How to Write Your own Training Plan

When I write a training plan for someone, it’s my job to understand where they’re at in terms of their current fitness as well as where they want to go. I ask a lot of questions, questions that people often don’t ask themselves before they start their training cycle. Hopefully that process is useful to you, so I’m going to write about some of it here.

The week before I went on holiday I wrote five training plans: two marathon plans and three half-marathon plans. Though the distances remained the same the plans looked very different because they were written for different people. And although some of the athletes are quite similar in their 10k and half marathon PBs, they all had different concerns – returning from injury, a goal finish time, different time constraints – which meant different training patterns and sessions.

Often, when we’re going to take on something new – our first marathon or attempt at a faster time – we look at what other people are doing in their training and try to replicate that. On one level it makes sense: “Person Y is running sub-4 marathons and they do this training so I need to do that to run a sub-4”. But it’s not as simple as that. Person Y has a different training age than you (the number of years they’ve been running), they have a different lifestyle and their body is different to yours. their training, will therefore look different to yours but that doesn’t have to mean you can’t achieve the same goal.

A lot of people can’t afford to pay a coach to write a training plan that’s unique to them (I charge £50 for a 16-week plan – other coaches differ), I understand that. But you still need a plan that’s unique to you. That might mean writing your own or adapting one that you’ve found in a book or on the internet. It’s unlikely that you’ll find a plan that’s the perfect fit for your goals, current fitness and how much time you can dedicate to training.

What are your goals and what’s important to you for the next few months? These don’t always go hand in hand. It might be that your goal is to run a half marathon in a set time but that what’s important to you for the next few months is spending lots of time with your family over the summer holidays. How much time can you dedicate to your training? What other races have you got coming up? These are all going to have to be taken into consideration when you plan your training.

A few important points…

• Start where you are. So you’ve printed off a Sub-4 marathon plan for your race that is 16 weeks away. Training starts next week and you’re all keen. But how does week one of training compare to what you’ve been doing for the past four weeks? If the mileage and the pacing is higher and and faster than you’re used to, this isn’t the plan for you. At least not right now. You need to start from the mileage that you’re doing now and build up gradually if you want to avoid injuring yourself or burning out. If you’ve got time, build your mileage up before the plan starts. If not, adapt it or get a new plan.
• The same point above goes for speed work and any sort of pacing. If you’ve never done it before, don’t jump into week one of a plan that includes speed reps and tempo runs in week one of training and expect to come out of it unscathed.
• Remember, a plan that wasn’t written for you doesn’t know what you’re capable of. If it’s asking you to run your 400m reps in 1:30 and you’re clocking 1:50 then it’s not a match made in heaven. That doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t make the end goal that the plan is designed for. Some people are better at running short and fast, others are better at running long and steady.
• Training plans for half marathons and marathons are typically 16 weeks long. Of course you can train over a period longer or shorter than this. You may find training plans out there for anything from 20 to six weeks, or you might write your own. Remember though, that the improvement you’re going to be able to achieve over a lower number of weeks is going to be less significant – don’t expect miracles. Anything longer than 20 is going to have to be carefully planned – training full on and upping your mileage week after week for a prolonged period can lead to over-training which isn’t something that you want.
• If you work shifts or do hours at the weekend, don’t expect to find a plan that fits your lifestyle. Everything I’ve seen seems to be written with a 9-5, Monday to Friday lifestyle in mind with a seven day cycle and long runs at the weekend.

Need more guidance training for your next race? Check out my Training Guides for everything from your first 5k to a Marathon PB.