Pimp (critique) My Running Schedule

Wendy1Fl

Hi,
I've spent WAY too much time doing an excel spreadsheet with my year long running schedule/goals. I can't figure out how to attach it to this post to ask for critique. Anyone have any ideas?

kristinegift

You could share it as a Google doc, or take a screenshot and post it as a picture

Stoshew71

@Wendy1Fl Can you start at what your goals are?
I also took the liberty of plugging in what you did in May based upon your last log.



Obviously what is in red is what you put in your log. Weekly is what you did for the week, Longest is your longest run for the week, and % Long Run is the percentage of your longest run based against your weekly miles for that week.


For example. In the first full week, you logged a total of 24.74 miles with your longest run being the Sunday race at 8.21 miles. That 8.21 is ~33% of your total weekly miles for that week.

The next week you ran a total of 20.86 miles and your longest run was 9.53 miles which is almost 46% of your weekly miles.


Critque time. You don't seem to have 1 day of the week dedicated for a long run. First 2 weeks it's on a Sunday but then the next couple of weeks you didn't run on the weekend. I am not sure if it was because you were busy on those 2 weekends?

It appears that the best time for you to do your long run would be on a Sunday. So I will just make this assumption going forward. If you prefer a different day, then re-adjust what I am suggesting.

Your long run should never go above 33% for the week and should be closer to 25% as much as possible.
It appears that your long run is about 9 miles now. So you goal should be to run 36 miles per week before increasing that.

So assume you plan to run 8 miles on Sunday, Tue run 5 miles, Thur run 6, fri run 5. That is 24 miles for the week with your 8 mile long run being 33% of your total weekly miles.
Next week. 8 miles Sunday, Tue run 5 miles, Thurs run 6, Fri run 6. That is 25 miles total for the week with your long run being only 32%.
Next week. 8 miles Sunday, Tue run 6, Thurs run 6, Fri run 6. That is 26 total and the LDR being only 30%.
Since you already increased twice in 2 weeks, I would repeat this particular week (S-8,T-6,Th-6,F-6)
The very next week run (Sun-8, Tue-6.5, Thur-6.5, Fri-6) This is 27 miles total and now the LDR is under 30%.
Then run (Sun-8, Tue-7,Thur-6.5,Fri-6.5) This is 28 miles total for week and now the 8 mile LDR is ~28%
Repeat this week since you already increased twice.
Then run (Sun-8, Tue-7, Thur-7, Fri-7) This is 29 miles weekly and now the LDR is only ~27%.
Then run (Sun-8, Tue-7.5, Th-7.5,Fri-7) This is 30 miles weekly and now LDR is only just above 26%.
Repeat this last week.
Now add another day for this next week as follows.
Run (Sun 8, Tue-7, Wed-2, Thur-7,Fri-7) This is 31 miles weekly and now LDR is only ~25%.
Now at this point you can increase your long run by a mile.
Run (Sun 9, Tue-7, Wed-2, Thur-7,Fri-7) This is 32 miles weekly and your LDR is only 28%.

You should get the idea. You are only increasing your weekly miles by 1 mile.
The goal is to make sure your long run does not go over 33% of your total weekly miles.
But you are working to make them only 25%.

If running 8 miles each Sunday seems to be too long for a particular week, don't be afraid to cut that back.
Don't be afraid to repeat a week if you feel like you need to.
If you cut back on one of your weekly runs, either add what you cut into one of your other runs, run that difference on another free day, or cut back on your long run for that week (or the following week).

If the Sun Tue Wed Thur Fri schedule doesn't work for you. You can change it up to fit your schedule.
But give yourself at least a rest day after your long run or at most run 1 or 2 miles slower than usual.
Give yourself a rest day if it looks like you have a few of your runs bunched up together on after another.
You should be able to get away with only 2 or 3 rest days per week in the beginning but eventually you will build up your schedule where you should only require 1 rest day per week.


Let me know if you have any questions.

Stoshew71

Obviously you didn't run anything this coming weekend yet. LOL So I shouldn't have said , "but then the next couple of weeks you didn't run on the weekend. I am not sure if it was because you were busy on those 2 weekends?" I should have said the next weekend only.

Stoshew71

Another thing I did was based your weekly schedule on an 8 mile long run and suggested other runs for the week based upon what you were already running in May. If that is a bit too much to bite off, then start off with maybe with a 7 mile long run and adjust your weekly miles accordingly. I was really more trying to explain a concept as opposed to actually giving you an actual running plan which may or may not work for you. I don't know your schedule. Weather could effect what I wrote. You may do 2 or 3 runs and feel extremely tired. or maybe 4 weeks in you feel your muscles getting really really sore. You may need to rest it up. if so, you then cut back your miles for that week or the following week. You adjust your long run accordingly based upon what you already did for the week.

Wendy1Fl

Thank you so much! I was planning on increasing my current average of 20 miles per week by 15%, and maintaining that mileage for 3 weeks, then dropping back to 20 for a recovery week based on these runner's world articles: http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/optimizing-your-mileage http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/the-most-common-injuries-from-too-quick-mileage-increases. But I do see that I was going too aggressively for longer long runs in my proposed schedule (I had them at 35% of my weekly total), and will adjust accordingly, and try sharing it as a google document as suggested. My May schedule has been wildly inconsistent, (well, really, all of my months so far have been), and one of my goals is to get consistency built into my running. My other goals are:
1. Lose weight
2. Complete my first half marathon October 3rd
3. Build a solid, injury-free, aerobic base for a year before adding any serious speed specific work
4. Work on my biggest race weakness - hills! And, of course, speed...So I'll be fartlekkin' it up LOL.
5. Shave 1:23 off of each mile of my race time for my next 12k May 2016 (I ran it 9:23 per mile, I want to be at 8:00 per mile next May).
6. Increase core strength & all over flexibility

Depending on how the Half Marathon goes, I may want to try my first full marathon next fall (2016). That amount of miles sounds so intimidating to me right now, that I don't know if that will ever be on my list of goals. We shall see. I'll adjust my schedule and try sharing as a google document.

Stoshew71

Looking at your goals.

A. Consistency. Obviously if you are making a plan ahead of time, you should be able to achieve that if you execute it.
1. Lose weight. Running is a great part of that. What you eat is too. Being on mfp and tracking your calories is a big part of that.
2. Complete your first half marathon by October 3. You have 4 months of training ahead of you. What you are doing now by planning to increase your mileage is basically what is going to get you there. If you build it up in such a way as we talked about here and what the article is saying, then once you can achieve a 13 mile long run, you are there. Just make sure that 13 mile long run happens at least 2 weeks before the race. You are going to want to take some time to recover and taper just before the race.
3. You are on your way. This is what? Month 3 for you so far? Time flies.
4. You can add hills now. One or 2 days a week add some hills in.
5. More miles per week will help you get to your 8min/mile goal.
6. That is stretching and core workouts.

Best of luck to you.

Stoshew71

Here is a great article on the long run.
http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/making-your-long-runs-count?page=single

Wendy1Fl

Ok, new to Google Docs, let's see if this works:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GVKOdptYIJhcd8HKCsERKzkFFOM6YSzfRKYP7mWLP2o/edit?usp=sharing

I can see now that I need to start off with longer long runs to build it up to 13 and still allow a 2 week taper. I'll have to tinker with my long runs again. My Dec - February is accounting for having no daylight hours besides on weekends & holidays. I don't have a treadmill & won't be joining a gym, so those months won't get much running out of me.

Stoshew71

@Wendy1Fl Have you considered group runs? I believe this club is in your area...
http://www.flyingirish.org/ https://www.facebook.com/FlyingIrish

or try this... http://running.meetup.com/cities/us/wa/spokane/