5 Life Hacks Every Nike Run Club User Should Know
The Nike Run Club app has long been a favorite among runners, and for good reason . It offers GPS tracking, coaching and athlete-guided workouts, structured training plans, and a social layer that lets you support friends and compete on leaderboards. But like many well-designed apps, some of its most useful features aren’t officially described anywhere. Whether you downloaded NRC last week to start running for the first time or have been using it for training for years, these tips will help you get more out of every run.
Sort your runs to track your progress and challenge yourself.
You might be content scrolling through your activity feed in reverse chronological order and never think to sort it any other way. But being able to instantly see your longest run (or fastest mile, or anything else) is a great way to both track your progress and assess your current level.
This method seems obvious, but surprisingly, it’s not intuitive in the app. In fact, I found this tip in the comments on Reddit . Here’s how: open NRC, go to “Activity” → “All Activity,” then tap the “Filter” button in the top right corner . From there, select “Sort by” and choose an option, such as “Longest Distance,” “Highest Pace,” and others.
Once you learn to find your personal bests, you can take it a step further: use these past achievements as competitions. One of my favorite ways to stay motivated is to revisit previous runs and essentially compete against them.
Use the easy-to-follow “First Run” for beginners to improve your pace even for professionals.
The NRC “First Run” coaching run is marketed as a beginner’s workout, which is why most experienced runners skip it. My advice: don’t! Even I, a seasoned runner, found this workout truly helpful. It forced me to reset my internal pace . I also found it a necessary introduction to the app itself, explaining how NRC coaching actually works. It explains how the audio cues are synchronized, how effort-based cues appear during a run, and how to mentally engage with the coaching format rather than just perceive it as background noise. If you’ve ever found yourself distracted during a workout or felt like the coaching wasn’t working, there’s a good chance you were passively listening to it rather than actively running with it.
Perhaps you really don’t need to relearn the basics of running at a slower pace than you think is necessary . In that case, consider your “first run” less as a beginner’s workout and more as an introductory session you’ve likely missed.
Use a minimalist background to protect your privacy when sharing directions.
A few years ago, NRC made it easier to share your route with a minimalist background without street names. For example, I like to show the route of my run without revealing the exact location of my home or workout spot. Over time, this option has become more difficult to find, and some users miss it .
Now, there are two ways to get this minimalist background: one annoying, the other easy. The annoying way: after uploading your run, tap the three dots → Share → Route (to the left of the Camera Roll) → More → Remove Background in CapCut . This last step takes you from NRC to CapCut, which I personally don’t like to use. Sorry!
The easiest way is to: Share → Posters (to the right of the Camera Roll), then scroll through the poster options until you find the simplest black or gray background. This will allow you to display your route in a minimalist style without leaving the app or using a third-party editor. If privacy or aesthetics are important to you when sharing your runs, this is the perfect option.
Use the companion app to make up for lost distance during speed workouts.
When performing NRC interval training, the app tracks your intense workouts but doesn’t record your recovery time. This means your total elapsed time and distance traveled will be underestimated by the time you finish the workout.
The crucial step is to simultaneously run a second app. Strava works well for this, as does a GPS watch, if you have one. After completing your run, you’ll get an accurate total distance from this second source. You can then return to NRC, find your interval run, and manually edit the distance to match your actual distance. It’s an extra step, but if tracking your weekly mileage is important to you—or you’re following a training plan where volume is key—it’s worth it.
Get the help you need—without the hassle.
You may be part of Coach Bennett’s cult following, but that doesn’t mean every workout with the instructor should be accompanied by a lengthy motivational monologue. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t have a setting that allows you to commit the blasphemous sin of interrupting the coach’s speech. Instead, use this workaround: as soon as the speech starts, exit the app. Wait a few seconds, then reopen the app. This will interrupt the coach’s speech without interrupting your workout. You’ll have to do this manually every time you want to skip the coach’s words of wisdom, but at least it works.
Otherwise, a certain degree of personalization is readily available. Some runners want notifications every half mile; others find this inconvenient and prefer updates every two miles. Some want to receive pace, distance, and time information every time; others are only interested in pace. In the running settings, you can adjust the frequency of audio notifications (how often you hear your time, distance, and pace), turn individual metrics on or off depending on what you really need to know while running, and choose between different voice options for prompts and alerts.