AI is showing up everywhere these days. Everyone is getting told to use it but there isn’t a real solid understanding of how to use it effectively. I told myself I wouldn’t write about AI because I didn’t want to add to that chaos until I figured something out for myself.
It is chaos at the moment. AI is incredibly powerful and is changing how the world works. However, it isn’t a hyper intelligent all knowing being. I have been seeing more and more folks using AI in their running to get training plans. When you read what it gives you, it does sound incredibly convincing and it feels like having a little AI powered coach. That’s also incredibly dangerous.
The most important thing that anyone MUST understand upfront when using an AI is that you have to be the one that is in charge. For running, AI does not have your body, your history, or your experience and it certainly isn’t there to see you running or working out. It is entirely limited to the information that you give it. If you hand it vague, shallow, or inaccurate statements about your running, it will still confidently hand you a training plan; that plan is going to be AI Slop.
The Harvard Business Review recently published a solid piece on AI slop. One of the key takeaways is that if you don’t fully control the conversation with AI, then you’ll get something that sounds great but is actually hot garbage.
For running, following the recommendations from AI slop isn’t just trying things that won’t really work for you; it is trying things that could also get you hurt. So before using AI to support your training, you need to follow some ground rules.
Rule 1: You must drive
AI will never know how your legs feel when you wake up; how your posture collapses late in a race; or how stress from your work screws with your sleep and recovery. These are things that you know by listening to your body. The AI doesn’t. Period.
That’s why the first step is being brutally clear to the AI about your goals behind running both on and off the road. For me, that has been consistently
- Have an injury free lifestyle where I can run every day
- Distance is always more important than speed or time
- Consistency and sustainability are king
When… not if… the AI suggests changes to my training that puts my ability to run daily at risk, it’s a bad suggestion no matter how good the AI tries to make it sound. It isn’t aligned with my goals. I regularly push back and argue with ChatGPT, my AI of choice. AI doesn’t retain the information you give it the way you think a computer brain should. It regularly forgets my goals and the rules I set even when I create very specific project ones, a feature of ChatGPT when you have a subscription.
You need to watch for AI misbehaving like that. That is what I mean by you having to drive. When it starts to suggest things that are off or not aligning with your goals, you need to question why it did that; quite literally ask the AI why it said something you didn’t think was right. Then you can clearly identify when it has forgotten or incorrectly remembered a goal or rule and got itself confused. That’s where people get into trouble. You have to always be using your best judgment and be questioning the AI.
Rule 2: Start with a real training plan made by experts for you
AI works best when it’s anchored to something real. A great way to do that is to bring your own training plan that supports your goals. Don’t make the mistake of asking AI to just create a plan from scratch.
If you’re newer to running or have only been running casually, it’s worthwhile working with a coach, a real expert, for a few months. Everyone’s body is different so training plans are naturally personalized. Coaches are great for helping you get started.
- Finding routines and exercises that work for your body and your schedule
- Learning how to listen to your body on how effort, fatigue, and recovery feels
- Understanding what too much actually feels like and identifying when to stop
That information and your understanding is the context you give AI. Explaining your training plan and goals is pretty straightforward
- Weekly mileage and long run structure
- Strength and mobility exercises
- Routines and schedules
- Non-negotiables
How your body is feeling and how you do on your runs and at the gym is what you have to be pretty consistent with AI on. I can’t stress enough that running is deeply personal. A human coach picks up a lot on how your body reacts when they are working with you. They teach you how to listen to your body to understand those reactions. After that, they help you figure out training that is specific to you. AI can help you reason and reflect on your training but it should NEVER replace your judgment that you develop and hone from coaching.
How I use AI in my running
I’ve been using ChatGPT to help me refine my training for about six months now. I have a paid subscription and a dedicated project for it. I use it in three primary ways:
- A daily running diary where I log mileage, effort, and how my body feels
- Weekly reflections based on those diary entries
- Targeted questions about small tweaks and supplemental exercises for my training plan
The real value isn’t the answers the AI coughs up. It’s the reflection that it triggers. The weekly reviews are especially powerful. They help me spot things, both progress and challenges. I use those to decide what NOT to change. I’m intentionally very slow with adjustments.
- Only one or two changes at most every few months
- Enough time to see how my body adapts
- No wholesale plan rewrites
I stay critical of ChatGPT and I swear it forgets periodically that I love running because I like to grind out a ton of miles. AI loves the wholesale rewrites; optimize everything all at once! That’s almost never what your body wants but more importantly, it isn’t what you want either. You MUST drive. Resist the urge to do big changes even if they sound good.
Adding AI to your running
For AI to help, it’s an absolute that you be in control. It is more than just chatting back and forth with it. You set the goals and the rules. You stick to those goals and rules even when the AI isn’t. You know your body better than the AI ever will. I recommend the following:
- Before working with the AI, get some coaching for a few months
- Coaching isn’t about training. It is about bootstrapping your knowledge and understanding
- Start things off with the AI by giving it your non-negotiables
- These are your goals and rules
- In my opinion, injury prevention needs to be one
- Be prepared to repeat them to the AI
- These are your goals and rules
- Give the AI your training plan
- It is important to start from something that is already working
- Daily
- Use AI as a diary to record simple entries that are focused on effort and feeling
- Weekly
- Review your progress with AI
- Here is where I have found real value
- Ask it questions and tell it how you and your body feel
- Remember the answers it gives are suppose to trigger self reflection
- Be critical of it
- It doesn’t actually have feelings
- Review your progress with AI
AI can be a powerful mirror but only if you’re willing to drive; be the human in the loop. Don’t be tempted by really cool ideas and suggestions that don’t align with your goals. Be firm with it and be prepared to remind it when it is ignoring your non-negotiables.
Push Pace 