Training Plan Design

Things to consider

1. Commitment
2. Goal (distance, speed)
3. Current status (training, injury, general health condition)
4. Commitment: How dedicated are you to your running goals?
5. Goals: What do you want to achieve? Are you aiming for a specific distance, pace, or both?
6. Current Status: Be honest about your current fitness level. Are you currently training, recovering from an injury, or just starting out?

Progressive Overloading

Here we separate it into two: Progressive and Overload.

Progressive

Progressive means to increase training duration/instance/intensity gradually. The so called 10%-weekly-increase rule is a rule of thumb for many.

Just be aware, if you stopped training for a certain period, you may need to re-consider where to pick it up. Some general consensus below:

Important If you've taken a break from training, you'll need to adjust your starting point. Here's a general guide:

• Missed 1-3 days: Resume training as planned.
• Missed 4-7 days: (added "of training") Ease back in with 1-4 days of easy runs before resuming * harder or longer efforts.
• Missed > 1 week: Spend an equal amount of time doing easy runs to rebuild your base.
• Missed > 1 month: Start back at a base training level.

Overload

Overload is the mechanism that forces your body to adapt and become stronger. It pushes you outside your comfort zone, signaling to your body that it needs to improve to handle the new stress. This is how you achieve progress in your running.

Not enough stress, means slow or nonexistent improvement. If your current training feels too easy, your body won't feel the need to adapt. To trigger improvement, you need to push yourself beyond your comfort zone.

Just be aware, overload is a double-edged sword. It needs to be controlled to be progressive, otherwise, it is an invite for over-training.

What to overload?

The specific areas you overload will depend on your individual goals and weaknesses. Here are some general guidelines:

1. Easy run volume: Gradually increase the total distance of your easy runs each week.
2. Workout frequency: Add more workouts to your weekly routine.
3. Long runs: Gradually increase the distance of your long runs.
4. Long run frequency: Schedule more long runs throughout your training cycle.
5. Strength training: Start lifting weights, or increase the weight you lift in your existing 1. strength routine.
6. Cross-training: Increase the overall volume of your cross-training activities.
7. Workout duration: Extend the length of your harder training sessions.

Recovery

Recovery is the time to harvest the positive results from hard workout. With progressive training, your body is in a micro-"broken" state, where good recovery can over-compensate.

We want to fully harvest such supercompensation through recovery. Many people only recognized the training aspect, because that is the part require active engagement. However, the passive recovery is when the benefits happens.

There are many indicators you can use to guide the recovery.

• General fatigue
• Wake-up resting heart rate
• Heart rate variability(HRV) - This is a new and popular recovery metric. However, it's best to compare your HRV only with your own recent history, as the metric can vary significantly between individuals and with different measurement tools.
• Muscle soreness
• Heart rate during warmup runs

Overally, I would put one's self assessed recovery more than the training plan. Adjustment should be made if your body tells you to rest!

Active recovery

During a long (macro) cycle, a rest period (usually a week) is often introduced between two meso cycles (2-6 weeks). It allows the body to fully recover to take on new training.

Cycles

Training is most effective when organized into cycles that incorporate progressive overloading and recovery.

• Macro cycles: 16–26 weeks, covering the full training period.
  • Includes multiple mesocycles, e.g., base → tempo → intervals.
• Mesocycles: 2–6 weeks, focusing on specific adaptations.
  • Overload followed by recovery, often with a 25–50% reduction in volume.
• Micro cycles: 1 week, typically with 2–4 effort sessions and adequate recovery.

Mentality

Mental strength is as important as physical fitness for running, especially during long and intense sessions.

Purpose of Different Training Types

1. Long runs: Train your brain to handle long-duration efforts while staying mentally and physically engaged. Crucial for novice distance runners.
2. Tempo runs: Help your brain recognize and push limits during sustained high-stress efforts.
3. Intervals: Develop your capacity to handle short bursts of maximum effort.

Overall, training teaches your brain to understand your physical limits and manage stress for optimal performance. Keeping a running log is an excellent way to reinforce mental training.

Priority list

1. Injury free / General health
   • Rest
   • Nutrition
2. Base buildings
   • Base of everything related to running.
   • Distance, speed, stability, flexibility, strength.
   • Efficiency
   • Forms
3. Speed training - often race specific
4. Recovery
5. Mentality

Resource

• Time to Run train plans - a wide selection of training plans.
• fellrnr.com's Running Calculator with FIRST training plans
• 5k plans:
  • 第一个5k训练计划
  • Beginner + intermediate