I’ve recently made an unexpected shift in my marathon training plan. But, it’s something that is working well for me. I remember reading this post by Caitlin at HTP and thinking that I would never use anything but a Traditional Training Plan. This is what I used for my six half-marathons, and even what I’ve done to coordinate workouts when I’m not training for anything in particular. I’ve shown you the training calendars I make, including this one that I made for marathon training:
I even go through and put all of those runs on my Google calendar at the beginning of training.
Well, nowadays, I’m finding that a Flexible Plan works better for me. I look through my schedule, and (using Google calendar) drag-and-drop those workouts around until I squeeze them all in for the week. If I’m teaching a Kosama class on Wednesday morning, I can easily slide my run to Thursday. Or if I have a free evening and the weather is forecasted in the 50s, I’ll drag my run down to evening time. Last week, with everything we had to do moving-wise, I was dragging and dropping like crazy. But I was able to fit my long run in on Sunday, and got a jump start on this week’s mid-distance run.
What kind of training plan do you prefer–traditional or flexible?
For my first run, I was all about the traditional. I wanted to make sure I could do it, so I wanted to do it right! Now I think the flexible approach is better for me!
Ooo, I agree. I think if it’s your first run, a traditional plan is safer. But once you have a better feel of your body and what levels of training you can handle, when you need a rest day, etc., I think flexible is great
Nice! I just use my blog but if I were training for a big run coming up, I’d probably use one of these programs too.
I am so excited I read this post. I am currently putting together my training plan and I LOVE the idea of a flex plan.
So glad it sparked something for you! It is working really well for me, and makes the training a lot more manageable.
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