How I Write Workouts For My Athletes
Every athlete is different; every training plan is too.
In recent weeks, I’ve seen a few runners tell me about workouts they’ve done.
I appreciate when that happens because it offers me insight into their training and their mindset.
My wife does it too when she’s training. She comes up with workouts that she thinks will be fun or helpful to her training. But just as with others, is she getting everything out of the workout? Is her body adapting to the training?
If you’re looking for more guidance on racing, training structure, or motivation, I’ve got you covered. Sign up for a coaching plan or in-person session today. Let’s make this your best season ever.
Here’s how I write workouts for the runners I coach:
Let’s start with Michael as my example. Michael is one of my runners and we’ve worked together for just over a year now. He ran a marathon in May, but also spent most of the winter months racing short races (mile races) and 5ks.
Here’s what I do more than anything else:
I start with their end race in mind.
So for Michael, that was the marathon. I work backwards from the goal race and plan what will help them reach their goal. From there, I plan workouts and long runs that will help them reach their specific goal [time, performance, effort, etc].
There is a lot of communication between the two of us on what workouts he likes to do and how he likes to feel during his build up. I write training sessions that make him feel strong and also confident. We leave a little on the table so we don’t get him injured as well.
This particular training block, Michael provided a unique challenge in that he wanted to have two distinct training and racing “seasons” within the bigger cycle: indoor track and marathon training.
During the early part of his training cycle, we focused on faster repeats where he could produce quality times over the 1 mile distance. This meant 200s and 400s at near race pace. While he absolutely needed faster workouts, we also worked on building him a strong engine with double digit long runs and a decent amount of threshold and tempo runs.
What also helped a lot was Michael raced a decent amount during the winter (NYRR 9+1). Racing frequently gets you sharper while also providing competition and a good quality day that boosts your training. We didn’t need to do a lot of intense workouts because he got them from the races.
From there, Michael was able to run a few sub-5 minute miles before transitioning to the longer work required of running a good marathon. Because Michael had all of this speed in his legs, he found that his threshold and tempo paces felt much easier than in years past.
This allowed him to dial in to his marathon goal pace and eventually on race day, crush his marathon [6:55 pace for a 3:00:47].
Is it a prerequisite to run track races before training for a marathon? No. But as I’ve written about this topic in the past, it definitely helps to have faster times over shorter distances before returning to the marathon.
Sample Week in February
10 minute tempo, 6x600 at CV
400 at T, 6 x 100 from 5k down to mile pace
8-12 mile long run
Sample Week in April
6 x 1k at T
10 min tempo, 6 x hill sprints, 10 min tempo
16 mile long run
What Will Work For You?
This is a great question that involves knowing your running history, your goals, and how much training you’re able to do.
Do I think you have to run track races before a marathon? Nah, but it worked for Michael in this situation.
My biggest suggestion to you is to know what shape you’re in right now. Not what you want to be in, but where you actually are. From there, use a pace calculator, or a run coach to create workouts that will challenge you, but not crush you.
If you have questions, I’d be happy to help! Send a message or email me and I’ll respond promptly!
Follow Me on Instagram
Keep up to date with all of our runners + more on my Instagram account TrainwithMarc.Run
Thanks for reading until the end. You can certainly get a hold of me in any number of ways, but if you have a comment about this post, click below.
