say the thing it never could: the sessions got done, but the tempo was run easy, or the intervals never reached the zone. It judges the work you did - warm-up and cool-down trimmed out by effort, not by where the laps fell - and where it can’t verify intensity it says “unverified” instead of folding a guess into the headline.

Hikes and walks are days out, not slow runs. I’ve stopped grading pace on a hike (gate latches and photo stops aren’t a pacing verdict), read them on vertical metres per hour and time on your feet, stopped a six-hour walk registering as more fatigue than a hard interval session, and - unless you ask me to coach them - I acknowledge them warmly rather than mark them.

Heart-rate zones from your own data. If you’d never set zones, I now derive them from your recorded peaks - the consistent ones, not a one-off strap spike - so zone-based reads work from day one, and /settings shows the threshold heart rate they’re built from. Verdicts that need precise bands stay off derived zones, and if your activities carry no heart rate at all I’ve stopped nagging you to set zones you couldn’t use.

Your watch gets the actual session. Push a week to Garmin and the reps are built for tempo, threshold and long sessions and for time-based bike sets, with a pace or power target on each - before, only sessions literally labelled “intervals” kept their structure and everything else arrived as one long block.

Tell me you’re away and I ask what it means. “I’m in Lisbon next week” no longer gets ignored, or quietly deletes your training. I read the dates back and ask: keep it flexible, take the time off, or train as normal - your call, one tap.

Less waiting, and I show my working. You’ll see “typing…” from the moment your message lands and a status that moves (“still thinking…”, “crunching through your data…”) if I’m taking a while; replies come back faster on average; and if you send two messages in a row I answer them in order rather than both at once. When I say a confirm card is on its way, it is.

I read our whole conversation - with dates. Most of our older chat was being dropped before it reached me, and none of it carried a date, which is how “yesterday’s run” could turn out to be five days old. Both fixed, and I no longer call a stale session “yesterday”. If you write to me in another language, I answer in it.

If I’ve said I’ll go quiet, I go quiet. I’ll now only send a morning note for so long without hearing back before I say so and stop - and stop means stop: activity cards and Sunday recaps had been slipping through after that note, and they don’t any more. I keep logging your training silently, and one reply brings everything back. And if you’ve linked Telegram but never Strava, I’ll offer a hand with that rather than say nothing.

Smaller things you’d only notice by their absence. A training cap from an illness now expires with the illness; /week shows the week it’s paging; a question about heart-rate zones is answered rather than filed as a note for next week’s plan; a plan that hasn’t started yet tells you the date it does; and replacing a whole plan tells you exactly which sessions it takes with it.

Your gym work counts. Strength, yoga and other cross-training were showing up in your log but weren’t feeding into your fitness and fatigue at all - so a week with four gym sessions in it read as a light week. That’s fixed: the time you put in now registers, I can see how long each session was, and your weekly card gives it a line of its own instead of “0 km”.

Hills read as hills, not bad pacing. Running up something steep slows you down - that’s the hill, not you fading. I now judge your pace against the terrain you actually ran, kilometre by kilometre, and where the ground makes pace meaningless I say so and read the session on effort instead of inventing a verdict.

Your weekly card tells the truth about your week. It was crediting a session on the day it was planned rather than the day you did it - so it could tick off a Thursday you spent on the sofa. It also under-counted some weeks outright. Both sorted: if you moved a session, it says so and names the day.

A heart-rate ceiling I won’t cross. If a doctor has capped your heart rate, tell me once and I hold that line everywhere - sessions, targets, and every bit of advice - rather than remembering it only in conversation.

I only mention last night if I actually have last night. The morning check-in could describe yesterday’s sleep and HRV as though they were this morning’s, when your watch simply hadn’t synced yet. Now I either have today’s numbers or I ask you - I don’t guess how you slept.

Plans that line up with real weeks. Your training weeks now sit inside proper Monday-Sunday calendar weeks, “this week” is worked out on your clock rather than mine, a change you never confirmed can’t quietly stick, a mid-week break is honoured as the days you actually said, and I’ve stopped editing blocks that are already finished. Your Sunday plan also arrives every time it’s rebuilt - a few used to be written and never sent.

A much longer thread. Older parts of our conversation were being dropped without anything standing in for them, so context quietly fell off a cliff. I now hold far more of it, and keep a running summary of the rest.

Optional: where you trained. Turn it on in /settings and I’ll note the town or city a session started in, so “that run felt awful” can account for you being somewhere hot, hilly or 30 °C. Deliberately coarse - town level, never a specific place - and off unless you ask for it.

What would make my coaching sharper. A short checklist in /settings shows which signals I’ve got and which I haven’t - heart rate, a goal, your session names, the odd effort rating - so it’s clear what’s actually worth your time rather than a vague nag to “add more data”.

Quicker, and tidier. Replies come back noticeably faster, the new-activity heads-up has buttons instead of needing you to type, and a long list of smaller rough edges are gone - the sort you only notice by them no longer happening.

Your overnight recovery, first thing. If you wear a Garmin, just tap how you slept and I’ll pull your overnight numbers - HRV, sleep, resting heart rate and readiness - and weigh them into the morning. A rough night and I ease the day back; a strong one and I’ll happily lean in.

Kinder to triathletes and mixed-sport weeks. If your training spans swim, bike and run, I no longer add it all up as though it were one enormous running week - so your load reads right and you don’t get warnings that make no sense.

Getting started is smoother. Building your first plan now sets an honest expectation and keeps you posted while it works, so you’re never left wondering if it froze. If you drift off part-way through setup I pick things back up rather than leave you stuck, nudge you back sooner when your plan’s a tap from ready, and point you to finishing up instead of a dead “no plan yet” if you ask early.

Sharper under the hood. Plan building is more reliable, I keep the thread on our longer conversations, and a scatter of smaller rough edges are smoothed away - mostly things you’ll only notice by them quietly working.

Your training paces, put right. I spotted that some of the paces I hand out were set too fast - I’ve recalibrated them against the established coaching tables, so your easy, threshold and interval paces (and the heart-rate zones behind them) are properly dialled in. If “easy” felt too quick, that’s sorted.

I stay in the present. A race you’ve already finished, a cold that’s cleared, a heavy week that’s behind you - I no longer raise them as if they’re still live, or let a fortnight-old “took it easy” note keep steering this week. What I coach on is where you are today.

Plans that go all the way to your goal. When I build or refresh your plan it now runs the right length - right through to your goal race, without stopping short at a warm-up event along the way or trailing on for weeks past it. And each week’s effort matches your phase, not a leftover note.

I keep to your constraints. Tell me the days you can’t train, or a weekly ceiling, and I hold to them across the whole plan - not just the week in front of us.

I keep your trips straight. Two different trips a few weeks apart no longer blur into one in my memory, so I don’t muddle what happened when.

Smoother all round. Building a plan in chat no longer leaves you waiting; long messages arrive whole instead of getting clipped; signing in is a single tap with Strava; and your race countdown counts down to the actual day.

Even more careful with the facts. I’ve tightened things further so I only tell you what your data really shows - no guessing a number I can’t see, and no claiming I’ve changed something unless it’s genuinely done.

If you go quiet, I ask - I don’t nag. Drift off for a while and I’ll check in once and genuinely ask what’s up (too many messages? lost the thread?) and act on it, rather than pestering you.

Your morning check-in reads the day. Rather than running through a fixed routine, I now weigh how you’re doing against what’s on the plan and lead with what matters most this morning - a gentle nudge, a heads-up, or just a clear steer for the session ahead.

I learn your patterns - and let them go when they change. Over the weeks I pick up the habits behind your training (the day you tend to miss, the kind of week that tends to leave you flat) and keep checking them against what actually happens, so a hunch only sticks while it’s still true.

One honest read on where you’re at. Your training load, fatigue and freshness now come from a single daily read, so what I say in chat lines up with your numbers instead of quietly contradicting them.

When I say it’s done, it’s done. If I tell you I’ve saved a change, logged a result or updated your plan, that’s a real change you can count on - not just a friendly nod.

When I ask, I listen for the answer. Tell me a goal, a recent race time, your FTP or your weight - right after I’ve asked, or just in passing - and I act on it: I’ll draft the plan, save the time and reset your paces, instead of only nodding along.

Mention a result and it sticks. Say “ran a 10k in 44:30” and I’ll log it and recalibrate your training paces from it - no command, no form.

Hurt or feeling off comes first. If you mention a sore knee or a rough day alongside a result, I lead with that - how you’re doing matters more than the split - and I still keep the time on file.

Ask for your paces, get them. “What are my easy paces?”, “what should my threshold be?” - I’ll work them out from your fitness on the spot, even before you’ve set heart-rate zones.

Straight answers, grounded in your data. Ask about your races, PBs or numbers and I answer from what’s actually on your record - and if I haven’t got it, I’ll say so and offer to add it, rather than guessing.

Overnight plan tune-ups. Each night I check your plan against how your training is actually going. If something has drifted, I’ll propose a small change in your morning check-in - always your call to accept.

Everything is free, for everyone. No more premium tier, no trial that runs out - every feature, including the weekly adaptation and proactive adjustments, is open to all. If it helps your training, you can buy me a coffee to keep it running.

I read how you’re doing - not just your splits. When a week’s been heavy or you’re feeling flat, I lead with support and ease the training back; when you’re flying, I lean in. Same coach, different bedside manner depending on the day.

I back off when you want space. If my nudges keep going unread, I notice and go quiet - no guilt-trips. Anything safety-related still reaches you, and a single reply brings me straight back.

Flexible weeks for real life. Some weeks won’t bend to a fixed schedule. Switch one to a flexible week and it becomes “do any four of these six, any day” - and your races stay pinned to their dates.

Tell me you’re ill or hurt - I’ll adjust and ease you back. Mention a cold, a niggle, or a rough patch and I’ll pull the load back, then walk you through a sensible return rather than dropping you into full training cold.

Build a plan just by talking. No form to fill in - tell me your goal in chat (“I want a sub-2 half in October”) and I’ll draft the whole plan right there.

A longer memory. I hold onto what matters - an injury, a goal you’ve changed, something you mentioned only once - and I stop bringing up things you’ve clearly moved past.

Walking counts. Walking and hiking are first-class now, planned by time on your feet rather than pace - handy for easy days, recovery and base-building.

Fairer recaps, plainer notes. Your Sunday recap now credits cross-training and sessions you rescheduled, reads like it’s talking to you, and I’ve stopped guessing numbers I can’t actually see.

Reschedule by just asking. “Move my easy run to tomorrow”, “push my long run to next Saturday”, “I can’t run Thursday - skip it”. I’ll shuffle sessions within the week or across weeks, swap one onto a rest day, or skip it and offer to move it instead. You always see exactly what’ll change before you confirm.

Your training, your call. Want a longer-than-usual long run, or to bend the plan around real life? I’ll do it. I’ll flag things worth knowing, but I won’t gate-keep your choices.

/today tells you how hard - and why. Each session now shows a target pace and a one-line reason it’s there, so you can head out the door without asking.

Plans that explain themselves. A new plan arrives with a short note on the thinking behind it. Every Sunday when I refresh the week ahead, I tell you what I changed and why (e.g. “eased it ~15% - last week ran hard and you flagged your knee”). And when you switch goals, I make it clear your fitness carries forward - you’re not starting from zero.

Plainer language. Fatigue and fitness nudges now say what they mean, instead of leaning on jargon like TSB/CTL.

Edits that stick. Plan changes are more reliable now, and if something genuinely can’t be done you get a clear reason and a way forward - never a dead end.

Goals beyond races. Tell me what you’re chasing - a race, an FTP number, a goal pace, just staying consistent, or your health - and it shapes the plan I write, not only our chats. Set them with /objectives.

Much easier to talk to. Just say what you mean: “/objectives done the marathon”, “/races remove London”, “/constraints no riding on Mondays” - no remembering exact syntax. The menu is trimmed to the essentials and there’s one /settings hub for everything.

A coach that knows you. I read how you’re feeling, remember what motivates you and how you like to be supported, mark your milestones, and ease off the pressure when you’re going through a rough patch.

More from Garmin. Alongside HRV and sleep, I now pull resting HR, VO2 Max, training readiness, body weight, and your auto FTP/LTHR - so recovery and pacing advice gets sharper.

Sharper day-to-day coaching. I spot efficiency trends, weigh hard days more than easy miles when judging fatigue, and stay aware of which training block you’re in.

New bits. /morning for an on-demand briefing, month-by-month distance breakdowns, and a Coaching rules page showing the principles I coach by.

Smoother & safer. Faster replies, a firmer line around niggles and illness, and a coach that stops repeating itself.

Remembers you properly. A three-layer memory means the things you tell me - a niggle, a preference, a goal - surface again months later when they matter, and a weekly tidy-up keeps it all coherent.