How to Use Runward to Train Smarter: Every Feature Explained
Runward —
Runward is a running app built in Hong Kong for runners who want their training decisions backed by their own data. This guide walks through every feature and how to use it during a training block.
1. Connect your device and sync your runs
Start by connecting one fitness source: Strava, Garmin, Apple Health, Suunto, Polar, Zepp or intervals.icu. Your runs then flow in automatically with distance, pace, heart rate, splits and elevation — no manual entry, no duplicated activities. Every other feature is built on this history, so connect first and let a week of data land.
2. Read your training load charts
The training load view shows how much work you have absorbed recently versus your longer-term baseline. Use it for one decision each week: is the trend climbing steadily, flat, or spiking? Steady climbs build fitness. Spikes are where injuries come from. If load jumps sharply, insert an easy week — the chart makes that visible weeks before your legs complain.
3. Check HRV insights before hard sessions
Heart-rate variability reflects how well you are recovering. Runward turns it into a simple daily signal. Practical use: when HRV is well below your normal range and you feel flat, swap the interval session for an easy run and do the hard work a day later. One shifted session costs nothing; one session forced through fatigue can cost a month.
4. Follow a training plan
Set your goal race — 5K, 10K, half marathon or marathon — plus your target date, and Runward generates a week-by-week plan. Plans include warm-up, main set and cool-down for interval days, with target paces derived from your own recent runs rather than a generic table. Premium plans personalise the structure to your history and adapt when you miss sessions or add unplanned races.
5. Get daily workout suggestions
Every morning Runward can send you the day's session — distance, run type, the interval structure if there is one, and the paces to hold. You can reply to get the full detailed version, including the reasoning behind that session's place in the week. It turns "what should I run today?" into a decision that is already made.
6. Predict your race time
The race predictor estimates your realistic finish times from your actual training data, weighting recent quality sessions and long runs. Use it two ways: to set a goal pace you can hold, and as a progress check — a prediction that improves across a training block is proof the plan is working. Free accounts get 5K predictions; premium covers every distance.
7. Analyse your running posture
Film yourself running for a few seconds and upload the clip. Posture analysis reviews cadence, torso lean, arm carriage and landing, and highlights what to work on. Best practice: record once at the start of a training block and again six weeks later, at the same easy pace, so you are comparing like with like.
8. Watch the injury dashboard
The injury dashboard collects the warning signs that precede most running injuries — sharp load increases, one-sided imbalance, repeated hard days without recovery, and any niggles you log. Log discomfort while it is still minor. Two easy days taken early are cheaper than six weeks off.
9. Review each activity in detail
Every run gets an analysis: pacing consistency, heart-rate response, splits, and whether the session hit its intended purpose. Add your perceived effort (RPE) after hard runs — comparing how a run felt with what the data shows is how you learn to pace by feel.
10. Play CityHunter
CityHunter turns your city into a running game: explore routes and claim areas by running them. It exists for one reason — the best training plan is the one you keep coming back to, and turning easy runs into exploration keeps consistency high.
11. Join the community and leaderboards
Compare your weekly distance with other runners, follow friends, and share your activities as posters. Use leaderboards for motivation on easy weeks, not as a reason to race your training partners every Saturday.
A suggested weekly routine
- Monday: check last week's training load and HRV trend.
- Tuesday / Thursday: run the plan's quality sessions at the given paces, then log RPE.
- Wednesday / Friday: easy runs — CityHunter days.
- Saturday: long run, with the analysis reviewed afterwards.
- Sunday: rest, and glance at the injury dashboard before next week.
Getting started
Create an account, connect one fitness app, set your goal race and date, then follow the daily suggestions for two weeks. After that you will have enough history for the race predictor and load charts to be genuinely useful.