Skip to content
← Back to home

How to run intervals with your Apple Watch

By Stephan Seider, founder of V.Runner · Updated

Your Apple Watch can manage the fast and easy parts of a run for you. If you are using V.Runner, you can send the session to Apple’s Workout app. You can enter the times and distances from another plan in Apple’s Workout app yourself. The manual setup is explained below.

You should start with a session that is appropriate to your current level of training. Your Apple Watch will time the different parts of the session; the pace still comes from your plan.

Using V.Runner? Send the prepared session

To send the session to your Apple Watch, go to Training on your iPhone and tap the Watch button to open Send to Watch. Review and send your sessions, then check the Workout app on your Apple Watch for the prepared session. There is no separate V.Runner Watch app to install.

A session that is queued on your iPhone does not mean that it has arrived on your Apple Watch. You can find more info about sending the session in the V.Runner Watch guide.

Entering a session yourself? Start with the plan

Look at your training plan and find the following:

  • How you start: a warm-up, and whether it ends after a time or distance.
  • The faster part: how long or how far each effort lasts.
  • The easier part: the recovery between efforts, and how often you repeat them.
  • How you finish: the cool-down, plus any pace guidance in the plan.

An example plan may include a warm-up, some repeated faster sections broken up by easier running, and a cool-down. That is the general shape of the plan you are entering. Use your plan’s specific values rather than estimating from your Watch controls.

Build it in Apple’s Workout app

These steps are based on the Apple guide for watchOS 26. The positions and labels of buttons can vary between different versions, but Apple’s guide has a version selector.

  1. Open Workout on your Watch and find Outdoor Run.
  2. Open Goals, choose Custom, then use the add button to make a workout.
  3. Set the warm-up to match your plan, using a time, distance or open end.
  4. Add Work and Recovery parts. Choose a time or distance for each and include all the repeats your plan calls for.
  5. Add the cool-down, give the run a recognisable name, then choose Create Workout.

Check the number of parts and order before leaving home. It’s easy to enter one effort and recovery when the plan means several and to use the wrong units (e.g. metres versus minutes).

Add pace help only where you need it

Apple also offers workout alerts, including pace guidance for outdoor running. Use the target from your plan and check the alert settings for the workout you will start. The exact choices depend on the workout and software version. See Apple’s custom workout and alert instructions for the controls.

A pace alert helps you follow a target you have set. It doesn’t set a target for you. The plan may provide different guidance for the faster and easier parts. Make sure you have kept that distinction when setting up the run.

During a custom workout, Apple’s Up Next view shows the remaining part of the current interval and what is next. You don’t need to remember the entire session when you go for a run.

Prefer the bigger screen on your iPhone?

You can create custom workouts on your iPhone in Fitness too, on supported software. Apple says this requires a paired Watch with watchOS 26 or later. Its iPhone workout guide shows you how to create and sync them. Be sure the run plan is synced to your Watch before you head out.

If you are still evaluating how to plan your running, compare the options without a subscription. You can use a plan you already trust. The outcome is being able to tell what’s coming up in your run.

Sources

Apple documentation checked on 24 October 2026. This is a documentation-based guide; controls may differ on your devices.