Building your Perfect Training Plan. Part 2

So far we have decided on a race, figured out a basic training regiment, and calculated our long run distance build up for our training plan. The next step is to get more specific about the rest of our training runs to fill out the program. This is where you have to look at your personal schedule and see how much time you can realistically dedicate to your training program. Can you only run two times per week? Three? Are some weeks busier than others? Take time to study your schedule and see what is going to work best for you. If you just tell yourself "I'm going to run every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday" that is fine if you can get it done, but what happens when you are traveling, or busier at work, or are attending a soccer game. Life has a way of getting in the way of our plans. The best thing to do is try to plan around the things that you can and then adjust for the rest.

For the sake of our example, let's say we will have time for one additional run per week for the first three weeks then two more for the remainder of the program. The additional runs will be shorter than our weekly long run and should be at a distance you are already comfortable with. Here is a breakdown of our example schedule filled out with our new run distances.

Week             Long run             Run 1             Run 2
 1                   3.1 mi                 2 mi
 2                   3.5 mi                 2 mi
 3                   3.9 mi                 2.5 mi
 4                   4.3 mi                 2 mi               2 mi
 5                   4.8 mi                 2.5 mi            2 mi
 6                   5.4 mi                 3 mi               2 mi
 7                   6 mi                   3 mi               2.5 mi
 8          Race Week                  3 mi               2 mi 

As you can see the distances are slowly increased with many of the additional runs at the same distance. The reason for this is consistency  When we are focused on increasing distance, the long run for the week is the most important, with the added runs keeping us in running form and ready for the next long run. These shorter runs are also a good opportunity to start adding speed work to increase your cardiovascular fitness and train those legs to go faster than you every though possible.