Find your starting point
Use training history and recovery capacity rather than speed to find the right level.
Read guide: Beginner, improver or experienced? Ability labels without the pace snobberyAdditional Guidance
Choose a plan, make it work for your life and understand the decisions around your running.
Before you start
Choose a goal, starting point and training schedule that fit your life.
Choose your goal
Use recent evidence and process goals instead of a promised finishing time.
Read guide: First finish or faster time? Set a race goal without turning it into a guaranteeGive yourself enough time
Understand what shorter and longer calendars can, and cannot, change.
Read guide: How many weeks do you need to train for a race?Choose your plan
Choose by recent training, available time and the event, not by a flattering ability label.
Read guide: How to choose a running plan that fits your actual starting pointBuild your running week
Arrange training around sustainable frequency, recovery and the rest of your life.
Read guide: Should you run three, four, five or six days a week?Get ready for the terrain
Check terrain, time, navigation and support before choosing a generic trail programme.
Read guide: Trail and ultra plans: match the route, not just the distanceFollowing and adapting
Understand your plan and adjust it around recovery, interruptions and everyday life.
Fuel the longer runs
Practise food and drink alongside the running, without making every easy outing complicated.
Read guide: Fuelling and hydration belong in your training planAdjust your training
A practical interruption guide that treats recovery as part of the plan.
Read guide: Missed runs, illness and bad weather: how to adjust without catching upUnderstand your effort
Keep easy running easy and understand why a time-based plan still needs distance checks.
Read guide: Pace, effort and time on feet: how to read your running planBuild up thoughtfully
Build a routine without treating a percentage, mileage target or time cap as a safety guarantee.
Read guide: Progression and long runs: beyond the 10% ruleSupport your running
Add support work without accidentally creating a second demanding plan.
Read guide: Strength, cross-training and recovery: the training around the runningRace week
Prepare for race week and give yourself time to recover afterwards.
Prepare for race week
Reduce the training without trying to prove your fitness at the last minute.
Read guide: Tapering, race week and the days afterwardsHealth & evidence
Consider your individual needs and the evidence behind training advice.
Put your needs first
Support individual needs without inventing cycle-synced rules or blanket age-based reductions.
Read guide: Training plans for women: symptoms, life stages and the limits of generic adviceUnderstand the evidence
A transparent guide to the evidence, established programmes and our original editorial choices.
Read guide: What the research can and cannot tell us about running plansNo guides match your selection.