A running plan around your schedule: weekday rules
Most training plans assume your week is empty. Yours isn't. A good running plan around your schedule starts with the days you already know: club night on Tuesday, only 45 minutes on Wednesday, family on Saturday morning.
In kurro you tell the plan these things once, as weekday rules. The plan then builds every week around them, and keeps doing that every day. Weekday rules are part of the free plan.
Here is how they work, and how to set them up well.
Why a plan needs to know your week
A plan that ignores your week fails in small ways. The intervals land on the evening you work late. The long run lands on the Saturday you can't do it. You move things around by hand, and soon the plan isn't really a plan anymore.
The problem isn't you. It is that a fixed template has no idea when you can run. The fix is simple: tell the plan, and let it do the moving.
What you can set for each day
Open your weekly availability and you see your seven days. For each day you can set:
- No training. A rest day the plan never fills. Good for the evening you always work late, or the day you look after the kids.
- A maximum duration. "At most 45 minutes on Wednesday." The plan keeps that day's session inside the limit.
- No speedwork. No tempo runs and no intervals on that day. Easy running is still fine.
- No long run. The long run goes somewhere else in the week.
- No assessment. No fitness test on that day.
- No strength. If your plan includes strength sessions, they skip that day.
You can combine them. Wednesday can be "at most 45 minutes, no speedwork". Saturday can be "no long run".
Besides the rules per day, you choose how many days a week you run and your preferred long-run day. If Sunday is your long-run day, the plan puts it there whenever it can.
Rules for one date, not every week
Not every limit repeats. Maybe next Thursday is a work dinner, or you are travelling on the 14th. You can set the same kinds of rules on a single date in your plan. Tick "every week" to make it a recurring rule for that weekday, or leave it off for a one-time change.
What the plan does with your rules
The plan always respects your rules. When it builds your week, it starts from what you allow, and then places your sessions in the days that fit.
Say your plan has intervals this week and Monday is "no speedwork". The intervals go to a day that allows them. Say Wednesday is "at most 45 minutes" and the plan wanted a longer run there. That day gets a session that fits inside 45 minutes, for example an easy run, and the rest of the week carries the load.
This is not a one-off. Your plan updates every night and after every sync. A missed run, an extra run, or a tired week changes the coming days. Your weekday rules stay in force through every one of those changes. You never have to check whether a rebuild broke your Tuesday.
Club nights: a rule, or a session?
A club night is the most common question. You run with your club every Tuesday. The club session is often hard. How do you tell the plan?
There is no single right answer. Two simple options:
- Treat Tuesday as your hard day. Leave Tuesday open for speedwork, and set "no speedwork" on the days right before and after it. The hard work can then only land on Tuesday or the other days you left open.
- Keep Tuesday easy in the plan. If your club night is a social, easy run, set "no speedwork" on Tuesday itself.
Either way, your club run syncs from your watch like any other run. kurro sees what you really did, and the next days adjust to it.
When the week changes anyway
Rules cover the weeks you can predict. For the rest, there are two quick tools.
Drag a session. Move a run to another day and the rest of your week adjusts. If the day you moved it from is now empty, kurro asks if you want to keep that day free.
Ask the coach. Type "I can't run on Friday this week" in plain words. The coach can suggest a change to your plan. Nothing changes until you confirm.
Tips for setting good rules
- Be honest, not hopeful. Set the week you really have, not the week you wish you had. A plan built on real days is a plan you can follow.
- Start with the hard limits. Rest days and maximum durations first. Those are the ones that break a plan when they are wrong.
- Don't over-restrict. Every rule takes a choice away from the plan. If every day is "no speedwork" except one, the plan has very little room to spread the hard work.
- Review after a few weeks. A new job, a new club, a new season. Update your rules when your week changes.
How kurro fits your week
A plan that moves when your week does. Weekday rules are the clearest proof: the plan bends to your real week, and rebuilds every day without you replanning.
Weekday rules, rest days and your long-run day are all part of the free plan. Every session also explains why it is on your calendar, so you can see how the week was built.
If you raced Amsterdam on Sunday, read our Amsterdam Marathon race week tips for what to do in the days after. New to kurro? Start with what kurro is and who it is for.
Ready to see a plan that fits your week? Set up your days at kurro.run.