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Runna vs phase.fitness
Runna is a running coach that added strength. phase.fitness is a planner where running and lifting are both goals. For a runner, that difference decides which one fits.
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The short answer
Runna builds a running plan around your distance or race date, experience and schedule — 5K to ultramarathon, or a custom plan of 6 to 26 weeks — with strength, conditioning and mobility support that fits alongside it, and sends the runs to Garmin, COROS, Fitbit, Suunto and Apple Watch. phase.fitness plans running and lifting as two goals of one periodized program, with bodyweight skills as a third if you want them, sends runs to Garmin or Intervals.icu and lifts to Hevy or Liftosaur, and writes the next phase from both logs.
What Runna is
A running training app with plans from 5K to ultramarathon, guided workouts on your watch, and strength, conditioning and mobility support, on iOS and Android.
Everything below comes from their own site, read on . Where a page did not say something, the row says so rather than guessing — “not stated” means we could not find it, not that the product cannot do it.
Side by side
What it plans
Whether lifting is a goal of its own or support for the running.
How the plan is built
What the plan starts from.
Runna
Around your distance or race date, experience and schedule; a custom plan runs 6 to 26 weeks for any distance from 5 to 50 km.
Source · Checked
phase.fitness
Written from the knowledge-base documents for your case, laid out a phase at a time, and rewritten from your logs when each phase ends.
Source · Checked
Where you train
Whether the session reaches the device you train with.
Runna
Workouts sync to Garmin, COROS, Fitbit, Suunto and Apple Watch, and can be uploaded to Strava.
Source · Checked
phase.fitness
Two-way with Garmin, Hevy, Intervals.icu and Liftosaur: planned sessions go out, completed ones come back. Sessions finished in phase.fitness can also be posted to Strava.
Source · Checked
Bodyweight skills
Whether a muscle-up or a handstand can be a goal inside the same plan.
Runna
The pages we read mention bodyweight workouts with no equipment, but not skill progressions such as the muscle-up or the front lever.
Checked
phase.fitness
Bodyweight skills on progressions with mastery standards, run in a built-in player, inside the same week as the rest.
Source · Checked
Price
The first question, answered from each side's own page.
When Runna is the better choice
- Running is the main goal and strength is there to support it.
- You want guided runs straight on a COROS, Suunto, Fitbit or Apple Watch.
- You want a monthly plan rather than a quarterly one.
When phase.fitness is
- Lifting is a goal of its own, with phases and progression, not only injury prevention for the running.
- You log strength in Hevy or Liftosaur and want the plan to read that log.
- You train bodyweight skills alongside the running and the lifting.
Where to start in phase.fitness
- 5K and 10K training plan, with the lifting built in — phase.fitness writes a 5K or 10K block as phases — base, build, sharpen — with two heavy, low-volume strength days placed where they cannot spoil a quality run, and a taper that starts from your race date.
- Marathon training plan with strength that survives the build — phase.fitness writes a marathon block in phases — 12–16 weeks of base, a build with tempo and intervals, a peak at goal pace, a taper — and keeps the strength work heavy, short and away from the long run, because economy is what the last ten kilometres are made of.
- Running and lifting in the same week — Running and lifting in the same week is not two plans stapled together. phase.fitness writes one: the order of the days is a decision the plan makes, one quality leads per phase, and the strength stays heavy and short so it never eats the run that matters.
- phase.fitness for runners who lift
- phase.fitness for hybrid athletes
- phase.fitness for Strava users
Questions
Is phase.fitness a Runna alternative?
For a runner who also lifts seriously, yes: phase.fitness plans both as goals of one program and orders the week so heavy legs never sit before a quality run. For someone whose goal is a race and nothing else, Runna is built around exactly that.
Does Runna include strength training?
Its site describes strength, conditioning and mobility support that fits alongside the running plan, including bodyweight workouts with no equipment. phase.fitness plans strength as a modality with its own phases and progression, sent to Hevy, Liftosaur or a Garmin watch.
What does Runna cost?
Its site lists $19.99 a month or $119.99 a year, with the first week free, as of October 2026. phase.fitness is $34.90 every three months or $104.70 a year, with no monthly plan.