Marion Freijsen A blog about Sports, Fitness & Health

Building up your training

It’s not always easy to know how to go about building up your training, rather then doing the same thing day-in-day-out, week-in-week-out. It’s hard enough to simply train at least 3-4 times each week.

Ofcourse, your training schedule depends on what you are training for. If you are aiming for a certain race – your goal is pretty fixed and you will need to make sure you get to your best performance around that time. But your goal could simply be to lose some weight, or to see how far or fast you can actually run. In all these cases though, it’s helpful to set yourself some simple guidelines. Not just to make sure you train enough, but also to make sure you don’t train TOO much. Killing yourself will not make you faster.

One of my former coaches gave me a very simple rule to follow – break down your training in 4 week periods. The idea is that you build up for 3 weeks, and then ease off in week 4, only to step it up again in the next 4 week cycle for 3 weeks etc.

So your first week may be 3 runs, on alternative days, and 2 weight sessions in between. One of your runs could be an interval session – the other two steady runs of 5km each. Then week two – you add 10% effort to what you did in week one. So your 5km runs become 5,5kms, your interval session just that 10% extra hard. Same again for week three. Your runs go to 6.1kms, your intervals get a little tougher/longer and your weight sessions also increase in weight/effort (rather then length).

Then week 4, you take it down 10% – so effectively you are now working at what was your second week’s level. The next cycle starts at the speed/distance/effort of your week 3 previously and builds up again by 10% in the next three weeks. So you are taking three steps forward, one back every 4 weeks and thus slowly building your training. It actually feels really good, the week recovery is surprisingly easy even though it may have felt hard when you did it the first time round. And this way you ensure you give your body a rest every 4 weeks rather then pushing it every single time. Ofcourse, there is a finite limit to what you can achieve but you’ll get further this way, then just going flat out all the time. Definitely worth trying.

Music: Keeps getting better – Christina Aguilera