Strava has bought Runna. The Sports Social Network now has a fantastic application with training plans

Strava, the social network of athletes par excellence with more than 150 million users, has announced the acquisition of Runnaa popular British application of training plans for runners launched in 2021.

Why is it important. This purchase resolves one of Strava’s great ‘ This was a weak point for both beginners and veterans, who had to resort to other platforms.

This movement is not only a strategic purchase, but a direct response to the world boom of the Running. In 2024 almost one billion races were registered in Strava, and according to Your datathe race on foot is the sport that grows the fastest global, with the Z generation leading this trend.

What does Runna do. The Runna app, which I tried for months, asks for concrete objectives (finish a 10K, finish a marathon, run average marathon in less than 1:40 h, etc.) I already change both specific and adapted training plans, as a live guide of each plan.

That is, if we start a training with Runna (present at Apple Watch or Garmin), we will guide us on our clock and also in our headphones on each part of the training, it will notify us if we are going too slow or too fast, of each change of rhythm that we have to do, etc.

And now what. In the short term, both applications will continue to function independently, according to They have confirmed the CEO and co -founder of Strava and Runna respectively. Presumably, the first changes and integrations will arrive in the coming months.

As a backdrop, two clear elements:

1. The growing importance of Strava’s premium subscription (8 euros per month) with which to access a series of somewhat secondary functions. Limiting training plans to this subscription will make it much more attractive. Runna’s are 20 euros per month.
2. Other recent purchases from Strava: Recover Athleticsan injury prevention application; and Fatmapa 3D maps platform.

The expansion strategy in different areas of the digital fitness is evident.

The big question. How are subscriptions going to now manage? If we look at the annual plans, Strava Premium costs $ 80 a year for the 120 that Runna costs. At the moment, users will need to maintain both subscriptions if they want to have access to “everything.”

• Runna uses Strava’s third parties to synchronize activities. It is expected that a better integration arrives.
• Michael Martin, CEO of Strava, has compared this purchase with that of Recover Athletics, which works separately but is free for Strava subscribers.

Deepen. These types of purchases usually generate reactions found. In 2023, Strava had a confusing and controversial change in its subscription price And a few weeks ago that Garmin announced his subscription plan With a rather warm answer.

Clearly Strava wants to be more than “the social network of sport” to offer more value directly to the athlete, and not just a social meeting point around training.

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Outstanding image | Strava