Planning your training

Training Planning

I recently posted a series on planning your training and how to deal with fitting it into the rest of your life.  Here is the summary with links to the individual posts:

Training Plans #1

I know everyone (or at least magazines and training manuals) say you need a plan - and its true, you do.

But most plans set out weekly programmes of training sessions - 60mins on Tuesday, 90 on Thursday, Long ride on Saturday, etc

You can set out weeks of this with increases in distance or intensity, and rest weeks, and even a taper so you peak for a special event.

And I've constructed plans like this for 10 years.

Trouble is, they don't work. More

A New Way of Training #2

I've been describing the problems of normal Training Plans.

If these neat programmes don't work - why is that?  And what's the alternative?

OK, they don't work because:

1) Life gets in the way - and because we aren't professional sportspeople we can't justify missing out on personal and family commitments.

2) Neat progressions of distance, time or intensity may not be what your body can cope with.

More.

A Flexible Training Plan #3

I know, it sounds a bit like "anything goes" or not really a plan at all - but that's not so.

Lets look at the earlier example of a rigid plan - the Saturday long rides were 70km then 80km then 90km - so that's 240km in total over a 3 week period.

There are other workouts in this rigid plan so its not possible, and I'm not going to suggest, spreading this 240km out over the whole 3 weeks... More.

More Flexible Training #4

So how does Flexible Training deal with injuries?

Lets say you've trained well for 10 days, but then notice a very tiny problem - your knee aches a bit. With a rigid plan you ignor it - after all the plan is important and you'll never achieve anything if you drop it at the first problem, so you think. More.

Flexible Targeted Training #5

Don't go straight to the days and the weeks when planning.

Instead, think about what you want to achieve.

I'll use an example from my current training: I want to improve my 100km performance - I want to be able to reel off 100km with ease.  More

More Flexible Targeted Training #6

Often changing around your workout using just one week doesn't give you enough flexibility.

With my previous example I was planning to do 140km per week.

 But if one weekend I'm going away for the whole of Friday,Saturday and Sunday with no opportunity to train then there's no way I can compensate within that one week. More.

Progression and Recovery #7

Many times we are told that a training plan must include progression.  So if you plan to do 70km one week, you should do 80km the next and then 90 after that.

It sounds good.  But does it work? More.