“Plan your work, then work your plan.”
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
You’ve heard them all before – the mantras about the importance
of planning. You plan your holidays, plan your budget/s, plan a weekend away,
plan a night out, plan a trip to the countryside or the city. You most likely
follow plans at work. And, have plans for your kids’ education.
What about your training? And racing? Are they planned?
Maybe you follow a weekly training schedule or routine out of
habit, and then “hope” that you race faster. Or, a monthly program rehashed
from the internet, a magazine, or a squad coach, again provides your race-day “hope”.
Most recreational runners (triathletes, cyclists) simply want
to be fast(er) now. They think that if they train a little further or longer, a
little harder, for more days of the week, and take less rest, that they can
have those big PB’s, stay ill-health and injury free, have life-balance, and
get better from year to year. All in “hope”.
During running Performance Reviews, Program Revisions, and in
developing Strategic Performance Plans for individuals, I always ask to see their
(current) training plan.
In some cases, I get a vague outline of a week’s training
sessions. Sometimes I see a print-out of a loose schedule or routine. Or, 3-4
week’s of sessions presented in A4 landscape. Beyond going a little further or
faster each week, each session is essentially the same. Again, in “hope”.
Sometimes I can tell the software program, book, or squad
they’ve got it from. “Thanks, a program. Yet, where’s your plan?”
I often get “Oh, I thought this was a plan?”. Let’s clarify:
A training plan is a
bigger-picture guide. It may be a Long Term Athletic Development plan over
6-8 years for a very good junior athlete/runner. It may be an Olympic or
quadrennial plan for an elite competitor. It is usually an Annual or Yearly
that guides and directs most triathletes toward and through their next
competitive season. A triathlete that travels from north to south hemispheres
may have two race-season planned into a year. These, along with extended
lead-up periods of time to (longer events) of, say, 16, 20, 24 or 26 weeks
duration, are usually referred to as macrocycles. Each of these plans are
premised upon an aim, training objectives or outcomes, and various (objective)
performance goals.
A training program supports the direction of your plan. It
commonly, but is not limited to, 3-4 weeks of structured training sessions
aimed to support key elements of your performance improvement. The sessions
should not be ad hoc, nor should they simply require you to go further or faster
in a weekly format. Each program should be reviewed, assessed and revised at
it’s end, and the outcomes fed into the structure, content, methods and loading
of the next program – yet, still based upon the direction of your plan. Ego
interferes here.
A training schedule is a
5-14 day period of time where various training sessions are completed to meet
specific outcomes. For most, given the structural demands of modern life –
a job, family, study etc – a 7 day schedule is used. Different sessions, methods
of training and loading (patterns) are used on different days to develop or
maintain particular training outcomes.
A training routine is a
training schedule where the same type of session is followed on the same day of
the week. For some, it’s the same session from Monday-to-Monday or
Tuesday-to-Tuesday and so on with 1 or 2 more reps, a few extra kms, or the
same reps a little faster.
A training session is the working and practical component of
your schedule. It’s work time. It, and it’s smaller training units, are what
over time, should take you from HOPE to HAPPENING.
All that said:
- a novice - a newbie - to running or, in particular, triathlons, without much of an endurance fitness background, will get better regardless of what they do – some training is better than none
- runners and triathletes improve over their first 2-3 years as they accumulate race-experience, and their body adapts to the increased demands of regular training
- habits are set up over the first few season/years too – some positive, some aren’t. The most common habit that has infiltrated running and triathlon training: “if some is good, more must be better”
- plans should not be too prescriptive. Providing guidance and direction, they’re structured to ensure you do appropriate types of training and recovery in optimal proportions, at strategic times, for defined periods of time…to ensure improved performance “happens”
- not all sessions should be strictly defined and have measurable outcomes. Many runners do train for enjoyment, fun and social reasons – don’t lose perspective on these
- a good plan, program and supporting schedule or routine, has built in flexibility
If you’re serious about getting better and being more
competitive - plan your training, then train to your plan. Enjoy your training
and racing more, and minimize burnout, boredom, ill-health and injury – plan
your training, then train to your plan. Planning training and training to their
plan/s – is bread and butter for true competitors and the elite. They make it “happen”.
Train smart. Train with purpose, and enjoyment. Plan. Training
to ensure you don’t race in hope,
train to ensure you improve and the racing will take care of it self. Make it happen.
