Every runner has seen a workout written like this: “WU 10’, then 8×(45” hard / 30” easy), CD 5’.” Simple on paper. Hard to actually run — unless you enjoy staring at a stopwatch and doing arithmetic mid-stride.

That’s exactly the problem iRunning’s workout builder solves. You describe the session once, and the app runs it for you: counting down every interval, announcing every change, and keeping the whole plan visible at a glance.

The building blocks

Every workout in iRunning is a stack of intervals, and every interval has two choices:

  • What kind is it? Work, rest, warm-up, or cool-down. Each type has its own color throughout the app — green for work, amber for warm-up, coral for cool-down — so you always know what phase you’re in with a single glance.
  • How long does it last? By time (45 seconds, 10 minutes), by distance (400 meters, 2 kilometers), or open-ended — it runs until you tap.

That’s it. Those two decisions, repeated, can describe almost any running workout ever written.

Repeat blocks: the shortcut

The classic interval session is the same pair of intervals done over and over. Nobody wants to type “run 45 seconds, walk 30 seconds” eight times.

In iRunning you build the pair once, wrap it in a repeat block, and set the count. 8× (0:45 run / 0:30 walk) is two rows and one number. Want a pyramid instead — 1-2-3-2-1 minutes? Stack the blocks in order. Ladder workouts, Tabata, fartlek — they’re all just arrangements of the same pieces.

Start from a template

If you’d rather not build from scratch, the app ships with ready-made templates for the workouts runners actually do:

  • Tabata — 8× (20 seconds all-out / 10 seconds rest)
  • Classic HIIT — longer work intervals with equal recovery
  • Tempo — warm-up, one sustained block at a comfortably hard effort, cool-down
  • Fartlek — playful mixed surges
  • Pyramid and progression — intervals that climb and descend

Every template is editable. Grab one, stretch the intervals to your level, save it under your own name.

Your library, your routines

Saved workouts live in your library, ready to reuse. The session you run every Tuesday is one tap away. You can duplicate a workout to make a harder version, rename it, or delete the experiments that didn’t survive contact with reality.

And when the workout starts, the screen shows one big number — the time or distance left in the current interval — with the next interval previewed underneath. No arithmetic, no stopwatch. Just run when it says run, and recover when it says recover.

Three workouts to try this week

  1. Beginner: 5:00 warm-up walk, then 6× (1:00 run / 1:30 walk), 5:00 cool-down. About 25 minutes.
  2. Intermediate: 10:00 easy jog, then 8× (0:45 hard / 0:30 easy), 5:00 cool-down.
  3. Distance-based: 1 km easy, then 5× (400 m fast / 200 m jog), 1 km easy — the classic track session, no track required.

Build any of these in under a minute, and the app takes it from there.