Why I’m Building My Own Running App

Running is my main hobby outside of work. Over time I moved from “just go out and run” to proper structure: intervals, tempo, long runs, race blocks. I already owned an Apple Watch and did not want to switch to Garmin just to get better workout tools.

Why not just use Garmin?

Garmin offers amazing tools for training plans and structured workouts, but they come with trade‑offs:

• You have to buy into the whole Garmin ecosystem.
• Most of the value is in deep analytics that matter more to pros than to someone with a job, kids, and limited training time.
• Switching hardware felt like solving the wrong problem: I already had a perfectly good watch on my wrist.

So the decision was: stick with Apple Watch and try to make it work for serious, but not professional‑level, training.

The gap with existing Apple Watch tools

Once I committed to Apple Watch, the friction started to show.

Most apps that can create structured workouts and sync to Apple Watch had at least one of these issues:

• Web‑only builders: Great workout builders, but only in the browser on a laptop. TrainingPeaks is a good example here – powerful, but the builder lives on the web, not in your pocket.
• Subscription walls: You pay a monthly fee mainly for dashboards and analytics that go way beyond what a non‑pro actually uses.
• Overkill data: Tons of charts and metrics, but all I really wanted was: “What exactly am I running today?”, “Did I do it?”, and “Can I easily create and see my full week/month ahead?”.

I almost stopped developing my app when Apple released iOS 26 with a native workout builder. But it was missing the calendar view – no way to plan a full week or month ahead, drag sessions around, or see your entire schedule at a glance. DC Rainmaker covered it well here. That gap actually reignited the project.

I don’t need the full pro‑coach stack. I want to hit certain goals (like a marathon time), but I’m not trying to live like a professional athlete.

What I actually wanted

The wish list turned out to be pretty simple:

• Create structured workouts directly on my phone: warm‑up, intervals, recoveries, cool‑down.
• Save them as templates I can reuse and tweak quickly.
• Sync them as native workouts to my Apple Watch and just press start.
• Avoid a web browser and avoid heavy subscription lock‑in.
• Enough data to guide training, not a full‑time analytics job.

No platform really hit that sweet spot for Apple Watch users who are serious but not professional.

The app I’m building

That’s why I started building my own app:

A lightweight structured‑training builder on iPhone, with reliable sync to Apple Watch, designed for self‑coached runners.

The focus is on:

• Low friction: Edit a session in seconds before going out the door.
• On‑device first: No mandatory web app, no complex dashboards.
• Just enough data: Pace, distance, heart rate, progress toward goals.

Try WeekPace

The app described on this page became WeekPace – a lightweight iOS and Apple Watch app for planning your training week and syncing structured workouts straight to your wrist.

• 🌐 Website: weekpace.com
• 📱 App Store: WeekPace on the App Store