What does "build-up" mean on my running build-up?
Your signals card shows Running build-up: a marker next to a blue band, with a word beside it. This week that word says "build-up" instead of "neutral", while all you did was one extra run. What does that reading mean?
The four readings
Running build-up has four readings, and all four come from one measurement: what you ran in the last seven days, next to what you carried on average over the past four weeks. That goes in kilometres and in minutes on your feet, because for your tendons it is how often you land that counts.
To the left of the blue band it says "helping": you run less than you carry. Inside the band it is "neutral". To the right of it "build-up" begins. Beyond the point where your plan steps in, it says "working against you".
What the blue band is
That band is not a norm but your own base: the sum of your running kilometres over the last twenty-eight days, divided by four. One exceptionally long run counts towards it only up to a limit, so it cannot lift your base on its own, and walking sits separately.
Around that base the band runs from ninety to a hundred and ten percent. Inside it your week looks like the weeks before it.
Why "build-up" is not a warning
Build-up says exactly one thing: you carry more this week than you are used to. That is how you move forward, because growth happens above your own base. So your plan does not hold you back on this reading, and the chip carries the blue of information rather than the tint of caution.
You see that in what does not happen. Your session keeps its shape, the heaviest run of your week keeps its length, and no note says anything was shortened.
When it turns into "working against you"
Above your band there is a point where the step becomes too big for tendons and joints. Where that point sits comes from research into running injuries, and it deliberately appears nowhere on your screen as a number. If you reported a complaint while running in the past two weeks, the app looks more strictly.
From that point on, your planned running week does not grow faster than your legs are used to. The heaviest run is shortened to the level of your other runs, and today’s run is the plain endurance run, without a brisk finish or strides.
Frequently asked questions
Is "build-up" a warning?
No, it is an observation: you run more this week than you carried in recent weeks. Your plan does not hold you back on it and your session does not change.
Why is there no number for where it goes wrong?
Because a limit you can read off becomes a limit you run towards. The two figures that matter you do see: your own base and what you carry this week.
Does walking count towards my running build-up?
No. Walking sits as its own line in the sheet and is never added to your running minutes, because you land far more softly.
Why does it say "build-up" while my load balance is calm?
Those two count different things. The load points count duration times intensity. Running build-up counts kilometres and minutes, so how much you land.
Trimetra puts your running week next to your own base and attaches one word to it, so you see whether you stay inside your habit or build above it.