# IntervalCoach

> IntervalCoach is an AI training coach that understands your full picture: your fitness, recovery, goal event and the life around your training. It reads 60+ recovery signals (HRV, sleep, sleep debt, training load, subjective wellness) and adapts today's session when the data calls for it, rather than handing you a fixed plan. It works across every sport you train: cycling, running, trail, triathlon, swimming, strength and hiking, and supports athletes returning from injury. Trail running is a first-class sport — terrain-aware analysis (elevation, gradient, power-hike thresholds), trail-specific workout templates (Long Climb, Downhill Repeats, Power-Hike Intervals, Technical Trail Intervals, Ultra Time-on-Feet), and trail-only library filtering. Built by Martijn Russchen. Subscriptions start at €3/month after a 14-day free trial — no credit card required. Wahoo, Whoop, Google Health and Apple Health (through the iPhone app) connect directly, and Intervals.icu, one optional connection among several, brings in a broad ecosystem: Garmin, Wahoo, Polar, Coros, Suunto, Amazfit, Hammerhead, Strava, Zwift, MyWhoosh, Rouvy, Biketerra, Concept2, Dropbox, Whoop, Oura, Apple Health, Google Fit, and Huawei Health. Available in 25 languages.

## Core pages
- [Best AI cycling coach apps 2026](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/best-ai-cycling-coach): Honest comparison of TrainerRoad, TrainingPeaks, JOIN, Garmin Coach, Athletica, the Intervals.icu tools and IntervalCoach
- [Best AI running coach apps 2026](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/best-ai-running-coach): Runna, Garmin Coach, TrainAsONE, Coach Leo, Athletica, Humango and IntervalCoach compared on recovery adaptation
- [TrainerRoad alternatives](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/alternatives/trainerroad): Seven alternatives ranked for riders leaving TrainerRoad, with prices and who each fits
- [TrainingPeaks alternatives](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/alternatives/trainingpeaks): Seven alternatives for self-coached athletes after the Garmin acquisition
- [JOIN alternatives](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/alternatives/join): Six alternatives for JOIN Cycling users who also run or want recovery-driven plans
- [Best AI triathlon coach apps 2026](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/best-ai-triathlon-coach): TriDot, Athletica, Humango, Garmin Triathlon Coach, Transition, MOTTIV and IntervalCoach compared
- [Best AI trail & ultra running coach apps 2026](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/best-ai-trail-running-coach): Vert, UltraCoach, Uphill Athlete, Athletica, TrainingPeaks and IntervalCoach compared on vert, terrain and ultra distance
- [Best HYROX training apps 2026](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/best-hyrox-training-app): Every credible option for the HYROX format, including where a HYROX specialist fits better
- [Best training apps without a power meter 2026](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/best-training-app-without-power-meter): Which apps require watts (TrainerRoad, Zwift), which prescribe heart rate (Garmin Coach, TrainingPeaks, IntervalCoach), and what heart rate cannot do
- [Best training apps for hiking and long walking events 2026](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/best-hiking-training-app): Mountain Tactical Institute, Uphill Athlete, TrainingPeaks and IntervalCoach for treks and 100 km walking events, and why AllTrails and Komoot are maps rather than coaches
- [Best software for endurance coaches 2026](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/best-software-for-endurance-coaches): TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, Intervals.icu, Coachbox, Athletica, Vekta, Stride, HumanGO and IntervalCoach compared for cycling, running and triathlon coaches: who writes the plan, who adapts it, who pays, and when invoicing athletes makes TrainingPeaks or Final Surge the better fit
- [Homepage](https://www.intervalcoach.app/): Product overview and free trial signup
- [How It Works](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/how-it-works): The three-step flow from data to workout, the daily adaptation checks, and changing a workout yourself in the workout builder
- [Pricing](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/pricing): Free trial, Pro (€3/month), Max (€8/month), Coach Plan (per-athlete seats)
- [Give IntervalCoach as a gift](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/gift): 3, 6 or 12 months of Pro or Max for someone else, paid once, nothing renews; the months start when the recipient redeems the code. Delivered by email on a chosen date or as a printable card with a QR code. Recipients redeem at https://www.intervalcoach.app/redeem
- [For coaches, teams and clubs](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/coaches): The Coach Plan — a coach buys seats from €7/athlete/month; each seat covers that athlete's full subscription plus the coach tooling: an attention-sorted roster with biometrics against each athlete's own baseline, acting straight from the roster (approve a change, push a rest day, set a standing instruction), an approvals inbox for the whole squad, an eight-week squad timeline, squad analytics (load done against asked, per-athlete compliance, median fitness with spread) and a Monday-morning squad digest by email. Athletes pay nothing. From 40 athletes, custom pricing for clubs and federations
- [For coaches who use Intervals.icu](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/coaches/intervals-icu): For coaches whose athletes already train on Intervals.icu. Athletes keep their Intervals.icu accounts, calendars and device syncs; IntervalCoach adds plans that adapt daily to each athlete's recovery, the coach's attention list, approvals inbox, squad timeline and analytics, and a Monday digest. Intervals.icu stays free (coaching groups need its $4/month Supporter plan); Coach Plan seats come on top and include the athlete's full Max plan. No athlete billing and no coach-athlete messaging; minimum three seats
- [The Coach Plan launch post](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/coach-plan): What a coach gets, with screenshots of every surface, and how seat pricing works
- [TrainingPeaks vs IntervalCoach for coaches](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/coaches/vs-trainingpeaks): Coach Edition pricing against per-athlete seats; where TrainingPeaks wins (invoicing, messaging) and where IntervalCoach does (daily plan adaptation, attention list)
- [Final Surge vs IntervalCoach for coaches](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/coaches/vs-final-surge): The low-cost planning platform with payments and a marketplace against AI plan adaptation
- [Coachbox vs IntervalCoach for coaches](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/coaches/vs-coachbox): Roster plans with unlimited coaches and an AI chat against AI that adapts each athlete's plan
- [Vekta vs IntervalCoach for coaches](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/coaches/vs-vekta): Free-for-coach with athletes subscribing against coach-paid seats; Intervals.icu support
- [Athletica vs IntervalCoach for coaches](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/coaches/vs-athletica): Both plan with AI and work with Intervals.icu; the difference is who pays and the coach tooling
- [About](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/about): Founder, mission, science, and integrations
- [Help center](https://docs.intervalcoach.app/): 53 articles on how IntervalCoach works, setup, plans and pricing, integrations and troubleshooting

## Platform
- [Platform overview](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/platform): Everything IntervalCoach does, grouped into four areas
- [AI Coaching](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/platform/ai-coaching): Daily-adapting workouts, JustTrain, the workout builder (on every plan, on the web, iPhone and Android: change any planned workout step by step or build your own, saved straight to your calendar; on Max, describe a workout in words or a photo, and on the web and Android get a review), Coach+ chat, race pacing, Race Recon, post-workout analysis
- [Race Recon](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/race-recon): Race course analysis from a GPX or FIT file or an Intervals.icu route. Finds every sustained climb, estimates how long the athlete will be on each one at race pace, favours intervals of that length, shows development priorities for the course, and plans race day per climb, descent and flat with a power or pace target and a carbohydrate and fluid budget, including wind and optional surface analysis (Pro and Max)
- [Insights & Analytics](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/platform/insights): Dashboard, analytics, training plan, recovery profile, benchmarks
- [Integrations](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/platform/integrations): Direct connections to Wahoo (rides come in after each ride, planned workouts go to the ELEMNT or KICKR), Whoop, Google Health and Apple Health, plus Intervals.icu as an optional connection for the wider ecosystem: head units & watches (Garmin, Wahoo, Polar, Coros, Suunto, Amazfit, Hammerhead), indoor & virtual (Zwift, MyWhoosh, Rouvy, Biketerra, Concept2), apps (Strava, Dropbox), recovery (Whoop, Oura, Apple Health, Google Fit, Huawei Health)
- [Community](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/platform/community): Clubs, leaderboards, weekly AI club digest, Coach Plan for human coaches, referrals
- [Ambassador program](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/ambassadors): For athletes who bring IntervalCoach to a club, team or training group. Free Max while active, the club AI digest, a referral code and reward, a spotlight blog post, a profile badge and a direct line to the founder. Requires a 60-day-old account, a live Intervals.icu connection, and either a paid tier or one converted referral. Every application is reviewed by hand; no follower threshold and no contract

## Race calendar
A browsable calendar of real upcoming races athletes are training for, across cycling, running, trail running and triathlon. Every race page carries a coach's read of what the course demands (from its distance, climbing, sport and season), estimated finish times by athlete level, the Base–Build–Peak–Taper preparation a plan for that date would have on real calendar dates, and a one-click way to start training for the race. Races with a shared course show the elevation profile, the sustained climbs and a GPX download. Race organisers can submit their event and embed a "Train for this race" badge.
- [Race calendar](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/events): All upcoming races, filterable by sport and country
- [Cycling races](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/events/cycling): Upcoming cycling races, soonest first
- [Running races](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/events/running): Upcoming running races, soonest first
- [Trail running races](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/events/trail-running): Upcoming trail races
- [Triathlon races](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/events/triathlon): Upcoming triathlons

## Science and methodology
- [Research](https://www.intervalcoach.app/research): Studies run on IntervalCoach's own athletes' overnight data, each with what it found and what it changed in the product
- [Do Fitter Athletes Recover Faster?](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/do-fitter-athletes-recover-faster): Fitness shrinks the overnight hit from a hard session by roughly 40% across fitness levels, while the speed at which it clears shows no trend with fitness
- [Can You See Illness Coming?](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/can-you-see-illness-coming): Across athlete-logged sick days the week before barely moves; overnight signals are most disrupted around four days after the illness ends, and longer illnesses leave a deeper, longer disruption
- [The Science Behind IntervalCoach](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/the-science-behind-intervalcoach): What the engine uses, from periodization to taper curves
- [Five Periodization Models Explained](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/periodization-models-explained): Linear, undulating, polarized, pyramidal, block
- [How to Use CTL, ATL, and TSB](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/ctl-atl-tsb-explained): The three numbers that drive smart training decisions
- [HRV-CV: What Volatility Tells You](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/hrv-cv-autonomic-variability): Why HRV stability matters more than HRV value
- [Tired, or Getting Sick?](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/tired-or-getting-sick): Why HRV alone can't separate training fatigue from an oncoming illness, and how the orthogonal signals (breathing rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature) do
- [How Many Mornings Does It Take to Know How You Recover?](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/your-recovery-curve-is-now-your-own): Modelling overlapping sessions turns every recorded morning into usable evidence, making the recovery curve individually fitted for every athlete and validated against mornings the model had not seen
- [Sessions Pitched To Your Own Level](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/sessions-pitched-to-your-own-level): Each of five energy systems scored from the athlete's own best efforts, every catalog session scored the same way, and the next session matched to what they have been completing
- [How AI Coaching for Endurance Athletes Works](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/how-ai-coaching-works): What an AI coach reads, the five checks IntervalCoach runs each morning, how a workout is adjusted and explained, and the limits that shape how it is used
- [How AI Coaching Works for Triathletes](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/ai-coaching-for-triathlon): Planning swim, bike and run as one recovery budget, where hard sessions go, bricks, swim sets written in whole 50s from CSS, and race week
- [How AI Coaching Works for Runners](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/ai-coaching-for-running): Running fatigue judged on its own scale, pace, heart rate or power targets, Norwegian and easy-interval methods, trail running and race day
- [How IntervalCoach Adapts Your Workout](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/how-daily-adaptation-works): The daily adaptation pipeline
- [From Goal to Daily Workout](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/how-training-plans-work): How weekly targets become individual workouts

## Features
- [A Refreshed IntervalCoach](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/a-refreshed-intervalcoach): The October 2026 design on web, iPhone and Android: today first, a focus tile next to readiness with the one thing that matters most right now, the training trend on the home screen (seven weeks of load, and fitness, fatigue and form up to race day), signals grouped by area, and finished sessions shown next to the plan
- [Every ride, read in full: the rebuilt activity and session pages](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/activity-and-session-pages): A completed session shown with its plan, the week's load, that morning's readiness, HRV and sleep, the wind split, fitness and form before and after, recovery, W′ and HR drift, and both FTPs when Intervals.icu's FTP and eFTP differ by 8% or more (one ride: 56 TSS at 303 W, 85 TSS at 247 W); planned sessions show predicted load and form, warnings, weather across the ride, fuelling and .zwo/.erg/.mrc/.fit downloads. Every plan; written analysis and race pacing are Pro, Max and trial
- [Race Recon: Your Race Course, Read Into Your Training](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/race-course-uploads): Upload a GPX or FIT course or import an Intervals.icu route; climbs measured after GPS smoothing, climb-matched interval selection, preparation priorities, and per-segment pacing and fuel (a 151 km route: 4.8 h and 434 g of carbohydrate from distance alone, 6.5 h and 585 g from the course)
- [Your Whole Training Block, Planned for Real](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/your-whole-training-block-planned): Real structured workouts weeks ahead (4 weeks on Pro, 8 on Max), instant workout creation, and real-time week rebalancing
- [Introducing Coach+](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/introducing-coach-plus): Conversational AI coach (20 messages a month on Pro, 200 on Max)
- [Apple Health Integration](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/apple-health-integration): HRV, sleep, RHR, VO2 max flowing into daily readiness
- [Google Health Integration](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/google-health-integration): Fitbit, Pixel Watch and Wear OS wellness and workouts flowing into daily readiness
- [Performance Benchmarks](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/performance-benchmarks): Compare against peers (Max feature)
- [iOS App on iPhone](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/intervalcoach-ios-app): Native iOS companion app
- [Your Coach Is Now on Your Wrist](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/apple-watch-app): Apple Watch app with readiness, today's workout, complications, and planned workouts auto-scheduled into the Watch's Workouts app
- [IntervalCoach on Android](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/intervalcoach-android): Native Android app on Google Play, full parity with the iPhone app
- [Introducing Clubs](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/introducing-clubs): Train with the friends who keep you honest — shared feed, fair leaderboards, group events (free to join on every tier)
- [Trail Running and Brick Workouts](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/trail-running-and-bricks): How trail running and bricks became first-class sports across the platform

## Athlete stories and reviews
Real athletes, named and published with their approval. Each post is built from that athlete's own training data, with quotes in their own words. Reviews from the App Store and Google Play are collected on the homepage.
- [Athlete reviews](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/reviews): What athletes say about IntervalCoach, sourced from App Store reviews, Google Play reviews and published athlete stories
- [Spotlight: Pius, an Hour on the Trainer and 300 km of Gravel](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/spotlight-pius-roesti-gravel): A Swiss masters gravel racer who trains an hour at a time indoors, then rides 300 km in a day
- [Spotlight: Phaidra, Building a Climber's Engine for Gatineau](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/spotlight-phaidra-gatineau-clm): A Canadian road and crit racer rebuilding an aerobic base around work travel
- [Spotlight: Bento Galado, 100 km and 7,000 Metres Up](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/spotlight-bentogalado-a-freita-100k): An Algarve trail runner training for a mountain ultra around a job and a young child
- [All athlete spotlights](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog?tag=spotlight): The weekly series

## Founder narrative
- [Why I Built IntervalCoach](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/why-i-built-intervalcoach): The frustration that became the product
- [What Kristen Faulkner's AI Experiment Means](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/faulkner-ai-coaching): Industry context
- [Garmin Acquires TrainingPeaks and TrainHeroic](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog/garmin-acquires-trainingpeaks): July 2026 industry analysis — a device manufacturer now owns the platform built on being device-neutral; what it means for data portability and for choosing a coaching layer independent of your watch brand

## Optional
- [Glossary](https://www.intervalcoach.app/en/glossary): Training terminology
- [Blog](https://www.intervalcoach.app/blog): All posts
- [Changelog](https://www.intervalcoach.app/changelog): Recent product updates