Your Strava data knows something you don't—we're testing whether we can show you
Running Signature turns training data into psychological performance insights. Free reports for the first 20 testers.
Your training log is lying to you.
Your Strava history is accurate: distance, pace, heart rate, elevation, every split logged precisely. The lie is what the numbers claim to show: that consistency in output produces consistency in performance.
It doesn’t. You already know this.
Some weeks you feel unstoppable. Others you can’t finish an easy five. The data looks the same. The difference lies in psychological patterns your training log never captures.
Running Signature started with a contrarian bet: stop adding more metrics and start reading the ones you already have in a new way.
The Frame: Your Data Already Knows
We don’t ask you to track anything new. No mood scores, no stress ratings, no extra inputs. We take your existing Strava history—the dates, distances, times, and workout types you’ve already logged—and analyze them using sport psychology principles: how athletes build resilience, manage training load, and recognize their readiness to perform. These reveal patterns not visible in standard dashboards.
This is Pattern Recognition, not Output Tracking. It’s the same dataset, but from a different perspective.
I spent ten years coaching athletes and building performance training systems. There’s a gap: we have extraordinary tools for measuring physical output and almost nothing for measuring the psychological infrastructure—your capacity to sustain effort, manage training load, and remain ready to perform—producing it.
Strava gives us the dataset. Sport psychology gives us the frameworks. The question was whether merging them would produce insights runners find useful.
Most runners operate in an Effort Model. More miles, faster splits, higher weekly totals. The assumption: if the numbers stay consistent, performance should improve.
Running Signature moves you into a Performance State Model. We track readiness: the psychological infrastructure producing your output—and whether it can sustain your capability, instead of tracking just miles and pace.
What Emerges When You Change the Perspective
The early reports reveal patterns most runners don’t see. Three show up repeatedly:
The Gray-Zone Grinder: Logs consistent weekly mileage. Feels like they’re training smart. Pattern analysis reveals something else: 60-70% of runs fall in the gray zone—too hard to build aerobic base, too easy to drive adaptation. They think they’re being consistent. They’re actually grinding themselves flat. The pattern shows a psychological state issue: chronic moderate stress without recovery or challenge. They need to recognize the state, then work with their coach on the solution.
The Spike-Crash Cycler: Ambitious race prep followed by injury or burnout, then rebuilding from zero. Repeat every six months. Looks like bad luck. Pattern reveals the psychological loop: high ambition without proportional foundation. The state can’t sustain what the plan demands.
The Plateau Holder: Perfect consistency metrics. Same weekly mileage for months, zero missed runs. Output looks disciplined. Pattern reveals the paradox: consistent but stuck. The performance state has stabilized into maintenance mode—capable of sustaining current output but psychologically locked out of progression.
These don’t appear in your weekly mileage chart or your pace progression graph. They emerge when you map behavior patterns across months and ask different questions.
Why This Matters
Most performance gaps aren’t physical—they’re psychological. But we measure them backward.
We add another metric, another dashboard, another wearable. What we need is a different reading of the data we already have.
Strava gives us the last 90 days of training behavior. Sport psychology provides frameworks that explain why patterns form and how they break. The gap was whether combining them would produce insights that change training decisions.
That’s the test: whether revealing the pattern underneath shifts training decisions—not by prescribing more volume or intensity, but by making the psychological structure visible.
The Test
Right now we’re building reports manually, one at a time, while we validate what’s useful. Once we know the format works, we’ll automate the system and launch it as a service.
I need twenty more runners to complete the testing round. Reports are free during validation.
The process:
Download your Strava data (5-10 minutes)
Submit through portal.mettle.coach/run-sig
Within two days, get your Running Signature report
You’ll receive a personalized report that identifies your specific pattern (Gray-Zone Grinder, Spike-Crash, Plateau Holder, and others), shows whether your infrastructure can sustain your capability, and offers adjustments that align with your psychological structure.
This is designed to answer why your mental game wobbles when your training log looks solid, if you’ve ever wondered.
Request your report here: Get Your Running Signature Report
Once the testing round concludes, I’ll share what we learn.