Workout Suggestions
Turn your training paces and power into concrete session plans, scaled to your weekly mileage.
Not medical advice. This tool estimates training figures from published sports-science methodologies (see our sourcing) for general fitness guidance only. It doesn't replace advice from a doctor or coach — check with one before starting a new exercise programme, especially if you have a heart condition or other health concerns.
Enter MM:SS or H:MM:SS
Your current average weekly distance, in km.
Optional. Race-Prep mode appears here once your race is 4–8 weeks away.
Your VDOT
38.3
Easy / Recovery
6:11–6:42 /kmMarathon
5:31–5:48 /kmThreshold / Tempo
5:08–5:16 /kmInterval
4:45–4:51 /kmRepetition
4:20–4:34 /kmRecovery Options
Flexible, unstructured sessions for active recovery days — not scaled to your weekly mileage like the workouts above.
Want to see your full training pace ranges? View training paces →
About workout suggestions
Knowing your training paces (see the Training Paces calculator) only answers half the question: a runner also needs to know how much quality running at each pace is appropriate for their current training load. This tool applies Jack Daniels' own weekly-mileage-scaling rules to your training paces, turning each of the five zones into multiple concrete, ready-to-run session prescriptions tailored to different training needs and available time.
How volume is derived from weekly mileage
Daniels scales each zone's quality-session volume as a percentage of your weekly mileage, with an absolute per-session cap layered on top so the numbers stay sensible at very high mileage. Easy running gets the largest share (25-30%), tapering down to Marathon (15-20%), Threshold (10%), Interval (8%), and Repetition (5%), reflecting how much of each harder effort a body can safely absorb in a week.
Why zones offer multiple workouts
Each zone includes several workout formats to match different training situations. Easy includes steady runs, long runs, and fartlek variations. Harder zones (Threshold, Interval, Repetition) offer continuous efforts, repeats, pyramids, and ladder patterns. This variety lets you adapt the session to your schedule, recovery needs, and training goals without leaving the prescribed intensity zone.
Reading a workout card
Each card shows a session format (reps and distance, or a continuous block), the target pace pulled straight from your Training Paces zone range, the recovery between reps or segments, the total quality volume, and an estimated total duration that includes a warm-up and cool-down. Each is scaled independently to the session's intensity and length (longer for harder efforts like Interval and Repetition, shorter for Easy running), with cool-down typically the shorter of the two.
Using the time filter
If you only have a set window today, the time-band filter narrows every zone down to workouts that fit. A zone with nothing short enough for the selected band shows a note rather than a workout that would run long. Better to know before you start than to cut a session short partway through.
Getting a workout onto your watch
Every workout card has a "Download as .FIT" button that saves a structured workout file: the target pace or power for each segment, plus the exact warm-up, work, recovery, and cool-down timing, ready to follow step-by-step on the device itself rather than watched manually against a stopwatch. On Garmin, copy the downloaded file onto the watch's NEWFILES folder over USB, then select it from Training > Workouts on the device. On COROS, import it in COROS Training Hub and sync it to the watch from there. Suunto and Polar watches don't support importing a structured workout file at all today. That includes Runwise's export and every other source, including TrainingPeaks, which only accepts its own in-app workout builder or Zwift (.zwo) files for planned workouts. If you're on one of those brands, this feature won't currently help.
Source and confidence
The percentage-of-mileage rules and the rep-distance conventions used here are corroborated across multiple independent secondary summaries of Daniels' "Running Formula" rather than a direct quote from the book itself. Treat these as a reliable, well-sourced approximation of Daniels' methodology, one notch below a primary-source citation.