How our plans work

You start where you are today

A few questions place you in the plan: never run, a few minutes, half an hour nonstop. If you ran or rode years ago, you start a step lower than you remember - fitness comes back faster than tendons and bones do. If you connect Apple Health, or have run with Wendure, your first long run is never more than 10% longer than your longest run of the last 30 days.

Small steps, no sudden jumps

• New runners start with short run/walk intervals - the NHS-style Couch to 5K method - and build to 30 minutes nonstop.
• On distance plans the long run grows about 8% a week. The other runs in the week stay shorter, so the long run carries the build.
• Every fourth week is lighter, on purpose - that's when your body catches up.
• Rides build the way British Cycling's beginner plans do: one long ride that grows a little each week, the others short.

Why single runs matter: a study of 5,205 runners found that a run much longer than your longest of the previous month raised the risk of injury - more than how much the whole week grew.

A lighter week before the big day

Before a 10K, a half marathon or a goal ride, the plan eases off for a week so you arrive fresh - the long run peaks a little under the full distance, then the volume drops while the effort stays.

Easy means easy

Most of your sessions should feel like you could hold a conversation - the talk test. The app shows an estimated heart-rate range for easy efforts; if you take medicine that slows your heart rate, go by the talk test instead. Speed plans add a few harder sessions, with a proper warm-up jog first.

It listens after every session

• Tell it how it felt. Two tough sessions in a row, and it offers to repeat the week.
• Something hurt? It suggests resting and repeating, and tells you when to see a physio or doctor.
• An easy session doesn't make it skip ahead - your heart and lungs adapt faster than your tendons and bones.

Missed a week? No starting over

Life happens. Miss a week and the plan moves to start again from today. Away a month or more, and it offers to go back to the weeks that match what you've run lately, so your next long run isn't a jump.

Where this comes from

• The NHS Couch to 5K programme - the run/walk ladder the Zero to 5K plan follows.
• British Cycling's and Cycling UK's beginner and 100 km plans - the ride builds and tapers.
• Frandsen et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2025 - 5,205 runners, single-run increases and injury.
• Bosquet et al., Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2007 - how to ease off before an event.
• ACSM guidance on easy effort and heart-rate ranges.

Wendure isn't medical advice. If you have a heart, lung or other health condition, or haven't been active for a long time, check with your GP before starting. Chest pain, feeling faint or a racing or irregular heartbeat while exercising: stop and get urgent medical help.