Run to the Finish is the running website Amanda Brooks started in 2007 as a personal blog, and it's written for runners in the middle and back of the pack. Its free plans come as printable spreadsheets, each with an article, and they aren't the plans from her book. Every one we review is on this page: 8 plans, from a couch to 5K and a couch to 10K to a 4-hour marathon and a couch to marathon.
Each plan is graded on the same 31 measures we use for every plan, 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
- 8
- Goals
- 5K, 10K, Marathon
- Length
- 9–24 weeks
- Run days
- 3–5 a week
- Peak mileage
- 8–48 miles a week
5K plans
10K plans
Marathon plans
Start with a 90-second jog and end at the marathon finish.
BeginnerFreeGoal pace woven into the long run, until sub-4 holds late.
IntermediateFreeAlmost half a year to walk your long run up to 18 miles.
IntermediateFreeTraining with Run to the Finish
Brooks has been a certified running coach and personal trainer since 2012, and both show in these plans. Strength sits on the calendar twice a week in most weeks of every plan, as fixed as the runs, though choosing the exercises is up to you. And the 3 couch-to plans are built on walking. The running stretches grow slowly, and walk breaks stay welcome right to the finish line. Easy runs go by feel. The faster work runs at a goal pace you choose, except in the 4-hour marathon and the 60-minute 10K, which print one for you.
The plans sort by where you're starting from:
- From no running at all: the Couch to 5K (9 weeks) and Couch to 10K (12 weeks) start with about a minute of running at a time. The Couch to Marathon takes 24 weeks to reach the start line.
- From a 5-mile long run and 15 to 20 miles a week: the 12 Week 5K, the 12 Week 10K, and the 10-week 60 Minute 10K.
- For the marathon: the 20 Week Marathon asks for a 5- to 6-mile long run, and despite its name, its calendar runs 24 weeks. The 16-week 4 Hour Marathon is for runners with a marathon behind them, and its long run reaches 22 miles.
Six plans earn Cs, and the two 24-week marathon plans earn Ds. Across the set, getting you ready for race day is the strongest part, with variety close behind: the hard days change shape from week to week, from fartleks to hill repeats to long runs that pick up speed. The gaps sit around that training. The sheets say little about what to do when something starts to hurt, and none of them says which run to keep when a week falls apart or how to rejoin after a missed one. The two Ds feel that most. Their running jumps sharply in a few weeks, and for a brand-new marathoner that matters, because heart and lungs respond within weeks, but tendons and bone take months to catch up.
These plans suit a runner who wants a free, clear schedule with strength built in and is comfortable making their own calls. If you've been hurt recently, or you want a plan that tells you what to do when a week goes sideways, read the reviews closely before you commit.
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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