Race Training Plan Builder

A free browser tool

Your race date and your goal time. The whole calendar.

Printable plans are sold blank, and the pace chart is sold separately. This works out the weeks and puts the pace on every session. No account, and nothing you type leaves this tab.

Step 1

The race

Weekly distance is what injures people. Leave it at zero and the plan is whatever the race asks for, which for a first race is usually too much.

A recent race (optional)

Give something you have actually run and the plan checks the goal against it. Without it the plan is built from the goal alone and cannot tell you the goal is out of reach.

Sheets to print

How it works

One goal time becomes five paces

  1. Your goal time is converted to equivalent times at other distances using Riegel's formula.
  2. Each training pace is one of those equivalent race paces, printed as a band rather than a single second.
  3. The weeks are counted back from your race date, with a cutback every fourth week and a taper into the race.

FAQ

Before you use it

Where do the paces come from?

Riegel's equivalence, published in 1981: a time at one distance predicts the time at another. Threshold pace is your half-marathon-equivalent pace, interval pace your 3K-equivalent, and easy pace is marathon-equivalent plus a fixed offset. It is one formula applied a few times, not a coach's judgement.

Will the first week be more than I can do?

Not if you say how far you are running now. The plan is then scaled to start about ten per cent above that, and everything scales with it, so the shape of the block is the same but its size is yours. It only ever scales down: the race sets the ceiling, you set the floor, and the long run never exceeds what the distance justifies however much you are already running.

How does it know my goal is realistic?

It does not, unless you give it a recent race. With one, the same Riegel formula converts that result to this distance and compares it with your goal. A training block usually moves a time by up to about eight per cent, so a goal much further than that is flagged rather than quietly turned into paces you cannot hold.

Is this coaching advice?

No. It is arithmetic on the numbers you entered. It is not medical advice either. If something hurts, stop and ask someone qualified.

What if my race is sooner than the plan needs?

It says so and compresses the plan rather than pretending you have the weeks.

Is this free?

Yes. This validation version has no payment or account.

Is what I type stored?

No. The plan is worked out and drawn in this tab. Anonymous usage events and feedback are recorded.

Privacy

We record anonymous interaction events, a random browser session identifier, referral source, device category, and feedback. We do not intentionally collect names, email addresses, IP addresses, or the text entered into the tool.

Terms

This experimental tool is provided as-is and is not medical or coaching advice. Check with a qualified person before starting a training plan.