-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants

-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485

 

Running – The Program (part 1)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=2545826#2545826

 

Okay, I’ve been sitting on this for a while. Hawaii is done, the season is over, and more and more people are talking about improving their running for next year. I thought it might be nice to try to put everything together into a “one stop” place to lay it all out. I'd like to thank Desert Dude up front for his input as I put this together.

 

What I really hope to accomplish here is to offer a basic philosophy to cover the standalone 5K all the way to the Ironman. I would like to warn readers up front that this in no way pretends to be the be-all, end-all of run training. There are many right ways to train, and even more wrong ways to train. All I hope to do is give you one “pretty good” way to train. If anything, I hope to get you to think about how training is applied and how it changes from slower to faster athletes, shorter to longer races, lower to higher volume training weeks, and how to adjust everything once swimming, cycling, and LIFE is thrown into the mix.

 

I also hope that people understand that, though what I write here may be somewhat different, I do not disagree with Lydiard, Daniels, Pfitzinger, etc. If you were to read those three books, you would find on the surface some contradicting advice. All of their advice is grounded in the same fundamentals, as I hope mine is, but they do have slightly different approaches to how they implement them. I plan to offer my own method which helps bridge the gap between the books written for runners and the triathletes who run, as well as offer some common misconceptions and mistakes that are unique to triathletes.

 

I’d also like to warn you up front. This is LONG, so make sure you have a chunk of time allotted. ; ^ )

 

Target Audience

 

For starters, I am not an elite coach nor do I pretend to be. I have no experience coaching elite triathletes or high level runners and though I would like to think that we could share our training ideas, I in no way assume that they should be looking to me or especially this thread for advice. This thread is intended for the other 98% who don’t have years and years of a solid running background and who haven’t pushed their bodies near their potential.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, this is not intended for brand spankin’ new beginner runners. If you fit into this category, feel free to read along, but note that there are some threads out there that are more appropriate for you (like the following):

 

Basic Running Recommendations

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2434248;search_string=barryp%20basic;#2434248

 

“Advance Beyond Beginner Stage” Running Program

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1949381;search_string=runtraining20;#1949381

 

This plan is intended for runners/triathletes who have at least a modicum of running experience and are hoping to make some improvements in this area.

 

How Long is the Plan?

 

5+ months. For everything short of a marathon I feel pretty strongly that a well put together training routine will look 6 months in advance. Marathons and Ironmen can take even longer. I don’t do 3 month training advice! If you are looking for that, this is the wrong thread for you, though I can give you one piece of good advice right here: Don’t think short term.

 

Notes about Triathetes

 

It won’t take long for many of you to begin to think that you either don’t have this much time to devote to running, or that your biking and swimming needs are in conflict with what I write below. Continue to read through anyway. I cover these issues and how to make adjustments at the end of this series of posts.

 

Let’s Get Started – The Need for Structure

 

My little brother gave me a good piece of advice a few years ago that has stuck with me. You need a plan. He actually told me this with regard to his profession as a trombone player. There are many different ways to hold the slide of a trombone with different philosophies behind each method, but at the end of the day you need to pick one. Once you have picked a method, you can asses how to improve upon it, fix your mistakes, and hone your skills. Without a method, you will be making mistakes with no fundamental basis for identifying them or correcting them (coincidentally I just started taking drum lessons and am going through this process with stick technique).

 

One of the biggest problems I’ve seen with triathletes is that their running schedules are willy nilly fly by the pants lets see if I’m in the mood to run tomorrow. Get yourself organized! No matter what plan you follow, even if it is the complete opposite of the philosophy I outline below, what is most important in your run training is that you dial in the proper training load. Whether you use a speed approach or a volume approach, the best way to improve is to take your body to 95% of its potential every day. Any more than that and you risk over training. Any less and you leave potential on the table.

 

What exactly do I mean by 95% every day? You aren’t going to do the same workout every day. Some days will be designed to be harder than others. On a week to week basis, you will need to listen to your body and tell if you are pushing too hard or not enough. In a given workout, however, this can be difficult to tell. How will you know that at the end of a 4 mile run that you’ll be recovered enough to do tomorrow’s workout? If your plan is structured well, you will know this because last week you did 3.5 and sprung out of bed the next day, or maybe you did 5 and dragged yourself through the next workout. Without any structure, unless you have years and years of experience under your belt, you’ll be taking wild guesses, and probably getting them wrong.

 

Caveat: Don’t Write Your Plan in Stone

 

I do believe that a solid plan is a great idea and fully support the notion. I also think that if you dial everything in correctly, that you should be able to stick to your plan. However, you absolutely need to listen to your body and make adjustments accordingly. The structure is there to give yourself a basis from which to compare how your training is going. Often times your adjustments will be with regard to training pace or weekly volume, but it is also quite possible that permanent changes will be implemented into the plan. Perhaps my suggested long run hurts you too much every week. Maybe you need to knock it back a mile or two. Maybe the recovery days are just too short for you. Feel free to make theses adjustments, but be smart about it.

 

Six Days a Week (not a Beatles song)

 

The first part of my philosophy is to train 6 days a week. I don’t care how busy you are, how hard your bike sessions are, or how old you are, you are going to get the most out of your running by running every day. Do you really *need* a day off? Not really, but I think it’s better to be conservative and also to allow yourself some flexibility. Pretty much the only people who I think should be running 7 days a week are people who are too experienced to be reading this thread. ; ^ )

 

Unlike swimming or cycling, running is an impact sport and will beat you up. There is a much lower limit for how hard you can push yourself in a given workout before having detrimental effects. Improvement in running comes best from lots and lots of smaller chunks. Many of these days (identified below) can be quite small chunks…..so small that you can do them as a brick, a reverse brick, or even an aqua brick. You would be better off running 10-15 minutes on the treadmill before a swim workout than to not run at all.

 

A final IMPORTANT note about 6 day training – do not increase your mileage when initially adopting this plan. In other words, if you are running 15 miles a week on 3 days of running, then you should begin with 15 miles a week on 6 days of running. The workouts will seem ridiculously short at first. Just be patient. It won’t be long until it feels natural.

 

Base Training - 1:2:3

 

The structure I have adopted is centered around the concept of 2 workouts, a long run, and 3 recovery run days. It follows the basic easy-hard approach. During the base building period (the earliest part of your training) these will be long, medium, and short runs following a ratio of 1:2:3. A medium run is twice as long as a short run, and a long run* is three times as long as a short run. In my experience as a coach and an athlete, amongst all the different ways I have experimented, this formula seems to work out quite well, whether you are doing 10 mile runs with 5 mile recovery runs and a 15 mile long run, or 20 minute runs with 10 minute recovery runs and a half hour long run. Definitely space the long and medium runs out evenly with the recovery runs sandwiched in between. Play the day off by ear and see where it fits best into the routine.

 

*Many have asked about how the “25% rule” applies to triathlon. It has taken me a few years to figure out how to answer this question, especially considering that a long run that is 25% of the weekly mileage makes no sense for a triathlete who runs 3-4 days a week. As it turns out, if you take my 1:2:3 plan and work it out over 7 days, the long run is 27% of the weekly mileage. So as long as your long run is about 50% further than a typical run, you are in the right ball park.

 

How long should this base training phase be? It depends on a lot of factors and this is where the art of training and the concept of individualization come into play. I typically like to have at least 12 weeks worth of workouts before any race shorter than my longest run. If you haven’t developed the base big enough such that your long run is at least 80% of your race distance (ie 10 mile for a half or 21 miles for a full), you may want to extend the base period to attempt to develop this much needed base. For athletes that are in better shape, the base period can be as short as 4-6 weeks.

 

Training Pace

 

Before I get ahead of myself, let me introduce you to a very, very valuable website. This is Greg McMillan’s pace calculator:

 

www.mcmillanrunning.com

 

Plug in your best estimate of a stand alone race time, and calculate the paces you should be training at. For the base training phase you should be looking at recovery run pace, long run pace, and easy run pace.

 

Many triathletes are shocked at how slow they should be running. All of these runs should be at a pace where you can comfortably carry a conversation. How can this make you faster? You don’t run slow for the sake of running slow. You run slow so that you can run more. Hammering through 25 miles a week for an above average male triathlete is only going to hinder improvement. You shouldn’t be thinking about how to get more out of the running you do, but rather what you can do to run more. As your mileage builds toward 35-40 miles/wk, your paces will naturally come down as your aerobic system improves.

 

Building Volume (phase 1)

 

Now that you have your structure down, a concerted effort at slowly and gradually increasing your weekly volume should implemented. Add no more than 10% from one week to the next. Keep in mind as well that many weeks should be repeated with no increase in mileage at all. It won’t be long before you hit a plateau where mileage increases don’t occur for months at a time. What ever you do, be conservative and think long term.

 

Introducing Threshold Training (phase 2)

 

For all race distances shorter than 80% of your long run, many many weeks of threshold paced training are going to be essential to running faster times. You may have heard many terms to describe this time up training: lactate threshold training, T pace, LT training, Maximum Lactate Steady State (MLSS), sweet spot training, tempo runs, zone 4, steady state runs, threshold runs, etc. No matter what you call it, it boils down to a solid hard but controlled effort for an extended period of time.

 

Jack Daniels has a nice chart on page 114 of his 2nd edition Running Formula to cover the different paces one should run for different durations. Greg McMillan also covers these paces in his pace calculator.

 

The chart in Daniels’ Formula is pretty self explanatory. Regarding McMillan’s site, use the tempo run pace to describe sustained 20 minute runs, and the steady state pace to describe threshold runs from 40 minutes (lower range) and to 60 minutes (upper range).

 

Once you have moved out of the base phase, I recommend throwing in a single threshold workout each week in place of a medium run. I recommend a mix of the lengths described above (20 to 60 minutes) at the corresponding paces. However, the entire workout, including warmup and cool down, should be at least a mile or two shorter than your medium run. For many of you, this will limit you to shorter workouts (20 minute range). I also recommend giving yourself at least 2 weeks to adjust to this workout, starting off with half the distance the first week, and then ¾ distance the next. Overall weekly mileage should not be increased at this time as the added intensity will lead to an increased training load. In fact, a *reduction* in mileage may be necessary and should be considered the day or two after this workout is introduced.

 

Racing Phase (phase 3)

 

This is the last phase of training when race specific workouts are added in addition to the prior training presented above. I will talk in more detail about this later as the second workout will depend entirely on what the race distance is. As you might have guessed from above, depending on the race distance and your fitness level, it is entirely possible that you will never get to a point where you are doing two running workouts a week in addition to your long run. In fact, for many Ironman athletes, and a lot of other long course athletes, your training may consist entirely of base training.

 

 

Part 2 - Description of different types of training

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=2548469#2548469

 

A Quick Summary of Part 1

 

Phase 1 – all easy paced training using the paces @ www.mcmillanrunning.com. Run 6 days a week using a 1:2:3 ration (ie short runs of 15 minutes, medium runs of 30 minutes, and a long run of 45 minutes....just as an example). Gradually increase mileage, but by no more than 10% from one week to the next.

 

Phase 2 – replace one medium run a week with a threshold workout of 20-60 minutes long.

 

Phase 3 – replace the other medium run with a race specific workout.

 

Some people will never reach phases 2 or 3.

 

Working Toward a Goal Race

 

Every now and then I’ll get someone to ask me how to train for a sprint triathlon in 2 months and then get ready for a half marathon 6 weeks after that. My answer is I don’t know. My training strategy is geared toward an end of the season A race. Everything else in the plan is secondary to that. You can either train for the sprint tri and run the best half marathon you can 6 weeks after your peak, or you can train for the half marathon and run the best tri split you can in the middle of phase 3 of your half marathon training.

 

Nevertheless, your goal race will largely determine what kind of workouts you do in phase 3 of your training plan. I will address each race distance below and do my best to account for different ability levels and how one should adjust their training.

 

Training Balance

 

I started an entire thread on this here:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1600721;search_string=runtraining11;#1600721

 

Too many athletes compartmentalize training into an either-or approach. Do you need speed, or do you need distance? You need both. The question is how much of each do you need, and that largely depends on your level of fitness as well as the race distance you plan to run. See the chart below for a graphical explanaition:

 

 

 

 

Allow me to briefly explain this chart. To put it simply, the shorter your race is, the more speed and less endurance training you are going to need. The longer your race is, the more endurance and the less speed training you are going to need. Somewhere in between the two extremes you will also need a mixture of threshold (those 20 to 60 minute sustained hard runs) and V02max training (efforts at 3K to 5K race pace).

 

What mixture would that be? It all depends on how long it is going to take you to finish a race. The actual length of the race is not necessarily that important, nor is how long it will take you to finish it. It’s really about what energy systems your body will be utilizing while racing, which can be predicted by the two previous variables.

 

I have circled above an athlete who runs about 33 miles a week and is in phase 3 of his training. His goal race is a stand alone 5k, which will take him about 20 minutes to complete. Looking at the chart above you can see that he will want about an even mix of threshold and V02max training, and a good portion of speed work (efforts at 1k to 2K race pace), while still maintaining a large amount of easy running to build the aerobic system (reminder: all of this training develops the aerobic system. The easy training targets it best because you can do lots and lots of it). What’s most important to understand here is that if this athlete was, instead, training for a half marathon, he needs more threshold training and more easy running while requiring less V02max and speed training (look just to the left of the 60 minute mark). If he is training for an Ironman, he will mostly need lots and lots of easy running (speed work to run 10 minute miles? Nah.)

 

Standalone Training versus Tri-Training

 

The above chart is meant for standalone races. I use a really simple conversion to compare stand alone training to tri-training. The run segment of a triathlon is equivalent to double that distance as a stand alone race. In other words, in order to be properly trained to run the 5K segment of a sprint triathlon, you should train to be in 10K stand alone racing shape. For a Half Ironman, you want to be in marathon shape.

 

This has little to do with being able to run twice as far and more to do with training the proper energy systems. Triathlons are simply run slower than standalone races, so using the chart above, everything slides to the left. The 5k segment of a sprint tri is going to require just a little less speed and a less trained V02max than a stand alone 5K, while relying more on your aerobic conditioning.

 

Interval Training

 

Below you will see recommendations for two types of interval training: V02max intervals and threshold/V02max borderline intervals.

 

I typically recommend that V02max intervals be done starting at around 5K race pace and done for a distance that takes 3 to 3 ½ minutes to cover. For most people this will be 800m. I like the recoveries to be 2 to 2 ½ minutes, or 300-400m. Begin at 5K race pace on the first interval and gradually work your way down to 5-10 sec faster than that pace per interval (or 10-20 sec/mile faster). Be very careful to stay under control. The intent is not to kill yourself during these interval sessions. As a general rule, if you can’t go immediately into a jog after your interval, you are working too hard. Some good coaches disagree with me on this point, but I find that the potential reward of training any harder does not outweigh the risk of over training if the intervals are run to the point of exhaustion. Always remember, if you leave the track a bit undertrained, you can always just run more mileage the next day.

 

The threshold/V02max borderline intervals are run at 45 minute race pace and are typically done at a ratio of 100m jogging for every 500m running. I prefer 1500m intervals with 300m jogs. You will find this workout to be a bit less stressful than the above intervals and the jog breaks will be rather short.

 

Speed Training

 

What I call speed training is what Jack Daniels refers to as Repetition training. He typically recommends them as 200-400m intervals, while Pfitzinger and Galloway (from his first book) recommend them in 100m chunks. Either way, I like to do these with easy jogs of equal lengths in between each one. The pace should be pretty close to mile race pace, which is a pace that is pretty quick yet not really close to all out sprinting. I don’t really recommend much of this for longer race distances as its benefits become less and less important for the longer distances. Striders (explained later) are used in place of speed for these distances.

 

Threshold/Tempo Runs

 

From part 1:

 

Jack Daniels has a nice chart on page 114 of his 2nd edition Running Formula to cover the different paces one should run for different durations. Greg McMillan also covers these paces in his pace calculator.

 

The chart in Daniels’ Formula is pretty self explanatory. Regarding McMillan’s site, use the tempo run pace to describe sustained 20 minute runs, and the steady state pace to describe threshold runs from 40 minutes (lower range) and to 60 minutes (upper range).

 

Once you have moved out of the base phase, I recommend throwing in a single threshold workout each week in place of a medium run. I recommend a mix of the lengths described above (20 to 60 minutes) at the corresponding paces. However, the entire workout, including warmup and cool down, should be at least a mile or two shorter than your medium run. For many of you, this will limit you to shorter workouts (20 minute range). I also recommend giving yourself at least 2 weeks to adjust to this workout, starting off with half the distance the first week, and then ¾ distance the next. Overall weekly mileage should not be increased at this time as the added intensity will lead to an increased training load. In fact, a *reduction* in mileage may be necessary and should be considered the day or two after this workout is introduced.

 

Cruise (threshold) Intervals

 

Some people prefer to do threshold training as intervals. The nice thing about cruise intervals is that you can do about 50% more work than you can with a tempo run. There is a compromise between the two workouts. Cruise intervals allow you to do more work, while tempo runs allow you to mimic race conditions. I recommend a mix of both. The rest should be kept very short for cruise intervals. A ration of 5:1 is appropriate (5min working, 1min jog, or 10min working, 2min jog, etc.)

 

Tips about Steady State Runs

 

60 minutes on a track? Are you kidding me?! I prefer to do these near a track and then map out a course that I can run off of the track to try and break up the monotony. I’ll run my first mile on the track to dial in the pace, and then 1-2 miles off of the track at that same effort, and then another 1-2 laps on the track to make sure the pace is still good, and then back out onto the course. Rinse and repeat for 60 minutes.

 

The Training Continuum

 

In the above chart I talked about endurance, threshold, V02max, and speed training as if they are four completely separate concepts. There is no magic black line that compartmentalizes one training zone as being completely different from another one. It's presented this way as a means to be able to talk about different types of training and how and why it is done, but if the chart above was to be drawn more accurately, it would be more of an overlapped mishmashing of the different colors. Training at mile race pace will improve all of the energy systems that affect your body’s ability to run an ultra marathon just like easy running will improve your mile time, when compared to doing nothing at all. Running just a little less a little faster or a little more a little slower will have very similar effects.

 

And that last sentence I think is very valuable information to know. If you ever get into a workout and find that you have run it faster than you should have, simply cut the workout short and know with confidence that you had a good workout.

 

Weather Considerations

 

Heat and humidity slow you down. Remember this on workout day.

 

Ultra Long Runs

 

For longer races (mainly half and full marathons) it may not be possible for you to get in an adequate length long run following the advice laid out here (a long run of at least 80% of the race distance). In this case, I recommend an ultra long run every 2-3 weeks with a normal long run on the in between weeks. The ultra long run should increase by about 1-2 mile increments on the alternating weeks and build toward at least 80% of the race distance, or 3 hours, whichever is less. In the case of a half marathon, if possible, the ultra long run can be pushed up to 13-15 miles.

 

An example of a long run progression for a 4:8:12 athlete might be as follows: 12 miles one week, 13 the next, 12 the week after that, 14-15 following that week, back to 12, etc. Back out of the goal race week enough weeks using this progression to see at what point you’ll need to begin your ultra long runs.

 

Warning about ultra long runs – During the course of an ultra long run there often comes a point where the body starts to feel pretty bad. I never recommend running for more than 10 minutes beyond this point as it will dramatically affect the rest of your week’s training. This may prevent you from reaching your eventual goal ultra long run, but you simply can’t force your body to be more fit than it is and your goal in training is to do the training that you are currently prepared for, not the training you want to be prepared for.

 

Striders

 

2 to 4 times a week finish your run with a set of three to six 50 meter striders. This is a short fast run (but not a sprint) where you concentrate on form to the best of your ability. The theory behind striders is that at higher speeds your body self corrects it form and teaches you to run more efficiently.

 

Races as Workouts

 

Always remember that on any week that you run a race that you should eliminate one of your workouts. For a 5K race (not a sprint-tri) I recommend eliminating the interval workout for that week (if one is scheduled). For anything longer, eliminate a threshold workout. For harder races, keep in mind that you may need several days or longer of recovery. The key concept to take away here is to make sure you don’t boost your training load as a result of not compensating for a race with the rest of your week’s training.

 

Tapering

 

Always include a taper before your goal race. Shorter races like a 5K need only 4-9 days for a taper. Longer races require more….2 to 3 weeks for a marathon and 3 to 5 weeks for an Ironman. Keep in mind in the following sections that whenever I refer to periods before the goal race, I am actually referring to the number of weeks before the beginning of the taper.

 

 

Runtraining - The Program (part 3)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=2554998#2554998

 

In this section I map out specific recommendations relative to the fitness level of the athlete and the goal race distance. Though the fundamentals are similar, an athlete who runs 80 miles a week and is training for a stand alone 5K will have different requirements than an athlete running 35 miles a week and training for an Ironman.

 

Keep in mind this is very difficult to do, but I have made my best attempt at trying to address the needs of everyone who is better than beginner and slower than the FOP runner. Again, these are meant to be guidelines and, if anything, give you a reference point rather than to use ambiguous terms like "fast," or "a lot."

 

I actually attempted to draw a graph showing how training changes as a result of fitness and goal race distance, but unfortunately failed. In a nutshell, the longer your race is, a smaller emphasis as a portion of your total training is made on speed and intervals, and a larger emphasis is given to endurance running. As your fitness increases, the larger training load you can handle. In this respect, a marathon runner who is very, very fit may actually do more speed than a 5K runner who is not very fit. This is purely because the very fit runner can handle a higher training load. However, the proportion of the speed will be much lower for him than it will be for that 5K runner. It's al about where you want to invest your training, and a fit runner simply has more capital to invest.

 

The Standalone 5K

 

This is the only race distance that I will recommend any significant quantities of speed work. For this section I will be assuming that you are capable of running a 5K in 16-25 minutes. For slower people who are approaching 30+ minutes, I recommend that you follow the 10K training recommendations in the next section.

 

As stated above, the plan assumes that you will spend 6 months to prepare for this race. The first 6 weeks is an easy running only phase in which you run 3 short runs, two mediums, and one long run every week, while gradually building volume at increases less than 10% from one week to the next. This base period can be as long as 14 weeks for a less developed athlete.

 

In phase 2 a medium run is replaced with a threshold run (20-60 minutes at the paces described above) every week. This can begin as early as 6 weeks into the program, but no later than 12 weeks from the goal race.

 

Phase 3 will last 6-8 weeks (as much as 12 for very well trained athletes). Replace your other medium run with a 5K race pace interval workout every week. In addition to these race pace workouts, a spattering of speed training will be mixed in as well.

 

Phase 3 plan for 4:8:12 athletes (athletes who have short, medium, and long runs of 4, 8, and 12 miles)

 

Each interval workout should comprise of about 5-6,000m of total interval work. 800m of speed training can be tacked onto the end of this workout if shortened to 4-5,000m.

 

Speed work can be done up to 4,000m in one session. Feel free to knock out some intervals and replace them with speed repetitions, or to do an entire workout of speed provided that you only average 800-1,000m a week of speed during this phase. If this week you do 3,000m of intervals and 1,600m of speed reps, then next week should have no speed reps.

 

Hopefully by this point a solid foundation of endurance and threshold training has been put in. This training is still very important to maintain throughout the final phase, but feel free to replace one or two threshold workouts or long runs with another interval workout.

 

Phase 3 plan for 3:6:9 athletes

 

You can pretty much follow the plan above, but be sure to scale everything back to the conservative side. 90% of the above workouts should be sufficient.

 

Phase 3 plan for 2:4:6 athletes

 

Hopefully you have made some real progress and are moving in the right direction, but your aerobic base is not large enough to warrant two workouts a week. In this phase you will want to alternate your weeks. One week run your normal threshold workout and replace the medium run with 10x100m speed repetitions (cut the medium run back by ~10 minutes this day). On the alternating weeks do 5,000m V02max intervals and run the medium run as normal.

 

The Sprint Tri and the Standalone 10K

 

This section will be similar to the 5K training, except that more work will be done at 10K race pace and less speed will be needed. For this section I will be assuming that you are capable of running a 10K in 33-52 minutes. For slower people who are approaching 60+ minutes, I recommend that you follow the Half Marathon training recommendations in the next section.

 

The preparation done in phases 1 and 2 are the same as described in the 5k training section above.

 

Phase 3 plan for 4:8:12 athletes

 

Keep the threshold workouts as normal but alternate the 2nd workout of the week. On one week, do 4-5,000m of V02max intervals with 800m of speed training tacked on the end. On the alternate weeks, replace that workout with 3-4x1,600m at goal race pace. For faster athletes, this will require up to 400m of jogging recoveries in between. Athletes who race 10ks at 45minutes or slower should only need 300m of jogging recoveries.

 

Phase 3 plan for 3:6:9 athletes

 

You can pretty much follow the plan above, but be sure to scale everything back to the conservative side. 90% of the above workouts should be sufficient.

 

Phase 3 plan for 2:4:6 athletes

 

Much like in the 5K plan, you will be alternating your workouts and sticking to one solid workout each week. Speed work will be eliminated altogether and covered with a healthy diet of 50 meter striders every week.

 

Every other week run your threshold workout as normal. On alternating weeks, run 2-3 by 1,600m at goal race pace with 300-400m jogging recoveries in between.

 

Additionally, if training for a standalone 10K, every other week start pushing your long run by half mile increments while returning to your normal 6 mile long run on the alternating weeks. So one week you might run a 6 mile long run, followed by a 6.5 miler the next, followed by a 6 miler on the 3rd week, followed by a 7 miler the week after that, etc. Try to build up to at least 7.5 miles for this alternating long run. Be sure to take off what ever extra mileage you add to it the next day (so the day after a 7.5 mile long run would be just a ½ mile run to shake the legs out before you stretch).

 

The Olympic Tri and the Half Marathon

 

Here there will actually be some significant differences from the 5K and Sprint/10K section. For this section I will be assuming that you are capable of running a Half Marathon in under 2 hours. For slower athletes I recommend that you follow the Marathon training recommendations in the next section.

 

The preparation done in phases 1 and 2 are the same as described in the 5k training section above.

 

You might have noticed above that each training plan begins with building an aerobic base and then phasing in threshold training. This really is the foundation of all distance training from which every plan is built off of. From there you move into race specific training to prepare your body for the specific demands of that event.

 

The Olympic Tri and Half Marathon are different than the shorter events in that you are already doing race specific training. Your threshold training is very specific to these races. In that regard, I don’t get too concerned with speed or interval training, though I do make sure that enough gets worked into the plan. It is very important to remember for these events that it is aerobic and threshold training that is going to make the biggest difference for these races, not speed and V02max intervals.

 

For phase 3, I generally like to get in a healthy variety of different threshold workouts, plus one threshold/V02max borderline workout. Using the paces outlined above, I like to do 20 minute tempo runs, 40 minute long tempo runs, and 60 minute steady state runs. In addition, I will do a set of 1,600m repeats with 300m recovery jogs done at 45 minute race pace. This is (in theory) fast enough to stimulate V02max improvement, while still slow enough to allow for a quick recovery from the workout allowing one to maintain a good level of weekly mileage. That, plus it’s much closer to your projected race pace than faster intervals.

 

In addition to the above, late in phase 3 a couple of mix workouts that involves some 5K paced running is good to simulate the effects of chasing down those last few places in the last miles of a race. One of my favorites is a 400 at 5K race pace followed immediately (no rest in between) by a 400 20 seconds slower. Repeat this until it gets pretty hard (3-4 miles is usually enough).

 

It doesn’t really matter how the above workouts are structured, other than that they fall on the medium days. I do, however, like structure in my plans, so I like to put the 40min and 60min threshold sessions on Tuesdays and run the faster ones on Thursdays.

 

Phase 3 plan for 3:6:9 athletes

 

Your aerobic base really isn’t high enough to endure the volume of higher intensity running as listed above. For you I recommend a single workout a week and using the other day to try and push for a little extra mileage (7-8 mile runs).

 

In addition, your long run is a little weak for a Half Marathon. I suggest following the ultra long run schedule laid out in part 2, trying to push your ultra long runs up to at least 11 miles.

 

Phase 3 plan for 2:4:6 athletes

 

Same recommendations as for the 3:6:9 athletes, except that you will be limited to shorter threshold workouts until your base improves.

 

The Half Ironman and the Marathon

 

Hopefully by this point you are realizing that there are some significant differences in training protocols (though still many similarities) when moving from fast stand alone 5K races to the longer, slower HIM and Marathon. For this section I will be assuming that you are capable of running a Marathon in under 4:10. For slower athletes I recommend that you read the section on Ironman training and consider adopting a hybrid of the two plans depending on how much slower you run.

 

Because of the great endurance demands of these events, I recommend that phase 1 be extended as long as possible, building as much weekly mileage as your body can handle. For most athletes, phase 2 need not be introduced until 12-16 weeks from goal race.

 

Phase 2 is as described above, but may be shortened due to an extended phase 1.

 

In Phase 3 many veteran athletes and elites have the foundation to run two solid workouts a week in addition to a regular long run of 18+ miles when preparing for these events. I feel that most athletes lack this foundation and are better served by running one race specific workout a week while reserving the second workout day for a second long run that is half way between your normal long run and your usual medium run (for example, if a normal long run is 12 miles, the second long run would be 10 to 11 miles). It would not be unreasonable for athletes with a little more experience to alternate their 2nd long run with a threshold workout.

 

For athletes who have not reached a long run of at least 13-14 miles for the HIM or 21-22 miles for the Marathon, I recommend following the ultra long run plan laid out above. Due to the time required to build the long run for the marathon, the ultra long runs may need to be started as early as 3-4 months out from your goal race.

 

Many coaches recommend mixing threshold runs within the long run. I recommend using caution when using this technique, though agree that in can be very effective. I feel this should only be done only after a solid foundation of endurance running has been established and that a weekly dose of long running has been maintained for quite some time. To put it in context, a typical threshold/long run mix might include two 20 minute sessions @ McMillan’s tempo run pace (see link above for paces) within a 14 mile run. In order for one to be able to reasonably finish such a session without significantly compromising the rest of their week’s training, I think that the athlete should already have established that he can finish an 18-22 mile long run without too much strain.

 

A typical Daniels’ training plan actually has what I have termed the “ultra long run” every 3rd week, with the other two weeks being more conservative long runs mixed with threshold intervals. I don’t have a lot of experience with this kind of training, however Desert Dude has proclaimed this workout to be one of the cornerstones of success for his long course athletes. It is possible to get yourself into trouble while doing these so definitely leave your ego at home and use some good sense while listening to your body during these workouts. I can’t hammer home anything more important than the idea that it is what you can do week in and week out, year in and year out, that is going to make you a better runner, NOT how hard you can hammer yourself in a single workout.

 

I’d also like to comment on the use of V02max intervals when training for these races. There are plenty of examples of elite distance runners who will run intervals once a week and win top races. I want to stress that for every example that you can find, I can probably walk down to the local running club and find a guy who blows up in his marathon because he was spending too much time worrying about his interval training with his track group when he should have been building his endurance base. An elite athlete who has been running 120 miles a week for the last 7 years already had his foundation built and is capable of handling more intense interval training. They are doing this in addition to the more important endurance and threshold training, not at the expense of it. If you do wish to add this to your training regime, please be very conservative approach the workouts with caution.

 

The Ironman

 

I would like to warn up front that I don’t consider myself an Ironman coach, but I have competed in one myself and have done a fair amount of reading on the training for an Ironman. If anything, I see no reason why the principles laid out above would be any different for this event. IOW, there is no magic that occurs at the iron distance that will all of the sudden make one want to ditch their foundation work in exchange for high doses of speed training.

 

As I mentioned about the marathon training, you will see elite iron athletes who are capable of handling high doses of threshold training as well as doing a fair amount of mix threshold/long run workouts. These guys have a much more solid training foundation than most athletes and are training not to finish the run segment in 4-5 hours, but rather dip below 3 hours. For this reason their training will be somewhat different than what you should probably attempt.

 

I wrote coach Gordo a few years back to get his insight on run training for my first Ironman and his suggestion was that the overall training load (including biking and swimming) was going to be too much for a novice IM athlete to concern themselves with higher intensity run training. From my limited experience with this event I tend to agree with him, though I don’t think that limited amounts of threshold training would be harmful for slightly more experienced athletes who intend to run their run segment in under 4 hours.

 

Using a Marathon to Prepare of an Ironman

 

Bad idea. Sometimes people think that running the Boston Marathon would be a great way to prepare for IMWI in September. A Marathon will beat the hell out of your body and require you a good month to recover from. Why lose so much training time during the most important part of your IM training?

 

Final Note about Ironman Training

 

Keep in mind that an Ironman requires a large volume of total training from month to month. A lot of this high volume training intends to be done in the months preceding the goal race. For this reason, many IM athletes will do much more training during these months than in the earlier phases of training.

 

In addition, many IMs are done in the summer time leaving the early training periods in the winter time while it is dark and cold outside. For this and various other reasons, a lot of coaches like to have more intensity and less total training time done during this time period.

 

From a pure running standpoint, I feel that most triathletes would benefit not from increasing their intensity during this period, but rather from using it to build their much needed mileage base that has been missing so far during their careers. Having said that, there are many coaches and athletes who have succeeded off of a lower mileage, higher intensity phase in the winter months.

 

Phase 2 ½

 

Though I feel a solid endurance base is critical to distance running, once a person has a few years of running under his belt, he may benefit from adding a second workout during phase 2 of training. A healthy mix of training between 45 minute races pace (as cruise intervals) and 2 hour race pace (as a 60 minute steady state run) is a good way to continue to improve endurance race fitness without too much risk of over training or burnout. It is up to the athlete to asses the benefits of a two workout week versus a single workout week with a focus toward continuing to increase overall weekly mileage. I often get asked at what point is the mileage sufficient. The answer to that is, IMO, is typically at least 4 ½ hours a week of running consistently for months at a time. Though there are many good reasons for training less, I don’t believe that one of those reasons is that you are running enough already.

 

Dipping below 45 minute race pace to do interval workouts at 5K race pace or faster speed workouts is very risky when done over long periods of time and can quickly lead to over training. I know that there are some coaches who do it with success and some books that recommend it in their training plans, but over my years of experience I have seen it cause more harm than good and don’t recommend it for inexperienced athletes or athletes not under the guidance of a good coach. It is just too easy to do too much and to compromise your long term training goals. I have seen more athletes than I can count (and I can count pretty high) who have finished a season slower than their beginning races as a result of too much intensity too early. If you do insist on doing these types of workouts because of a social track group that you belong to, I highly recommend that you keep the dosages low, the paces on the conservative side, and make up the difference with longer warm ups and cool downs, at least until you are within 6-12 weeks of your goal race (phase 3).

 

As a general rule, 5k paced and faster training will reap most of its benefits in 6-8 weeks, and will lead to burnout in 10-14 weeks. It’s not specifically the faster paces that do this, but rather the effects of how most people apply them.

 

Triathlon Adaptations 1 (removing workouts)

 

As promised early on, I am providing recommendations for how to adapt the above information into a tri-plan. Unfortunately, you will have to look elsewhere for any specifics on your bike and swim training and how to mix it with your running. I do understand, however, that heavy biking and heavy swimming will affect your run training, as will the realities of your work and life schedule.

 

I will mention up front, however, that there are no short cuts to fitness. Though picking up the kids from dance lessons might be a perfectly valid excuse for skipping 2 workouts a week, the body does not compensate in a positive manner simply because you have a valid excuse. Training less than optimal results in less fitness regardless of the extrinsic factors.

 

Cutting Down Recovery (short) Runs

 

Though you may have the fitness to run on a 25:50:75 (in minutes) level, you may simply not have the time to devote 25 minutes of running on your three short days due to time spent cycling and swimming. If time dictates, feel free to cut these runs back, though I still urge you to keep them in the plan. Even a 10 to 15 minute run before or after a swim or bike still has value. Three short days of 15 minutes versus three days off is a difference of 45 minutes of running a week. 50, 15, 50, 15, 0, 75, 15 is 25% more running than 50, 0, 50, 0, 0, 75, 0 and will have an effect on your run fitness.

 

Even though you are cutting these runs down, I still like to think of it as a 25:50:75 fitness level with the caveat that the short runs are cut down. Again, the structure is there to give you a fundamental basis to begin from and from which adjustments can be made. In this case, you aren’t randomly assigning training distances. You are beginning from a starting point and then making adjustments to make your plan work for you. From here you may find that the shorter short days allow you to run 55 minutes on the medium days without affecting your long day.

 

Cutting Out (some) Short Runs

 

Though I still recommend if at all possible to run 6 days a week, you may find that it just isn’t realistic given your schedule. Again, take the above plan and simply cut out a day or two. The concepts and the ratios still apply, and as stated in the previous section, you may find that you can make minor adjustments by adding a bit more mileage elsewhere in the schedule.

 

Cutting Out a Medium (or workout) Day

 

Cutting out a medium day will more than likely be the result of needed recovery from hard cycling or swimming workouts. It is possible that you simply don’t have the fitness to run a long run, and two medium runs or two workouts in the same week that you are doing heavy cycling and swim workouts. In this case you will simply need to cut out one of these workouts. Depending on which plan you are following (per goal race distance), you will want to alternate the workouts on your workout day, or potentially lean toward utilizing more of you race specific training on this day as you approach your goal race (for example, in the case of the 5K, you may want to do 5K paced intervals in the last 4 weeks of your training, while alternating interval training and threshold training earlier in phase 3).

 

Triathlon Adaptations 2 (adding intensity)

 

The above section listed some short cuts that a triathlete might have to take in his run training. As I stated, these shortcuts lead to less than optimal training with respect to running which will likely result in slower running performances. The most effective way to improve your running in most cases is to run at least 6 times a week while maintaining three harder days a week (medium and long runs or workouts and long runs).

 

As a result of either cutting down or cutting out workouts above, you will likely find that you are capable of running just a bit more on the days that you do run. This is great and, provided that you are recovering well, you should push a little farther on those days. A person who would normally run 25:50:75 (in minutes) might find that they are capable of running 57:85 if only running three days a week.

 

I still recommend following the above plan while continuing to extend your weekly mileage on limited training up to the point of running 60 minute medium runs and 90 minute long runs. Beyond this point it may be beneficial two continue increasing mileage for longer races (like marathons, HIMs, and IMs). However, for shorter races, you may want to being replacing some of your easier runs with various threshold training workouts.

 

This recommendation is more about getting the most out of your training time if available time becomes a limitation for you. If you only have three days a week to run and don’t have the time to devote more than 45 minutes on two of those days, an athlete who is capable of running 60 minutes on each of those days plus a 90 minute long run will be leaving himself undertrained by simply running 45 minutes easy.

 

In this case, replace one or both of those 45 minute runs with threshold training. The same can be said for the long run if, again, time is a limiting factor. Essentially here you are training in phase 2 ½. Continue to follow the recommendations laid out in the above plan with these new adaptations in mind. Only add in interval and speed training in phase three if your goal race distance calls for it OR if you have gotten to a point where, again, you have maxed out your available training time. Given this example, if two 45 minute threshold sessions is just not pushing yourself to improve and you have no more available running time in the week, then start phasing in even faster sessions, being very careful to make sure that you are able to adequately recover from them and avoid overtraining.

 

Again, I want to emphasize that the above recommendations are not even trades for an optimal 6 day a week running plan. They are only meant to accommodate people who have scheduling conflicts. Cutting out workouts and adding intensity should only be done if the athlete is unable to schedule the necessary running sessions.

 

The Long Triathlon Season

 

I am not a fan of the concept of a racing season that lasts 6-8 months, however it is a reality for many triathletes who simply enjoy hitting a lot of fun races while the weather is good. In the respect, I recommend staying in phase 2 (or 2 ½ ) for the bulk of the season while picking a couple of goal races to move into phase 3 for the weeks leading up to those races. Keep in mind that it will be a lot more realistic to plan for a solid HIM performance in June and another race in September rather than trying to compete in a Sprint Tri in August followed by a Marathon 6 weeks later.

 

Final Notes

 

If anything, I hope that the above post at least gives an approach to training from which one can compare their own training. From an educational standpoint, I find it’s helpful to have something that is concrete to give a reference point from which to discuss. If anything, a post like this will lead to a debate between those who may largely agree with those who may feel this is misleading in some way.


RunTraining (the links)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=1612485#1612485

 

Reorganized to bring more appropriate threads to the top:

 

* The Program (part 1)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...%20part%201;#2548394

 

* The Program (part 2)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...%20part%202;#2554186

 

* The Program (part 3)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...part%203%20;#2560901

 

 

Swimming: Compilation of some of Doug Stern's tips:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ring=barryp;#4020943

 

 

1) Runtraining11 - Understanding how to balance your program (Dec 13, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining11;#1600721

 

2) RunTraining19 - Gradual Progressive Training

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining19;#1897663

 

3) RunTraining20 - Andavnce beyond the begginer's stage running program

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining20;#1949381

 

4) Zero to PR in 7 months - My Training Log

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...t_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

 

5) Runtraining7 - Struggling with running? Many have improved from this simple fix. (May 10, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...untraining7;#1311512

 

6) Runtraining10 - How can YOU get faster at running - LSD vrs intensity (Oct 4, 06)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining10;#1007702

 

7) RunTraining16 - REPETITION TRAINING, HILL TRAINING - How to link your base phase to your interval phase.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining16;#1029990

 

8) RunTraining15 - A VERY IMPORTANT WORKOUT THAT MIGHT BE MISSING IN YOUR ROUTINE....NEWS AT 11! (Tempo Runs)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining15;#1020627

Try this new link

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...t_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

 

9) Why Speedwork is Overrated

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...;;page=unread#unread

 

 

The rest (still worth a read....if I do say so myself ; ^ ).

 

RunTraining1 - Training for the time limited triathlete (Jan 31, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...t_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

 

Runtraining2 - The Zatopek Paradox (Feb 6, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...untraining2;#1187478

 

Runtraining3 - Long Runs (fast or slow?) (Feb 8, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...untraining1;#1190259

 

RunTraining4: Training Stresses for Different Workouts (Mar 26, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...untraining4;#1250345

 

Runtraining5 - Some tips for the up and coming season (Apr 13, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...untraining5;#1274763

 

Runtraining6 - Optimizing time, setting priorities (May 5, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...untraining6;#1305376

 

Runtraining8 - Some tips on improving running form (May 14, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...untraining8;#1315768

 

Runtraining12 - A simple model to structure your training (Dec 20, 07)

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining12;#1608381

 

RunTraining13 - Track Workouts - How fast, how often, what time of year?

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining13;#1014205

 

RunTraining14 - Hill Training

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining14;#1152546

 

RunTraining17 - THE FORMULA

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining17;#1832962

 

RunTraining18 - TRAINING TABLES

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ntraining18;#1836368