Hiking in the hills of Malibu
I recently moved to Uruguay, and my Spanish comprehension is still very poor, even though I’ve studied every single morning for years (baby steps for my aging brain). Navigating a new country is hard enough. On top of that, I have a bucket list trip booked: the 10-day O trek in Patagonia. It starts at the end of December, about nine weeks from now, and I am very nervous about the terrain.
The O Circuit in Torres del Paine runs roughly 70 to 80 miles depending on side hikes, with thousands of feet of climbing, including the pass at John Gardner. This is no walk in the park, and trust me, I know I need to train before I show up bundled in all the gear: waterproof pants, jackets and layer upon layer.
But I now live in a mostly flat country, which makes training a challenge. The streets along Playa Mansa are lovely, but there are no hills. Luckily I found a gym, and with help from Claude and Strava I’m feeling a lot more prepared.
Generic advice from a cautious robot
I’ve been prompting my AI assistant endlessly: trail recommendations, long bike routes, and whether my daily sessions on the StairMaster and treadmill are enough. But without any history of my activity or current fitness, the advice was generic and mostly cautionary.
When I asked about riding about 40 miles to Garzón for an olive oil tasting, Claude suggested I ride one way and take the bus back, or stay overnight before heading home. When I asked about hikes, I got a general overview: “You have two real hills about 30 km west of you, both reachable by bus or bike.”
Helpful, but it had no idea who it was talking to.
“I wish you could see my Strava”
So I got sassy. I reminded the robot that I’ve completed an Ironman, and that not long ago I was riding 200 miles a week, climbing the volcanoes on Maui for years. I ended with an exasperated “I wish you could see my Strava.”
Like magic, Claude came back with a button to connect Strava, and it suggested connecting komoot for local routes too. My jaw dropped. How did I not know about this feature?
A free 30-day Strava trial later (connecting needs a paid Strava subscription), Claude could see months of my activity: rides, swims, hikes and gym sessions. The advice changed immediately. Instead of “maybe stay overnight,” it compared the Garzón ride to my actual numbers: “Riding one way to Garzón is easy for you. The same-day round trip would be about 93 miles and 7+ hours of moving time, which is longer than anything you’ve ridden in the last couple of months.”
It also noticed that since I moved to Uruguay, my riding had dropped to almost nothing. Fair point, robot.
Adding AllTrails
I wanted more, so I asked whether Claude could connect to AllTrails. One button later, I had a list of real trails near me with distance, elevation gain, ratings and a link to open each one in AllTrails, all without leaving the chat.
Cañadón de la Palma: 7.1 miles and 1,410 feet of gain, along streams through native forest. Cerro de las Ánimas: 6.5 miles and 1,430 feet to Uruguay’s second-highest point. Suddenly my flat new home had hills. It even sorted out the bus schedules, all in Spanish, to get me to the trailheads.
Am I on track?
The real question was whether my gym routine was enough. My plan was 30 to 45 minutes a day on the StairMaster and treadmill. With my history in front of it, Claude didn’t just say yes. It called my gym work a solid base, then got specific: “What 30–45 minutes in the gym won’t fully prepare you for is what the O actually asks: about a week of back-to-back days, many of them 6–8 hours.”
Its suggestions: long days on my feet, a few long hikes ideally two days in a row, and step-downs and downhill hiking to get my quads ready for the steep descent off John Gardner Pass.
Not generic advice. Advice for me, my trek and my calendar.
What you need to know
Claude can connect to apps you already use. I asked, and it offered a connect button right in the chat. I connected Strava, komoot and AllTrails.
Some cost money and some don’t. Strava needs a paid subscription to connect. I’m on a free 30-day trial, so today it costs me zero dollars. AllTrails and komoot connected without a login. I already pay for AllTrails, but I didn’t need that subscription to connect.
It’s read-only. Claude can read and analyze my workouts, but it can’t log new ones. After a treadmill session, it formatted my numbers so I could enter them in Strava myself.
Not every app has a connector yet. Garmin doesn’t, but a Garmin watch can sync to Strava, which gets your data there anyway.
You’re sharing personal data. Fitness logs include your locations and routines, so connect only what you’re comfortable with.
The real lesson
AI is only as good as the context you give it. Without my data, Claude gave me the same careful advice it would give anyone. With it, I have a coach with data-crunching abilities available 24/7, and for now it costs me nothing.
I’m no longer stressing about whether I’m on track for my big Chilean adventure. No excuses. Time to crush this!
