6 Things Your Training Plan Needs to Get You to Race Day Healthy

Your Race Day Is Coming.

Is Your Training Plan Actually Getting You Ready?

You open your training plan Sunday night and look at the week ahead.

Tempo run. Easy miles. Strength. Another easy run. Long run.

And then you think . . . or send me the message :-)

Or if you're training for the St. George Marathon or another early-fall race, that long run is starting to look REALLY long.

Your legs are tired. Something might be a little achy. You're trying to fit training around work, kids, sleep, life...and somewhere in the back of your mind you're wondering:

Am I doing enough?

Or maybe you're training for a later fall race, like the Snow Canyon Half Marathon.

Your race still feels far enough away that you've been able to say, "I've got time."

Except now...it's actually time to train.

This is where runners often make one of two mistakes.

They either start piling on miles because they think more running = more fitness, or they follow a generic training plan so closely that they forget the plan is supposed to serve their body and their goal.

A good training plan is more than a collection of miles.

It should strategically give your body enough stress to improve, enough recovery to adapt, and enough race-specific work to prepare you for what you're actually asking your body to do on race day.

So what should your training plan actually include?

Easy Running + Base Mileage

Yes, mileage matters.

Your aerobic system needs time on your feet to develop the endurance you'll need on race day.

But more isn't automatically better.

Instead of obsessing over increasing your mileage by a certain percentage every single week, think about progressively increasing your total training load while watching how your body responds.

Mileage is only ONE form of stress.

A 40-mile week with two hard workouts, heavy strength training, poor sleep and a stressful week at work is very different from a 40-mile week filled primarily with easy running when you're sleeping well and recovering great.

Your training plan needs to account for the whole athlete.

And remember:

Easy runs need to actually be easy.

Those miles build your aerobic engine while allowing you to recover enough to get the benefit from your harder workouts.

You don't need to prove your fitness on Tuesday's easy run.

Save it for race day.

Purposeful Speed Work

Not every run should look the same.

Tempo runs, threshold work, intervals, fartleks and hill repeats all provide different training adaptations.

Depending on where you are in your training cycle, most runners will benefit from one or two purposeful quality sessions each week.

The important word there is purposeful.

You shouldn't do a hard workout just because your training plan says "speed."

Your workout should match the goal.

And then let the next easy day be EASY.

Hard days create the training stimulus.

Easy days give your body the opportunity to absorb it.

A Long Run That Prepares You for YOUR Race

Long runs are important for both marathon and half-marathon runners—but they shouldn't just be about surviving more miles every Saturday.

As you move deeper into race training, your long runs should gradually become more specific to your race.

Training for St. George?

Your body needs experience running downhill. Your quads need to be strong enough to tolerate that eccentric load. You also need to be prepared for climbing Veyo and handling the rollers that follow.

Training for a flatter race?

Your long runs may need longer sustained race-pace efforts where you practice settling into a consistent rhythm.

Training for a half marathon?

You don't need marathon-level long runs, but you DO need enough endurance that 13.1 miles isn't a completely new demand on race day.

Race-specific training builds confidence because you've already practiced pieces of what race day is going to ask of you.

Strength Training

Please don't wait until you're injured to start strength training.

Running is fantastic at making you better at running.

But that doesn't mean running alone develops all the strength and capacity your body needs to tolerate increasing training loads.

Squats, split squats, deadlifts, step-ups, calf work, hamstring strength and single-leg exercises can all play an important role in a runner's program.

Ideally, strength training stays in your plan throughout the year.

But the goal changes depending on your training season.

When running volume is lower, we may be able to push heavier strength work.

As you enter peak marathon mileage, we may decrease the amount of lifting so you're maintaining strength without destroying your legs before your key running workouts.

Strength should support your running—not compete with it.

Mobility, Drills + Running Form

This is one I see missing from A LOT of training plans.

You have five running days.

Two strength days.

A long run.

Maybe a rest day.

But what are you doing to help your body move well through all of those miles?

A few minutes of targeted mobility, running drills and strides can go a long way.

And I said targeted mobility for a reason.

Not every runner needs to stretch everything.

If your ankle mobility is limited, your plan may need ankle work.

If you're struggling to control hip drop, we may work on hip strength and running mechanics.

If you're overstriding, the answer probably isn't simply adding more miles.

Your training plan needs to prepare your cardiovascular system AND your musculoskeletal system for the demands you're putting on it.

Recovery Is Part of the Training Plan

This one might be the most important as we enter peak training.

Recovery isn't what happens when you aren't training. Recovery IS training.

Your long run creates stress.

Your threshold workout creates stress.

Your strength session creates stress.

The improvement happens when your body gets the opportunity to adapt to that stress.

That means your plan needs easy running, recovery days and at least one day where you're not continually asking your body for more.

It also means paying attention to sleep, nutrition and fueling.

And here's a big one:

A missed workout isn't training debt.

Don't take the 8 miles you missed Tuesday and try to stuff them into Thursday, Friday and Saturday because you need your weekly TrainingPeaks box to turn green.

Look forward.

Adjust.

Keep training.

Consistency over months matters much more than forcing one workout into a week where it no longer belongs.

Your Plan Should Change As You Change

A training plan isn't a contract.

It's a roadmap.

Some weeks you will feel incredible.

Some weeks your kids will be sick, work will explode, you'll sleep terribly, your calf will feel weird, or life will simply happen.

The best training plan isn't the one you follow perfectly.

It's the one that gives you the right training stimulus while allowing you to stay healthy enough to KEEP training.

Your goal is to arrive at that starting line healthy, confident and prepared to race.

Training for the Snow Canyon Half?

If Snow Canyon Half is your fall goal and you've been thinking, "I really need to start actually training for this..."

Yep. 😜

Now is the time.

I've put together a FREE Snow Canyon Half Marathon Training Plan to help you build the endurance, strength and race-specific fitness you'll need to be ready for race day.

If you are doing Snow Canyon Half - Click here for your

FREE TRAINING PLAN

And if you're following a plan but constantly dealing with aches, falling apart late in races, struggling to hit your workouts, or wondering if the plan you're following actually fits YOU—that's exactly the kind of thing I help runners figure out with my Running Assessments and Run Coaching.

Your training plan should build you up—not continually break you down.

Happy Running

-Dayna, your fav. Exercise Physiologist & Run Coach

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I'll be posting more ideas this week on my IG & FB accounts