My Training Plan

Background

Last year I got back into running on a regular basis after a period of playing football which had been interspersed with periodic injury (shin splints and a couple of stress fractures).

I built my mileage up from January to June to a maximum of 50 miles per week following the Jack Daniels' Marathon Trainning Programme. This resulted in a 3:57:58 in the Edinburgh Marathon, which might have been a few minutes quicker had I not wilted in the heat in the last 6 miles.

From June to October I maintained my mileage in the 50 per week bracket, repeating the types of session I had been following in the Daniels programme. On 3 September I set a half marathon PB of 1:39:02, and on 17 September a 10k PB of 42:35. On 1 October I finished the Loch Ness Marathon in a PB of 3:54:03.

Shortly after the marathon I suffered what appears to have been a classic ITBS knee injury, which left me unable to run for over 2 months. Over the past couple of months I have gradually got back into regular running, and in the last few weeks have embarked upon a new base-building period.

The Plan

This year I want to concentrate on 10ks. If I can improve by just over two and a half minutes, I will break the 40 minute barrier, which is one of those major goals I want to achieve in my running career.

I have started a 12 week base-building period, designed to lead me into a Jack Daniels 10k specific training programme. July/August should see me move from steady mileage into regular faster sessions. September/October should see me begin to introduce a number of 10k races as part of that training regime. At the beginning of November I will taper off the mileage and run what will hopefully be my fastest 10k of the season.....

The key dates are:

May-28 July - base-building phase
28 July - 8 September - phase II of the Daniels programme
8 September - 20 October - phase III of the Daniels programme
20 October onwards - phase IV of the Daniels programme

Prospective 10ks are:

1 September - Moray 10k
15 September - Stirling 10k
22 September - Linlithgow 10k
6 October - Loch Ness 10k
3 November - Stranraer 10k

The Base

To reduce as far as possible the risk of a repetition of my ITBS injury, I intend to build up my mileage gradually, including a cut-back week every three weeks before increasing the mileage. From a starting point of 30 miles per week, I will probably increase up to a maximum of circa 50 miles. My planned base programme is below:


I am sure I won't be able to follow this base-building plan precisely because there's always potential for illness and life in general to get in the way, but I find it helps to put a programme down on paper.

After the base

I will add this post as a fixed link on the side of my blog and update it as my training progresses, and will set out what is involved in stages II, III and IV in the Daniels 10k training programme.

Marathons

I haven't given up on marathons completely and will probably aim to run the Loch Ness Marathon in October in 2008. This 10k phase will hopefully serve as a good basis for a future marathon programme.