Polar Running Program
Polar Running program is a personalized program based on your fitness level, designed to make sure that you train right and avoid overreaching. It’s intelligent, and adapts based on your development, and lets you know when it might be a good idea to cut back a little and when to step it up a notch. Each program is tailored for your event, taking your personal attributes, training background and preparation time into account. The program is free, and available in the Polar Flow web service at www.polar.com/flow.
Programs are available for 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon events. Each program has three phases: Base building, Build-up and Tapering. These phases are designed to gradually develop your performance, and make sure you’re ready on race day. Running training sessions are divided into five types: easy jog, medium run, long run, tempo run and interval. All sessions include warm-up, work, and cool-down phases for optimal results. In addition, you can choose to do strength, core, and mobility exercises to support your development. Each training week consists of two to five running sessions, and the total running training session duration per week varies from one to seven hours depending on your fitness level. The minimum duration for a program is 9 weeks, and the maximum is 20 months.
Learn more about the Polar Running Program in this in-depth guide. Or read more about how to get started with the Running Program.
Create a Polar Running Program
- Log into the Flow web service at www.polar.com/flow.
- Choose Programs from the Tab.
- Choose your event, name it, set the event date, and when you wish to start the program.
- Fill in the physical activity level questions.*
- Choose if you want to include supporting exercises in the program.
- Read and fill in the physical activity readiness questionnaire.
- Review your program, and adjust any settings if necessary.
- When you’re done, choose Start program.
*If four weeks of training history is available, these will be pre-filled.
Start a running target
Before starting a session, make sure you’ve synced your training session target to your device. The sessions are synced to your device as training targets.
The training targets scheduled for the current day appear at the top of the list in pre-training mode:
- In time view, press START to enter pre-training mode.
- Choose the target, and then choose the sport profile.
- When M430 has found all the signals, press START, and follow the guidance on your device throughout your session.
You can also start a running target scheduled for the current day from My day and Diary. If you want to do a target scheduled for another day, you can – just choose a day from your Diary, and start the session scheduled for that day.
Follow your progress
Sync your training results from your device to the Flow web service via the USB cable or Flow app. Follow your progress from the Programs tab. You’ll see an overview of your current program, and how you’ve progressed.