B-races: tune-up races in your training plan, plus 5 new languages

Kotcha now supports B-races on iOS: you can add tune-up races to your training plan, and your AI coach builds the weeks around them without losing sight of your main goal. The same update brings five new languages to the app: Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch and Portuguese, on top of English and French. If you like racing a 10K or a half on the way to your marathon, this is for you.

What's new

Until now, your Kotcha plan had one target: your A-race. The marathon, the half, the 10K you circled on the calendar. Everything else was training.

Real runners don't live like that. You sign up for a local 10K with friends. Your club enters a half three months before your spring marathon. You want a race-day rehearsal before the big one.

With B-races, those races become part of the plan instead of a disruption to it:

• Add a secondary race with its date, alongside your main goal.
• Your coach plans around it. The weeks before and after a B-race are shaped so you can run it well and still keep your build on track.
• Your A-race stays the priority. The B-race is a stepping stone, not a new target.

How a tune-up race fits your training plan

This is how elite athletes structure a season. One of the five pillars behind Kotcha is perfect planning to peak on D-day: build phase, intensity phase, taper, with every week planned around A and B races to peak exactly on the big days.

A tune-up race done right gives you a lot:

• A fitness check. A real race effort tells you more than any workout about where you stand.
• A dress rehearsal. Shoes, kit, breakfast, warm-up, pacing from the gun. Better to test it all before the day that counts.
• Race-day nerves, managed. The more start lines you see, the calmer you are at the one that matters.

Done wrong, a B-race costs you. Racing all-out with no adjustment, then jumping straight back into a hard week, is how runners pick up fatigue they carry into their goal race. That's why the plan has to know the race is there. Your coach treats it as a key session of the block, not an extra run on top of everything else.

And because Kotcha plans one week at a time, the race also feeds the next week. Every Sunday, Coach K asks how you feel, looks at what you actually ran and builds the following week from there. A strong tune-up result, or a tough one, both shape what comes next.

How to add a B-race

1. Tap the Coach K avatar to open plan management.
2. Scroll to B-Race.
3. Select the race you want to add.

That's it. Your plan takes it from there.

Kotcha now speaks 7 languages

Running is global, and so is your coach. Kotcha launched in English and French. Starting with this release, the app is also available in:

• Italian
• Spanish
• German
• Dutch
• Portuguese

Your plan, your workouts and your coach now speak your language. The method stays the same, built with Eliud Kipchoge and his team, whether you train in Milan, Madrid, Munich, Amsterdam or Lisbon.

How to get it

B-races and the new languages are available now on iOS. Update Kotcha from the App Store and open plan management to add your first tune-up race. New to Kotcha? Start a plan for your goal race, then add the races you want to run along the way.

Training for your first race instead? Check out our first 5K and 10K plans for beginners. And if you want your coach to adjust your plan from a chat message, read how the AI coach can now change your plan.

FAQ

What is a B-race in a training plan?

A B-race is a secondary race you run during your build toward a main goal, your A-race. You race it for real, but it serves the bigger goal: a fitness check and a rehearsal on the way to the race that matters most.

How long before a marathon should I run a tune-up race?

It depends on your level and your plan. Add the race in Kotcha and your coach shapes the weeks around it so it fits your build and leaves room to recover before your goal race.

Which languages does Kotcha support?

English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch and Portuguese.