To plan or not to plan?

Well,  on Sunday it was 11 weeks till the Women's 10K.......which brings me to the point when I need to decide what I'm doing about a training plan. 

If you've read my previous blogs you'll know that I've been getting over an injury, and recently have been doing 2 runs and 1 brisk walk in the week. This week I'll be doing 3 runs for the first time since last August, so its a big week!  First one was today, just over 20 minutes, planning on the other two being much the same - not taking any risks, no attempt at speed, just easy runs, with good warm up, cool down and stretch.  So this is the transition week to a proper build up for the race.

Come Sunday, 10weeks to go, its time to get serious!!  I'm not a fast runner, my best time for the 10k was 2010's Women's 10K - 58mins 21 sec using a 10 week training plan, (I was thrilled!!!)  but that's the beauty of running, you dont need to judge yourself against anyone else.  You can have a personal goal, and it doesn't matter whether that is to knock a wee bit off a previous time, as I hope to do, or simply to get round the course, maybe without any walk breaks.  My best for a 5k was 27+ minutes, done in a Race for Life on Glasgow Green.  That was around 15 years ago, and its never going to happen again!! My efforts in the Pollok Park parkrun are testament to that, sadly!

So back to plans.  I like to have a plan, it gives you a structure to your training, gradually increasing distance and difficulty.  The  saying that if a session is written down you are more likely to do it is a definite truism.  A plan will help to make sure you are at your fittest at the right time, and I think it also helps to minimise the risk of injury because sticking to the steady increases in a plan is a lot safer than suddenly taking a notion to double your distance because you feel good about a nice sunny day!!  My hubby is less keen - he prefers to run when he's in the mood, sometimes he pre plans, other times he 'sees where his legs take him'.  He also reckons that I'd have a lot less angst about missing a session, even for a valid reason, if it wasn't on a plan in the first place!  So I guess its a matter of choice.

This year I'm tossing up between a couple of different plans I've found online. It can be difficult finding one which allows for only running 3 times a week, but that is my maximum as I like to do other things as well, and as an older runner I need to make sure I have enough rest days.  I'll let you know what one I plump for.......and how my transition to 3 runs goes.

Speak to you soon!