Choosing and Following a Training Plan | Support

Choosing and Following a Training Plan

Last updated: May 18, 2026 · Applies to: Earn Your Ears 1.3.0 and later

Training plans in Earn Your Ears are designed for runDisney races specifically. They're date-anchored to your actual race date — not a generic Week 1 / Week 2 counter — so the long runs land on the right calendar days and taper week always ends on your race weekend.

This article walks through choosing a plan, what the daily workouts look like, and how to handle the messy parts of real life (missed days, switching plans, what happens after race day).

What plans are available

Training plans live in three categories on the Plan tab:

Category	What's in it
Run/Walk	Interval-based plans for beginners and walkers — structured run/walk ratios, no continuous running required. Available for 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon.
Standard Plans	Traditional training plans for runners of all levels. 5K Beginner, 10K Intermediate, Half Marathon, 10 Mile, Marathon (Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced).
Multi-Race Challenges	Goofy Challenge (Half + Full = 39.3 mi) and Dopey Challenge (5K + 10K + Half + Full = 48.6 mi). Built for the runDisney back-to-back format.

[Screenshot: Plan tab — three category cards]

"Galloway" plans renamed: What used to be called the "Galloway" plans are now the Run/Walk category. Same proven run/walk intervals, just a generic name. Jeff Galloway gets proper credit on the website blog.

Choosing a plan

1 Open the Plan tab

Tap Plan at the bottom of the screen. If you don't have an active plan yet, you'll see the three category cards.

2 Pick a category, then a plan

Tap a category to see the plans in it. Each plan shows the distance and number of weeks. Tap a plan to see its full week-by-week schedule before committing.

3 Set your race date

When you start a plan, the app asks for your target race date. This is the date the plan's race day workout lands on. Every other workout works backward from there — long runs on Saturdays or Sundays, easy runs midweek, taper week ending the day before your race.

[Screenshot: Plan detail with race date picker]

4 Confirm to start

Tap Start Plan. If you already have an active plan, the app will ask you to confirm replacing it — you can only have one active plan at a time. The new plan kicks in immediately, with today as a workout day (or rest day, depending on what falls on today's calendar slot).

Pick honestly: A beginner plan you finish beats an advanced plan you bail on at week 4. The Marathon Beginner plan, for example, peaks at a long run shorter than Marathon Intermediate — that's intentional. Match the plan to where you actually are today, not where you wish you were.

How the daily workouts work

Each plan day shows up on the Plan tab as a card with the workout name, description, and (for runs) target distance and duration.

Workout type	What it looks like
Run	An easy run, tempo run, interval session, or long run. Tap it to see the full description and start tracking.
Cross-Train	30–45 minutes of low-impact activity — swimming, cycling, yoga, elliptical. The app doesn't track this; just tap it as done.
Rest Day	Full rest or gentle stretching. Tap the Rest Day Complete button to mark it done.

Long runs land on weekends: Plans assume a Sunday-anchored week, so the longest run each week lands on Saturday or Sunday. If your real life works differently (you do long runs on Wednesdays), the workouts still apply — just do today's workout today, regardless of which day of the week it is on the calendar.

Logging a workout

You don't have to use the in-app tracker for plan workouts, but if you do, the run gets automatically linked to the plan day:

1 Tap today's workout from the Plan tab

Open the day's card. For run workouts, you'll see a Start button at the bottom that takes you into the tracker pre-configured for that workout's distance.

2 Run it

The tracker works the same as the Simulator's Distance Run mode. GPS distance, time, pace, sweep buffer at the standard 16:00/mile.

3 Save when finished

The finish summary offers Save to Training Log (recommended for plan runs — this is what marks the plan day complete) or Save to Run History.

You can also log manually: If you ran with a different app (Apple Watch, Strava, etc.), you can still mark the plan day done by opening that day's card and tapping the workout name — the manual logging form will appear.

Missed days and life

Training plans are rigid in shape but flexible in tolerance — one missed run won't tank your race. A few patterns the app handles well:

Missed one or two days

Don't try to make them up. Skip them, pick up with today's workout, move on. The plan has cross-training and rest built in — one missed easy run gets absorbed in the wash.

Missed a long run

This is the one to make up if you can. Do the missed long run the next available weekend day — even if it means swapping it with that week's planned long run, do the longer of the two. The long run is the keystone workout of every plan.

Sick or injured for a week+

Don't try to "catch up" by stacking long runs. Resume the plan at whatever week you're returning in, but cap your long run at the longest distance you completed before the break. Build back up from there. If you've missed more than 3 weeks, consider switching to a less aggressive plan — you can do this any time (see below).

Switching plans

You can switch to a different plan any time — useful if you signed up for the wrong distance, find a plan too aggressive (or not aggressive enough), or your race date changed.

1 Go to Plan tab → Browse Plans

From the active plan view, tap Browse Plans at the bottom. This takes you back to the category picker.

2 Pick the new plan

Same flow as the first time — pick a category, then a plan, then confirm your race date.

3 Confirm replacement

The app warns you that the current active plan will be replaced. Tap Confirm to proceed. Your old training log history is preserved — only the active plan changes.

Pace yourself when switching late: Switching to a "harder" plan three weeks before race day rarely helps — you can't build fitness that quickly, and overreaching at that point usually backfires. If your race is close and your current plan feels easy, just add a little distance to the long runs rather than switching.

After race day

Your plan's race day workout is the final entry. After that:

The plan stays "active" so you can scroll back and see what you did each week
You can mark the plan complete from the Plan tab to clear the slate
Your training log entries stay in Run History forever (no expiry on logged runs — the 30-day cap applies only to Simulator runs for free users)
When you sign up for the next race, start a new plan with the new race date

Premium and free access

Training plans are a Premium feature. Free users can browse the plan list and see a sample week from First 5K to get a sense of the structure, but starting a plan requires a Premium subscription.

Founding Members (first 25 beta testers) have Premium granted automatically and get full access to all plans.

See Premium & Subscriptions for pricing and how to upgrade or restore.

Troubleshooting

I picked the wrong race date — can I change it?

Yes. From the active plan view, tap into the plan's settings (gear icon, or the plan name at the top depending on your version). You can update the race date there — all future workouts will shift to match.

The plan started me partway through (e.g. Week 6) — is that right?

Yes, that's intentional. Plans are date-anchored to your race date — if you picked a race that's 12 weeks away and the plan is 18 weeks, the app starts you at Week 7 (6 weeks in) so the plan still ends on race day. You can scroll back and see what the earlier weeks would have been if you want context.

Today's workout is missing or the wrong one

This usually means your device's date is wrong, or the plan's race date is set incorrectly. Check both — iOS Settings → General → Date & Time should be on Set Automatically, and the plan's race date should match your actual race.

The Rest Day Complete button isn't working

If you tap it once, the button should disable and change to "Rest Day Complete ✓". If it does nothing or duplicates the entry, close the app fully and reopen — a known bug in earlier versions has been fixed in 1.3.0.

My long run on the tracker showed less distance than the plan asked for

GPS distance can vary slightly from prescribed distance — if the plan says 8 miles and your tracker says 7.8, that's within normal noise. Don't redo the run. If the variance is large (1+ mile off), check whether your Location permission is set to Always and that Precise Location is on.

Can I do plans for multiple races at once?

Not currently. The app supports one active plan at a time. If you're training for back-to-back races (like Springtime Surprise weekend), pick the longest race and use the corresponding plan — or use one of the Multi-Race Challenge plans (Goofy or Dopey) which are designed for that exact scenario.

I finished my race — what happens to the plan?

It stays active in the app for review. From the Plan tab you can mark it complete to clear the slot, or leave it there as a reference. Either way, your logged workouts are preserved in Run History.

Need more help?

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Email — support@earnyourears.app
Support portal — support.earnyourears.com/portal