Progression

Having covered the reasoning and rough plan of my training in a rather long-winded way, I thought it would be best to make things more practical. Instead of paragraphs of reasoning or justifications for what I am doing, I'll simply write down, what I plan to do.

Racing

No racing for the rest of the year. Just an attempt to get in a reasonable training load up until Christmas. Once into the new year I'll have a think about how my training is going, work out when my leave is likely to be and decide on what races I want to do. I still think starting out with getting my 10km time down before hitting the marathon again is the way I'll head.


Template

There is a template for my weekly (which is really a 7-9 day cycle) training. The order of each session will vary depending on work. family and other life commitments. So my VO2 runs will not always precede my long aerobic runs. I'll make a decision on the order from the perspective of only a few days, trying to make the most of what I can. So the template is:

1. Long Run - at aerobic conditioning HR 141-159bpm
2. VO2 intervals - intervals @ HR 170+bpm or faster than 10km race pace
3. Threshold - 1 or 2 extended repeats at 160-160bpm
4. Speed - agility, technique work plus fast running over short repeats

These are the four key sessions. All other running is aerobic conditioning, or recovery work. I'll also want to get in 2 x strength sessions, and hopefully a bike ride and maybe a swim.

End Point

For the template to work, I will progress towards the following:

1. Long Run of 2.5 hours
2. VO2max intervals totalling 25min or 8km
3. Threshold run totalling 45min straight
4. Speed intervals at around 1500m race pace totalling 2400m.
5. Other runs to average 60min/day at aerobic conditioning

The Progression

The long run currently at 2 hours, and I will add about 5min whenever I feel it is appropriate. If in doubt about my ability to handle the current load, I definitely won't increase it.

Each cycle I will alternate between increasing the VO2max intervals or the Threshold run. Never both in the same cycle. I'll add about 3min to the total interval time in VO2max, and 2.5-5min to the Threshold run, varying between a single run or 2 splits at threshold. Currently I am add 2x3min for VO2(total 6min), and 1x12.5min for Threshold.

Until the end of the year, I won't be taking to much note of paces or distance in the Speed session. I am aiming just to capture that elusive feeling of speed. Once I get a couple of races under my belt next year, I'll reassess.

Overall

A couple of months of this training will still have me a good distance away from the described end point. However, it should still provide an excellent platform and reference point to begin racing and fine tuning training to make the next leap in my running.