Build a free personalised running plan around your race date, current pace, goal and weekly routine. Choose a 5K, 10K, half marathon or marathon, select the days you can run, add strength sessions and receive a dated plan that takes you through to race day.
The Runner's Journal Tool
Free Personalised Running Plan Builder
Build a free personalised running plan around your race date, current pace, goal and weekly routine. Choose a 5K, 10K, half marathon or marathon, then receive a dated plan that fits the days you can train.
Your plan, not a generic calendar
Tell us what you are training for.
We use your recent training as the starting point. A goal time is treated as a target to work towards - not a promised result.
Your personalised plan
Your running plan
Goal reality check
Your plan, adapted
Sessions excluded from your schedule
Train by feel first
Your pace + effort guide
Pace is a guide for suitable conditions - not a test you must pass on every run.
The route to race day
Your training phases
Gym work that fits the running
Your strength sessions
Use controlled repetitions and finish most sets with around two good repetitions still available.
Week by week
Your dated schedule
Distances include warm-up and cool-down unless the session says otherwise.
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Total* |
|---|
*Approximate training distance; race-week total may include the race. Strength, walking and optional cross-training are not included.
Session key
How to run each session
When life happens
Rules for adjusting the plan
- Do not “make up” missed kilometres. Resume with the next suitable session.
- Keep easy days easy. If you cannot speak in full sentences, slow down or take walk breaks.
- Never stack the quality session and long run on consecutive days if you can avoid it.
- Repeat or reduce a week if fatigue is building. Stop for pain that changes your stride.
- Race in untested shoes, fuel and kit only if you are happy to accept the risk.
It is general educational guidance generated from the details you entered. It cannot assess injury risk, health conditions, recovery or whether a goal time is achievable. Stop and seek appropriate professional advice for chest pain, faintness, severe breathlessness, an injury that changes your movement, or symptoms that concern you.
More useful than a generic calendar
A running plan built around your race and your week.
A fixed template only knows the distance. This personalised running plan builder also uses where you are starting, what you want to achieve and when you can realistically train.
Choose the race and goal
Create a 5K, 10K, half marathon or marathon training plan for finishing comfortably, running a PB or working towards a specific time.
Start from current training
Your recent weekly distance, running frequency, longest run and experience help shape the opening weeks instead of assuming one starting point suits everyone.
Fit training around real life
Select your running days, long-run day and protected rest days, then exclude hills, intervals or other sessions that do not work for you.
Take the plan to race day
Receive dated sessions, pace and effort guidance, lighter cutback weeks, a distance-specific taper and a schedule you can print or save as a PDF.
How your plan is built
Built from your starting point.
The builder anchors volume to what you already run, places sessions on your chosen days, introduces race-specific work progressively, includes lighter cutback weeks and reduces training into race day. Most running stays easy; faster work changes with the goal distance.
It will not pretend that a short timeline or a large jump from current training is risk-free. When preparation time is limited, the plan keeps progression more conservative and explains where the goal may need flexibility.
Method reading: NHS Couch to 5K, training-intensity review, taper meta-analysis and race-time prediction research.
Before you build
Running plan builder FAQs.
What the free plan includes, how it is personalised and what happens after you complete the seven steps.
Is the personalised running plan builder free?
Yes. You can create a complete dated running plan without paying. Enter an email address at the final step to display the plan and receive a copy for safekeeping.
Which race distances can I create a plan for?
The builder creates plans for 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon goals. The session mix, long-run progression and taper change with the selected distance.
How is my running plan personalised?
The schedule uses your event date, goal, current weekly distance, recent longest run, experience, available running days, preferred long-run day, recent race result and any sessions you ask it to exclude.
Can I choose which days I run and rest?
Yes. Choose three to six running days, select the day that suits your long run and protect at least one full-rest day. The plan places sessions only on the days you select.
Can the plan include strength training?
Yes. Add up to four strength sessions each week and choose the day and focus for each one. The schedule reduces strength work as race day approaches.
Can I use the builder to target a PB or goal time?
Yes. Choose a PB or specific-time goal and add a recent result for more useful pace guidance. The target is treated as something to work towards, not a guaranteed race result.
Does the plan use pace or effort?
It uses both when enough information is available. Effort guidance keeps each session useful when hills, heat, wind, sleep or fatigue make a fixed pace inappropriate.
Can I exclude hills, intervals or other running sessions?
Yes. You can exclude hill sessions, intervals and fartlek, tempo and threshold runs, strides or faster long-run finishes. The builder replaces them with suitable alternatives rather than leaving gaps in the schedule.
Can I print or save my running plan?
Yes. The completed plan includes a print and save-as-PDF option, a mobile week-by-week view and a copy sent to the email address you provide.