I’ve been using interval.icu’s workout builder to recreate Runna’s running workouts so I can do them in Zwift. They usually call for specific paces, like:
It’s not terribly difficult to set this up in workout builder using percentages of threshold pace, but it takes a little trial and error to find the right percentage that matches the prescribed pace in Runna. Would it be possible to support min/km or kph (and their imperial equivalents) in the workout builder syntax? Ideally, I would like to build the workout in the screenshots as:
Warmup
- 1km Z1 Pace
- 60s 6kph
Main Set 3x
- 1.2km 4:50/km
- 120s 6kph
- 0.4km 4:25/km
- 60s 6kph
Cooldown
- 0.5km Z1 Pace
(Apologies if this has been asked before, I found a couple similar older threads but none that asked this specific question.)
I solved my own problem in a way. I set up a custom GPT to transform Runna workout descriptions into Intervals.icu’s workout format, just leaving it here if it’s useful to other Runna users:
Paste the workout description from Runna (or just upload a screenshot of it), tell it your threshold pace (which should match whatever you have set in Intervals.icu), and it’ll spit out the same workout in Intervals.icu format, which you can then paste into a new workout so it syncs to Zwift.
Agreed. Specific pace/speed syntax is still needed in the workout builder. Pace being the preference for most run coaches.
And to go further, I would like it to support pace curve syntax
ie: I want to do a 5 minute interval at my 5km pace curve value could be something like
- 5’ @5k
Agree. Would be great to be able to set absolute paces. My use case is pushing workouts through the api for users that not necessarily have their zones and thresholds properly set.
Does anyone know what happens if I create a workout with for example 5m Z3 in my own calendar, export it as FIT and someone else uploads it with Garmin Connect. Which zones will be used?
As a coach, I have been manually entering data and explanations rather than using the power of the workout builder, because I can’t seem to enter a simple distance/pace metric. I thought it was a me problem, but what I want seems to nest with this thread.
Thanks mate, this has proved very helpful in making me understand how to use the workout builder and have a discussion with chatgpt about it without having to do any preamble.
@david Sorry to open this issue again, but having specific target paces in the workout builder is a really good but still basic feature that does not seem too hard to implement for an outsider. I would really appreciate if you could look into this and give some feedback on whether this is on your (probably very long) to do list.
I just discovered intervals.icu recently, and I love what’s there so far and appreciate the huge amount of work it took to create this. That said, as a runner I won’t be using it until I can put pace-based intervals into the workout builder (“- 5km @ 4:50/km”, that sort of thing). Thanks for considering!
This can be fudged by selecting %pace range in the workout builder..
eg the syntax below sets 1k intervals at a specifc range with 90s rests
- 1km 110-115% Pace
- 90s 50-80% Pace intensity=rest
- 1km 110-115% Pace
- 90s 50-80% Pace intensity=rest
- 1km 110-115% Pace
- 60s 50-80% Pace intensity=rest
- 1km 110-115% Pace
- 60s 50-80% Pace intensity=rest
- 1km 110-115% Pace
- 60s 50-80% Pace intensity=rest
Its not perfect & takes a bit of tweaking to get the right pace but it does work well when you have it figured out.
Yes that is the workaround I use right now, but it is quite annoying Having a target pace as minutes per kilometer is a very basic running feature that should just be there…
Ah, I see, that’s making more sense. I went to Settings and set my Threshold Pace to slightly below 10k race pace, previously it was unset. Now I can use “@ Z5 Pace” or “@ 110% Pace” or whatever. I would still like to be able to set a specific split time, but I can definitely work with this.
Sure, me too. I am very glad for this website and the progress it has seen in the last years and I am happy to support it. But still, maybe I am being naive but this feature seems like a quick win for me, especially considering the many requests for this I have seen in this forum over the past years.
Well, just think twice. With zones or percentages of your threshold pace, your programmed workouts stay valid by only once changing some numbers in the settings.
If you take hard numbers in the workout builder, you have to change the workout every time you get better or when you recover from a break.
If you only use workouts that way sure, but I and many others don‘t. Same as I sometimes want to (and can) program hard Watt values for cycling workouts, I want to plan hard pace targets for running. Maybe I always want to warm up at 6:00 pace, even when my threshold increases. It‘s just about giving users the option do use hard pace targets in addition to the current options.
Having a target pace as minutes per kilometer is a very basic running feature that should just be there…