Fallen off your training programme?

Let the Wizard design your plan!

I've had some good feedback from those that I have written and I think I did a good job of incorporating the sorts of sessions that the runner would need but I also had comments from runners that said "I was going okay and then it all got a bit much, I missed a week and so stopped following the programme" or "It was okay but I thought I needed to work more on my speed/strength/endurance..."

So....I have spent the last few months writing programmes for our Training Wizard that are totally flexible to fit with each runner's life and specific needs. I wouldn't like to count the hours that I've already put in but it's been a lot! There's more time to be spent on it though but that's not for me...that's for you to do!

There is no 16 week generic plan. There are 180 seperate weekly plans. You now have to decide which of those plans go into your programme!

Here's a step by step guide on how to use it:

1. Write down your target whether it's a race, event or maybe a target weight.

2. Write down how many weeks you have from now until you want to achieve your target.

3. Write down where you're up to now. That might be a time that you recently achieved for a race distance or it may be a distance that you managed to run without stopping.

4. Consult your runbritain handicap profile page and have a look at the time needed to improve your handicap score. If you're hoping to do a distance that you've not done before it will give you an indication as to whether or not your target time is realistic.

5. Decide whether or not it is realistic and rewrite if necessary.

Here comes the fun bit!

You have already answered the first two questions asked by the wizard and now you need to decide what you will focus on and when:

6. You need to 'chunk' the time between now and your goal into blocks and give each block a focus. Draw a time line from now to your target day or use a calendar.

7. Split the line or calendar into blocks that suit your life. This could be influenced by holidays, less important races or monitoring sessions but a rule of thumb is six weeks for each block. During each block you can focus on improving different areas of your fitness. (Six weeks is generally the time it takes to adapt to a new training stimulus).

8. Decide what you want to focus on in each block. The Wizard gives you four choices: building an aerobic base, building strength endurance, building speed endurance or improving your running economy. It may be that you've identified an area of weakness that you want to work on. If not then a general guide is to start by building your aerobic base, move onto building strength endurance and then add speed endurance as you get closer to your goal.

Time to get started!

You now know the answer to the Wizard's first three questions. The first two will probably stay the same until your big day and the third one will change as you go through your programme.

9. Consult the Wizard on a weekly basis. Answer the first three questions as per above and, for the fourth, decide whether you need an easy, moderate or hard week of training. This is one of the main reasons this resource has been developed. If a generic programme is telling you to put in a hard week's training when you are flat out in other areas of your life, you are going to fall off the programme. Select an easy week if you have a lot on at work or if your social/family life is hectic. On the other hand, it could be that you have a week off work and all the time in the world to train. Then it would make sense to put in a hard week.

10. Check that your training load reflects where you are in your programme. You should start with easy weeks and when you feel you have adapted to the work load you could ease up to moderate. You should also opt for an easy week if your 5k target is only a week away, an easy fortnight if your 10k is only 2 weeks away and an easy 3 weeks if your half marathon or marathon is only 3 weeks away. It is important to taper in the final stages of your programme. Ensure that you factor in recovery weeks at the end of each block of training. You should not train hard week in, week out. This could lead to injury as your body will not be being given time to recover and adapt to the training stimulus. Remember to build slowly and, after each hard week put in a moderate or easy week.

So there you have it! I would love to hear how you're getting on with it. Please feedback via the comment box below!

Good Luck!

You will find the Training Wizard in our Training section in the bottom right hand corner.