Finding a plan and sticking with it

So I know in the past I've talked a lot about how to make a plan or if you're lazy what to do.  Honestly either way works fine, and realistically most plans that you find, be it from the Nike+ Coach, or a running magazine, or recommended by a friend or what have you they will probably get the job done, and some might get it done better.  Sure one plan might deliver you to the start line only having done 16 miles (I'll talk about this after May 29) and some might make it so that you've gone the distance you're needing to race.

If you look at elite athletes, sure they might do some similar training, but t heir plans likely vary quite a bit and that only highlights the fact that there are many different ways to get from point A to point B.  No matter what you do with a plan that you have found is stick with it.  Yes it'd be good if you followed it to a T, but don't play Frankenstein with multiple ones thinking what will be best for you.  This is more so aimed at running because cycling you can do training in blocks to improve on different skill sets.  But running on the other hand two staples are usually a speed day, a rest day, and a long run day.  Each plan has them spaced out slightly differently for good reasons and splicing and dicing will likely throw this off.  At best you could not get the full effects of either plan or at worst you can set yourself up for some pretty sweet injury.  If you use me or Jess as an example, when you're out you're going to be out for a little while.  So if you pick a plan, stick with it, test it out, if it doesn't work out how you expected, it will have given you something, just not necessarily what you wanted and move on.

So that brings me on to part 2, what happens if you get sick/miss workouts.  Well if you're only missing a workout, or a week of workouts you're probably going to be alright just get back into it and don't look back.  If you've missed more than that, you'll probably have to roll back your training schedule the appropriate amount of length. If you've missed it because of injury it's super important to realize that goals you set at the beginning of the year may no longer be applicable and you need to find a new one, just like how Jess is now targeting a different race which can be found here.  Because 1 plan does not suit everyone, make sure you listen to your body, yes I know that sounds horribly corny and cheesy, but if everyone checked in with their body in a while, am I hurting from training like muscle soreness or is this hurting where it shouldn't be.  I didn't listen and that landed me with a 6 month date with Rehab, Jess landed a slightly shorter fling, but equally crappy.

So with that, there it is guys.  Find a plan, stick with it, if you miss a few workouts, no big deal.  If you miss a lot roll back the clock, but most important check in with how you feel once in a while and with a bit of lady luck you should get to the start line on race morning ready to target your best time ever.

~Cheers