Running Log and Training Plan Spreadsheet

About this template

This running log works out your pace automatically on every run, every week and every month. It is for runners building toward a race, from a first half marathon to a full marathon, who want their training, races and shoes tracked in one file.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

Four things per run

Each run needs the date, the kind of run, the distance and the time. Pace is divided out on the row, and also on the weekly, monthly and lifetime totals, because the times are stored as real time values rather than text. The Runs tab holds 400 rows, in kilometers or miles: type what you run in and nothing is converted.

Weekly mileage and the ten percent rule

The Weekly tab shows distance, time, long run and average pace, week by week, against the week you meant to run. Any week more than ten percent up on the one before is flagged in red, the rule of thumb every injured runner quotes afterward.

A plan that moves with the race

The marathon planner counts sixteen weeks back from race day, which is one cell on Setup. It shows planned against actual with the long run beside it, and marks weeks that have not happened yet as to come, which is different from a week you missed. Move the race and every row moves with it. The plan is a shape to overwrite with whatever you or your coach actually follow.

Shoes, races and personal bests

• Shoes: distance per pair added up from your logged runs, with the distance left, the percentage used, cost per kilometer and a red flag when a pair passes its retire-at distance
• Races: best yet is worked out, not ticked, by counting how many races you ran at that distance in less time
• Personal Bests: beside each one, the time Riegel's formula predicts from your 10K, with a plain note on where that prediction stops being reliable
• Monthly: twelve rows and a chart drawn from your own runs

The ten connected tabs are Start Here, Setup, Runs, Weekly, Plan, Races, Personal Bests, Shoes, Monthly and Dashboard, so the training log and running tracker live in one place.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016 or later, on Windows or Mac
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. The Google Sheets version is a real workbook, not a ZIP with a link in it.
• No dynamic arrays, no macros and no add-ins, so it behaves the same on Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365 and in LibreOffice. No Microsoft 365 subscription is required.
• No subscription

What you download

• Two Excel files: nine months of a build-up with 176 runs, 1,517 km, four races and a pair of shoes past retirement, and a blank one for your own
• The instruction guide, which has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready to download as soon as payment clears. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Does it work in Excel or Google Sheets?

Both. The Excel files run on Excel 2016 or later on Windows or Mac, and the instruction guide has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions for a free Google account.

Does it calculate pace automatically?

Yes. You enter distance and time, and pace is calculated on every run and on the weekly, monthly and lifetime totals.

Can I use miles instead of kilometers?

Yes. Type distances in whichever unit you run in. Nothing is converted.

How does the training plan work?

It counts sixteen weeks back from the race date on Setup and compares planned with actual each week. Change the race date and the whole plan moves.

Is this a coaching plan?

No. It is a training log. The plan in it is a shape to overwrite with whatever you or your coach follow.