Picking the Right Plan

Setting your goal is one thing, but in order to reach it, another part of the equation is picking the right training plan. Here is my checklist for selecting a plan that will work for you:

Be Sustainable and Consistent

Do you remember this one? When you are selecting your training plan, make sure you consider this. Life rarely goes according to plan, so you need a running plan that has plenty of flexibility (aka wiggle room) built into it in order to accommodate your scheduling needs and how you are feeling.

Let me give you an example. I had an athlete, Trey, start training with me right after he got out of college. He was a collegiate runner, and a good one at that, but now he is an emergency veterinarian. While his life in college was very predictable—run, eat, class, weights, run, eat, sleep—his schedule today is all over the place:

• He works three overnight shifts when he barely eats or sleeps
• Then he has four days completely off from work

When he came to me, Trey was very frustrated. He still had big running goals he wanted to accomplish, but he kept failing to stick to his training plan. Sometimes he would get out of work late and have to miss a run. Sometimes he was simply too tired. Plus, even when he did squeeze in his workouts, they were not going well. All of this had him feeling very demotivated—he felt like a failure.

What I had to do for Trey was create a plan for him that would work with his schedule. This meant scaling back a lot from what he had been doing in college, and at first, this really upset him. Did I think he was a worse runner today than he had been a year ago? Of course not. But we had to get him on a plan that he could do 100%, no matter what, in order to build back his confidence. This way, when life got in the way, he could still accomplish the training, and whenever conditions were perfect, he could actually do a little more. That’s what a flexible plan allows you to do.

When I build training plans—including the one I made for Trey—I make sure they have the following four elements of flexibility:

Flexible Frequency

• Make sure your plan has a range for the number of days you’ll run per week.
  • For example, I give Trey four to six days of running.
  • On the good weeks, you can run the maximum number of days.
  • During the challenging weeks, you can run the minimum number of days.
  • Without this flexibility, runners often get demoralized because they can’t keep to their schedule and “miss” days of running.

Volume Range

• Make sure your plan includes a range for volume each day.
  • An example from Trey’s run this past Friday was a 45–60-minute easy run.
  • If you’re feeling good and have plenty of time, run the higher end of the volume.
  • If you feel tired, stressed, or just off one day, run the lower end of the volume.
  • In this way, you are training optimally for what your body, mind, and life give you during the day.

Pace Range

• Make sure you have a pace range to hit and not just one pace.
  • You’ll see the optimal range in the training paces in the McMillanRunning.com calculator.
  • Because you will feel different from day to day, adhering to a single pace could be overtraining or undertraining based on how you feel.
  • Having a range gives you the flexibility to adjust according to what your body needs.

Recovery-Day Options

• Make sure your plan has options for your recovery days (i.e., the days after a hard and/or long workout).
  • This is key since the bulk of the adaptations occur during the recovery after the key training sessions.
  • I provide my athletes with the options to run easy, cross-train, or take the day off.
  • Again, this allows you to train optimally because you are always adjusting based on how you feel.
  • If you can do this successfully, you’ll never get overly fatigued, and the quality of your upcoming training will stay very high.

Stay injury-free.

As has already been mentioned a number of times on this website, it is imperative that you stay injury-free. The benefits of running come from consistency, so you need to choose a training plan that is injury-free.

While it’s fun to look at really hard, “scary” workouts, you can’t include too many too often in your plan, even if they make sense in theory.

Here’s a good example:

• There is a theory that running on tired legs will help you in the marathon.
  • It prepares the mind and body for the feeling you will have late in the race.
  • It stimulates the legs to grow stronger.
• This is true; however, running on tired legs introduces a big risk of injury.
  • Therefore, if you are a runner who gets hurt frequently, then you’ll want to avoid this strategy.
  • It’s not that the strategy/theory is wrong; it’s just that it’s wrong for you.

As mentioned before, you also need to make sure your plan has enough recovery in it and is flexible so you can add more recovery if you need it. Older, more competitive runners face this issue all the time with training plans. Because many older runners need more recovery, rigid plans that don’t allow them to add more recovery if they need it just don’t work.

Lastly, make sure your plan includes prehab training. Doing runner-centric core, strength, and mobility exercises is key to warding off injuries so you can race faster and enjoy a lifetime of happy running. I build prehab routines right into my plans. However, if you aren’t going to use my plans, then make sure the plan you choose includes prehab training.

Capitalize on your strengths and limit your weaknesses.

Another aspect of choosing the right plan for you is determining if it capitalizes on your strengths and limits your weaknesses. For years, I’ve taught the idea that not all runners are the same, so not all training plans should be the same either. Yes, there are general training principles, but how they are applied should vary based on the athlete.

Some athletes are naturally better at speed workouts and short races, whereas others are better at longer workouts and long races. This does not mean that athletes with a certain set of strengths can’t do races or workouts that aren’t their natural fit. It just means that the training plan should be adjusted so that it works better with their unique traits.

For example, I have race plans for the half-marathon with versions for those who are:

• Better at speed (called Speedster plans)
• Equally good at speed and endurance (called Combo plans)
• Those whom I call “Endurance Monsters”

All of the plans will get you ready for the challenges of the race (a half-marathon in our example), but the tweaks I made to each version help that plan work better for that type of runner. This means that the training will work with the runner and not against the runner. It’s my way of recognizing and appreciating your uniqueness and creating a program that will better fit you. And that always results in better training, which nearly always results in better racing.

Plans on McMillanRunning.com

Naturally, I built all of my training plans to include all of these concepts. On www.mcmillanrunning.com, you’ll find plans arranged by:

• Your experience level (novice, intermediate, advanced)
• Your runner type (Speedster, Combo, Endurance Monster)
• The distance (800 meters to 100 miles) and type of race you’re running (e.g., flat > downhill > hilly > marathon)

I even offer preparatory plans (aka off-season plans like base-building, hills, etc.) so you can improve your capabilities before even starting a race plan. I find that the better prep you do, the better your race-specific training goes. As a result, I built my plans to stack together like LEGOs to build a full training cycle that addresses exactly what you need to get ready to be your best.

Have a look at my plans. I think you’ll really like what you find.

Coach Q&A: How do I know if the plan I’m considering is too aggressive or too wimpy?

If you’re being honest with yourself and truly listening, your body and mind will tell you if your training plan is serving you well. Chronic tightness, aches, and pains are a sure sign the training load is too much. And if you lose your enthusiasm for training, that’s a big red flag. If your running becomes a chore, more often than not, your training is too aggressive. Likewise, if you’re constantly not hitting your pace in workouts, then you need to adjust.

On the other hand, if you constantly feel like you want to and could run more and you’re easily hitting your training paces, then it may be time to step it up. Since most runners are very driven, this scenario is not as common as picking a plan that is too aggressive (which plays no small part in why so many runners get injured). However, it’s worth keeping tabs so that if training seems too easy for too long, you’ll know to step up your game.