Believing in the Cycle

My updated and revised vision of training cycles

Jan 26, 2024

I've always believed in training cycles. From the time I was 14 and a lanky, dorky sophomore in HS, I learned that each season had it's own window of time where you chose to run the fastest you've ever run by dropping mileage and sharpening up your racing skills.

It's called peaking for a race and ever since 1999, I've practiced peaking myself and now my runners to be at their best when their last race of the season rolls around.

But then, for some strange reason, I got away from that for my own running. Maybe it was kids or a lack of racing, but I just floated through seasons. I was in shape, that's for sure, but I wasn't ever reaching my peak. And if I did, I blew past it and kept training until I got hurt or burned out.

After the end of 2023 - where I spent the last 4 months away from running - I realized that something had to change. So this year, with that knowledge, I'm set on doing things the right way.

aerial photography of man standing on hill — Photo by Kalen Emsley on Unsplash

Rather than one long continuous blob of training, I've already penciled in my post-season breaks. These breaks will act as exclamation points to my season - no matter what races I do or don't do. The breaks are non-negotiable, but what is up for planning and debate is when they'll happen (plus or minus a week or two).

Now that I have my end dates, I need to fill in the prior weeks and months so I have something to shoot for. For me, a big goal is breaking 5 minutes in the mile, so this race will be as close to my first 2024 break as possible. As always, Adrenaline is also on the calendar and I'm thinking about dabbling my toes into the triathlon/duathlon pool to see how it suits me.

Build mileage. Add workouts. Improve fitness. Race. Peak. Rest.

This is my goal: I am going to be intentional about my breaks and my peaks.

To summarize, here’s a goal we can all shoot for:

Create small, short cycles consisting of getting in shape, adding workouts, and peaking.
Focus on finding a peak race (1 race for longer races; more than 1 race for shorter races *Think track races or championship racing)
Find races to keep you motivated prior to peaking. These results may not be “great”.
Training cycles don’t need to match the seasons. They should be based on your peak races and when they fall.

Tell me, what does a typical race season look like for you? Similar to mine or completely different?

Into the NFL playoffs? Want to support Cherokee Track and Cross Country? The

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What I’m Exploring

What’s next for TrainwithMarc? Hopefully global domination. But if not, then I’ll “settle” for coaching more runners.

With the help of Bridget, she told me about Garmin Clipboard. This arm of Garmin allows me to create (running) workouts and sync them to your watch for you to do the workout. Workouts can be simple (tempo run) or elaborate (mixing paces and recoveries). I’ve pushed this out to a few of my runners already and as we move into 2024, I’m hopeful that I’ll add it as a service that I offer.

Want to try it out? Send me a message or email and I will get you started.

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