How to build an optimal periodized training schedule
| One of these days we’ll get around to devoting an entire newsletter to periodized training and why that’s important, but we wanted to dive into something a little more specific that we think you’ll find useful: How many hard or “quality” sessions should you do per week? Here’s what Coach Sage has to say: |
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| “I wish there was an easy answer to this question. It sure would be nice if I could tell you to, “do three hard sessions per week in order to get fast!” But unfortunately, it’s a lot more complicated than that. Of course things like this somewhat depend on ability level, how long you’ve been running, and what you’re training for, but there are certain rules that I follow that can be applied to all runners. If I had to summarize it though, the complexity around this issue can be broken up into a few different components which I’ll touch on individually in a bit, and those are: Mental, Periodization, Crash Training, and Speed Training. Component #1: Mental 🧠Mentally, you simply cannot push and give 100% of effort all of the time. Even longer breaks from hard training throughout the year are necessary in order to be in a healthy headspace. If you push, push, push all the time, there’s really two things that could happen. The first is that you simply get burnt out and you can’t peak for your “A” event you’re training for. Alternatively, you could peak too early because of all the intensity, underperform at your “A” event, and still end up burning out. All this to say, you don’t want to be doing something like 5 hard sessions per week, not even close. It’s also important to clarify that there’s a difference between completing a quality workout versus doing something like 4x100m strides with a full recovery in between. Doing a few strides like that could easily be done every day, but again, you want to be giving yourself a mental break from the hard efforts.If you’re looking for me to quantify the number of hard sessions I think you should be doing in a 7-day period, I would never go over three (3). Even with three quality sessions per week, this would be me at peak fitness when I know my body can handle the stress. In our Higher Running Training Plans, I rarely (if ever) prescribe more than two (2) hard workout days in a 7 day period. One of those sessions may even be a long run, because research shows that longer hard run efforts also have a great training stimulus. All in all, I generally like to aid on the side of caution and have my athletes be slightly undertrained rather than 1% overtrained. Component #2: Periodization 📊Periodization does not necessitate that athletes follow a strict 7-day calendar cycle. When I’m giving my athletes a training plan that incorporates periodization, what I’m essentially doing is giving them workouts and runs that slowly change over time. I’m not thinking in terms of days and weeks, but rather, in terms of months! These months are viewed as “blocks,” where each block will have a different overall focus. If you’re using a well-designed training plan (such as any Higher Running Training Plan 😉) we will be giving you hard workouts based on where you are in the training block. This will also dictate how many you do and what type of hard workout it is. For example, if you’re in a base building phase (usually the first ~4 weeks of any of our 16 week training plans), we’ll give you a hard workout or two (max) per week that focuses on tempo runs or longer base-building type aerobic efforts. Component #3: Crash Training 💥What is crash training, you ask? Well, it’s basically where someone would go hard five days in a row and then you take a few days off until you think you’re recovered. This is a perfect example of what NOT to do. I repeat, I do not recommend this method whatsoever. What should one do instead? While, as I already mentioned, focus on 2-3 “hard” days a week with at least 1-2 days of recovery in between each hard workout. This moderate approach will yield more success than something extreme, such as crash training. Component #4: Speed Training 💨The last thing I wanted to touch on is that there are different types of speed training or “hard sessions.” I know I’ve already alluded to this in previous components, but there are variations of going “hard.” Simply running for as long and fast as you can each day won’t optimize your time spent training. I will just quickly go over the various types of workouts that we like to include in our training plans as the “hard” or “key” workouts. If you’re interested in learning more about these, we explain them in depth in our Training Guide, which is included when you purchase any of our Higher Running Training Plans. -Long Runs: This may sound straightforward, but we actually like to make the most out of our long runs. As opposed to just “slogging it out” to get the miles in, we will sometimes ask runners to speed up the second half of their long run, or to throw in a few sets of race-pace efforts. -Vo2Max: This is where your lungs are burning, and you’d wish the pain would stop. These are used to help refine the top end speed of yours. -Tempo: The “infamous” 20-minute tempo run is a favorite workout of ours. This effort would start off feeling comfortable but towards the end you’d wish you could be done.Fartlek: The “speed play” type workouts typically use variations of things like “2 minutes hard, 1 minute easy” that allow you to not focus so much on the mileage or pace. We hope this gives you a little bit better of an idea of how often you should do hard sessions, when to incorporate them, and what the different types of hard workouts there are. If you’re interested in a training plan for #AnySurfaceAnyDistance, be sure to check out HigherRunning.com to browse from 20+ plans for any distance and any level of experience. |
I look at mindset as “everything.” Mindset is what informs us of what we can and can’t do as athletes. In terms of creativity, I recognize that my athletes are all dynamic and unique individuals. They all have different things going on in their life, their bodies adapt differently, they respond uniquely to various stimuli, so I’m constantly trying to figure out what’s the best thing for them at that specific time. What this means for other people reading this is that you have to recognize that mindset will be the determining factor of how you approach a certain training situation. What do you need in this current situation you’re in? Your mindset will help determine this.
You may find yourself not being able to travel to the race early enough to get a true sense of the terrain. Or, it’s not feasible to take a separate trip out to scope the route. Something like Transvulcania is on an exotic island, so you may only have race day to really take in the actual landscape. Don’t sweat it! These days, there are plenty of information available on online forums, videos, and websites for almost every ultramarathon out there, with a few exceptions (looking at you, Barkley Marathon…). We encourage our athletes to try to get a sense of the terrain by Youtubing videos of other people doing the race. Add the location of the race to your weather app weeks in advance so you can try to see what could possibly happen throughout the course of the race. Use an app like Strava so you can look at people who have done the course before. This way, you can see the gradients some of the hills are.
I’m sure this isn’t the answer you were looking for, but the treadmill can be an amazing tool for those needing to practice gaining some serious vertical. By no means am I saying that you need to run every run on this, but even if you can get a key workout in here and there on the treadmill and incorporate workouts with an incline that would mimic your race terrain, you’ll have a tremendous benefit from it. Even if you just use the treadmill to do an all uphill “power hike,” it will help you out tremendouslyNote: If you’re unsure how much vertical you should add to your training plan, or what good workouts are for ultra marathons, we explain our thoughts in detail in our Training Guide (included with all training plan purchases). Our Ultra Marathon Training Plan will give you even MORE tips and tricks for uphill and downhill efforts.
Yes, I realize this newsletter is for people who are not able to access hilly and mountainous terrain. But, I encourage you to try and find a hill or two somewhere that you could make work. Again, even if you can only get to it one day a week for a key workout, this will really help your climbing abilities. A staircase or bleachers can also substitute vertical gain. Once you’ve found your coveted hill, do hill repeats at an easy to moderate pace. On the flip side of this all, doing this will also help prepare your quads for the downhill. We often find that people underestimate the amount of stress your quads take on the downhill, and you don’t want them to give out halfway through the race!
nsity effort in the morning. Try to let it digest (some would say up to two hours) before heading out on a run, but this can vary person-to-person. However, a 6-8 mile run with no calories beforehand is totally doable (9-12 kms). We always encourage our athletes to have a glass of water before they go out for their run, whether they eat or not, because you usually wake up slightly dehydrated.
Eating a banana or a few dates – this is light on the stomach and quick to digest.· Granola bar· Half a cup of oatmeal (i.e., a smaller portion of oatmeal than what you would typically eat for a full breakfast)· 
One piece of toast with peanut butter