How We Review Training Plans
You can't know if a training plan is good until you've run it. By then you've either set a PR or spent eight weeks hurting yourself. And the choice of which plan to follow — the one that'll wake you up in the dark for the next sixteen weeks, the one that owns your Saturday mornings, the one that will decide the fate of your knees and shins — is somehow a choice you have to make largely on your own.
Running shoes get reviewed by multiple independent outlets, giving us confidence before we drop $180 on them. Training plans, which cost more time and more of our bodies, don't get the same scrutiny. We read the marketing copy, maybe scan some online discussions where every plan has both passionate lovers and fierce haters. And then we pick one and hope for the best.
So we built the thing that should already exist, and reviewed nearly 400 running plans. Every plan we review (including our own) gets evaluated against 31 specific measures drawn from peer-reviewed sports science and the hard-won conventions of running coaching. Apples to apples, scored on the same scale, with the rationale for each grade written down where you can read it. The 250 plans we've written for Buena Vida members were designed using the same 31 measures. We publish our own plans' scores, including their weaknesses, openly and honestly, so you can choose a plan with confidence.
What we measure
About two-thirds of our reviews' 31 measures are based on physiology claims. Things like load progression, intensity distribution, taper structure, recovery cadence. Each one traces back to peer-reviewed research. The other third come from the craft of plan-writing itself. Is the workout description clear on what to do? Is the calendar readable? Does the plan teach as it prescribes? The first kind asks whether the plan respects the science. The second asks whether the plan respects the runner.
The peer-reviewed research isn't just decoration. The physiology measures are rooted in a collection of 81 studies we've gathered. 80% of these were published in the last decade. Twenty are the highest level of evidence available: meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and umbrella reviews. The combined base of evidence spans nearly 100,000 reported participants.
We mark every claim with a confidence rating (high, medium, low) and a written rationale. Where studies contradict each other, we track the disagreement along with the agreement. Where a claim only applies to certain populations, we say so. All cited studies are available to the public, and we share the link to every study's source online.
Browse the full research corpus for any claim's evidence and the studies behind it. The polarized-training research (the basis for the easy/hard split) and taper studies (the 2-6% performance lift) are good starting points.
Ranks
Scores
Structure
Are the hard days spaced out enough for recovery?
Do recovery weeks come at the right time?
Is the load building at a rate your body can handle?
Structure is the difference between a list of workouts and a plan. A well-built plan keeps hard days from stacking together. It places recovery weeks right when the body will need them. And it avoids big jumps in mileage or intensity from one week to the next.
Prevention
Are you going to get hurt following this plan?
Is too much of it stuck in the moderate zone where runners fry?
Will the strength work actually happen, or is it just given lip-service?
This is where we're most willing to mark plans down. Because safety matters. Many runners who get hurt are running too much at the same moderate effort all the time. Research finds that runners who run 75% to 85% of their time at a conversational pace and the rest doing truly hard work perform better and stay healthier. We count easy against hard workout ratios across every week of every plan. Strength training also has to be on the calendar: it can cut injury risk by up to two-thirds.
Flexibility
What happens when life intervenes?
Can you move or skip a session and still know you're on track?
Can you tell what phase you're in and what it's building toward?
Flexible plans start by ensuring you always know where you are in the plan. They feature distinct phases like base, build, peak, taper. They schedule recovery ("cutback") weeks every third or fourth week. Their workouts are explained in detail so you don't have to invent the details yourself. Together these things empower a runner to make smart decisions when life inevitably requires changes.
Readiness
Will you be ready on race day?
Is the mileage enough — or too much?
Will the long run peak when it needs to?
Is there a taper so you can show up fresh?
A plan that prepares you for race day gets four things right. First, you're running enough by the plan's peak weeks. The plan got you there gradually, without piling on too much too fast. The plan's long runs max out two or three weeks before race day, not the day before. And the plan tapers: backing off training for one to three weeks so you hit the starting line fresh. A real taper can make you 2% to 6% faster on race day. That can mean the difference between hitting your goal time versus just missing it.
Variety
Do the workouts vary so that your body keeps adapting?
Are the hard sessions actually preparing you for race pace?
Can you get into this plan if you're coming from a slightly different starting point?
The body adapts to what you ask of it. Feed it the same workout every week and it will stop adapting. So-called "monotonous" training also elevates your risk of illness and injury. Variety isn't just for fun. It's the thing that drives change in the body, which makes us better.
Training is better with Buena Vida
Whether you train with one of Buena Vida's plans, one from another coach, or bring something you've written yourself, the Buena Vida Run Club app turns a static schedule into a coached one. Integrated nutrition that adapts to each day's workout and your body's changes week over week. Real-time feedback while you run so you stay on target and hit your marks. Easy calendar changes so your training can adapt to the ebbs and flows of life.
You'll still wake up in the dark. You'll still give up your Saturday mornings. But you won't be wondering if the plan deserves it.
If you see something on a plan page that contradicts the evidence as you understand it, or a score you think we calibrated wrong, write to corrections@buenavida.run.