Training plan
Your personalized running plan, built around your week
Your personalized training plan is a week-by-week running plan to your goal, Start running to Marathon, built from your Apple Health history and the days and minutes you actually have. Clear rules build it on your iPhone. It bends when life does, and every run says why it's there.
What goals can I train for?
Seven, over 4 to 24 weeks. Race further off? The plan starts closer to it.
| Goal | In the app's words |
|---|---|
| Start running | From walking breaks to 30 minutes non-stop. |
| Get fitter | Fitter and stronger. No race needed. |
| First 5K | Your first 5K, start to finish. |
| Faster 5K | Take real time off your 5K. |
| 10K | Build to a strong, even 10K. |
| Half marathon | The long run grows, week by week, to race day. |
| Marathon | A patient build to the full distance. |
New to running? The plan starts with walking, a gear like any other. See how to start running with Gears.
How does the plan fit my week?
Around four answers. Everything else, your history, recent longest run and fitness, comes from Apple Health:
Your goal
One of the seven, with a race date if you have one.
Which days
Two to six a week. The ones you can really run.
How long a normal day can be
A hard limit, not a wish: every run fits. Seven minutes is a real workout.
Your long-run day
The day with room for the week's longest run.
No weight, height, age or name. The plan's road runs Base, Build, Peak, Taper, with milestones: ten minutes non-stop, thirty minutes non-stop, your first 5 km, race day.
Is this an AI running coach?
No, on purpose. Rules on your iPhone build it, so it behaves the same every time and every choice can be explained:
- Mostly easy running.
- A lighter week every fourth week.
- At most two hard runs a week, and never back to back.
- No training run more than a tenth longer than your longest of the last 30 days.
The live coaching is rules too. Only In your own words sends words to an AI model, and only if you allow it.
Why is each run in my plan?
Every run carries a one-line reason. No blind trust required:
- “Easy: the base everything else stands on.”
- “Lighter week: 25 % less, so the work sinks in.”
- “Taper: less running, so you arrive fresh.”
- “Moved here: the key run you missed.”
- “Swapped: a Gear 1 day, so the hard run moved.”
- The first run of a new plan
First run of your plan. Nothing heroic, just start.
- Taper week
Taper week. Less is more now.
- The last run of the plan
That's the plan. Every week, done. Not many people finish what they start.
What happens if I miss a run or get sick?
The plan adapts, without guilt. A missed easy run is dropped; a missed key run moves to a day that suits it. Nothing to make up.
Tuesday's run didn't happen. Nothing to make up: your plan carries on.
- Sick: the plan pauses, then three easy days.
- Sore: the next hard runs go easy.
- Can't today: the day's run steps aside.
- Make it easy: for a low morning.
- Move a run: days the rules refuse are grayed out, with the reason. Or skip with an undo, pause a week, change your days and minutes, or start a New plan.
Each morning, Today's gear can swap a hard run for an easy one when your sleep and heart say so. A run recorded in another app that day, like a Garmin run via Apple Health, counts in its place.
Can I change my plan in my own words?
Yes. In your own words does two things. Describe a run: say or type it (“Easy half hour. Six by 400. Something hard but short.”) and get a run card to start, edit or save. Adjust your plan: say what's changed, such as “only 20 minutes tomorrow”, “move Thursday's run to Saturday”, “race moved to 12 December” or “knee's sore”. Nothing changes until you tap Accept.
Your iPhone reads most messages itself; the rest go to an AI model only if you've allowed it in Settings. Words it recognizes as pain, illness or a warning sign aren't sent; red-flag words get a plain answer: “No run today. See a doctor first.” Offline or without consent, a simpler reader on the phone answers, and says so.
What Gears doesn't do
- No AI builds or changes your plan on its own. Rules build it; you accept every change.
- No promised finish time or fitness gain by a date, only the date the plan reaches your goal.
- No ultra, trail or strength plans.
- No making up missed runs.
- If Gears Plus ends, you keep the plan, but it stops adapting until you subscribe again.
The plan is part of Gears Plus. Your first coached run is free.
Questions runners ask
Is the Gears running plan made by AI?
No. Training rules build it on your iPhone. An AI model reads words only in In your own words, and only with your consent.
How long are the running plans?
From 4 to 24 weeks, Start running to Marathon. If your race is further away, the plan starts closer to it.
Can I follow a plan with only a few minutes a day?
Yes. Say how long a normal day can be and every run fits. Seven minutes is a real workout.
What happens if I miss a run or get sick?
The plan moves around you. Tap Sick, Sore or Can't today; a missed easy run is simply dropped, so there's nothing to make up.
Do my Garmin runs count toward the plan?
Yes. Runs Garmin Connect saves to Apple Health stand in for that day's run.
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