What is a B-race?
A B-race is a secondary race you include during your main training program. Unlike your A-race (your primary goal), a B-race is a supporting event — a chance to test your fitness, practise race-day conditions, and build confidence before your main event.
B-races are opportunities to:
Break up long training blocks
Test pacing, fuelling, or race-day routines
Practise using your kit and nutrition
Track progress and boost confidence
Enjoy the race-day atmosphere without the pressure of your main goal
You can think of B-races as dress rehearsals or milestones that prepare you for the big day.
When to Add (and Not Add) a B-Race
Add a B-race when you want to:
Tune up your fitness and pacing. If you have a marathon build: enter a 10K or half marathon as a B-race 4–8 weeks out; if you have a half marathon build: enter a 5K or 10K as a B-race 3–6 weeks out
Rehearse race-day logistics. Warm-up, fuelling, kit, pacing, and start-line strategy
Replace a key workout with a competitive effort for variety and motivation
Benchmark progress mid-plan to adjust pacing or gauge readiness
Avoid adding B-races when they could compromise recovery or derail your main goal. Skip or reconsider them if:
It falls too close to your A-race to allow for full recovery. Avoid hard efforts within 7–10 days of your goal event, if you do a race inside that window, keep it easy or treat it as controlled stries/tempo work.
You're injured or ill, or haven't recovered from heavy training
It would cause you to miss key workouts or long runs in your plan
You're racing too often — back-to-back events can hinder adaptation
You'd be using untested shoes, fuelling, or gear
Conditions are extreme or unlike your goal race (e.g. hot, humid, or at altitude) unless treated as a low-effort session
How to Access the B-Race Feature
To be able to add a B-Race:
You must be on the latest version of the Runna app (7.31.2 or later). You can check and update your version directly in your app store.
Your plan must be updated to the latest version (v11). If an update is available, go to Plan → Manage Plan and tap "New Plan Version Available."
You must be on a plan that currently supports B-races. B-races are available on Race Plans, Distance Goal Plans, Triathlon Plans, and General Training Plans.
Plans That Don’t Support B-Races Yet
Unfortunately, B-Races aren’t available on the following plans just yet. These are older versions of our training plans, but we’re working to migrate them to our new, more dynamic engine as quickly as possible:
Some older-style plans
New to Running, Return to Running, and Path to parkrun plans.
Hyrox plans.
Post-Race Recovery plans.
Post-Natal plans.
Post-Injury plans.
Functional Fitness plans.
How to Add a B-race to Your Plan
Go to Plan → Manage Plan → Tap Add a B-Race under Adapt Your Plan
Runna will show you the optimal period for you to complete a B-Race based on your plan.
Tap on “Find my race”. Here, you can search and filter for races you’d like to do as a B-Race. You can also add it manually by tapping “Don’t see your race?”.
Choose your approach:
Run for fun: minimal impact on plan
Strong & steady: moderate effort with small taper/recovery tweaks
Going all out: maximum effort with significant taper and recovery
Review the summary of plan changes. This is where Runna calculates a personalised adjustment and shows you exactly how your B-Race will impact your training for your goal race with Training Disruption and Adjustment Insight.
Tap Add this race to my plan
Your training plan will update automatically around your B-race and adjust your workouts, taper and recovery - ensuring you stay on track towards your main goal.
How Does a B-Race Affect My Training Plan?
When adding a B-Race, Runna adapts your plan based on your ability, A-race distance, B-race distance and approach, and plan duration. The impact is shown as Training Disruption which can be low, medium, or high.
You’ll also see Adjustment Insights on how the B-race affects your plan. This can include:
The week before your B-Race: Runna may begin to taper your training — moving your deload week forward or slightly reducing workout volume.
B-Race week: Runna may reduce the number of runs, align your deload week to support tapering, and swap some sessions for taper intervals.
The week after your B-Race: You may see extra rest days and a lighter first session post-race to support recovery.
If you choose to accept the impact of your B-Race, this will be added to your plan and you'll be ready to go! Your workout and coaching comments will also be updated to reflect this.
How to Train Around Your B-Race
If your B-race falls on the weekend, a good approach is:
Do a speed session 4–5 days before (Tuesday/Wednesday)
Follow with an easy run 2 days before
Rearrange sessions as needed via Plan → Calendar → drag & drop workouts (+/- 1 week)
How to Edit or Remove Your B-Race
You can only edit the approach of your B-race after you added it. To edit Approach:
Go to Plan
Tap Manage Plan
Tap the B-race under Adapt Your Plan
Tap Approach or the Pencil Icon
To delete your B-Race:
Go to Plan
Tap Manage Plan
Tap the B-race under Adapt Your Plan
Tap Discard
To replace your current B-Race with another one, the best way is to delete your current B-Race and add a new one.
Why Can't I Add a B-Race to My Plan?
If you're on a plan that supports B-races and you’re on the latest app and plan version, we will prevent you from adding a B-race if:
The B-Race falls too close to your A-race (within your taper period)
The B-Race is too early in your training plan and you haven't built up to that distance yet
The B-Race falls outside your current plan start and end dates
The B-Race disrupts key long runs or workouts or prevents you from completing the minimum distance required for your A-race. In this case, the app may suggest that you change your B-Race approach to minimise any subsequent disruption.
In these cases, the app will guide you with a clear explanation so you can stay on track with the training that best supports your A-race goal.
Note: We sometimes block you from adding a B-race to keep your training safe and effective. This usually happens when the B-race event would place too much stress on your body or disrupt key parts of your A-race build.
What if my B-Race Date Falls Outside My Current Plan Start Date and End date?
Runna can only schedule a B-Race within the dates covered by your current training plan. If your race falls before your plan starts or after it ends, the app will block you from adding it.
What to try:
Extend your plan: If the race is near the end of your plan window, go to Manage Plan and check whether adjusting your A-Race date or plan duration brings the B-Race date into range.
Start a new plan: If the B-Race is well outside your current window, it may make more sense to treat it as your primary goal and build a plan around it instead.
What if I Want to Add a B-Race at the Same Distance as my A-Race?
Our coaches recommend choosing a B-Race shorter than your A-Race, as a same-distance race close to your main event can compromise your taper and recovery. That said, if your goal is to use it as a tune-up or confidence builder, here are your options:
Choose a slightly shorter distance: For example, if your A-Race is a marathon, a half marathon or 30K makes an excellent B-Race that tests race fitness without the same recovery cost.
Set the approach to "Run for fun": If you do add a same-distance race, selecting Run for fun minimises the training impact and reduces the risk of disrupting your A-Race preparation.
Time it carefully: The further from your A-Race taper window, the less disruptive a same-distance B-Race will be. Runna will flag if the timing is too close.
What if I’m Doing a Multi-Day or Back-to-Back Race Event?
Runna doesn’t currently support multi-day race events or back-to-back races (e.g., a half marathon Saturday + full marathon Sunday, or a 2-day trail race). Your plan can’t be auto-configured around these formats, and we don’t recommend them as B-races due to the recovery demands involved.
Recommended workaround:
Build your plan around the primary race day (usually the longer or more important distance).
Add the second race day as an Instant Workout → Race: go to Plan tab > Calendar icon (top-right) > Add > Race and enter the distance and date.
In the week before the event, treat your scheduled long run as your primary race. Swap or skip the long run by dragging it to the race date, or mark it as complete after the race by linking the activity: Plan tab > Tap the workout > Link Activity.
In training, include back-to-back long run days using Instant Workouts (e.g., a long run Saturday + easy long run Sunday) to prepare your body for consecutive race efforts.
⚠️ Just a heads up: your plan won’t automatically adjust for a second race day, so it’s important to manage your recovery between races yourself.
What if my plan doesn’t support B-Races but I still want to do one?
If you’re on an unsupported plan, you can still log a race using Instant Workouts:
Go to Plan > Calendar icon (top-right).
Select your race date.
Tap + Add > Race and enter details.
⚠️ Note: This won’t adjust mileage or replace your long run, but the race will appear in your calendar.
Tip: If your smartwatch is connected, the race will sync automatically. You can then mark your long run as complete.
FAQs
How many B-Races can I add?
There’s no strict cap, but we recommend one or two per training cycle. Adding too many races could negatively impact your primary goal, and the app will notify you if your race schedule becomes too crowded.
Is it okay to do B-Races often?
B-Races are a fantastic way to test your progress, but not every race should be at a maximum effort. Listen to your body and use these races strategically to test out race-day fuelling and new kit, rather than racing too frequently.
Will my B-Race Workout have pace targets?
For flat or rolling B-races, you’ll receive:
Pace alerts (prompts to speed up or slow down)
Run splits (e.g., “1 km completed in…”)
However, if your B-race includes hilly or moderate terrain, Runna will not provide specific pace target cues, as your pace will naturally change on climbs and descents. Instead, you’ll receive feedback at the end of each kilometre you run.
Make sure pace targets are enabled by going to: Plan → Profile (top-left) → Workout Settings → Pace Targets → ON
My plan didn't update after adding a B-race
Close and reopen the app, or re-apply the B-race from Manage Plan → Adapt Your Plan.
I can't find my B-race in the list
If you can't find your B-Race in the list, select “Don’t see your race?” to create a custom race entry.
My race type isn't supported (e.g. HYROX or non-standard events)
Runna's B-Race feature currently supports standard running race formats. If your event isn't in the race library and doesn't have a direct equivalent (such as HYROX, obstacle races, or other multi-discipline events), you can still add it manually using an equivalent running distance.
How to do it:
Identify the approximate running distance of your event. For HYROX, a 10K equivalent is a commonly used benchmark (8 x 1 km running segments).
This is a workaround, Runna won't know the specific demands of your non-running event. If you need more tailored guidance, get in touch with our team via in-app support.
Should I Go All Out in a B-race?
Whether you should go all out in a B-Race depends on your goals.
Run for fun: for minimal impact on your plan and mostly to practice logistics for your A-Race
Strong & steady: if you want to practise pacing, kit, and fuelling.
All out: if you want a benchmark result or aiming for a new personal best (replacing a hard workout).
👉 Either way, B-races should support, not jeopardise your A-race.
Further questions?
If you need more support, please get in touch with our customer experience team via the in-app support tab and we'll do our best to help!