Nike Run Club Is a Convenient and Fun App for Casual and Intermediate Runners
To continue my series on the best running apps (see also: Runna and giving up apps ), this week I spent some time with an old favorite of mine, Nike Run Club . I’ve always loved Nike’s aesthetic (come on, roast me) and this is an app I come back to time and time again. It has running instructions, training plans, and an incredibly good companion app for the Apple Watch.
What is Nike Run Club?
Nike Run Club is an app for iOS and Android . It can track your runs from your Apple Watch or directly from your phone (put it in your pocket or on the running belt and let it use your phone’s GPS). It has a library of guided runs and several workout programs, but you can also use it to track runs you do on your own (as long as you’re tracking them from the app).
Nike Run Club has a great app for Apple Watch
The iOS version also comes with a full-featured Apple Watch app. In addition to the basic functions of tracking your run and playing music, the Apple Watch app lets you view your workout history, select a guided run, take the next run from your training plan, or start a new run with a time or distance goal. There’s a “speed” feature that gives you a lap button if you want to do an at-home interval workout, and a “match it” feature for when you want to do the same run as last time.
The Apple Watch even has special Nike faces and some nifty complications, like one that can tell you how many runs you’ve done in your workout plan this week.
Why Nike Run Club is good
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Guided runs of varying lengths, types and trainers.
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Full featured Apple Watch app.
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Big, bold numbers that let you focus your attention on key metrics like your current interval time (while running) or your mileage for the week (when you check your stats in the app).
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The training plans are modest, but the work will get done.
Where Nike Run Club Fails
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There is no full integration with Garmin or other wearables – only Apple Watch.
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The training plans are not personalized and do not give you a choice of instructor-led runs.
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Not customizable enough for the most serious runners.
Tune
Unlike Runna , you don’t have to tell Nike Run Club anything about yourself, create a workout plan, or browse subscription options. You need to create a free account, but that’s it.
If you want to track the mileage of your shoes, you can add it to the app. Many running apps have this feature, but Nike keeps images of all of its shoes saved in the app and will use the icon of your current shoe to show your location on the Start Run screen. Yes, it’s corny, but I found it helpful to see that my miles were going to be recorded in my pink shoes and not my black ones, so if I was wearing black ones, I would have to click to change that.
Using the application
The application has five tabs at the bottom:
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Home page where you will see articles and announcements about new races and guided competitions. (You can safely ignore this tab.)
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Plans, where you can check the status of your current training plan (more on these in a minute)
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Run – the screen where you will start running. You can access the library of managed runs from here.
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A club where you can find challenges and view a leaderboard comparing your weekly mileage to your friends.
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Activities that show the runs you’ve already completed and the badges you’ve earned.
In most cases, you’ll open the app and go straight to the Running tab, or if you’re using a training plan, the Plan tab. To find Managed Runs, select one of the offerings in the Run tab, or click Managed Runs at the top to browse the entire library. Folders are automatically created for runs you download (you must download a step-by-step run before using them), as well as for saved and completed runs.
Training Plans
Nike Run Club has a basic function for creating training plans. Your options are: “start”, 5 km, 10 km, half marathon and marathon distances.
When you make a plan, you tell it the date of your race, if you have one, and… that’s it. Now you have a plan. Enjoy!
It doesn’t tailor the plan to your schedule or fitness level. This simply assumes that if you choose a 10K training plan, you are willing to do most of the programming on it for you. Luckily, any runs you don’t want to do are easy to skip, and the app suggests this with the note: “You’re in charge of your plan, so you can take days off when you need to.” You can customize your workouts to fit your weekly schedule or change the pace and distance depending on how you’re feeling.”
When you complete a run from the training plan screen, an orange checkmark will appear next to it. Each workout day comes with a recommended guided run, or you can choose to run without an instructor. So far, so good.
But the plans have two major drawbacks beyond the lack of personalization. First, you need to use this particular guided run to get the tick. There are so many tours at the library and it’s a shame that you can’t explore and choose something else. What will you do if you run two 10Ks in a year? You’ll just have to hear the same guided talks over and over again.
Another issue that will be a deal breaker for many serious runners is that plans don’t sync with Garmin devices. The app does have a Garmin sync feature, but it’s only meant to let your Garmin Connect runs show up in the Nike app; there is no other way. And these runs won’t count towards your training plan either. People who like the Nike app and have a Garmin watch will have to use two devices at the same time and keep dual logs of their runs.
My running experience with Nike Run Club
If you don’t expect much from this app, you’ll get an enjoyable experience with a lot of thoughtful details. As I mentioned earlier, the Apple Watch app is great and the guided runs are really well done.
You get a selection of trainers with different personalities (Coach Bennett appears often, but my personal favorite is Coach Frankie) and different moods (“I don’t want to run, run” is exactly what I need to hear when I pull myself out of bed ).
The app can be connected to your chest strap to measure your heart rate if you’re running without a watch. If you use both a phone and a watch, you’ll need to start the watch from the phone if you want to view metrics for both. This can be handy for interval runs, as the app gives you a screen showing your time and pace for all the intervals you completed in that workout.
Social features and privacy
You can chat with friends in the app and see their names on the weekly mileage leaderboard. You can choose whether your profile and activities are visible to everyone, or whether you want to keep everything private. There is a middle ground labeled “friends (social media)” where your friends can search for you and find you, but they won’t see your activity until you accept their friend request.
There’s also a feature that lets your friends send you “greets” while you’re running, either via a text message or a voice memo you record. I wasn’t able to test this as I don’t have any friends currently using this app. A few years ago, you could share a special link on Twitter or Facebook that your friends could click to congratulate you; It’s unclear if this still works. Nike’s documentation for the app tells you how to receive congratulations, but not how to send them.
If you want to share your run on other platforms, Nike offers some nifty templates that can overlay your pace, an abstract map of your route, or other details like elevation onto a photo from your camera roll. The options are limited, but I think they look cool. (Again: roast me.)
What you can do with and without a subscription
Good news: there is no subscription for this app! All features are available at the free level, there is no paid level.
What does this app do well?
Nike Run Club is a great app for runners who don’t need to do any special workouts or follow specific training plans. If you just want to go for a run and are willing to make spontaneous choices about what to listen to, this is a great app. If you want an app that works and works well on the Apple Watch, this is a great app.
I’m going to take another minute to talk about guided runs. Trainers sometimes take on the role of motivational speakers, sometimes meditation coaches (some of which are narrated by Headspace’s Andy Puddicombe), and sometimes just plain coach (especially in interval training). Motivational conversations are banal, but they work for me. I remember Coach Frankie telling me during one race, “I love your dedication. And I love the ease with which you handle this pace.” This is canned speech! He doesn’t know me! Yet I felt seen, appreciated, and encouraged.
Pros and cons
Don’t choose this app if you want personalized workout programs or if you want the app to recognize your own workouts as part of the program. (It will , however, track your weekly mileage.)
Don’t choose this app if you are a Garmin fan. You will have to register everything on two devices at once. And while the Apple Watch app is great, it won’t appeal to data-hungry runners as much as Forerunner. You’ll get pace stats and a small map of your route, but nothing compared to the detailed graphs or run data you might be used to.
Bottom line
If you’re new to running or your main goal is to just have fun and stay consistent, this is a great app for you. Same thing if you enjoy guided runs; It’s not the only app that provides them, but it does it particularly well. Serious runners should probably use an app that focuses more on performance metrics and personalized training plans.