Planning Your Running Schedule

Sports Science Basics for Runners

By Dr. David Cosman in Hong Kong

Planning Out A Weekly Training Program

Periodization requires planning and design in your training plan, and depends on the date of the big race. Scheduling the mix of your speed, strength/conditioning and endurance programs must take your maturity as a runner into consideration.

Race distances and goals should be realistic based on personal abilities, experience and how much time you can set aside for training. The time management must be balanced, to avoid denying work or family responsibilities.

If you are running for health, then beware, because it is not healthy to live with stresses that can come with poor or impossible time management issues.

This may seem advanced, but I urge athletes to plan their training efforts after going for VO2 max testing and lactate testing. VO2 max can help you understand your optimal training. Lactate testing will let you know how much and how hard you can train before your effort goes from aerobic to anaerobic. This can help determine your training intensity, status or progress.