Training Plan Generator

Eight to twelve weeks for a 5K or 10K, twelve to sixteen for a half, and twelve to eighteen for a marathon, assuming you already run regularly. The tool schedules backwards from race day, so if you pick a plan longer than the time you have left it will tell you which week you are joining at.

Rejoin at the date the calendar is on, not where you stopped, and do not try to make up the missed volume. One quiet week costs almost nothing. Doubling up to catch it is how people end up injured three weeks out.

No, and we are careful about saying so. These are plans we generate using the training structure each of those coaches made popular — the day pattern, the cutback rhythm, where the hard work sits. The actual published schedules are in their books, and the books are worth buying if you want the reasoning behind each session.

Run the easy days by effort and let the pace fall where it falls. For quality sessions, turn on the heat adjustment so the targets are already slowed, or check a specific day with the Heat and Humidity Pace Adjuster.

Press Add to calendar and open the .ics file that downloads. Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and Outlook all import it. Each session lands as an all-day entry, so it will not block out your day.

Between four and six, depending on the plan shape you pick. Gentle Build runs four days, Progressive Build five, and the Cumulative Fatigue, Threshold and Pace Zones shapes six. More days is not automatically better if you cannot recover from them.