Hsu Kuo Feng x AI Today Workout
Hsu Kuo Feng x AI Today Workout
Reads your past and latest training data and applies Coach Hsu Kuo Feng's logic to arrange the most suitable workout for today.
You can ask the coach to arrange the workout for today or tomorrow. Each day can only be generated once, whether or not you save it.
How today's workout works
Hsu Kuo Feng x AI Today Workout is built by RQ on the training logic of endurance coach Hsu Kuo Feng. It reads the running records you have uploaded, works out the training load and intensity that suit you today, and gives you a complete workout: which structure to run, how fast, how many reps, how long each rep is, and how long you rest between them.
You can save it into your RQ training calendar and sync it to a sports watch to run.
The difference between it and the Hsu Kuo Feng Workout Generator is who decides: with the generator you pick the structure and the intensity and it only does the conversion; today's workout works the other way round — the system judges what you should run today from your data.
The system may also judge that today should be a rest day. Rest is a result too.
The four things the system looks at
Your training load
The system measures how much you have trained in training point, which reflects intensity and time together. Two runners can both cover 60 kilometres in a week — one running easy throughout, the other with two interval sessions in it — and the load on the body is nothing alike; mileage alone does not show that. Your volume is judged against your own history, not against norms for your age group or level.
Your recent fatigue
A coach standing beside you does not only look at how much you have run lately — they also look at how hard yesterday was. While the load from your last session has not cleared, today's volume is pulled down and the intensity comes down with it, or the day is turned into rest.
Your effort feedback
The effort level you report on your training records feeds into what comes next: report it easier and the volume goes up, report it harder and it comes down.
Where your ability sits
The system compares your race runlevel across distances to find the one where you are currently weakest, and makes that the training focus for the next month.
Runlevel and personal bests decide how fast each segment should be. Whether today turns out to be a quality session or an easy one is decided by your training load and your fatigue. Your test and race results do shape the training focus for the next month, and through it the kind of workout you get — so keep them accurate.
Which kind of workout you might get today
The system first decides what kind of day today is, then picks the structure and the intensity to match.
- Quality day — Your volume supports it and the fatigue has cleared, so today suits a clear stimulus — intervals, tempo runs, and other workouts with a target intensity.
- Long run day — The day you habitually run long, when today's volume can carry it. The system puts the long run back on that day so it does not disrupt the rhythm you already live by.
- Easy day — Today builds base at aerobic intensity. The usual reason is that your volume does not yet support a quality session — runners in a base-building phase will get several of these in a row, and that is deliberate. You also get an easy day during a deload week, when this week already holds two quality sessions, when the last quality session was less than two days ago, or when your training focus still sits on aerobic ability.
- Rest day — This week's volume has already reached its target, or the load from your last session has not cleared. Letting the body absorb is worth more than piling on more.
On a rest day you can still arrange a recovery run of your own; whatever you run feeds into tomorrow's calculation.
Two situations return no workout at all. When there is not yet enough data to trust your runlevel, the system asks you to keep recording rather than guessing one for you. When the signals contradict each other, it suggests you use the workout generator and decide for yourself.
Which structures it chooses from
The structure decides the shape of a workout — how the effort is distributed from start to finish. Today's workout picks one for you from the day's judgement; you do not choose it yourself. Each structure is described in full on the Hsu Kuo Feng Workout Generator.
- Aerobic — One continuous long segment, run to heart rate throughout.
- Tempo — One unbroken segment held at race pace or lactate threshold pace.
- Interval — A rep of running plus a rest, repeated — and not necessarily hard.
- Progression — Starts easy and steps up in one direction to a peak.
- Varispeed — Easy segments and the target intensity alternating, easy at both ends.
- Pyramid — Steps up to a peak, then comes back down symmetrically.
Pace or heart rate
Whether a workout is delivered in pace or in heart rate is decided in the data itself, not just in the hint text on screen — so when you save it and sync it to your watch, it executes on the right one. Base-building aerobic workouts always run to heart rate and high-intensity intervals always to pace, while a third group switches according to your runlevel. The full rule is on the Hsu Kuo Feng Workout Generator.
When a workout runs to heart rate and you have set your maximum and resting heart rate in RQ, the exact bpm range is calculated with the Karvonen formula. If you have not set them yet, you will see the zone numbers instead of a bpm range.
Higher-intensity workouts come with a warm-up
When the main set sits at lactate threshold intensity or above, the system puts a warm-up at the very front of the workout, between 3 and 15 minutes — the higher the intensity and the training load, the longer it runs.
The warm-up carries no intensity target — warm up by feel — and it does not consume this workout's training point.
It is written into the workout itself, so once it reaches your watch you can run the warm-up and the main set straight through without switching. Lower-intensity workouts do not get an automatic warm-up.
Today's workout and tomorrow's workout
You choose the target day before generating: today or tomorrow. Each day can be arranged once, and it is locked as soon as the workout is generated — whether or not you save it. Asking for tomorrow's workout is worth doing the night before, once your training for today is finished and synced, because tomorrow's answer is calculated from what you have just run.
A workout you save goes into your training plan. Like a real one-on-one coach, Hsu Kuo Feng x AI arranges it for you — while your service is active you cannot edit it, move it to another day, or delete it in RQ.
That limit is about the workout sitting on your calendar, not about how you run. If today brings a long quality session but work has worn you down and you only want an easy run, then run less. If the system calls for rest and you still want to move, arrange a recovery run yourself. What you actually run becomes the input for tomorrow's workout.
Run by feel first and look at the data afterwards. When the numbers look good but the body does not, trust the body.
What this feature does not do
- It does not taper for a race or build volume towards one. Race information appears only in the suggestion line on this page, to help you place yourself in time — it never enters the calculation.
- It does not lay out a multi-day training plan. It handles one day at a time.
- It cannot see fatigue that has not happened yet. It can do "yesterday was hard, so ease off today", but it has no way to know in advance that today will feel unexpectedly heavy.
- It does not cover strength training or test scheduling. It handles running workouts only.
Who can use it
Generating a workout requires a subscription to Hsu Kuo Feng x AI Online Running Coach. You can browse this page and see how it works without signing in.
Frequently asked questions
How is today's workout different from the single workout generator?
Today's workout decides what you should run today: the system picks the structure and the intensity from your training data. The single workout generator has you pick the structure and the intensity, and converts them into runnable paces, heart rates and reps. If you already know what you want to run, use the generator; if you are not sure what today should be, use today's workout.
Why have I only been getting easy runs and aerobic workouts for weeks?
It means the system has judged that you are building your aerobic base. The aerobic base is like the foundation of a house — there is no rush to build upward before it is solid. Keep completing the workouts the system gives you, regularly, and your training volume climbs week by week until the harder sessions appear on their own.
If I enter a faster personal best, will I start getting intervals?
No. Whether today is a quality session is decided by how much you have trained recently; runlevel and personal bests do not take part in that judgement — they decide how fast each segment should be. Entering someone else's times is like giving a tailor the wrong measurements: nothing fits. Easy runs stop being easy, and when intervals do come the paces are beyond you, which raises the injury risk instead of lowering it. Someone with a far higher runlevel who has been off for three months will not be given hard sessions either. What your test and race results do affect is the training focus — see the question below.
Are interval workouts always high intensity?
No. The system opens five intensities for intervals. Aerobic long intervals and cruise long intervals sit at the aerobic and lactate threshold end, and you can run them while building base; high intensity short intervals, VO2max short intervals and speed short intervals are the ones in the high intensity range.
I do not have many test or race records. What will the system do?
When there is too little to compare, the system cannot read where you are weakest, so it builds with aerobic workouts and does not schedule intervals or tempo runs. Add the test or race results you have actually run into RQ and the reading gets closer to your own situation.
Does my target race affect the workout?
Today's workout does not take your race into the calculation. Race information only appears in the suggestion line on this page, to help you place yourself in time — when the race is still more than four weeks away the wording says so, and closer in it simply names the race. Either way the suggestion is the same: train the ability you are currently weakest at over the next month. The workout itself is unchanged by the race.
Can the workout be sent straight to my watch?
Yes. Once you save it into the RQ training calendar it syncs to supported sports watches and you run it segment by segment from the watch. Higher-intensity workouts already include the warm-up segment. You will need your Garmin, COROS or Apple account connected and automatic sending switched on in your settings.
Can I generate tomorrow's workout in advance?
Yes. You pick today or tomorrow before generating, and the system calculates from the data as of the day you picked. When you pick tomorrow, make sure today's training is finished and uploaded first, otherwise the calculation is working from incomplete data.