Thursday, January 8, 2009

TIART: Training Plans Do's and Don'ts

Last night I went to the gym and did 3 miles on the track, followed by week 3, day 1 of the 200 sit-ups plan. My abs feel like they were worked this morning. Wow!

So, today's Take It And Run Thursday post is about training plans. Do's and don'ts, tips and tricks.

Well, being that I just started following a training plan, I really don't have much sage advice to offer. I will offer up the reasoning I started using a training plan, though.

My first half year of running was great. I'd just run as I liked. I'd go on a long run on the weekends, and loved it. Slowly my shorter runs during the week disappeared, and I was just doing a couple of long runs a week. As most could predict, my body broke down due to the sudden increase in mileage, and I was done.

Last year, I was recovering from the injury, and was running ad-hoc for quite a bit. Afterward, I would run, but run aimlessly. No real plan, no real goal.

I'm hoping that a training plan will get me past both issues. That a reasonable plan put together by someone knowledgeable will be more likely to get me through uninjured (by slowly raising the mileage and intensity). Also, that having a plan will help me achieve my goals.

That's why I adopted the 20 week marathon program over at Cool Running. I'm not endorsing it yet, as I'm only on week 2, but I figure having a plan is better than not.

I'm looking forward to reading about other people's experience with training plans.. I have a lot to learn here.

7 comments:

Denise said...

Training plans are so helpful. I know I'd go and do too much too fast if it wasn't for them.

I just saw the sit up challenge. I'm trying to get through that 100 push up challenge now. It's so hard! I'm going to do the sit up one next!!

thanks for the nice comment on my last post. :-)

tfh said...

Thanks for linking to your training plan! I am always trying to compare as many plans as possible in a dreamy kind of quest for The Best-- I'm impressed by the distance that plan has you working up to in long runs, since I'm not planning to go beyond 20 miles (I think).

No Longer Using said...

good luck!!!! i agree with TFH i like comparing plans so i'll def check this one out.

Cindy said...

i'll check that training plan out- i'm still shopping for a marathon plan. i have the galloway book, but i'm not sold on it. i'll be interested in hearing what you think about the cool running!

Julianne said...

Thanks for visiting my blog! Also, which race are you thinking about signing up for? Good luck with your Cool Runnings training! I'm using the Smart Coach from Runner's World!

Shoe Running said...

I'll be curious to hear how you like the coolrunning training plan :)

I'm such a slacker and haven't got a plan yet :)

X-Country2 said...

I've never used a training plan either, so I'm anxious to follow how it works for other people. Good luck!