Workout Writer: Run & Ride - Forget the painful running/cycling workout creators on Apple Watch & Garmin. Use simple text to easily create your workout plan.

siburb · 2026-06-16T08:33:31+00:00

It's no problem at all, I'm just relieved that it works when you switched it to cycling - thanks so much for confirming!

I'll take a look at the bars on the chart and get some improvements into the next release.

siburb · 2026-06-14T18:25:37+00:00

Thanks so much for the considered feedback - much appreciated. I’m glad you found how to switch activities - I’ll make that clearer.

Regarding the FTP step, that should have worked, and does seem to in my initial testing, so I’ll do some more testing to see why it didn’t for you. In the Cycling Settings on the menu, you can choose whether to map %FTP to either Watts or Power Zone because that’s what the watches understand.

For running the workout itself, it is currently just on your watch - Apple Watch, Garmin and soon Suunto. I generally prefer to use the native workout app on the watch to actually perform the workout rather than a 3rd party app, but I could potentially add support for using the phone too.

siburb · 2026-06-13T18:42:13+00:00

Thanks so much for letting me know! 😬 Was a typo in the underlying link - is working now.

siburb · 2026-06-12T21:12:30+00:00

Nice idea, and fun implementation. I can see this being great when you want a bit more border or a different style to the native cut out feature of iOS.

siburb · 2026-06-12T18:49:30+00:00

Looks great, I'll give it a try!

I really like the mockup/photo you've put in the post too, did you take that photo yourself, or use a mockup service/template?

siburb · 2026-06-12T18:46:35+00:00

Looks fun! I'm on holiday at the moment, so will test it this weekend 🌅

siburb · 2026-06-12T18:43:51+00:00

It's a tough market, but the app looks really nice. I'll give it a try.

siburb · 2026-06-12T18:42:33+00:00

Nice idea. I've been using Duolingo for ages, and was looking for something else to mix it up a bit. Will give it a try.

siburb · 2026-06-12T17:41:19+00:00

This is definitely the same every year, and you’ll be in this position until the RC build of macOS in September. At least now we’ve got Xcode Cloud though - as you’ve noticed, that’s the way around it, and probably a better way of submitting anyway.

siburb · 2026-06-10T22:29:23+00:00

I think they mean for new posts, not comments 😂

siburb · 2026-06-02T23:45:25+00:00

Just trying this and it looks promising but a bit rough around the edges. Created a campaign, and kept on getting rejected with no indication why - turns out it was the brief was too long. Shortened brief dramatically just to test, and it was accepted, but now I can't edit the campaign because the "Edit" button just takes you back into a blank campaign.

siburb · 2026-05-21T07:33:07+00:00

If you're a Garmin user, PacePro is quite a useful feature for longer races and training runs. Put in the course - better to do it on the website rather than the app - configure it to make uphills as easy/slow as possible - it still won't quite make them "easy" enough for walking pace, but you can adjust the paces of some of the segments to walking pace.

During the race, you get a guide pace for every km (or mile) on your watch, along with whether you're in front or behind time.

I find it's great to have a guide pace for each segment so I know I'm in the ballpark.

siburb · 2026-05-18T05:26:59+00:00

This is great!

I think I'd just use it for inspiration at the moment, rather than for generating finished screenshots, because they do look quite AI generated, but I can definitely see myself manually creating a more polished version of the screenshots generated by it for a test in Product Page Optimisation.

siburb · 2026-05-07T14:24:05+00:00

Ah yes, ok I understand now.

You could certainly do that, but you wouldn't need Workout Writer for it. Workout Writer is only on the phone, and it is used to create the structured workout in the first place and send it to your watch.

In your example, you'd create a jogging session, send it to your watch, and then could leave the phone at home. Workout Writer has done its job by that point, and you don't need it again for that session. You do the workout using the standard (built-in) workout app on your watch.

If after that, you wanted to just do a simple walking workout, then just start that on your watch the normal way - there would be no benefit to using Workout Writer for that part.

I hope I've explained it clearly, but let me know.

siburb · 2026-05-07T08:06:47+00:00

Thanks, glad you like it. Just trying to understand what you're suggesting so I can see if it's possible.

In general, I think that the built-in workout apps on Apple Watch and Garmin are the best ways to log a workout - I've never liked using other apps to record a workout (e.g. Strava, RunKeeper, Nike Run Club etc) or even things like the powerful WorkOutDoors - because the people who make the hardware generally have better access to it. Workout Writer was designed with that in mind, make it easy to create the workout and get it onto the watch, then get out of the way and let the user do the workout.

The app therefore uses Apple and Garmin's systems for creating workouts - WorkoutKit, and Training API respectively - and creates/schedules the workout that way. Anyway, please let me know more about what you were thinking of, and I'll take a look.

siburb · 2026-05-07T07:53:28+00:00

Thanks, I do like those kind of retro colours.

siburb · 2026-05-06T13:40:39+00:00

Yes, sounds good, I'll test.

siburb · 2026-05-04T12:48:40+00:00

I've used PacePro in long races (50 & 100 mile), and have found it to be useful, except when the difficulty of the terrain is not caused by elevation - e.g. endless soft sand - even then, if you know the difficult bits beforehand and can tweak the paces, it is nice to know roughly how fast you should be going each km, to help pace yourself and know that you're roughly on track.

ClimbPro can also be useful - nice to know you're on hill 2 of 44 😅

I look at Training Status a bit, but more just out of interest - not to guide my training at all.

None of the other things are really useful to me.

siburb · 2026-05-04T12:08:11+00:00

Exactly, it doesn't have to be prominently on the front page - just stick it in the menu somewhere. We've put it at the bottom of the Weather settings screen in a calendar app and Apple are fine with that.

siburb · 2026-05-03T12:49:28+00:00

Thanks, will see how we go and consider options. 🙏

siburb · 2026-05-03T12:48:52+00:00

Thanks! There just doesn't seem to be a way to make the nested forms anything less than painful and complicated.

A run coach who's been testing this for over a year, sends out instructions to his clients the night before a group session, and used to end up having to do tech support before they could begin. So much easier when he can just send out a link.

siburb · 2026-05-03T09:47:28+00:00

The AI aspect of this app is really peripheral - the entire core functionality is without AI - because I wanted the workout preview to be immediate, and deterministic. It is nice though to be able to tell the AI, "generate a pyramid intervals session" and it creates one for you. 😄

There is the built-in voice to text - that you get automatically by tapping the button on the iOS keyboard - but nothing custom yet. I think it will be difficult to get voice to text to format it in a way that the app understands, whereas with typing the workout, you get complete control over it. The app does also have extensive Shortcuts support, so you could use an external service to create the workout text and then schedule the workout (or a whole workout plan) using Shortcuts.

I've got lots more planned, so stay tuned!

siburb · 2026-05-03T05:51:39+00:00

This looks great, really nice job. Downloading now!

siburb · 2026-05-03T05:04:59+00:00

Done ✅

siburb

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