Running Plan Review Buena Vida Run Club's 12-Week Sub-1:45 Half Marathon (6 days)
Who’s behind this review? Buena Vida is a running app made by David Cole, a Seattle runner & triathlete who led design and research for Amazon’s Halo fitness band. This is one of Buena Vida’s own plans, so we have an obvious interest in how it compares. It’s scored on the same 30 measures as every plan we review, each tied to published research, and its weaknesses are published below. AI does the first scoring and draft, then every claim is checked against its studies. No plan author pays to be reviewed, and we run no ads. See a mistake? Email David at corrections@buenavida.run · How we score →
Plan at a Glance
Most runners chasing a sub-1:45 half already have the speed for goal pace. What costs them the goal is the last few miles, when the pace that felt fine at mile 6 starts to slip. The answer this plan builds toward is legs that can still hold the pace once they're tired.
The sixth running day is where it does that work. Saturday is the long run, which climbs to 16 miles. Sunday is a medium-long run the next morning, reaching 11, on legs that haven't recovered from the day before. You run it at the pace you can talk at. Easy miles on tired legs tend to build exactly the durability that holds pace late in a race, and in a coach's view, a weekend like this is a fair stand-in for the back half of a half marathon. The first couple of miles on Sunday will often feel like running through sand. Let them be slow and the run usually opens up. A five-day plan would give that day back as rest. This one spends it on durability, and keeps it easy so the extra day adds miles, not risk.
Midweek holds the sharper work. Tuesday is goal pace, in repeats that grow from half-mile pieces to full miles, with a continuous run at goal pace in the biggest week and again, shorter, as the race nears. Thursday is a tempo at threshold effort, a notch harder than race pace. Monday and Wednesday stay easy, and they matter more than they look: keeping most of the running easy is what lets Tuesday and Thursday be real sessions. Friday is set aside for strength.
Two lighter weeks break up the build, and the taper sheds volume while Tuesday keeps its goal-pace work right up to race week. Come in already running about 35 miles a week, with a recent race that puts sub-1:45 within reach. Volume peaks near 60.
Below is the full Buena Vida review. Every plan is held to the same detailed, 30-point benchmark, with each measure traced back to peer-reviewed sports-science research and proven coaching best practices.
Similar plans
Our Review
Runners who fade late are the ones this plan is written for. Its trade is clear: the sixth day goes to a Sunday medium-long run on legs still tired from Saturday, instead of being given back as rest, so every weekend trains the part of the race where goal pace usually slips. Midweek, Tuesday's goal-pace repeats grow from half-mile pieces to full miles, with Thursday's tempo sitting a notch harder. That extra day stays easy, and the hard days stay apart, which is why a six-day plan peaking near 60 miles holds together. The gaps are small. The 16-miler comes straight after an 11-mile lighter weekend, the continuous goal-pace run first appears in the heaviest week, and the week coming out of the first cutback climbs back hard. None should change your decision. Each asks for a little care in one specific week, and the sections below say what that care looks like.
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Structure
Does the plan build you up smartly?
Yes, with one gap: the hard days never change kind. Goal-pace repeats on Tuesday and a tempo on Thursday arrive in the first 2 weeks and simply grow from there. The build changes how much those days ask, not what they ask. Late in the build the plan turns squarely toward the race with mile repeats at goal pace and a first continuous goal-pace run. Each phase is named and explained on the calendar, and volume rises steadily from about 35 miles to a peak near 59.
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Prevention
Does the plan protect you from injury?
Most of the safety here rests on the easy days. The large majority of the running is easy, the Tuesday and Thursday sessions are always split by an easy Wednesday, and the sixth day is an easy run, not another hard one. That is the answer to the worry that a sixth day is where injuries start: it's added at the pace you can talk at. Two weeks ask for care. The first is the week coming out of the first cutback, which goes straight back up to 50 miles with a 12-mile long run and longer repeats, the sharpest rise in load in the plan. Sharp jumps in load tend to raise injury risk, so run that Monday and Wednesday slower than you think you need to, and don't treat the lighter week before it as a debt to repay. Weekly mileage stays roughly a third above the recent average for the 2 weeks after it as well, so keep that care going until the next cutback. The second is the peak week, where a 6-mile continuous run at goal pace appears for the first time on top of the plan's biggest load. Run it as rhythm, not a test. If the week is going badly, cut it to 4 or 5 miles and keep the pace.
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Flexibility
What happens when you miss a day?
The week has a clear order of importance. The anchors are Tuesday's goal-pace repeats, Thursday's tempo and Saturday's long run, the last of them topping out at 16 miles. Monday, Wednesday and Sunday are support, and Friday's strength is the most movable. If you miss an easy day, let it go rather than stacking it onto another run. If you miss an anchor, slide it to the next day only if a full easy day still separates it from the next hard session. Otherwise skip it and pick up the plan where it is. Sunday is the run most likely to tempt a skip, and the one that carries the plan's main idea. The first 2 miles after a big Saturday feel like sand. Run them slowly rather than skipping or pressing, because pressing there is how you arrive at Tuesday's mile repeats already worn down. Missing a Sunday now and then costs little. Missing several in a row costs the plan its point.
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Readiness
Will the plan deliver race-day fitness?
Six running days leave margin on every front. Peak volume near 60 miles sits at the high end of what a sub-1:45 half asks for, spread across six running days so no single day carries too much of it. The goal-pace work grows rather than sitting flat. Tuesdays start with short pieces at goal pace and build to 8 repeats of 1 mile, so by race day the pace should feel familiar rather than hopeful. Thursday's threshold tempos run alongside them, a step harder than race pace. In the peak week, the 16-miler carries a 3-mile goal-pace block and the medium-long the next morning runs 11 more: 27 miles in a weekend, only 3 of them at goal pace. That's the plan's logic in one weekend, mostly patience with a little race rhythm. The taper then trims the load and keeps a few goal-pace touches, the shape that tends to pay off on race day. The one small gap is the step up to the 16-miler, which comes straight out of an 11-mile cutback weekend. For a half that's minor. Treat the 16 as your last big long run.
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Variety
Are the workouts varied enough?
One pace sits at the center of a broad mix. The plan uses seven kinds of runs (easy, medium-long, long, goal-pace intervals, continuous goal-pace runs, threshold tempos and the race), and its interval sessions change shape every few weeks, from half-mile repeats to three-quarter miles to full miles. Even the peak week's 6-mile goal-pace run comes written out from its 2-mile warm-up to its 1-mile cool-down, with a note on what it's for. Worth knowing: the Tuesday repeats are all at goal pace, not faster. The plan treats race pace as a skill to rehearse until it feels normal, and leaves the harder effort to Thursday's tempo.
Workouts
Every Buena Vida training plan comes with detailed coaching notes and live workout guidance. Tap any workout to preview the notes for that day.
The job this week is to meet the plan as it is rather than as you wish it were. Chasing a faster half marathon makes the first easy days feel like wasted time, which is its own small problem. The urge to push from the opening days is the same urge that costs you later in the build, when the legs have less to give. Let the easy days feel a little undercooked. The training gets hard enough on its own schedule, and the restraint you spend now is what pays for it.
M 5mi Easy Run
5 miles at conversational pace. The opening run of the plan. Run this easy enough that you finish wondering if it was enough. That ceiling is what protects Tuesday's intervals and lets the weeks ahead build instead of break. Take the pace that feels almost too relaxed.
Tu Intervals: 4×0.5mi @ ½ Marathon
Warm up 2 miles, run 4 × 0.5 mile at half-marathon goal pace (7:57/mile) with 400 m of easy jogging between, and cool down 2 miles. This is the first harder session of the plan. The reps are at goal pace. Do not press faster, because hitting the pace exactly is the whole point. Rep 1 will feel almost easy. Rep 4 tells you what you set in the first three. Treat every rep as a controlled visit to a pace your legs are learning to call normal.
W 5mi Easy Run
5 miles at easy aerobic effort. The run serves as active recovery from yesterday's intervals while preserving the aerobic volume the week needs. Run by feel rather than pace. The watch is along for the ride, not the other way around.
Th 4.8mi Tempo Run with 2.8mi @ Tempo
1 mile warmup, then 2.8 miles at threshold pace, then 1 mile cooldown. First tempo of the plan. Threshold is the comfortably hard pace where you could speak in 4-word phrases but not full sentences. Find that ceiling and stay just under it. The work today is check as much as fitness. Sustained efforts like this are practice at holding a firm pace with breathing quick but even. The session was a success if the final stretch held pace without the form unraveling.
F Strength Training
Sa 8mi Long Run
8.0 miles at easy aerobic effort. The first long run of the plan, and the starting point the others grow from. The variable today is distance, with pace held conversational. Settle into a rhythm in the first mile and let the legs find a sustainable cadence. From here the long run climbs toward 16 miles, one step at a time.
Su 5.5mi Medium-Long Run
5.5 miles at easy aerobic effort. The first Sunday of the plan. The legs are tired from Saturday's 8-miler. That is the point of running today. The medium-long is where you learn what easy pace feels like when you are not fresh.
Most of what changes in this stretch happens on the days that feel like nothing. The legs are growing more capillaries and more mitochondria, and none of it announces itself in a single session. You would not feel it if you tried. The easy runs are doing the heavy lifting underneath, so keep them genuinely easy. Most runners at this level want proof early, and the proof arrives later than they would like. The harder days will keep their own appointments.
M 5.5mi Easy Run
5.5 miles at conversational pace. Second Monday of the plan. The legs may carry the residue of Sunday's medium-long. That fatigue is normal at this stage. Settle into the run before judging the pace.
Tu Intervals: 5×0.5mi @ ½ Marathon
Warm up 2 miles, run 5 × 0.5 mile at goal pace (7:57/mile) with 400 m of easy jogging between, and cool down 2 miles. The reps add a fifth without changing the shape. The pace has not changed. The test is holding it for one more rep. Run the recovery slowly enough that each rep starts clean. The rest between reps is what lets the work stay fast from first to last. Run the first rep like you plan to enjoy the last one.
W 5.5mi Easy Run
5.5 miles at easy aerobic effort. Recovery-paced mileage after a hard session adds aerobic time without adding to the load. Keep the pace where full sentences flow without breath catching.
Th 5mi Tempo Run with 3mi @ Tempo
Warm up 1 mile, run 3 miles at threshold, and cool down 1 mile. Tempo extends by 0.2 miles. The pace is the same. The test is holding it a little longer. The middle mile is where the discipline shows. This session is steady, comfortably hard running, held without surging. Comfortably hard means a few words at a time, never full sentences. Finishing with one more mile in you means the effort was judged right.
F Strength Training
Sa 9mi Long Run
9.0 miles at easy aerobic effort. The long run climbs by a mile. Pace stays conversational. The goal is making the volume feel ordinary rather than special. The long run stretches endurance by keeping you out there longer, not by going faster.
Su 6.5mi Medium-Long Run
6.5 miles at easy aerobic effort. Second Sunday in a row of running on Saturday's residue. The run should feel slightly heavier than Saturday's. That is the cumulative load. Pace stays conversational rather than measured.
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All 12 weeks in the app
Daily coaching notes, nutrition guidance, reschedule logic, and strength placement.
Plan Strengths
- The Sunday medium-long run after Saturday's long run puts you on tired legs every weekend, aimed squarely at the late-race fade.
- Goal-pace work builds steadily toward the race, so race pace is rehearsed, not guessed.
- An easy Wednesday between Tuesday's repeats and Thursday's tempo, and an easy Sunday after the long run, keep a near-60-mile plan sustainable.
- Two cutback weeks give your legs relief before the load piles up, and a real taper brings that load well down before race day.
- Every hard session is fully laid out and says what it's for.
Weaknesses & Gaps
- The long run jumps to its 16-mile peak from an 11-mile cutback weekend, 2 miles past the 14-miler two weeks earlier.
- The 6-mile continuous goal-pace run first appears in the peak week, so a new kind of session lands when fatigue is highest.
- The week coming out of the first cutback jumps back to 50 miles with a 12-mile long run and longer repeats, the sharpest rise in load in the plan.
What's missing
Strides show up only in race week. These short, relaxed bursts are a low-cost way to practice fast running. Adding 4 to 6 after one easy run a week through the build costs almost nothing. It gives your legs a little running above goal pace, which the plan otherwise touches only on Thursdays. A tune-up race is optional rather than missing, since the continuous goal-pace runs already work as pacing checks. If you'd like one anyway, a short weekend race midway through the build, in place of that Saturday's long run, may help as pacing practice. Hold it to the effort you plan for the half itself, not an all-out race, and count it as rehearsal rather than fitness.
What the science supports
Shifting training emphasis beats unchanging training
The 12 weeks run in 4 named phases. Base Building settles the 6-day rhythm in weeks 1 and 2. Sharpen, weeks 3 to 10, grows goal-pace intervals from half-mile to mile repeats and lifts the long run to 16 miles. Taper cuts the load in week 11, and Race Week follows. Planned changes in emphasis tend to beat unchanging training. Here the turn toward the race comes in week 9, when a continuous goal-pace run and a goal-pace block inside the long run join the repeats.
Filipas et al. 2021; Bradbury et al. 2020; Sandbakk et al. 2025
Easy miles do most of the work
About 84 percent of your weekly running sits at conversational pace. The long Saturday run is slow, apart from one goal-pace block in week 9. The medium-long Sunday run, even after Saturday's work, stays easy. Monday and Wednesday easy runs round out the aerobic base. In the strongest data, from trained and elite runners, easy running makes up most of the week. That base is what carries goal-pace intervals Tuesday and threshold tempo Thursday.
Keep easy days easy, hard days hard
Monday, Wednesday, and the weekend are easy effort, apart from a 3-mile goal-pace block inside the week 9 long run. Tuesday is intervals at goal pace. Thursday is threshold tempo. Friday is strength. Sunday's medium-long sits on Saturday's fatigue, but it's still conversational pace. Runners who split easy and hard this cleanly tend to improve more than those who drift into medium effort most days. The split is also what lets you hold 2 hard sessions a week.
Stöggl & Sperlich 2014; Casado et al. 2022; Kenneally et al. 2018
A real taper sharpens you for race day
The final two weeks trim volume hard: 36.1 miles in week 11, about 40 percent under the 59.2-mile peak, then 15 miles in race week before the race. Goal pace stays, with a 3-mile goal-pace run in week 11 and 4 × half-mile repeats in race week. The long run drops from 16 miles to 11, then gives way to the race. Cutting the running like this while some goal pace stays in improves race performance compared with not tapering.
Strength training makes running more efficient
Friday holds a strength session every week from week 1 through week 11, and only race week drops it. Trained distance runners who add strength work usually improve running economy, the energy it costs to hold a given pace, and that gain comes without adding running load to a plan that already peaks at 59.2 miles. Keep the slot filled through the build.
Blagrove et al. 2018; Balsalobre-Fernández et al. 2016; Šuc et al. 2022
Get the full plan in the app
Buena Vida Run Club members get access to this full 12 week plan, plus 250 more as part of their membership. Training with Buena Vida offers detailed daily workout notes, integrated nutrition, live voice coaching, weight loss plans, and easy calendar management for life's hiccups.
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