The Program by Bandit Running vs Gradient

The Program is a 100% free guided training experience for marathons and half marathons powered by Bandit Running. Select your race, goal finish time, and weekly mileage, and an interactive training plan will be automatically generated for you. Plus, access Coach for instant answers to all your fundamental training questions.

Stop guessing your pace. Gradient reads the real elevation of your race — every hill, every descent — and gives you a target pace for every kilometre, before you take a step. MOST PACE CALCULATORS ASSUME A FLAT WORLD. YOUR RACE ISN'T. A flat average pace punishes you on the climbs and wastes free speed on the descents. Gradient solves it properly: target speed falls in a straight line with the gradient. Ease off going up, take the time back coming down — and your average still lands exactly on your goal. BACKED BY REAL EVIDENCE, NOT A GUESS Across 78,912 Boston Marathon finishers, even-paced runners beat the ones who faded late by close to an hour, on average. Gradient's method is built on published pacing research (Townshend et al., Med Sci Sports Exerc), not a hunch. EVERY MILE, ALREADY PACED - 43 splits per race, each one tuned to the ground beneath it — not a flat number - Full elevation chart with your pace, gradient, and effort layered in - A 3D relief view of your course, so you can see the shape of what you're about to run - Race Day mode built for glancing at, not reading A COURSE FOR EVERY RACE - 21 real courses with genuine elevation data, from marathons to half marathons - Don't see yours? Sketch it on the map — Gradient snaps it to real roads and pulls the real elevation - Import a GPX file directly - Share your course with the community, and the next runner starts from your line BUILT FOR RACE DAY - Works fully offline once your plan is built - Export a pace card to keep on your wrist or in your pocket - Miles or kilometres — set once, applied everywhere - Post-race breakdown to see how you actually paced against the plan Gradient isn't a stopwatch. It's the plan you needed before the gun even went off.