After years of coaching thousands of athletes at Vert.run, we’ve seen the most successful runners do more than stack miles and vert. They also understand how life outside training affects performance.
You don’t train in a vacuum. With everything we’ve learned, we built the VIBE Score and the Timeline to give you a clear, visual way to see how your body, mind, and lifestyle shape your training.
Let’s break it down.
What is the VIBE Score?
Your VIBE Score is a daily snapshot of how ready you are to train. It combines signals from your training load, recovery, and the stress that comes from “life events.” All of this rolls up into one simple number.
It helps you answer the question every athlete asks:
“How am I doing today, and what’s the smartest way to train?”
A higher VIBE Score points to a better balance between stress, fitness, and recovery. A lower score is not a failure. It is your body asking for care, rest, or lighter effort. Think of it as a gentle nudge to adjust while you deal with other things.
How it works
Your VIBE Score comes from three signals that refresh each day and combine into one number you can act on.
- Training: How much work you did vs what your plan called for, using time as the anchor. This keeps you aligned with the plan without rewarding hero days or punishing lighter weeks.
- Recovery: A quick daily check on how recovered you feel. It captures what your body is saying right now and helps you avoid pushing when the tank is low.
- Life stress: Real-life context like travel, busy work weeks, poor sleep, or sickness. Logging these adds useful signal so your decisions match your reality.
Update cadence: Your VIBE Score refreshes after your recovery check-in and whenever you sync a workout or add a Life Event or Report Update.
Smoothing: Each input uses a five-day average so the score reflects a trend rather than a one-off spike.
Why this matters: Most plans ignore everything around the workout. VIBE reads your training, your recovery, and your real life together so you can make better calls and stay consistent.
What is the Timeline?
The Timeline puts your training and your life in one place. Workouts, races, stress, travel, sleep notes, injuries, and your VIBE Score sit side by side. You can see what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.
Why this matters: when everything lives together, patterns show up. You start to see why one week felt great and the next felt flat. You can plan with more confidence, not only for the next few weeks but for the next few months, seasons and races ahead
Blending the Timeline with your VIBE Score helps you train smarter, be kinder with yourself, and stay consistent while keeping the big picture in view.
We built the Timeline as a way for you to make better decisions and faster.
How to use it
Open Vert.run and tap Timeline. Each day you’ll see your latest VIBE Score and a quick prompt to rate how recovered you feel. Your score updates on the spot.
To get the most out of it:
- Connect your GPS watch so activities sync automatically.
- Log life events that could affect training, like travel, long work weeks, or holidays.
- Report setbacks such as sickness, injury, or sleep disruption.
- Add your goals and races so the Timeline shows what you’re building toward.
These inputs do more than sit in a log. They actively shape your plan so you can make smarter decisions, faster.
*Important: The more information you include in the app, the more accurate the Vibe Score will be.
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Why it matters for your training
We built this to help you train smarter, not harder. The goal is to keep the big picture in view instead of getting lost in the day to day.
- Injury prevention: Early signs of fatigue or stress show up as a lower VIBE Score. That is your cue to dial back, recover, or adjust the session before it becomes a problem.
- Motivation and clarity: Seeing workouts, life events, and your VIBE Score together keeps you grounded. You understand why a day feels great or flat, and you know what to do next.
- Long-term awareness: Over months and seasons, the Timeline becomes your story of how you balanced training, recovery, and real life. It helps you plan the next block with confidence.
Bottom line: use VIBE to guide the day, and the Timeline to guide the season.
How to add Life Events, Fitness Goals, and Report Updates
Adding events makes your VIBE Score much smarter.
Steps:
- Open Timeline and tap +.
- Choose Life Event, Fitness Goal, or Report Update.
- Add the details and a short note for context. Save to update your Timeline and VIBE score automatically.
What each option covers
- Life Event: travel, long work weeks, holidays, big social commitments.
- Fitness Goal: races, training blocks, milestones.
- Report Update: sickness, injury, poor sleep, other setbacks.
Good to know
- Most presets include a predefined score that will impact your VIBE score but you also have the chance to create your own custom events on each category.
- Keeping your Timeline up to date helps you and your coach see what is really driving performance.
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The bottom line
Your VIBE Score and Timeline make training more human. Real athletes have real lives, and your plan should reflect that. When workouts and life events live in one place, you see the full picture. That is where consistency and real growth happen.
This is not about perfect days. It is about better decisions in context. Use VIBE to guide today. Use the Timeline to keep the big picture. Over weeks and months you will see why you felt great, why you felt flat, and what actually moved the needle.
Start here
- Log how recovered you feel to set your VIBE for today.
- Add one life event that matters this week.
- Notice how those inputs shape today’s session and the weeks ahead.
We built this to help you stay healthy, stay motivated, and keep showing up.
FAQs
- Do I need a wearable?
No. You can log activities manually in the Vert.run app. Connecting your watch is recommended because it syncs activities automatically.
- Is this available on desktop or web?
For now, VIBE Score and Timeline are only in the Vert.run mobile app (iOS and Android). Make sure you’re on the latest version from the App Store or Google Play. Desktop/web is on our roadmap and will come later.
- What if I skip a recovery check-in one day?
The VIBE score uses your last inputs and updates the next time you log or sync. Missing a day does not change your plan.
- How often does VIBE update?
Once per day after your recovery check-in, and again whenever you sync a workout or add a life event or report update.
- Will this change my plan automatically?
Not for now. VIBE gives you guidance. You decide and can move sessions in your training as needed.
- What do the numbers and colors mean?
- 80 to 100: Optimal for hard training or racing
- 60 to 79: Moderate to hard training appropriate
- 40 to 59: Focus on moderate training, monitor stress
- 20 to 39: Easy training, prioritize recovery
- 0 to 19: Rest day recommended, address stressors
- My VIBE feels off. What should I do?
Add context first. Log sleep notes or a life event, then recheck. If it still feels off, trust your body and go easier.
- What data does Vert.run use for VIBE?
Workouts you sync or log, your recovery check-ins, and any life events or report updates you add. Wearables are optional. You control what you share.
- Can I delete a life event or report?
Yes. You can remove entries from the Timeline at any time.
