I’ve been trying to improve my running and found the McMillan Running calculator program. It looks pretty good, but I’m wondering how many of each type of workout I should be doing per week.
Say I run 5 times per week, I’ve typically run one speed session, one long run and the other runs were “easy/moderate” runs. Now I’m not sure if those other run’s shouldn’t be “Steady-State” runs (which are a bit faster than would I would have thought).
Any suggestions?
The McMillan plan works around 3 key workouts/week: the long run (he likes 2+ hours), a primary run and a secondary run.
The long run is a staple each week, and the primary and secondary runs change depending on the phase you are in - base, strength, speed, etc.
For example, if you are in Base period, McMillan would suggest your primary run could be a steady-state run and the secondary run be a thirds progression run (ex. 3k@4:50ks, 3k@4:20ks, 3K@4:05ks). He likes to use the secondary run as a reminder of the last phase or an introduction to the next phase.
So a typical base week could look like the following:
Sun - long run, mon - easy, tues - steady-state, **wed **- recovery, thurs - easy, Fri - thirds progression, Sat- off.
That’s right.
I trained with Greg for 3 plus years I believe the calculator is one of the best out there. Obviously you have to tweak it a bit for tri training.
The phases of training are very important and the order of each phase depends on what you are training for. It’s great stuff. For ex
1 pre marathon base work,- Leg turnover, fartlek and 15 mile runs
2.Vo2 Max intervals
3.stamina
4 Race / marathon specific work (tempos, threshold runs MP and 1/2 MP runs)
I believe many people when training for a marathon mash up all different kinds of workouts into a week with out flowing structure. The program develop one bodily system then moves on to the next, all building up to the most important, stamina and threshold work.
All the previous phases prepare you for the marathon specific phase.
I loved the program. I tweak it a bit now for myself and my athletes but have benefited tremendously from his guidance. He’s a great guy with a lot of knowledge!