For charity runners

You got the place. Your charity may have covered the coaching.

Some charities give their runners a code for the full Zonna app, free for the whole training block. If yours did, it takes about a minute to use. If it did not, everything below still applies and the plans are free to read anyway.

How to use your code Download on the App Store

One screen, one job: the run you are doing today and the zone to hold it in.

The thing nobody tells you

The risk is not that you are too slow. It is that you try too hard.

You have a cause, a fundraising page and people watching. That is a lot of motivation, and motivation is exactly what gets charity runners hurt. Every easy run becomes a bit quicker than it should be. Every long run becomes a test. Nothing is ever properly easy, so nothing is ever properly recovered, and the body files the bill somewhere in the middle of the block.

Zonna exists for that specific problem. It sets a zone for every session and holds you to it, which mostly means telling you to slow down on days you were planning to prove something. It is not the exciting version of training. It is the version that gets you to the start line.

If you have a code

Three steps, about a minute.

1
Tap the link your charity sent
It opens the App Store with the code already filled in. Install Zonna and redeem in the same place, in one go.
2
Sign in
Apple, Google or an email address. The access is already attached to the Apple ID you redeemed with, so there is nothing else to enter.
3
Build your plan
Tell it your race and your week. It builds the block backwards from race day.

Already installed the app? Open Me and tap “Have a code?”. That opens the same Apple screen, and you type the code in there. Codes come from your charity, not from me: if you think you should have one and do not, ask whoever organises your place.

What you get

The same app everyone else pays for.

A plan built round your race
Your distance, your date, the days you can actually run. 5K through ultra.
Every run has a zone and a pace band
Derived from your numbers, not guessed, so "easy" is something you can check rather than talk yourself out of.
Kit reads every run
Tells you afterwards whether you actually held the zone. One line, no dashboard.
A plan that moves when life does
Miss a week and it reshapes around what you did, instead of leaving you to catch up on a week that has gone.
No code?

Then start with a free plan.

Every plan below is the real thing the engine builds, laid out week by week and free to read in full. No email, no signup. And every new account gets two weeks of the full app regardless, so you can see what the coaching adds.

5K12 weeks10K12 weeksHalf marathon12 weeksMarathon16 weeks
Questions

The ones charity runners actually ask.

Where do I get a code?
From the charity you are running for. They are given a set number for their runners, and they decide who gets one. I cannot issue codes directly, so if you think you should have one and do not, your charity is the place to ask.
What does the code actually give me?
The whole app, free. Your plan built around your race, real heart-rate zones, the coaching after every run, and the reshaping when a week goes sideways. Not a trial and not a cut-down version: the same thing paying subscribers get.
How long does it last?
Twelve months from the day you redeem it. Redeem in December and it runs to the following December, which covers a spring race and the whole block in front of it with room to spare. It does not renew and it does not start charging you at the end: it simply stops. One thing to watch: the code itself has a deadline, which is a separate date from the twelve months and is in the message your charity sent you. Redeeming early costs you nothing, because the twelve months start when you redeem and not when the code was issued.
I have redeemed it, but my plan has not started yet.
That is usually correct rather than broken. The plan is built backwards from your race day, not forwards from today, so if your race is still months off there is no reason for the hard training to have started. The app will tell you how many weeks early you are and give you something gentler to be getting on with in the meantime. Almost every other running app would fill that time with training. I would rather you arrived at the start of the real block fresh, because the weeks before a block are where most charity runners quietly get hurt.
I have never raced this distance. Is this for me?
Yes, with one caveat worth saying out loud. Each plan starts from a level, and it is not zero: the 5K plan is written for someone running about 20km a week, the 10K plan about 25km, the half marathon plan about 35km with a 14km long run, and the 16-week marathon plan about 45km with a 20km long run. If you are not there yet, spend a few weeks building to it first and then start. Beginning a structured block from well below its starting point is the most reliable way to get injured before race day.
Why is so much of it easy? I have a race to train for.
Because that is what works, and because the alternative is what breaks people. Running easy on your easy days is what lets your hard sessions actually be hard. Charity runners rarely miss the start line through lack of effort. They miss it through too much of it, too early.
What if I miss a week? Work, illness, life.
Nothing breaks. Missed sessions are a feature of adult life, not a failure. The plan reshapes around what you actually did rather than leaving you to catch up on a week that has gone. Nobody guilt-trips you.
Do I need a watch?
It works best with a heart-rate source, an Apple Watch or a chest strap that writes to Apple Health, because that is what proves your easy days are genuinely easy. Without one you still get the plan, the paces and the structure. You just judge effort yourself.
I am doing an ultra. Does this cover that?
The app builds 50K and 100K plans and a code covers them like any other distance. There is no free static ultra plan on this site, so if you are without a code the advice on this page still holds, and holds harder: the further the race, the more of your week should be easy.
What happens when the access ends?
You keep the plan you built and drop to the free tier. Nothing is deleted and nothing nags you. If you want to keep the coaching and the reshaping it is £7.99/month or £59.99/year, and if you do not, that is genuinely fine.

Get to the start line in one piece.

That is the job, and it is a harder one than going fast. Tap your charity’s link, redeem the code, and let it tell you to slow down.