Training update II

Wednesday, October 03, 2012 · Mike Davis

Last week I talked about the paradigm change in my training plan for the half marathon training program. While I believe there’s a learning curb for me as far as both progression and mapping routes, I am confident that moving to a minutes based training plan is the ideal for the runners. This week I would like to look at how the change from a mileage based personal training plan to a time based personal training plan is working out with two of my individual clients. The great thing for me is that each of these clients has different goals so I am working with 2 completely different plans.

In the case of Sandra, her goal is the Manchester Marathon in November and her running history is minimal along with some not so great experiences running half marathons. The first training plan I provided her was a custom plan based on mileage progression. However within the first month I realized that Sandra would be eventually be spending a lot of time in her running shoes and I wondered about her injury history. As I looked closer at her plan and discussed it with a Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) coaching instructor, we both agreed that she would have a greater chance of success by switching to time based training. Building up her running time would not only help with a consistent progression, but would protect her from overuse injuries. I wasn’t sure how Sandra would react to the change, but she was totally okay after I discussed it with her.

With a little over a month before her marathon Sandra is not totally where I would like her, but she has made great progress with her increased time and it has helped me to make changes to her personal training plan based on the ups and downs of her life. Instead of giving her multiple months of training plans I now give them to her one month at a time as that helps me to adjust based on the previous month and the time remaining before the marathon. Her ability to get to 210 minutes may be a challenge, but the fact that she will have run multiple runs of at least 180 minutes give me confidence that she will complete her marathon.

Jaime continues to move along with her goal of running healthy but not without some challenges. She has been running slowly, with a restricted training plan personally designed to strengthen her core and running gate. Using a controlled time based training plan, I have kept a tight rein on her minutes with the intent of building slowly. With Jaime, my intent is to build a strong foundation while tweaking her running gate to maximize her running efficiency. Her willingness to be patient is critical, but running for time has certainly made it easier.

This paradigm switch in building training plans is really exciting to me and the options are endless as far as the particular runner’s needs. Also I am only providing one month of training plans at a time so that the runner gets a true custom training plan that is adjusted based on them. I feel strongly I can help runners across the world with training plans that will make a difference to them. Knowing a runners needs and customizing a training plan to fit those specific needs is really awesome!