In yesterdays post I went into a little bit of detail about what Periodization entails and how a Periodized year might look.
Today I want to try to help you better understand how to set up your running plan, from a Microcycle perspective.
Remember that the Periodized training year is broken down into different cycles, to make the planning process a little easier.
The Macrocycle is the entire year. The Mesocycle is a block of time within the year (the Macrocycle), in which training a certain parameter takes place (Base conditioning Phase). It Can last from 4 - 16 weeks.
Finally, we have the Microcycle, which breaks down the week to week training sessions, ensuring there is sufficient stimulus on the bodies' systems to illicit an improvement, but not too much, that would result in breakdown.
Let us break things down a little more. This program is for an individual training for a Half marathon who can commit 5 hours to running every week, and wants to do 2 sessions of Resistance training every week.
What follows contains a lot of information, and there might be differences in opinion, so feel free to let me know if you have any thoughts on what follows - I would appreciate it.
MESOCYCLE A: Preparation:
Mesocycle 1: General preparation phase
Monday: Recovery run:
20 minutes @ Z1 Heart rate & spend 10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Tuesday: Base Conditioning Run 1:
1H30 @ Z2-Z3 Heart rate
Wednesday: Resistance Training
Thursday: Tempo Run & Speed Pickups:
1 hour steady state @ Anaerobic Threshold (Z4-Z5B)
10X30 second Speed Pick ups 1 minute recovery between each Pickup.
Friday: Resistance training
Saturday: Active Recovery day:
10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Sunday: Base Conditioning Run 2:
2H00 @ Z2-Z3 Heart rate
MESOCYCLE A: Preparation:
Mesocycle 2: Specific preparation phase: Base 1:
Monday: Recovery run:
20 minutes @ Z1 Heart rate & spend 10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Tuesday: Base Conditioning Run 1 & Speed Pick ups:
15 minutes @ Z3 Heart rate - can be used as
10 X 60 seconds w/2 minute recovery between each Pickup
15 minutes @ Z3 Heart rate
Wednesday: Resistance Training
Thursday: Tempo Run:
1H15 steady state @ Anaerobic Threshold (Z4-Z5B)
10X30 second Speed Pick ups 1 minute recovery between each Pickup.
Friday: Resistance training
Saturday: Active Recovery day:
10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Sunday: Base Conditioning Run 2:
2H30 @ Z2-Z3 Heart rate
The following adjustments were made in this phase:
- A slight reduction in time committed to Base Conditioning.
- A small increase in time spent on Speed Pick ups.
- Longer Tempo run - including some Pickups.
Mesocycle 2: Specific preparation phase: Build 1:
Monday: Recovery run:
20 minutes @ Z1 Heart rate
10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Tuesday: Track Intervals:
3 minutes @ Z5B w/6mins recovery @ Z4 X 7
10 second sprints w/100 seconds recovery X 6
Wednesday: Resistance Training
Thursday: Tempo Run:
4 X 20minutes steady state @ Anaerobic Threshold (Z5A-Z5B)
2.5 minutes active recovery between intervals
Friday: Resistance training
Saturday: Active Recovery day:
Spend 10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Sunday: Base Conditioning Run 2:
60 minutes @ Z2-Z3 Heart rate
5 x 1 min Speed Pick ups w/2 mins recovery between Pickups.
60 minutes @ Z2-Z3 Heart rate
The following adjustments were made in this phase:
- Another reduction in the Volume of the Base Conditioning run.
- Intervals were introduced to bring in a little more Intensity to the proram - Speed, Power and threshold Intervals
Mesocycle 3: Peaking Phase:
Monday: Recovery run:
20 minutes @ Z1 Heart rate
10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Tuesday: Track Intervals:
6 minutes @ Z5B w/8 mins recovery @ Z4 X 6
10 second sprints w/100 seconds recovery X 6
Wednesday: Resistance Training
Thursday: Tempo Run:
3 X 30minutes steady state @ Anaerobic Threshold (Z4-Z5A)
3 minutes Active recovery between each Interval
Friday: Resistance training
Saturday: Active Recovery day:
Spend 10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Sunday: Base Conditioning Run 2:
20 minutes @ Z2-Z3 Heart rate
10 X 2 minutes @ Z5A w/4 minutes recovery @ Z3
20 minutes @ Z2-Z3 Heart rate
The following adjustments were made in this phase:
- Further reduction in Base Conditioning volume
- Increase in the Volume of work done at and above Anaerobic Threshold.
Monday: Recovery run:
20 minutes @ Z1 Heart rate
10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Tuesday: Track Intervals:
6 minutes @ Z5B w/8 mins recovery @ Z4 X 6
10 second sprints w/100 seconds recovery X 6
Wednesday: Resistance Training
Thursday: Tempo Run:
3 X 20minutes steady state @ Anaerobic Threshold (Z4-Z5A)
3 minutes Active recovery between each Interval
Friday: Resistance training
Saturday: Active Recovery day:
20 minutes @ Z1 Heart rate
10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out the bodies muscles.
Sunday: Race Day:
2 hours @ Race Pace
The following adjustments were made in this phase:
- The primary goal during the Race Season is to maintain your conditioning by following a program that has a good balance between the training intensities.
- Racing is still one of the best ways to get that edge on your conditioning.
