How To Create The Perfect Run Training Plan

Firstly, know that you don’t have to improve. It’s ok to allow yourself to just enjoy running wherever you are on your run journey. You don’t have to go further, faster, or higher.

There are many reasons to love running. It can be social, a reason to get outside, relieve stress, commute, see the local area and spend time in nature. Anything listed is a great reason to run. It’s enough, so don’t feel you have to enter events or follow a strict plan to call yourself a runner.

But if you do – then keep reading!

If your goal is to run further, you must be real with yourself. Assess what time you have available, what you’re willing to sacrifice, and how likely your body will hold up. You can’t increase mileage dramatically in a short timeframe without running a real risk of injury. 

A well-known rule is that you shouldn’t increase your mileage by more than 10% in a given week. While I don’t believe a strict adherence to that is necessary, big jumps in mileage can be dangerous. 

Think about the driving force when you set a goal. Is it a bucket list idea, is it health-driven, is it supposed to be fun? The stronger your understanding of your ‘why’, the more likely you are to achieve your goal.

If you want to run further, you have to run further. If you want to run faster, you have to run faster. Whatever your goal is, accept that work is required; and some of it may feel a little uncomfortable. Many runners tend to stick to the same routines, routes, and time to run that route, and then wonder why they aren’t getting faster. It can be easy to become a one-paced pony! 

If you’re training for a marathon or any other endurance event, get those long runs in. I’m not talking about junk miles, but consistently exposing your body to these feats of endurance so you both physically and mentally adapt.

Similarly, if you want to get faster, dedicate some runs to increasing speed in your plan. That can feel very challenging, but to make those physical and mental adaptations, our bodies need to experience faster paces. 

When I coach athletes for marathons, I often hear “Oh, my friend ran a half marathon in 1hr 30m, they were doing loads of training, but on marathon day they ran 4hrs 30, I wonder what happened?”. I always ask the same thing, while they may have been nailing their shorter runs, how often did they get out for those endurance runs over 20 miles?If the response is that they never did, that’s why they hit the proverbial wall. 

Surprises can happen on event day, such as gastro issues, mental turbulence, or muscle strain. But the majority of the time our training determines how we race. Picture an iceberg. Your race is the tiny bit of ice poking out of the water, whilst the training is the iceberg beneath

While easy runs may not seem vital, they’re great for a few reasons. They can ease muscle tension after a long or fast run, getting the blood flowing to the muscles for necessary repair.

Easy runs also help with running economy or how efficiently our body is when running. The more we do anything, the more efficient we become at it. In turn, it takes less effort for the same outcomes, and the same effort leads to improved outcomes. Additionally, a training plan with only hard runs is hard to follow from a motivational point of view. Easy runs are nice to look forward to during a challenging training block. 

This is a completely personal thing. For many of us, life comes first and running comes after. If you have two realistic slots available once you’ve stripped out work, family, sleep and other necessary components to your schedule, then two runs a week is sufficient.

I remember a comment from a professional US ultra runner who said that even running four hours a day, six days a week, that’s only 24 hours out of a possible 168 hours in a week. Even sleeping ten hours a night still gives 14 remaining hours for other things. Sure, that’s a professional athlete, but even working a 10-hour day five days a week, in theory, there are still quite a few hours to play with! This is where personal choice and desire to train are major factors. 

Can you run a marathon only dedicating two hours a week to exercise? You probably could, but it won’t be easy. Do you have to train 25 hours a week to do a marathon? Well, you certainly could fit in some fantastic training, but if that’s at the sacrifice of other commitments — is it worth it? 

Ideally, I recommend my clients aim for at least three runs a week early in a marathon or ultra training block, aiming toward four to five nearer the event. Doing strength and conditioning a few times a week is also a very beneficial part of any training plan, but it can usually be done in the house and doesn’t require quite the same planning. 

There will always be a balance between the benefit of training, resting, not over-training (increasing the likelihood of injury) and fitting non-running life in.

Training for a 5k, 10k or half marathon, I suggest 2-3 runs a week at least, but again, this depends on the objective for the event, whether it's just completion, or with a much more specific time target.

No. You don’t need a coach. There are many plans available online, so you should be able to find at least one that seems to fit your goal. However, what a coach can offer that no plan can is:

• Wisdom of methods that both work and don’t work.
• Inspiration to help motivate you.
• Encouragement to push yourself safely.
• Dynamically change your training plan.
• Praise your achievements and support you when it gets tough.
• Accountability when things are challenging to still get out the door. 
• Consideration of all the factors of your life and from it produces a simple set of instructions, requiring no further thought. 

A coached training plan should be adapted to you personally and have some flexibility. If it doesn’t, I would ask why. Do your research before hiring a coach. Many coaches have specialist areas and it’s essential that you can communicate with each other honestly and effectively and ensure you both have realistic expectations of the relationship. 

Sticking to a realistic training plan is key to achieving your running goals, whether that means increasing your distance, getting faster, or simply maintaining an active lifestyle. Consistency and listening to your body are just as important as following a set plan. If you want to find out more about training plans & coaching, get in touch with the coaching team at Run the Wild.

For extra advice on what kit you need to smash your goals, visit your nearest Runners Need store and speak with one of our kit specialists.  

This blog was written by Karin Voller, Logistics Director of Run the Wild.