Training plan generator for runners: road and trail, 5K to 100 miles

Build a personalized running training plan around your actual race date, current mileage, and experience level. Road and trail, any distance.

Most running training plans are built for a fictional runner. A fixed number of weeks, a fixed starting mileage, no awareness of how much time you actually have before race day or where you're genuinely starting from.

I created this tool to work differently. It's a running training plan generator that builds your complete schedule from scratch, based on your race distance, your race date, your current weekly mileage, and your experience level.

No templates.

No one-size-fits-all week counts.

Just a plan built around YOU.

Pick your distance, enter your race date, and the builder calculates how many weeks you have, what peak mileage is realistic for you, and exactly which Monday your training should begin. The result is a structured, week-by-week schedule you can print straight from the page.

No digital nonsense, just a classic piece of paper with your plan on, that you can cross days off when you've completed them - nothing beats physical paper when following a training schedule!

It covers road and trail running from 5K to 100-mile ultramarathons. Goal type matters too; a 'I just want to finish' plan looks structurally different from a 'time-goal plan', and the builder accounts for that.

What your custom training plan includes

Every generated plan uses a four-phase structure drawn from the methods of Higdon, Pfitzinger, Jack Daniels, and David Roche: a base phase to build your aerobic foundation, a build phase adding race-specific quality work, a peak phase with your hardest training weeks, and a taper that brings you to the line fresh.

Cutback weeks are built in automatically every third or fourth week. For trail ultras of 50K and above, the plan adds back-to-back weekend long runs — the most effective training stimulus for the fatigue resistance those races demand.

Every session comes with specific instructions. Tempo runs reference your goal pace. Hill repeats include power hike coaching for trail ultras. Easy runs tell you exactly what Zone 2 means in practice.

The builder works in miles or kilometers, and the finished plan prints onto a single A4 landscape page; beautiful!

An exclusive perk for paid AR members

This running training plan generator is available to paid AR members only, and you can use it as many times as you like, for any distance, any time.

One membership gives you unlimited access to this tool and everything else that comes with it like ad-free experience, early access to gear reviews, member-only guides, and more running tools coming soon.

If you've been on the fence about joining, this is a good reason to get off it.

How to use the builder (see tool below)

Select your race surface (road or trail), then choose your distance from the presets or type it in manually. Enter your race date using the calendar, your current weekly mileage, and your experience level.

The calendar automatically shows you the earliest realistic race date based on your distance and current fitness, so you know at a glance whether your timeline is workable.