How to import your marathon training plan into an app

Last updated: 29 October 2026

Most marathon plans end up in a spreadsheet, a PDF from a coach or a book on the shelf. This guide shows how to get each of them into Narun, an iPhone app that shows today's and tomorrow's run and puts them on your lock screen. It also covers what doesn't work well, so you don't lose an evening on it.

Before you start: what your plan needs

Whatever the format, an import works best when every session has:

• A day. Either a real date, or a week number and weekday (for example "Week 3, Tuesday") plus a start date or race date.
• A session type. Easy, long run, tempo, intervals, recovery, race, rest.
• How long. A duration (45 min), a distance (8 km) or both.
• Optional details. Target pace, heart-rate zone or a short note, like "6 × 800 m at 5K pace".

Keep one session per day where you can. A day with two runs is easier to read back when it's written as two clear lines than as one long cell.

Import a training plan from Excel (.xlsx)

1. Save the file somewhere your iPhone can reach it: iCloud Drive, the Files app, or AirDrop it from your Mac.
2. Open Narun, tap Add and choose Import Training Plan.
3. Pick the .xlsx file.
4. Open the Overview and check the first two weeks against your original sheet.

If the workbook has several tabs (a summary, notes, a pace table), it helps to put the actual week by week plan on the first tab, or save a copy with only that tab.

Import a training plan from a CSV file

CSV is the simplest format: plain rows and columns, no formatting. It's what most apps and websites give you when you "export" a plan.

1. Make sure the file has a header row, for example date, type, duration, distance, notes.
2. Save it to iCloud Drive or Files on your iPhone.
3. In Narun, tap Add → Import Training Plan and pick the file.

Tip: if dates come out wrong, check the date format. "03/04" means 3 April in Belgium and 4 March in the US. Writing dates as 2026-04-03 avoids the confusion.

Import a training plan from Google Sheets

Narun can't read a Google Sheets link directly, but exporting takes ten seconds:

1. Open the sheet and go to File → Download.
2. Choose Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), or Comma-separated values (.csv) for the current tab only.
3. On your iPhone, the file lands in Files → Downloads. On a computer, move it to iCloud Drive or AirDrop it.
4. Import it in Narun like any other Excel or CSV file.

If you update the plan in Google Sheets later, you need to export and import it again. There's no live sync with Google Sheets.

Import a PDF training plan from your coach

PDFs are made for printing, not for reading by software, so Narun uses its AI import for them.

1. Save the PDF to Files (in Mail or WhatsApp: tap the attachment, then the share button → Save to Files).
2. In Narun, tap Add → Import Training Plan and pick the PDF.
3. Narun's AI reads the plan and turns it into sessions. Check the result in the Overview.

What works well: PDFs with a clear table, one row per day or one block per week. What works less well: scanned pages, handwritten notes, and plans where the important bit is in a footnote ("all easy runs at 70% of max HR"). For those, it's often faster to paste the plan as text and add the missing detail yourself.

Import a plan from a book: Pfitzinger, Hansons and others

Plans from books like Advanced Marathoning (Pfitzinger & Douglas) or Hansons Marathon Method are copyrighted, so Narun doesn't come with them built in and you won't find them for download here. You can still use your own copy:

1. Type the weeks you're following into a spreadsheet or a note. You only need your plan (say, 18 weeks up to 55 miles), not the whole book.
2. Or take a photo of the page and use iPhone's Live Text: tap the text icon in the Photos app, select the table and copy it.
3. Paste the text into Narun's import, or save it as a spreadsheet and import that.

Following a Hal Higdon plan? Those are on his website rather than in a book, and there's a separate guide for Hal Higdon plans.

Book plans often describe paces relative to something else, like "marathon pace" or "lactate threshold". Write your own target paces next to the sessions before importing, so they show up in the app.

Paste a training plan as plain text

Got your plan in an email, a WhatsApp message or a note? You don't need to turn it into a file first.

1. Copy the text of the plan.
2. In Narun, tap Add → Import Training Plan and paste it.
3. The AI import turns it into a schedule. Check it in the Overview.

Adding the race date or start date to the text helps, especially when the plan only says "Week 1, Week 2".

After the import: check and adjust

• Open the Overview to see the whole block in calendar or list mode. Sessions are colour-coded by type, so a wrong type stands out.
• Need to move a session? Drag it to another day to swap the two.
• Missing a session? Add it with Add → Add Manually.
• Connect Strava, and Narun checks off completed runs automatically.

When the import gets it wrong

AI import is good with messy plans, but it isn't perfect. If sessions land on the wrong day or the wrong type:

• Add a start date or race date to the file or text, and import again.
• Remove anything that isn't the plan itself, like intro text, pace tables or nutrition advice.
• Fix single sessions in the app instead of re-importing everything.
• As a fallback, the import screen can copy a prompt for ChatGPT that converts your plan into a file Narun can import.

What happens to your plan

Your plan is stored on your iPhone. When you use AI import, the text of your plan is sent to Google's AI to convert it, so leave out personal details like your name or medical notes. Details are in the privacy policy.

Narun is free on the App Store for iPhone (iOS 17.6 or later).