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Does Fitbit provide any type of personalized coaching Running or Training Coach?

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‎05-26-2023 05:24 - last edited on ‎05-26-2023 14:35 by Fitbit Moderator

‎05-26-2023 05:24 - last edited on ‎05-26-2023 14:35 by Fitbit Moderator

Does Fitbit provide any type of personalized coaching? I know that with a premium subscription one has access to training videos, but these are generic training videos. Is there any feature that would coach for a personalized goal? Let's say that someone wants to train for a 10k run and a certain speed, or other training goals?

 

Moderator edit: clarified subject.

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‎05-26-2023 05:43 - edited ‎05-26-2023 05:45

‎05-26-2023 05:43 - edited ‎05-26-2023 05:45

@fra.mai No. If you want proper training program and training features (like being guided through a workout on the watch) then Fitbit isn't the brand made for that. In general, Fitbit is a poor choice for runners (it lacks essential features). You may still use your Fitbit as a running watch but you'd need to look for third-party software with personalized training plans like Strava or TrainingPeaks (and use a watch just for recording the run, it's hardly going to be any help during training). The problem you'll have is that workouts in your training plan are built of multiple intervals which you need to either remember or find a way to be guided as Fitbit doesn't have the ability to download the workout and guide you through it. For example, once I was preparing myself for a half-marathon following a plan targeting 5:00/km so one of the workouts could look like this (it's an outtake from my training plan):

tparker_0-1685104918570.png

You may either use a mobile phone to guide you (some apps have voice guidance as well as visual).

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3 REPLIES 3

‎05-26-2023 05:43 - edited ‎05-26-2023 05:45

‎05-26-2023 05:43 - edited ‎05-26-2023 05:45

@fra.mai No. If you want proper training program and training features (like being guided through a workout on the watch) then Fitbit isn't the brand made for that. In general, Fitbit is a poor choice for runners (it lacks essential features). You may still use your Fitbit as a running watch but you'd need to look for third-party software with personalized training plans like Strava or TrainingPeaks (and use a watch just for recording the run, it's hardly going to be any help during training). The problem you'll have is that workouts in your training plan are built of multiple intervals which you need to either remember or find a way to be guided as Fitbit doesn't have the ability to download the workout and guide you through it. For example, once I was preparing myself for a half-marathon following a plan targeting 5:00/km so one of the workouts could look like this (it's an outtake from my training plan):

tparker_0-1685104918570.png

You may either use a mobile phone to guide you (some apps have voice guidance as well as visual).

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‎05-26-2023 05:52

In response to t.parker

‎05-26-2023 05:52

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback!

What a shame... 2 years ago my old Versa would allow Strava to be installed directly onto the Watch... I really don't understand why they cut all these nice features.

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‎05-26-2023 05:59 - edited ‎05-26-2023 06:00

In response to fra.mai

‎05-26-2023 05:59 - edited ‎05-26-2023 06:00

@fra.mai Strava app on the watch was just a viewer so not a big loss. Fitbit has never had support for training features. Simply, it isn't a brand of sports watches. They are basic activity/exercise trackers 🤷. Strava plans aren't bad but they are under Strava premium and require a runner to be able to run by RPE. Most beginner runners can't tell "easy" from "moderate" effort but if you can tell your level of effort then those training plans will work (just use Strava mobile app to guide you). For years, I've been following Stryd workouts (I switched to running by power/RPE as I find it most efficient) so don't know much other software with training plans by pace but there are plenty (running by pace is still the most common way of training).

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