It’s time to get real about running.

Sure, artificial intelligence is great at gathering data. It can crawl the web faster than your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, scoop up all the info anyone’s ever written about running, and serve up a training plan. But a bot doesn’t know you — well, except your search history, of course. Enjoy another ad for blueberry-mango superfab marathon gels. 

An algorithm can’t tell if your last workout felt like a quest through the pain cave because you’re ramping up mileage too fast, if you need specific strength work to balance out those awesome glutes, or if you just really shouldn’t have downed four Crispy Chipotle Chicken Tacos  and an IPA last night.  

An algorithm treats you like every other runner sitting in front of every other screen. You get a cookie-cutter plan from a bot that will never know what it feels like to run a mile — or an easy 10 — in your shoes. (Plus, a bot doesn’t even grasp when it’s appropriate to use em-dashes.)

One-size-fits-all isn’t great for trucker hats, let alone training plans. AI will never deliver the “been there, got the 200 race shirts” experience of a real, live human coach who understands you have a kid, or a dog, or a wacky work deadline. AI’s not going to get why you want to run a 20-minute 5k or a 30-hour ultramarathon. AI won’t relate when you’re struggling (or bored to death) with a plan that’s not adjustable on the fly and truly personalized for you, your body, and your life.

Human coaches get it. Because, like you, we’re human. 

The last thing we want is to launch an aggressive catch-up on mileage after a missed workout or play a game of chicken with an angry IT band. Your fellow human is going to look at your personal data from your smartwatch, listen to exactly what you and your body are saying, relate to your goals and feelings, talk you through your challenges and self-doubts — probably even laugh at your jokes.

And there’s nothing artificial about that.

Sally is a coach with Team RunRun. To learn more about her or to work with her check out her coach profile.