Brain Training for Runners is Matt Fitzgerald's book about a big idea: his site says the limits of running performance lie in the brain. So his plans train more than your legs. Each week names one body sensation to focus on while you run, two short form drills follow Tuesday's run, and your paces move as you get fitter. Every plan from it that we review is on this page, 12 in all: a 5K, a 10K, a half marathon and a marathon at 3 levels.
Each plan is graded on the same 31 measures we use for every plan, Buena Vida's own included, with the research behind each measure linked. The ladder is strict. A C is a decent plan with gaps worth knowing about, and a D is either bare bones or has issues that you might want to avoid. Open any plan to see what it does well, where it falls short, and who it suits.
- Plans reviewed
- 12
- Goals
- 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon
- Length
- 16–24 weeks
- Run days
- 4–6 a week
- Peak mileage
- 21–50 miles a week
5K plans
Practice your 5K four weeks early, then sharpen for the real one.
BeginnerRequires purchaseTwo interval days a week to sharpen the 5K you've already run.
IntermediateRequires purchaseFitzgerald's brain-training method, aimed at a faster 5K.
AdvancedRequires purchase10K plans
Practice running form until 10K pace takes care of itself.
BeginnerRequires purchaseFitzgerald's brain training, with the intervals to back it up.
IntermediateRequires purchaseMatt Fitzgerald's brain-training method, taken to its hardest dose.
AdvancedRequires purchaseHalf Marathon plans
Train at paces that fit your fitness, not someone else's.
BeginnerRequires purchaseSharpen for the half with speed work instead of long-run miles.
IntermediateRequires purchaseRace-pace blocks out to 14 miles, peaking near 50.
AdvancedRequires purchaseMarathon plans
Matt Fitzgerald's gentlest path to a first marathon finish.
BeginnerRequires purchaseTime trials reset your paces every few weeks as fitness builds.
IntermediateRequires purchaseKeep updating your goal pace as your fitness changes through the build.
AdvancedRequires purchaseTraining with the Brain Training plans
The book carries a foreword by Tim Noakes. Fitzgerald built the system on three kinds of feedback: what has worked for runners before, measures like pace, and how you feel. Key workouts have target paces, the weekly cue asks you to notice your stride, and on a bad day the book lets you swap a hard session for an easier one. If you think of running as a skill you can learn, this book takes that seriously.
Your paces come from tables of levels, from 50 for the slowest runners to 1 for world class. You pick a level from a recent race or an estimate. Tune-up races or solo time trials sit on the calendar, a 5K in week 12, then a 10K in the longer plans and a half marathon in the marathon plans. After each one you move to a faster level if you've earned it. By the last 3 or 4 weeks you're training at the level that matches your goal.
Level 1 runs 4 days a week, Level 2 runs 6, and Level 3 runs 6 with up to 4 optional sessions on top. The Level 2 and 3 plans put two strength sessions a week on the calendar. The Level 1 plans leave that strength program off the schedule.
This book came out in 2007, seven years before 80/20 Running, and its plans spend more of the week at faster efforts. In some Level 1 plans only about half the running is easy. Fitzgerald does start small: one plan's first hard session is a single 30-second hill sprint.
Ten of the 12 plans earn a C, and the two Ds are both Level 1, the 5K and the 10K. Getting you ready for race day is the strongest part, with race-pace work that grows late in each build. The weakest part is the shape of the build. Some plans jump sharply in a single week, and sharp jumps in weekly running raise the risk of injury. Lighter weeks are rare in others: the Level 2 marathon builds for 17 weeks before its first clearly lighter one.
These plans suit a runner who likes racing their way into shape and wants form work, and at the upper levels strength work, built in. If you want most of your running easy, or you're coming back from an injury, read the reviews closely.
Get more out of your running with Buena Vida
Buena Vida was built by a runner to bring the whole job of training into one place: a plan that fits your schedule and your fitness, coaching on every run, and food targets that keep up with the work you do. Members get personal training & nutrition plans, plus full access to the catalog of pre-written plans for every running goal.
In research studies, runners on plans fit to them improved as much as or more than runners on fixed plans, and fewer of them stalled.
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