12 Week Training Plan

Twelve Weeks
to Peak Condition
by Jack Berkery

[This training plan is taken from the DRS Training Archives and was written by Jack Berkery, the Common Sense Coach. It can be adjusted to fit nearly any distance, or speed. The months in the article are referencing the dates needed for preperation for the Stockade-athon 15K race in \upstate New York. The months used should be adjusted to fit your own requirements.]

A L S O :

M@Dead Training Page
Faster Marathons
Marathon Tips
Marathon Preparation
Dr. Pribut's Sports Injuries

One of the seminars in the pre-Stockade-athon speaker series last fall was a presentation by Russ Ebbets on training for the 15k. In it he gave an outline for a fall schedule which was designed to bring a runner to peak conditioning in time for the Stockade race. This wasn't the first time I had seen such a training plan. They have been published by various authors in books and magazines many times. And Russ also outlined a similar plan in the USA T&F (formerly TAC) Level I coaching school last year.

The following chart shows a suggested program for reaching a peak condition over a twelve week period which if you begin right now will take you into late October and early November.

 |----------------------------------------------------------------|
 |  (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12)  |
 |                                           |
 |                             |c|            |
 |         |a|        |b|     |c| |c|            |
 |     |a| |a|     |b| |b| |c| |c| |c|            |
 |  |a| |a| |a|     |b| |b| |c| |c| |c| |d|         |
 |  |a| |a| |a| |b| |b| |b| |c| |c| |c| |d| |d|     |
 |  |a| |a| |a| |b| |b| |b| |c| |c| |c| |d| |d| |d|  |
 |  |a| |a| |a| |b| |b| |b| |c| |c| |c| |d| |d| |d|  |
 |  --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---  |
 |  100 110 120  80 110 120 110 120 130 100  80  60  |
 | Weekly mileage as percent of your pre-season endurance base. |
 |----------------------------------------------------------------|

Note that it is divided into 4 phases of 3 weeks each. The number below each column is NOT mileage but rather the percentage of your current baseline training mileage. To compute your baseline mileage take an average of the past 3 or 4 weeks and use that as the 100% level and build from there. For instance: If you have been doing 20 miles per week then build to 22 next week and 24 the week after. In the fourth week, drop the mileage down to 80% of baseline to rest a bit before building up again. While it may seem like this is backing off it is only in terms of mileage. Each phase also adds more intensity in the form of intervals or fartlek or the sort, so even with lower mileage in week four you will still be building up stress levels.

The Phases

a) General endurance conditioning.
Starting from your training base, build your mileage by 10% per week for a couple weeks. If you've already been doing interval or fartlek workouts continue doing them but make them somewhat longer in duration and allow plenty of recovery time between each interval. For those who have not been doing intervals yet, start them at moderate intensity with 400m or 800m repeats with plenty of rest in between. Begin timing yourself most runs so you'll be able to compare progress as the weeks pass. Never time your weekly long run, make it very casual so as not to take the fun out of everything.
b) Transition phase.
The first week drops the mileage back down somewhat but you should also add one day of lactate threshold training and up the intensity of your interval workouts by either adding a couple repeats or shortening the rest intervals. You should also find one short race of 2 or 3 or 4 miles to use as a personal time trial (not all-out racing) to get a feel for where you are with speed and endurance. Set a pacing goal and stick to it. Don't get carried away with an all-out pace.
c) Pre-competition phase.
Most of the mileage buildup in this phase should be gotten from adding to the length of the one weekly long run. If you've been doing 6 or 8 miles each Sunday, boost it to 10 and then 12.
Find two more races, one below your target race distance and one above it. (i.e. If you want to run a PR at 10k, then run one 5k and one 8 miler, the short one to test pacing and speed and the second one to test endurance but still do not run them all-out. Again, set REASONABLE pacing goals. Memorize your mile splits and try to stick with them.
Make your interval workouts tougher by shortening the rest interval some more and boosting their length to mile repeats for longer distance racing or for 5km racing make them 400m or 800m repeats a few seconds faster than the projected 5km pace. Continue to do the lactate threshold runs once a week.
d) Peak condition phase.
You are READY! So go ahead and go full bore for 2 or 3 races. I wouldn't recommend two races in a week but one each week is OK. You must lower your mileage each week of this phase because the intensity level is very high. Your intervals should be short, 200m and 400m repeats done a couple seconds per lap faster than your 5km race pace and with only 20-30 seconds of rest between each repeat. Concentrate on running form while doing these too. Do one short 2 mile lactate threshold run and drop the long run to where it is no longer than your next big race. Maybe even less, i.e. before a 15Km, 8-9 miles is long enough.
e) Down time.
There is one more phase which is not shown on the chart which I call down-time but is more generally referred to as REST! After a hard spring racing season you will need to back off both racing and high-intensity training for a few weeks. It's possible that some will be able to extend the period of peak racing for up to 6 weeks (but not likely). And with the availability of so many quality races during the summer, you'll be tempted to continue "pushing the envelope". Don't. Take some down time. Recover from the effort.

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