From the Founder
Who Am I
Father of two. Ironman finisher. Ultra trail runner. Always juggling family time, work, and whatever short sport escapades I can squeeze in between.
I do not consider myself an elite athlete in any way. I believe I am mediocre in every measurable sense when it comes to sport. But I take pride in my mental fortitude and commitment. Once I choose a goal for myself, I follow through.
I believe that building healthy habits is one of the most important things anyone can do for themselves. It should be a goal in itself. Not long ago I used to hate running of any kind. Nowadays, few things get me as excited as going out for a run.
The Backstory
The Road to Mino
I always struggled with classic apps that provide training plans. They are great tools, but not for someone like me. I have too much going on. I am a father of two and my priority has always been my family. Training always came second. I needed a training plan I could talk to. One where I could say "tomorrow that long run is not going to happen, I have a family event" and it would adapt on the spot. Apps that simply track your health metrics cannot do this.
So I started using Gemini and ChatGPT. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. They were great for many reasons. They provided training plans and adapted them when needed.
But after becoming a power user, I started noticing real problems.
The friction was constant
Every morning I needed to screenshot my Garmin data and send it to Gemini. After each workout I needed to screenshot my stats, my HR charts, my laps, everything, just so it could give me actually useful feedback. That is a lot of screenshots. I could live with it, and I did, but I knew there had to be a better way.
The conversations kept breaking
The chats where I taught Gemini and ChatGPT about myself grew too big, too fast. When the conversation got long, the AI responded more slowly, hallucinated often, or simply broke. I constantly needed to start a new chat, and in that new chat I had to start over. The AI no longer had my full context. All that effort, gone.
Mino solves all of this.
My Daily Workflow
How I Use Mino Today
There is no right or wrong way to use Mino. It is a flexible tool that adapts to many scenarios. But here is how I personally use it, in case it provides some inspiration or tips.
I set an objective
This can be a future race, or something broadly defined like "run more weekly", "lose weight", or "sleep better". Mino works with both specific and vague goals.
I set my preferences
I already have built-in habits I want to keep. Long run on Saturday or Sunday. At least one strength session during the week. No running when there is a storm outside, but rather use my indoor cycling trainer. Mino takes all of this into account and provides suggestions that actually fit me, not generic ones that might fit everyone but actually no one.
I set my daily briefing time
I pick a morning time when I am sure I am already up, even on weekends. This gives my Garmin watch time to sync sleep data to Garmin Connect, so Mino has all the latest data when it builds my daily recommendations.
After each workout: Sync & Report
After each workout I jump to the chat and use Sync & Report. I like seeing Mino's interpretation of my activity. It will sometimes praise me on the effort, but also warn me when I went too hard, which I personally have a tendency to do. It learns my patterns and gently steers my efforts where I will be more productive. In this, I found it miles ahead of any standard training plan app.
I ask it questions. A lot. All the time.
I often put myself in challenging situations, things I have never done before. This keeps me motivated and striving to become better. A hard race, a multi-day road bike trip, you name it. I always have something on my radar for the future. And since most of it is new territory for me, I ask Mino a lot of questions.
- •How to manage race day pacing and fueling
- •Nutrition advice tailored to my training load
- •How to recover between stages on a multi-day bike trip
- •Equipment recommendations for specific conditions
- •How to bounce back quickly after a cold
- •What cadence I should target at a given pace
Many of these things can be found online in various sources. But nothing compares to answers from someone who already knows so much about you. Your previous injuries. Your weaknesses and your strengths. Your winning strategies from the past. That context makes all the difference.
Curious to try it yourself?
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