 |
 |
|
|
 |
Training Plan |  |
|---|
See the Index for more topics, information, hints and tips.
"A goal without a plan is just a wish." -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
A training plan is by far the most important thing to help you achieve your goal. Nutrition, hydration, clothes, strategies, running the tangents, and everything else are less important when it comes to your performance.
Stick to your training plan. Be diligent in following it. It is your Bible, trust in it. It is both a commitment in time and a commitment to doing what the training plan tells you to do.
Train for your weakness. If your weakness is hills, then be sure your training plan includes more hill training. If it is endurance, then increase your mileage. Whatever you feel is having the most negative impact on letting you run the race you want, then find ways to improve on that.
The benefits of having and following a training plan include: better endurance and fitness level, more confidence, and fewer injuries. One of the best things about a training plan is that it is designed to let you peak at your race. Follow your training plan so that you are prepared for your race and don’t peak before it.
While you are training, if you have difficulty sticking to your training plan (either not doing it or working too hard on easy days) then you need to exercise some self-discipline. You have to do what the training plan calls for now in order to meet the long term goals that you have.
The consequences of not having or following a training plan include: struggling with increasing mileage and harder workouts, disappointment in your performance, higher probability of missing your goal, and more prone to injury. You will suffer and pay for it in your race.
Training for a distance race like a half, full, or ultra-marathon requires you to commit to do the training day after day, week after week, and to set aside the time each day to do the training. To get a rough idea of how much time is involved, look at a week near the middle of your training plan. Add up the number of minutes (if your training plan indicates to run for a specified number of minutes) and add to that the number of miles (if your training plan indicates to run for a specified number of miles) times your pace for that workout. Be sure to add warmup, cooldown, and cross training times to these. Understand that you will spend a little less time at the beginning of a training cycle and a little more at the end. That’s about 7 hours (25 miles) per week for a half marathon and 10 hours (40 miles) per week for a full marathon. Make sure your family, work, and other activities are okay with you making that kind of time commitment per week for the duration of the training cycle.
Training plans keep you accountable. They make sure you do not over train (if you follow it closely). They build up your endurance slowly. They take the guesswork out of what you should do for your workout today. I keep mine posted in a prominent location. Every time I complete a workout I highlight it.
During the first half of your training plan you can try or add new things like yoga or different cross training or weightlifting. But during the last half don't do anything new - stick with what has worked best for you.
But in order for a training plan to work you have to stick with it. Be consistent by trying to do every activity on your plan. And do the type of workout that the plan tells you to do and for as long as it tells you. If it is easy go easy; if it's hill work do hills; if it's intervals do intervals; if it's cross training do it. This is the only way for the plan to help you. Missing a workout is not going to hurt your performance. It is the day to day consistency of doing workouts that improve your performance. Following a training plan takes discipline and self-control.
If you fall behind in your training don't try to catch up. Adding extra miles too quickly can lead to injuries.
But the little things, those listed in other pages on this site, do contribute some to your performance. And they can contribute significantly to your confidence so that on race day you know you are prepared and able to achieve your goal.
Training plans are available everywhere on the Internet. It is best to have one developed for you personally based on your current abilities and your goals. Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) certified trainers are trained to do this. Follow your training plan and trust what it will do for you.
Use your training runs to experiment with everything like hydration, nutrition, and clothes. Remember NOTHING new on race day.
Characteristics of a good training plan are:
If you have to skip a hard or easy workout during the week that's not going to be disasterous as long as it doesn't become a pattern. Aim to miss as few workouts during a training cycle as possible. This should certainly be less than one per week. But make sure to do your long run even if it means moving it to another day.
The most important part of a training plan are the Easy/Recovery runs. They are the most difficult workouts for many people because they don’t see the benefit of not working hard. But your body needs time to recover, repair, and build itself stronger. If you train hard every day, you risk getting injured and/or burning out mentally and physically.
80% of your training should be easy, that is, at a pace where you can comfortably hold a conversation. Only 20% should be hard. So, if you are doing 20 miles per week that is 16 miles easy and only 4 miles hard.
On your long runs if there is a hilly section, sometimes do it near the beginning and sometimes near the end. Throw some race pace minutes or miles into your long run, too. Try adding some surges where you crank up the speed to faster than race pace for a period of time.
Of course, work your running schedule around the needs of your family, work, and other commitments.
Ideally, you should try to run 4 or 5 days a week, do one or two days of cross training, and take off one day. Your runs through the week should each be between 1/4 and 1/2 of your long run. This makes your mileage through the week one to two times your long run and your total miles for the week two to three times your long run. So if your long run is 12 miles, you should be doing 12-24 miles through the week for a total of 24 to 36 miles.
Put a hardcopy of your training plan in a prominent location. After every completed training session, mark it off on the hardcopy of your plan. You are one step closer to your goal!
Going to the gym day after day and putting the treadmill on the same setting and running for half an hour or so is NOT a training plan. I've done it and I've seen many others doing it. A training plan should have you doing 80% of your runs at an easy pace and doing hills, intervals or some other type of speed training 20% of the time. Beginners especially train in a middle zone between hard and easy, but getting the benefits of neither. Elites train very easy and very hard getting the most out of their bodies.
Your training should be varied. You don't want your body to get used to the same workout all the time. Variety is the spice of training.
Take time off after your big or A races before you start into another training cycle. Your body needs a little down time to recover and regenerate not just from the race, but also from the long training cycle. Depending on the distance of the race consider taking off a week or two or more.
Just like your training plan for a race consists of saw-tooth changes to the distance you run on your long runs, your yearly plan should ramp up to a big race then dial back down and start over again. The human body responds to a saw-tooth or step approach to increased effort than to a continuous ramp up to higher and higher levels.
So what do you do when it’s the off season or you don’t have a goal race? To keep a good level of fitness continue to be active for about the same number of days that you were while training. So if you were running 5 days and cross training one day a week, try to be active six days a week. You can cut back on your mileage and substitute an extra day or two of cross training. Now is the time to work on improving your Running Form or introduce new things like cross training, biking, spinning, yoga, or weightlifting. Cross training is excellent during this time to give your body a break from the pounding of running, yet maintain your fitness level. Remember not to do two hard days in a row. Have fun and do some of the things in your life that got neglected during the peak of your training.
