This week on the Kinetic Revolution Podcast there was an excellent interview with Gary Reynolds of Runners Paradise. The subject was on training cycle length and how we tend to focus on a 7-day cycle (because that's how long a week is), when in fact other lengths, such as a 10-day cycle might be more appropriate.
This talk about training cycles couldn't have come at a better time. I was right in the middle of building a rather full-to-bursting weekly plan which I have now adapted into a much better spaced 10-day alternative. I thought I'd share my experience as evidence that this approach really can work.
The Plan Contents
As background: I'm just coming off a 12 week plan that I built myself in preparation for Reading Half Marathon this weekend. The plan was a 7-day one, consisting of 5 run sessions, 2 strength/flexibility sessions and 1 rest day. It has gone very well and all that remains now is seeing how well I perform on Sunday.
I've now got 12 weeks until my next race, which is my local 10K. This is really a 'B' race for me, so I thought it a good point to introduce a 6 week core aerobic, strength and flexibility cycle while still keeping my eye on a good 10k performance. In addition to this I'm doing my first ever triathlon in September (just a short sprint one) so I though this would also be a good point to start introducing some swimming and bike work as well.
In each cycle I'm therefore aiming to fit in the following sessions:
- A long run of around 10 miles
- An easy 10K run
- A run speed session (tempo, hills or intervals) just to maintain form for the 10K
- A long(ish) bike ride of around 1hr 30mins - 2 hours
- A shorter bike ride
- A swimming session of about an hour
- Two strength and flexibility sessions
- A weekly game of five-a-side football (as this helps break up my movement patterns)
A 7-Day Cycle Plan
My initial attempt was to squeeze this into my normal weekly template, but it ended up being VERY crowded, to the point where a Thursday would end up being a long bike ride in the morning and then a 5K easy run at lunchtime; Tuesday would have two big workout sessions; and Wednesday swimming would be a late 9pm-10pm session (local pool lane time), followed by a 6am start on Thursday morning to fit in the bike session before work - not ideal! This initial draft is shown below. The colour code is: Red - running, Green - bike, Blue - swim, Yellow - gym work. Five-a-side football is always on a Sunday evening.
I really wasn't happy with this plan as it felt almost like overtraining in what should actually be a more relaxed period between two heavy, race focused ones. The idea of a 10-day cycle was therefore very appealing.
I was initially somewhat sceptical as to how my sessions would fit into a 10-day plan. My training times have LOTS of restrictions on them, including:
- I try to avoid training in the evenings where possible (other than strength and flexibility work which I do at home) due to child care, charity work and making sure my wife has time for her workouts and events.
- Weekends are family time, so have no training booked against them until the kids are in bed at the end of the day.
- Sunday evening is five-a-side football.
- Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I have a 5:15am start in order to get to work so I normally restrict myself to getting up at 4:30am on only one of these days in order to get a session in first. Any more would be too tiring.
- Thursday and Friday I work from home so these are the only days I can really fit in any long sessions (usually by getting up early and doing them before starting work).
- Evening adult lane sessions at my local pool are 9pm-10pm, which is a bit too late for me given my early morning starts.
A 10-Day Cycle Plan
So, what I did is allowed a couple of days recovery from Reading Half Marathon and then broke my six weeks down into four 10-day blocks (instead of six 1-week ones). I then fitted in the sessions that were immovable, such as five-a-side football on a Sunday (which I will cycle to and from) and the long sessions that have to take place on a Thursday or Friday morning. I then fitted the rest of the sessions around this starting point, particularly trying to avoid late evening swimming if possible (which I managed on all but one day).
The net result is that over the six weeks I'm getting less of each type of session in (4 of each instead of 6 of each) but it feels much more relaxed. There are virtually no doubling up days and the number of rest days is the same as the 7-day plan. The training commitment fits better with family life and, being less exhausting, means I will be able to focus more intently on session quality rather than quantity.
So, here’s the plan adjusted to a 10-day cycle. Colour scheme is still: Red - running, Green - bike, Blue - swim, Yellow - gym work and black blocks just mark out the 10-day windows.
All-in-all, it looks and feels like a much more sustainable plan, which will be less exhausting and thus (hopefully) less chance of injury. The big open question I do have is to how amenable it will be to last minute schedule changes, such as a late meeting, which might result in having to move a few sessions around. I’ll report back in six weeks as to how well it worked out.
