See parts 1 and 2 for the full picture.
In this section I map out specific recommendations relative to the fitness level of the athlete and the goal race distance. Though the fundamentals are similar, an athlete who runs 80 miles a week and is training for a stand alone 5K will have different requirements than an athlete running 35 miles a week and training for an Ironman.
Keep in mind this is very difficult to do, but I have made my best attempt at trying to address the needs of everyone who is better than beginner and slower than the FOP runner. Again, these are meant to be guidelines and, if anything, give you a reference point rather than to use ambiguous terms like “fast,” or “a lot.”
I actually attempted to draw a graph showing how training changes as a result of fitness and goal race distance, but unfortunately failed. In a nutshell, the longer your race is, a smaller emphasis as a portion of your total training is made on speed and intervals, and a larger emphasis is given to endurance running. As your fitness increases, the larger training load you can handle. In this respect, a marathon runner who is very, very fit may actually do more speed than a 5K runner who is not very fit. This is purely because the very fit runner can handle a higher training load. However, the proportion of the speed will be much lower for him than it will be for that 5K runner. It’s al about where you want to invest your training, and a fit runner simply has more capital to invest.
The Standalone 5K
This is the only race distance that I will recommend any significant quantities of speed work. For this section I will be assuming that you are capable of running a 5K in 16-25 minutes. For slower people who are approaching 30+ minutes, I recommend that you follow the 10K training recommendations in the next section.
As stated above, the plan assumes that you will spend 6 months to prepare for this race. The first 6 weeks is an easy running only phase in which you run 3 short runs, two mediums, and one long run every week, while gradually building volume at increases less than 10% from one week to the next. This base period can be as long as 14 weeks for a less developed athlete.
In phase 2 a medium run is replaced with a threshold run (20-60 minutes at the paces described above) every week. This can begin as early as 6 weeks into the program, but no later than 12 weeks from the goal race.
Phase 3 will last 6-8 weeks (as much as 12 for very well trained athletes). Replace your other medium run with a 5K race pace interval workout every week. In addition to these race pace workouts, a spattering of speed training will be mixed in as well.
Phase 3 plan for 4:8:12 athletes (athletes who have short, medium, and long runs of 4, 8, and 12 miles)
Each interval workout should comprise of about 5-6,000m of total interval work. 800m of speed training can be tacked onto the end of this workout if shortened to 4-5,000m.
Speed work can be done up to 4,000m in one session. Feel free to knock out some intervals and replace them with speed repetitions, or to do an entire workout of speed provided that you only average 800-1,000m a week of speed during this phase. If this week you do 3,000m of intervals and 1,600m of speed reps, then next week should have no speed reps.
Hopefully by this point a solid foundation of endurance and threshold training has been put in. This training is still very important to maintain throughout the final phase, but feel free to replace one or two threshold workouts or long runs with another interval workout.
Phase 3 plan for 3:6:9 athletes
You can pretty much follow the plan above, but be sure to scale everything back to the conservative side. 90% of the above workouts should be sufficient.
Phase 3 plan for 2:4:6 athletes
Hopefully you have made some real progress and are moving in the right direction, but your aerobic base is not large enough to warrant two workouts a week. In this phase you will want to alternate your weeks. One week run your normal threshold workout and replace the medium run with 10x100m speed repetitions (cut the medium run back by ~10 minutes this day). On the alternating weeks do 5,000m V02max intervals and run the medium run as normal.
The Sprint Tri and the Standalone 10K
This section will be similar to the 5K training, except that more work will be done at 10K race pace and less speed will be needed. For this section I will be assuming that you are capable of running a 10K in 33-52 minutes. For slower people who are approaching 60+ minutes, I recommend that you follow the Half Marathon training recommendations in the next section.
The preparation done in phases 1 and 2 are the same as described in the 5k training section above.
Phase 3 plan for 4:8:12 athletes
Keep the threshold workouts as normal but alternate the 2nd workout of the week. On one week, do 4-5,000m of V02max intervals with 800m of speed training tacked on the end. On the alternate weeks, replace that workout with 3-4x1,600m at goal race pace. For faster athletes, this will require up to 400m of jogging recoveries in between. Athletes who race 10ks at 45minutes or slower should only need 300m of jogging recoveries.
Phase 3 plan for 3:6:9 athletes
You can pretty much follow the plan above, but be sure to scale everything back to the conservative side. 90% of the above workouts should be sufficient.
Phase 3 plan for 2:4:6 athletes
Much like in the 5K plan, you will be alternating your workouts and sticking to one solid workout each week. Speed work will be eliminated altogether and covered with a healthy diet of 50 meter striders every week.
Every other week run your threshold workout as normal. On alternating weeks, run 2-3 by 1,600m at goal race pace with 300-400m jogging recoveries in between.
Additionally, if training for a standalone 10K, every other week start pushing your long run by half mile increments while returning to your normal 6 mile long run on the alternating weeks. So one week you might run a 6 mile long run, followed by a 6.5 miler the next, followed by a 6 miler on the 3rd week, followed by a 7 miler the week after that, etc. Try to build up to at least 7.5 miles for this alternating long run. Be sure to take off what ever extra mileage you add to it the next day (so the day after a 7.5 mile long run would be just a ½ mile run to shake the legs out before you stretch).
The Olympic Tri and the Half Marathon
Here there will actually be some significant differences from the 5K and Sprint/10K section. For this section I will be assuming that you are capable of running a Half Marathon in under 2 hours. For slower athletes I recommend that you follow the Marathon training recommendations in the next section.
The preparation done in phases 1 and 2 are the same as described in the 5k training section above.
You might have noticed above that each training plan begins with building an aerobic base and then phasing in threshold training. This really is the foundation of all distance training from which every plan is built off of. From there you move into race specific training to prepare your body for the specific demands of that event.
The Olympic Tri and Half Marathon are different than the shorter events in that you are already doing race specific training. Your threshold training is very specific to these races. In that regard, I don’t get too concerned with speed or interval training, though I do make sure that enough gets worked into the plan. It is very important to remember for these events that it is aerobic and threshold training that is going to make the biggest difference for these races, not speed and V02max intervals.
For phase 3, I generally like to get in a healthy variety of different threshold workouts, plus one threshold/V02max borderline workout. Using the paces outlined above, I like to do 20 minute tempo runs, 40 minute long tempo runs, and 60 minute steady state runs. In addition, I will do a set of 1,600m repeats with 300m recovery jogs done at 45 minute race pace. This is (in theory) fast enough to stimulate V02max improvement, while still slow enough to allow for a quick recovery from the workout allowing one to maintain a good level of weekly mileage. That, plus it’s much closer to your projected race pace than faster intervals.
In addition to the above, late in phase 3 a couple of mix workouts that involves some 5K paced running is good to simulate the effects of chasing down those last few places in the last miles of a race. One of my favorites is a 400 at 5K race pace followed immediately (no rest in between) by a 400 20 seconds slower. Repeat this until it gets pretty hard (3-4 miles is usually enough).
It doesn’t really matter how the above workouts are structured, other than that they fall on the medium days. I do, however, like structure in my plans, so I like to put the 40min and 60min threshold sessions on Tuesdays and run the faster ones on Thursdays.
Phase 3 plan for 3:6:9 athletes
Your aerobic base really isn’t high enough to endure the volume of higher intensity running as listed above. For you I recommend a single workout a week and using the other day to try and push for a little extra mileage (7-8 mile runs).
In addition, your long run is a little weak for a Half Marathon. I suggest following the ultra long run schedule laid out in part 2, trying to push your ultra long runs up to at least 11 miles.
Phase 3 plan for 2:4:6 athletes
Same recommendations as for the 3:6:9 athletes, except that you will be limited to shorter threshold workouts until your base improves.
The Half Ironman and the Marathon
Hopefully by this point you are realizing that there are some significant differences in training protocols (though still many similarities) when moving from fast stand alone 5K races to the longer, slower HIM and Marathon. For this section I will be assuming that you are capable of running a Marathon in under 4:10. For slower athletes I recommend that you read the section on Ironman training and consider adopting a hybrid of the two plans depending on how much slower you run.
Because of the great endurance demands of these events, I recommend that phase 1 be extended as long as possible, building as much weekly mileage as your body can handle. For most athletes, phase 2 need not be introduced until 12-16 weeks from goal race.
Phase 2 is as described above, but may be shortened due to an extended phase 1.
In Phase 3 many veteran athletes and elites have the foundation to run two solid workouts a week in addition to a regular long run of 18+ miles when preparing for these events. I feel that most athletes lack this foundation and are better served by running one race specific workout a week while reserving the second workout day for a second long run that is half way between your normal long run and your usual medium run (for example, if a normal long run is 12 miles, the second long run would be 10 to 11 miles). It would not be unreasonable for athletes with a little more experience to alternate their 2nd long run with a threshold workout.
For athletes who have not reached a long run of at least 13-14 miles for the HIM or 21-22 miles for the Marathon, I recommend following the ultra long run plan laid out above. Due to the time required to build the long run for the marathon, the ultra long runs may need to be started as early as 3-4 months out from your goal race.
Many coaches recommend mixing threshold runs within the long run. I recommend using caution when using this technique, though agree that in can be very effective. I feel this should only be done only after a solid foundation of endurance running has been established and that a weekly dose of long running has been maintained for quite some time. To put it in context, a typical threshold/long run mix might include two 20 minute sessions @ McMillan’s tempo run pace (see link above for paces) within a 14 mile run. In order for one to be able to reasonably finish such a session without significantly compromising the rest of their week’s training, I think that the athlete should already have established that he can finish an 18-22 mile long run without too much strain.
A typical Daniels’ training plan actually has what I have termed the “ultra long run” every 3rd week, with the other two weeks being more conservative long runs mixed with threshold intervals. I don’t have a lot of experience with this kind of training, however Desert Dude has proclaimed this workout to be one of the cornerstones of success for his long course athletes. It is possible to get yourself into trouble while doing these so definitely leave your ego at home and use some good sense while listening to your body during these workouts. I can’t hammer home anything more important than the idea that it is what you can do week in and week out, year in and year out, that is going to make you a better runner, NOT how hard you can hammer yourself in a single workout.
I’d also like to comment on the use of V02max intervals when training for these races. There are plenty of examples of elite distance runners who will run intervals once a week and win top races. I want to stress that for every example that you can find, I can probably walk down to the local running club and find a guy who blows up in his marathon because he was spending too much time worrying about his interval training with his track group when he should have been building his endurance base. An elite athlete who has been running 120 miles a week for the last 7 years already had his foundation built and is capable of handling more intense interval training. They are doing this in addition to the more important endurance and threshold training, not at the expense of it. If you do wish to add this to your training regime, please be very conservative approach the workouts with caution.
The Ironman
I would like to warn up front that I don’t consider myself an Ironman coach, but I have competed in one myself and have done a fair amount of reading on the training for an Ironman. If anything, I see no reason why the principles laid out above would be any different for this event. IOW, there is no magic that occurs at the iron distance that will all of the sudden make one want to ditch their foundation work in exchange for high doses of speed training.
As I mentioned about the marathon training, you will see elite iron athletes who are capable of handling high doses of threshold training as well as doing a fair amount of mix threshold/long run workouts. These guys have a much more solid training foundation than most athletes and are training not to finish the run segment in 4-5 hours, but rather dip below 3 hours. For this reason their training will be somewhat different than what you should probably attempt.
I wrote coach Gordo a few years back to get his insight on run training for my first Ironman and his suggestion was that the overall training load (including biking and swimming) was going to be too much for a novice IM athlete to concern themselves with higher intensity run training. From my limited experience with this event I tend to agree with him, though I don’t think that limited amounts of threshold training would be harmful for slightly more experienced athletes who intend to run their run segment in under 4 hours.
Using a Marathon to Prepare of an Ironman
Bad idea. Sometimes people think that running the Boston Marathon would be a great way to prepare for IMWI in September. A Marathon will beat the hell out of your body and require you a good month to recover from. Why lose so much training time during the most important part of your IM training?
Final Note about Ironman Training
Keep in mind that an Ironman requires a large volume of total training from month to month. A lot of this high volume training intends to be done in the months preceding the goal race. For this reason, many IM athletes will do much more training during these months than in the earlier phases of training.
In addition, many IMs are done in the summer time leaving the early training periods in the winter time while it is dark and cold outside. For this and various other reasons, a lot of coaches like to have more intensity and less total training time done during this time period.
From a pure running standpoint, I feel that most triathletes would benefit not from increasing their intensity during this period, but rather from using it to build their much needed mileage base that has been missing so far during their careers. Having said that, there are many coaches and athletes who have succeeded off of a lower mileage, higher intensity phase in the winter months.
**Phase 2 ½ **
Though I feel a solid endurance base is critical to distance running, once a person has a few years of running under his belt, he may benefit from adding a second workout during phase 2 of training. A healthy mix of training between 45 minute races pace (as cruise intervals) and 2 hour race pace (as a 60 minute steady state run) is a good way to continue to improve endurance race fitness without too much risk of over training or burnout. It is up to the athlete to asses the benefits of a two workout week versus a single workout week with a focus toward continuing to increase overall weekly mileage. I often get asked at what point is the mileage sufficient. The answer to that is, IMO, is typically at least 4 ½ hours a week of running consistently for months at a time. Though there are many good reasons for training less, I don’t believe that one of those reasons is that you are running enough already.
Dipping below 45 minute race pace to do interval workouts at 5K race pace or faster speed workouts is very risky when done over long periods of time and can quickly lead to over training. I know that there are some coaches who do it with success and some books that recommend it in their training plans, but over my years of experience I have seen it cause more harm than good and don’t recommend it for inexperienced athletes or athletes not under the guidance of a good coach. It is just too easy to do too much and to compromise your long term training goals. I have seen more athletes than I can count (and I can count pretty high) who have finished a season slower than their beginning races as a result of too much intensity too early. If you do insist on doing these types of workouts because of a social track group that you belong to, I highly recommend that you keep the dosages low, the paces on the conservative side, and make up the difference with longer warm ups and cool downs, at least until you are within 6-12 weeks of your goal race (phase 3).
As a general rule, 5k paced and faster training will reap most of its benefits in 6-8 weeks, and will lead to burnout in 10-14 weeks. It’s not specifically the faster paces that do this, but rather the effects of how most people apply them.
Triathlon Adaptations 1 (removing workouts)
As promised early on, I am providing recommendations for how to adapt the above information into a tri-plan. Unfortunately, you will have to look elsewhere for any specifics on your bike and swim training and how to mix it with your running. I do understand, however, that heavy biking and heavy swimming will affect your run training, as will the realities of your work and life schedule.
I will mention up front, however, that there are no short cuts to fitness. Though picking up the kids from dance lessons might be a perfectly valid excuse for skipping 2 workouts a week, the body does not compensate in a positive manner simply because you have a valid excuse. Training less than optimal results in less fitness regardless of the extrinsic factors.
Cutting Down Recovery (short) Runs
Though you may have the fitness to run on a 25:50:75 (in minutes) level, you may simply not have the time to devote 25 minutes of running on your three short days due to time spent cycling and swimming. If time dictates, feel free to cut these runs back, though I still urge you to keep them in the plan. Even a 10 to 15 minute run before or after a swim or bike still has value. Three short days of 15 minutes versus three days off is a difference of 45 minutes of running a week. 50, 15, 50, 15, 0, 75, 15 is 25% more running than 50, 0, 50, 0, 0, 75, 0 and will have an effect on your run fitness.
Even though you are cutting these runs down, I still like to think of it as a 25:50:75 fitness level with the caveat that the short runs are cut down. Again, the structure is there to give you a fundamental basis to begin from and from which adjustments can be made. In this case, you aren’t randomly assigning training distances. You are beginning from a starting point and then making adjustments to make your plan work for you. From here you may find that the shorter short days allow you to run 55 minutes on the medium days without affecting your long day.
Cutting Out (some) Short Runs
Though I still recommend if at all possible to run 6 days a week, you may find that it just isn’t realistic given your schedule. Again, take the above plan and simply cut out a day or two. The concepts and the ratios still apply, and as stated in the previous section, you may find that you can make minor adjustments by adding a bit more mileage elsewhere in the schedule.
Cutting Out a Medium (or workout) Day
Cutting out a medium day will more than likely be the result of needed recovery from hard cycling or swimming workouts. It is possible that you simply don’t have the fitness to run a long run, and two medium runs or two workouts in the same week that you are doing heavy cycling and swim workouts. In this case you will simply need to cut out one of these workouts. Depending on which plan you are following (per goal race distance), you will want to alternate the workouts on your workout day, or potentially lean toward utilizing more of you race specific training on this day as you approach your goal race (for example, in the case of the 5K, you may want to do 5K paced intervals in the last 4 weeks of your training, while alternating interval training and threshold training earlier in phase 3).
Triathlon Adaptations 2 (adding intensity)
The above section listed some short cuts that a triathlete might have to take in his run training. As I stated, these shortcuts lead to less than optimal training with respect to running which will likely result in slower running performances. The most effective way to improve your running in most cases is to run at least 6 times a week while maintaining three harder days a week (medium and long runs or workouts and long runs).
As a result of either cutting down or cutting out workouts above, you will likely find that you are capable of running just a bit more on the days that you do run. This is great and, provided that you are recovering well, you should push a little farther on those days. A person who would normally run 25:50:75 (in minutes) might find that they are capable of running 57:85 if only running three days a week.
I still recommend following the above plan while continuing to extend your weekly mileage on limited training up to the point of running 60 minute medium runs and 90 minute long runs. Beyond this point it may be beneficial two continue increasing mileage for longer races (like marathons, HIMs, and IMs). However, for shorter races, you may want to being replacing some of your easier runs with various threshold training workouts.
This recommendation is more about getting the most out of your training time if available time becomes a limitation for you. If you only have three days a week to run and don’t have the time to devote more than 45 minutes on two of those days, an athlete who is capable of running 60 minutes on each of those days plus a 90 minute long run will be leaving himself undertrained by simply running 45 minutes easy.
In this case, replace one or both of those 45 minute runs with threshold training. The same can be said for the long run if, again, time is a limiting factor. Essentially here you are training in phase 2 ½. Continue to follow the recommendations laid out in the above plan with these new adaptations in mind. Only add in interval and speed training in phase three if your goal race distance calls for it OR if you have gotten to a point where, again, you have maxed out your available training time. Given this example, if two 45 minute threshold sessions is just not pushing yourself to improve and you have no more available running time in the week, then start phasing in even faster sessions, being very careful to make sure that you are able to adequately recover from them and avoid overtraining.
Again, I want to emphasize that the above recommendations are not even trades for an optimal 6 day a week running plan. They are only meant to accommodate people who have scheduling conflicts. Cutting out workouts and adding intensity should only be done if the athlete is unable to schedule the necessary running sessions.
The Long Triathlon Season
I am not a fan of the concept of a racing season that lasts 6-8 months, however it is a reality for many triathletes who simply enjoy hitting a lot of fun races while the weather is good. In the respect, I recommend staying in phase 2 (or 2 ½ ) for the bulk of the season while picking a couple of goal races to move into phase 3 for the weeks leading up to those races. Keep in mind that it will be a lot more realistic to plan for a solid HIM performance in June and another race in September rather than trying to compete in a Sprint Tri in August followed by a Marathon 6 weeks later.
Final Notes
If anything, I hope that the above post at least gives an approach to training from which one can compare their own training. From an educational standpoint, I find it’s helpful to have something that is concrete to give a reference point from which to discuss. If anything, a post like this will lead to a debate between those who may largely agree with those who may feel this is misleading in some way.