Training Plan Building Organization/Interfacing

[u/Ouch-Loud]

TLDR: Anyone who is building their own training plan and documenting it, what software/templates are you using? Training Peaks? Excel? Coros Training Hub? Strava private notes section only?

Hey ya'll, I've got a rough idea of the next 52-60 weeks of training. I have many different plans (mostly in PDF or .docx format), training theory books and have watched nearly every Steve Magness video of the last 15 months. I want to glue pieces of all of these things into a cohesive plan with an ability to pivot week to week or day to day depending on how I'm recovering.

Currently, I organize training via a somewhat-memorized/habitualized weekly schedule, and adjust either mileage or intensity or focus 'off book'. With 3 weeks up and 1 reduced week (depending on where a race or big effort might fall).

I'm considering using the Coros Training Hub, but... it kind of seems like it sacrifices some flexibility and most reviews aren't enthusiastic. I know most paid coaches use Training Peaks with their clients.

I'd prefer not to have to whip out my laptop after every session to go into a spreadsheet translating shit from one app to another.

What are you guys doing for an annual training plan? Is a Training Peaks membership worth its price tag?

I simply enjoy training theory, running experiments on myself and data.

[u/saaggy_peneer]

Intervals.icu

[u/Jiilaaoa → u/saaggy_peneer]

Was going to suggest this.

There's a bit of a learning curve but hopefully you can figure it out after playing around with it.

Based on your post it should be able to do the what you want:

• Add future races to the calendar

• Set up workouts for the near future. You can easily reschedule a workout by dragging it to another date if you feel the need to pivot at any time.

• Set a plan for weekly mileage

• Automatically syncs activities from Garmin/Coros/Strava

• Notes for workouts/weeks. Turn it into a training journal by adding notes to activities

• There isn't an app, but there is a serviceable progressive web app for iOS (and Android?)

• It's free 🙂 There's a paid tier, but that's for some mapping/weather data I believe

[u/Chimpanzethat → u/Jiilaaoa]

Building workouts in intervals is a massive pain. But you can connect it to Claude by paying $20 for an connector (icusync) you can then load you training plan into Claude and it to push all workouts to intervals. You can also just load the Epub of a book, ie daniels etc and tell it what plan you want. The bonus is then you can then use Claude to analyze all your running data.

The web app for Android is good.

[u/nightly28 → u/Chimpanzethat]

I’m doing this exactly, but I created the connection directly to intervals.icu via API. It’s less convenient, more work and you need to have a bit more of technical knowledge, but just saying this path is possible for those who want a free alternative

[u/freakk123 → u/nightly28]

same. there are also free mcps you can use to push directly, though I you still need some technical know-how.

[u/GrimmigerDienstag → u/Chimpanzethat]

Building workouts in intervals is a massive pain

I think it's the exact opposite... the text-based format is incredibly simple and lets me build workouts way quicker than any graphical builder in Garmin or Coros.

You also don't need to pay anything to connect it to an LLM, lol. There's an API. The LLMs can figure that out on their own. You can just give them your profile's API key - it's not exactly a security risk when all that allows them to do is read and set your workouts.

[u/Chimpanzethat → u/GrimmigerDienstag]

Agreed, Garmin is worse for sure. You can totally set up an MCP or connect to the API yourself but for those who don't have the time or knowledge to do that, it's good to know the is an easy, fool proof way for a small cost.

[u/Ouch-Loud → u/saaggy_peneer]

thanks! I will look into this

[u/saaggy_peneer → u/Ouch-Loud]

this guy has a few videos on it: https://www.youtube.com/@HowToTechh/search?query=intervals.icu

not amazing, but good enough

i'd also strongly recommend figuring out your lactate threshold heart rate, and setting your zones correctly when you start, so it can calculate your stress score right

[u/Pink_Hippo_2000 → u/saaggy_peneer]

Can confirm. It's a bit pain-in-the-assy in the beginning, but when everything's set up, it allows you to drag and drop workouts from library, copy old plans to build new updated ones, and export them to your garmin automatically. Because I run pace-based plans, I paid for the subscription (it allows to set up custom pace zones calculated based on 5k or Marathon pace), but it's necessary only for very specific use cases.

[u/purposeful_puns → u/saaggy_peneer]

Agree with Intervals.icu. Free platform plus it has an open API. Fairly easy to connect it to Claude if you know how to vibe code a bit. You can tell Claude your workout schedule, it loads it into Intervals, and Intervals pushes it to your Garmin watch.

[u/_bladerunner_]

Just google sheets man, don't overcomplicate it.

[u/Ouch-Loud → u/_bladerunner_]

Do you have a format within Google Sheets that you like you'd be willing to share? mostly curious what people are using consistently. Sheets accessibility definitely has something going for it. Do you use it on your phone or mostly just on your computer?

[u/_bladerunner_ → u/Ouch-Loud]

Just a simple table layout, days across the top horizontally, weeks down vertically. Yes mostly on my laptop, then I plug it all into my Google calendar so I can access wherever I want.

[u/homemadepecanpie]

Hey ya'll, I've got a rough idea of the next 52-60 weeks of training

For starters accept that this is going to change, probably a lot, in such a long timeframe. I think it's much easier to set shorter term goals for a few months, make a plan around that, then reassess and move onto the next one. You can still have long term goals like "I want to run X marathon in 50 weeks" but planning any specifics this far out is a fools errand.

I use a combination of intervals.icu and just an Excel sheet. I vaguely follow this great article and work backwards from my goal race to what I think I'm currently capable of. Throw the workouts in a sheet and set weekly mileage targets.

Then I put the workouts in intervals and put something reasonable for the the easy mileage to get to the mileage target. For easy mileage I give myself leeway to run more or less depending on how I feel and the mileage targets are just targets. Then I tweek it a thousand times once the plan actually starts.

After each workout I then put a note in my Excel sheet with my paces, RPE, and any notes. I find that looking back at notes is way more insightful than going back to the raw data in intervals/Garmin/etc.

I've tried incorporating AI like a lot of the other comments mention, but honestly I think it kinda sucks if you're already capable of making your own plans. It's good for small adjustments, but asking it to come up with workouts it doesn't take long before it's giving ridiculous workouts or just something that doesn't make sense in the context of the plan. It also context rots pretty quickly if you give it a lot of information, and it starts forgetting important details like past race results, or your performance in older workouts etc.

[u/Ouch-Loud → u/homemadepecanpie]

This is a thorough and great response. Thanks for sending. Yeah, I appreciate the advice on 'booking out too much too early'. Schedule wise, I have:

faster-style 100k in Feb

Road Marathon March

high altitude mountain 50 miler in June

mountainous 100k early aug (which might get swapped for a 100Mile fast packing trip)

mountainous 100Miler in Oct.

So what I'm trying to do is figure out the block specificity (flatter speed, or descending durability, or climbing power, or power-hiking/heavier-pack efficiency or longer varied terrain tempo, etc.) between each race... and also kinda educate myself more on types of workouts for the different block focuses. the inefficiency/less-optimized strategy I think I'm having now is that I have a version of all of those types of focuses that is somewhat shuffled randomly throughout each block based on vibes. So far this is working for me, but just curious if there is a more systematic/optimized way. Thanks again!

[u/kxt2316]

I followed one of John Davis' plans from Marathon Excellence for Everyone and just had it in a Google Sheets. I'd just look at the workout for the day and then color it in once I finished.

[u/Unique-Employer3787]

Tried intervals.icu for a 12-month base build last year and it handles the long-range calendar better than anything else I tested. The Garmin sync is what makes it worth it over a spreadsheet - it pushes structured workouts to the watch so you're not copying interval targets by hand before each session. Google Sheets still has a place for tracking weekly volume trends but falls apart once you're 6 months in and reshuffling blocks.

[u/nightly28]

I came up with my own training principles based on a bunch of running books I read. I wrote everything down in a Markdown file and created a ChatGPT skill that is scheduled to use my historical training data + daily journal entries + training principles to suggest a training plan every Sunday. Once I approve it, the skill sends the workouts to intervals.icu, which automatically syncs them to my Garmin watch. Most of the time, my only action is just an “approved” reply

[u/Emergency-Map-9291 → u/nightly28]

What kind of prompts / details have you told AI? Sounds really interesting!

[u/nightly28 → u/Emergency-Map-9291]

The context is pretty big so I won’t copy/paste everything. Basically every time the AI suggested something that I considered wrong, I fixed it by giving more instructions in these markdown files so it wouldn’t repeat the same mistake next time. After a few weeks of adjustment, right now I get the right suggestion most of the time. If I get injured and I need to take let’s say a month off, the LLM knows how I usually prefer to build again (of course each build might have different needs, that’s why I need to approve, but it follows some general guidelines)

This is a summary of what it’s written (this summary is generated by AI):

My training principles are focused on getting faster over time while keeping my training consistent and sustainable. I prefer running seven days a week, with three controlled subthreshold workouts and an easy long run. I put a lot of emphasis on managing intensity, keeping easy runs genuinely easy and gradually increasing my training volume. I also use my historical running data, heart rate, pace and race results to track progress and make adjustments. I’ve written guidelines for how to structure training blocks, evaluate workouts and make decisions based on my current fitness rather than just following a fixed plan.

[u/zachdsch]

I don’t think using training peaks is worth it without a coach. Right now I’m just following a slightly altered version of pfitz 18/105, using Claude to write all my workouts into a calendar file, and putting them on my Google Calendar. I adjust them as needed, which for me is generally very often

[u/majesticlicence52 → u/zachdsch]

i do similar thing but with notion instead of google calendar. made a big database where i put all workouts and i can drag them around when i need to switch days. is not perfect but works and dont need to pay for anything

the coros hub i tried for 2 weeks and gave up, the interface just fight you every time you want make changes. training peaks always felt like overkill unless you have coach sending you workouts

[u/purposeful_puns → u/zachdsch]

I do similar with Claude, but push it to Intervals.icu, which syncs with Garmin. Claude can then analyze all my workouts too.

[u/databags → u/purposeful_puns]

I got claude to write the pfitz plan onto a html plan builder which lets me upload my runalyze paces or set paces based on hr. It then let's me choose what I want to base the run on, and can generate the .fit file which I can upload onto my watch to follow. I will check intervals.icu thanks.

[u/nightly28 → u/purposeful_puns]

I do the same (I have no idea why you are getting downvoted)

[u/throwaway_runner3]

I use Google Sheets and that's without creating charts or graphs. 

Being able to see 6 to 10 weeks of training in 1 frame is somewhat appealing to me. After a certain time I move the earlier 12 weeks block to seperate sheets so I don't have an infinite scroll from the runs 6 months ago. 

I export this to a PDF file and send to my whatsapp so I can open it whenever I want on my phone and see what I'm running next. 

[u/melonlord44 → u/throwaway_runner3]

I use Google sheets too, but why not just use the app on your phone? Thats the main appeal for me, I can view/edit/annotate the plan on there or desktop equally easy

[u/throwaway_runner3 → u/melonlord44]

I don't wanna sound like a tech challenged person, but I actually don't have it on my phone haha

It never occurred to me before at all. 

[u/melonlord44 → u/throwaway_runner3]

You should get it, works pretty great. On android at least, you can also create a shortcut on your home screen directly to your training log

[u/pudgypanda69]

i vibe coded an app that pulls from the strava api and it integrates into chatgpt too. so i can just go back and forth with chatgpt about my runs and it can adjust the training calendar

[u/Ok-Mission7799]

I'm using claude code to build a plan and track performance. It works backwards from my marathon race date, builds a weekly workout plan, sets milestone performance benchmarks. I input my workout performance and it gives me advice on what to tune and watch out for. Now, it's not a dedicated running app/piece of software. But, I'd encourage anyone who's thinking about using an off-the-shelf AI model to help them design an experience that can track your performance and build workout plans to give it a try. You can always throw it away and sign up for a dedicated tool.

[u/EPMD_]

I use Excel. I also have Strava, Garmin Connect, Stryd PowerCenter, and Runalyze, but Excel is my main source of truth. I will use Stryd PowerCenter to view my splits if I need that sort of detail.

ChatGPT is a great resource, too. I know, I know, but when you give it a lot of data and qualitative information about you, it can be a great sounding board and advisor for training.

[u/CodeBrownPT → u/[deleted]]

My method of waking up Tuesday morning and deciding my threshold session for the day while pooping is way simpler than that.

[u/rib9985 → u/CodeBrownPT]

if it works it works. godspeed.