01
Feel first
Before you see any data, Rudder asks how you showed up. Energy, soreness, motivation, stress. Four dimensions, five options each, under 30 seconds.
This order is deliberate. If you see “HRV tanked” before checking in, you unconsciously adjust your self-report. That anchoring bias poisons the one signal no device can measure: how you actually feel. We capture it clean.
02
Data second
After your check-in, Rudder pulls data from every connected source. Oura, WHOOP, Garmin, Strava, Intervals.icu, TrainingPeaks, Polar, Withings, Wahoo. Everything normalizes into five channels:
Recovery
Load
Feel
Plan
Context
We look for where they agree and where they conflict. The conflicts are where the blind spots live.
03
One clear call
When feel and data align, you get a green light. When they conflict, Rudder resolves it into the least regrettable move for today. Not the most conservative. Not the most aggressive. The one you won’t wish you could take back. Calibrated to your training phase.
Go
GOGo with limits
GO WITH LIMITSModify
MODIFYBack off
BAILEvery decision comes with a plain-English explanation: what agreed, what conflicted, and why this is the smartest move for today.
04
Plan adjusted
Today’s call reshapes your week. Backed off today? Your key session shifts later in the week. Modified? Your weekly load stays on track. The plan adapts to the reality of how you showed up. Not the other way around.
05
Goal on track
Every daily decision is a data point on your trajectory toward your goal. The Goal Trajectory Chart shows your fitness, fatigue, and form trending over weeks. A corridor band tells you whether you’re on track. You’ll see it building, session by session, toward race day.
Your Model of Me
Every check-in, every override, every feedback loop builds your personal model. Rudder tracks 10 pattern types: what your “meh” actually means, your sleep threshold, how you respond to overrides, your day-of-week effects, and more.
After 2–3 weeks, the recommendations stop being generic and start being yours. “Meh for you usually means you warm up into it. 4 of the last 5 times.” No other app knows what your words mean.
Override and learn
Rudder recommends backing off but you want to train anyway? Tap “Going anyway (override decision).” No judgment. But we log it and track what happened. Over time, your Model of Me learns whether your overrides work out or lead to regret.
Post-workout feedback
After your session, Rudder asks: “Good call, okay, or wrong call?” Plus optional notes. This closes the loop. Every decision becomes labeled training data for your personal model.
Frequently asked
- How long does a daily check-in take?
- 30 seconds. Four dimensions (energy, soreness, motivation, stress), five options each. You can add optional notes or a workout description if you want.
- Do I need a wearable to use Rudder?
- No. Rudder works on feel alone. No device required. Wearables (Oura, WHOOP, Garmin, Strava, Intervals.icu, Polar, Withings, Wahoo) make it smarter by adding data to resolve conflicts. But the check-in works from day one without any connected device.
- How is this different from a readiness score?
- A readiness score tells you what happened last night. Rudder tells you what to do this morning. It combines how you feel with what your data says and gives you one actionable call: go, modify, or back off. Not a number. A decision.
- What if I disagree with the recommendation?
- Override it. Tap "Going anyway (override decision)" and train. Rudder tracks your overrides and learns from the outcomes. Over time, your Model of Me gets better at distinguishing the overrides that work from the ones that don't.
- How does Rudder know what training phase I'm in?
- You can set your training phase (Foundation, Build, Specialization, Taper, Transition) in your profile. The decision thresholds adjust accordingly. Build-week fatigue is tolerated more. Taper-week fatigue is not.
Related
Train by feel. Backed by data. Goal on track.
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