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Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#11

Post by shubik22 »

Really cool looking product. The group that I run with in Los Angeles did weekly runs on Saturday mornings pre-COVID, but since the pandemic has transitioned to remote runs where everyone dials into an audio call and runs separately. It's not a great experience. Your app sounds like it'd be a big improvement over what we're currently doing.

The one piece of feedback I'd give is that it's incredibly difficult to find pricing info on your site. I'm sure this is intentional, and maybe you want people to just sign up for a free trial and then learn how much it actually costs later, but at least for me it's a huge turnoff when any product does this.

Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#12

Post by mknippen »

trentontri wrote: post #4

Matthew! I'm a front-end engineer at Twitter and an avid triathlete. Seeing this post and the progress you have made gave me overwhelming motivation. I want to help out, I don't even know how but I don't want to miss the opportunity to be apart of something this awesome.

Wow, thank you so much for the kind words. I'd love to chat more! Feel free to email me at matthew (at) chargerunning dot com

Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#13

Post by mknippen »

shubik22 wrote: post #11

Really cool looking product. The group that I run with in Los Angeles did weekly runs on Saturday mornings pre-COVID, but since the pandemic has transitioned to remote runs where everyone dials into an audio call and runs separately. It's not a great experience. Your app sounds like it'd be a big improvement over what we're currently doing. The one piece of feedback I'd give is that it's incredibly difficult to find…

We actually have several run clubs that run with Charge Running. You can share which class your joining with your Run Club and see everyone on that same leaderboard and chat room.

Regarding pricing, that's definitely a fair point, and something I think we could easily change. Thank you for the feedback

Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#14

Post by mknippen »

jasondigitized wrote: post #7

How does the music component work and how to you deal with copyright issues?

Each running coach is choosing the music, and adjusting things like tempo based on what the specific workout is.

Regarding copyright, we keep track of each song played, and the number of people that listen. We then send this to the large music groups each quarter, and pay royalties.

Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#15

Post by mknippen »

yllus wrote: post #5

Really interesting concept and product - perfect for the times we're in! Desperately needs a video of the product in action on that home page, get on it! :)

Great point, thank you. We have one that we're working on now!

Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#16

Post by firstSpeaker »

This look like something that I would have used when I started running.

Most running injuries happen because of overtraining, heel striding, wrong shoes, rigid posture, stride length, bad upper body form and dynamics

Would any of these being taken into account? Considering the sensor data is from the phone I guess not.

It would be interesting to see a video of app in action as well as how the trainers view and give feedback.

Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#17

Post by RoryJustin »

aloukissas wrote: post #9
RoryJustin wrote: post #6

Hey all! I'm the co-founder that Matthew was referring to above. I've recently made my exit from the military after 12.5 years to pursue this crazy adventure! If you have any questions about the coaching or class structure, let us know!

The main issue I've seen (and have worked on to improve) is running form (heel striking, upper torso movement, etc). How can this app help on this? My form now is pretty good so my next goal is increasing speed + distance, which requires a training schedule (e.g. speed drills). Is this something that the app will (does) have? Thanks!

Offering feedback on running form has been one of the biggest requests that we've gotten, as well as training schedules catered to your specific needs.

All of our daily classes follow a week-long progression to make sure that you are getting in a proper training cycle and avoiding overtraining. An example is if you were to join the 6AM classes each day during the week, you might have speed drills on Monday followed by a base run Tuesday, followed by a light interval run on Wednesday for recovery, etc...

Fun Fact! Olympian Jeff Galloway is starting speed work in Charge the week of March 14th. He will be taking over some of our track attack classes for speed work.

To address running form, we recently launched private coaching, where runners can work directly with one of our certified coaches to develop a specific training program catered to their current experience level and training goals. This includes an in-depth running form analysis video where we receive a video of them running, and provide a video back thats broken down piece-by-piece to give direct feedback on how to improve running form for injury prevention and overall efficiency.

Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#18

Post by crazypython »

mknippen wrote: post #3
qnsi wrote: post #2

Congrats on the launch. Because it is kind of hidden, I am pasting the pricing from the FAQ A one-month subscription is $29.99 and an annual subscription is $239.99/year ($20/month). Both options give you unlimited access to every Charge Running class, as well as our weekly “Club Races”.

Great point, thank you! Because this is a live experience with a coach in your ear, there is a cost involved

What if you used GPT-3 and 15.ai (currently down, but it produces voice-actor-quality audio) to offer your service?

Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#19

Post by jasondigitized »

mknippen wrote: post #14
jasondigitized wrote: post #7

How does the music component work and how to you deal with copyright issues?

Each running coach is choosing the music, and adjusting things like tempo based on what the specific workout is. Regarding copyright, we keep track of each song played, and the number of people that listen. We then send this to the large music groups each quarter, and pay royalties.

How are you technically pulling this off? E.g Are you integrated with Spotify and leveraging an API to stream music? I love the idea by the way, just curious about the implementation.

Re: Launch HN: Charge Running (YC W21) – Social running app with real-time coaching

#20

Post by aloukissas »

RoryJustin wrote: post #17
aloukissas wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main issue I've seen (and have worked on to improve) is running form (heel striking, upper torso movement, etc). How can this app help on this? My form now is pretty good so my next goal is increasing speed + distance, which requires a training schedule (e.g. speed drills). Is this something that the app will (does) have? Thanks!

Offering feedback on running form has been one of the biggest requests that we've gotten, as well as training schedules catered to your specific needs. All of our daily classes follow a week-long progression to make sure that you are getting in a proper training cycle and avoiding overtraining. An example is if you were to join the 6AM classes each day during the week, you might have speed drills on Monday followed b…

Great! Will definitely try it out. Is there an option to get the benefit of the app w/o the "social" part? Running for me has always been a solo sport, closer to meditation.
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