Thursday, 29 October 2009

24 Hour Training Plan


HERE is my freshly written training plan for Athens 24 hour race next March.

It is based on the training I did for the West Highland Way race this year and I've tried to incorporate the following into the plan-


  • a lot of flat, steady paced running (race specific)
  • back to back long runs to build endurance
  • weekly fast/rep. sessions but no more than 90% intensity(use HRM to keep check)
  • train to handle the steady pounding soreness/ stiffness which flat running causes
  • cross-training to supplement the running and strengthen supporting muscles.
I've planned it in 4 cycles with 4 weeks in each cycle then a taper in weeks 17,18 and 19. Most of the time week 1 in the cycle is a recovery week, weeks 2 and 3 medium mileage weeks and week 4 a high mileage week. The only exception to this is on the 4th cycle where weeks 1 and 2 are 50 mile weeks to allow for the Draycote Water race and not risk overload with only 5 weeks to go before the 24 hour.

When I put the WHW training plan into action work and life came into play, races were slotted in here and there and the actual training was quite different to the plan but I stuck to the general principles so I anticipate the same happening here (also I've a few adventures in the plotting stages...) but I need a plan to work around.

So, have a look through it and leave your thoughts in the comments. I've one or two things I've thought about changing so it'll be interesting to see if anyone else thinks the same.

Training starts 16th November so you'll have to flick the calendar forward to see it.

10 comments:

Subversive Runner said...

Cross training on Christmas Day, Rich?

Hard core!!!

The Sunday Adventure Club said...

too right, where will Santa be on the 27th of March 2010??!

Davie said...

Remember Daley Thomson's Christmas.
He trained in the morning then went home and thought that his rivals might train twice, so he trained again.
Went home and then trained again - just in case someone else was getting the edge by training three times. Of such things are Olympic champions made!

John Kynaston said...

I like a man with a plan!

It look really good to me. I think the pattern of an easier week every 4th week is really important though the mileage in your easy week is my higher week!

But maybe that's why you ran 16.24 in the whw!!

I'd be interested to know what pace you do your runs when you have say 6miles am and 6miles pm.

Are they similar or is one easy and the other harder?

If you can keep to this you will deserve all the success that comes your way.

I look forward to following your progress throughout the winter.

John

The Sunday Adventure Club said...

Davie don't give me ideas, i've got enough daft ones of my own to keep me going

John, i did the same in my whw training with an easy week in every 4 which meant i could recover and go again.

Pace-wise the a.m runs are all easy, i find it pointless to try to run fast in the mornings as i jump out of bed and into my running shoes. The p.m runs are faster but tbh after working out the mileage i hope to do in Athens it doesn't have to be very "fast" or it becomes counter productive. Reps sessions will be about 6:30 pace and fastest p.m runs will be about 7 to 7:30 pace, long runs will be a bit faster than race pace. I'll probably need to amend the plan to include some pace guidelines when i get time. This wiil be a bit of guess-work for me as i didnt bother with pace in whw training because training on the hills and trails meant that the intensity varied with the terrain.

kate said...

thanks for sharing! i've been trying to work out a plan for the whw (if i get in!!) but i'm really struggling to fit things in. maybe i should stop biking but i don't think i can do that!! are you training twice daily to get more miles in or does it just work out 'time wise' easier than say doing 12m pm?

do you have any tips for not stopping cycling? what's your cross training?

cheers, kate

Debs M-C said...

You're gonna need a whole lot of mash to get your through that plan. Push the boat out and have some roasties on Christmas day. After your x-training of course.

Thanks for giving Marco ideas. I wonder how long the AM runs will last :-)

Sharon and I have always done a Christmas morning run. Well, apart from last year, when I made Santa look anorexic :-)

See you at Tinto!

Brian Mc said...

Hmm I'm a pure pm runner, but your plan has got me thinking about even putting in a qick 3 or 4 mile run before work as a way of increasing my weekly mileage a bit.

Thanks for sharing. And good luck!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that looks really impressive and sooooo well organised. And training not just on Christmas Day, but New Year's Day as well. (Which will be the harder???) There seems to be a bit of an absence of "rest days". If I want to do 16:24 am I not allowed any rest days?! Might need to re-think my training regime......
Murdo

The Sunday Adventure Club said...

Kate, i find running twice a day is better than doing the whole lot at night because i end up just plodding the miles out, better to plod in the morning and run that bit quicker at night also means the average pace you're running the miles at is a bit quicker. most of the x-training is on the ex bike, i just make it up as i go along, the object being to keep the fat burners going and just keep the body exercising for more hours in the day. Good luck with the whw, hopefully see you there!

Debs see you at Tinto, lentils are the new mash.

Murdo new years day is the big challenge as i usually run on xmas day, but lets not get too strict about all this ;o) ps rest days are for old boys...