Built on VDOT & periodisation science

Build
Your Run

Enter your race date, choose your days, and get a fully structured training plan with detailed workouts — ready to export to your calendar.

Build my plan 🛋️ Start Couch to 5K
Never run before? The Couch to 5K button is for you.
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Race-date driven
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HR zone guidance
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Detailed workouts
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Calendar export
How it works
Three steps to your race-ready plan
STEP 01
Set your race
Choose your distance — 5K, 10K, half, marathon, or a custom distance. Enter your race date and we'll build the plan back from race day.
STEP 02
Pick your days
Select how many days per week you can train and your current fitness level. The plan adapts to your schedule — 3 days or 6 days.
STEP 03
Get your plan
Every session includes a full structure — exact intervals, distances, heart rate zones, and coaching tips. Export to .ics for your calendar.
🛋️ Complete beginners
Never run before?
Start here.

The Couch to 5K programme takes you from walking to running 5K continuously — in 9 weeks. No experience needed. Starts with 60-second jog intervals and builds gradually every week.

✓ 3 sessions per week — Mon, Wed, Fri
✓ Starts with walk/run intervals — no continuous running required
✓ Week 5: your first ever 20-minute continuous run
✓ Week 9: run 5K continuously — you are a runner
🛋️ Start Couch to 5K — it's free
9-week progression
Week 1
60 sec jogs
Week 3
3 min blocks
Week 5
20 min run 🎉
Week 7
25 min run
Week 9
5K race 🏅
Already run before? Use the plan builder instead — it scales from beginner to advanced for any distance.
The four phases
Every plan follows proven periodisation principles
Base
Easy aerobic runs build your cardiovascular foundation. Volume increases gradually — max 10% per week.
Build
Tempo runs and threshold sessions are introduced. Your lactate threshold rises and race-pace effort becomes sustainable.
Peak
Highest volume and intensity. Interval sessions sharpen speed. Long run hits its maximum. Real fitness is forged here.
Taper
Volume drops 30–50%. Short sharpeners maintain fitness. Legs freshen up. Arrive to race day fully rested.
How the plans are built
Based on established exercise science — not guesswork
VDOT PACING
Jack Daniels' VDOT
Your training paces are calculated using the VDOT methodology developed by Dr. Jack Daniels, exercise physiologist and author of Daniels' Running Formula. Enter a recent race time and the system derives your current aerobic capacity, then prescribes exact paces for easy, tempo, and interval sessions. The same system is used by elite coaches worldwide.
PERIODISATION
Classical periodisation
The Base → Build → Peak → Taper structure follows periodisation theory — the principle that training stress should be varied in a planned cycle to maximise adaptation and arrive at race day in peak condition. Originally formalised in Soviet sports science in the 1950s, it's now the foundation of virtually every serious endurance training programme, including those by Pete Pfitzinger and Hal Higdon.
INJURY PREVENTION
The 10% rule
Weekly training volume never increases by more than 10% over the previous week — a guideline supported by research on overuse injury incidence in runners. Every fourth week is a planned recovery week at 70% of normal volume, allowing the body to absorb the training load before the next build cycle.
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Key references
Daniels, J. (2014). Daniels' Running Formula, 3rd ed. Human Kinetics. · Bompa, T. & Haff, G. (2009). Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training, 5th ed. Human Kinetics. · Buist, I. et al. (2010). No effect of a graded training program on the number of running-related injuries in novice runners. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 38(4), 773–780.
Built by a runner,
for runners

BuildYourRun started because every training plan tool either cost money, buried the plan behind a signup wall, or produced something generic that ignored when you could actually train. This one doesn't do any of that.

The plans are built on Jack Daniels' VDOT methodology and classical periodisation — the same frameworks used by serious coaches, applied to real schedules with real constraints. You pick your race date, your days, your fitness level. The plan is built backwards from race day, with recovery weeks, proper taper, and session-level detail.

It's free. No subscription, no premium tier, no ads. The roadmap is public and you can vote on what gets built next.

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