My full-on training plan for 2013!

After all my various blog posts about what I want to achieve in 2013 and how I am going to try and do it, I finally put together a training plan. So this is it:

Its a 2 week plan, to allow all the different types of training that I want to include. The plan is that I will do the same type of training on each of the days of the two-week plan, but the general trend is that I will increase distance and intensity as my fitness and pace improves (hopefully!) over the coming weeks and months.

The initial aim is to lose the excessive Christmas weight gained, which was 5lbs in the space of a week!

So to the plan:

Week A:

Day	Training
MON	Core Training
TUE	Hill session, Yoga, 40 min easy cycle
WED	30 min Hard cycle
THU	Club interval training
FRI	Short easy run, 20 min easy cycle, Yoga
SAT	Hard parkrun
SUN	Long slow run

Week B:

Day	Training
MON	60 minute easy cycle
TUE	Intervals sesssion, 40 min easy cycle
WED	30 min Hard cycle
THU	Club tempo run
FRI	Tempo run, 20 min easy cycle
SAT	Easy parkrun
SUN	Long slow run

Wherever possible I will also try to include some basic hamstring, calf, quad and hip flexor stretches and strengthening each day. To start with this should see my weekly mileage around 30 miles a week and my cycling alternating between 90 and 150 minutes each week. You will probably notice that there are no out and out rest days. I will take days off when I feel they are necessary. In essence, I see Wednesday as a day off as it is a quick hard burst of cycling and no running. Where possible I am trying to follow a hard session with an easy/recovery session within 24 hours. This is after reading about that current science tells us that the true benefit of a recovery run is that you are training in a pre-fatigued state. I think most of us know that training in a fatigued state is where our body learns to improve and build extra muscle where needed.

Having started the year last week part way into a Week B, I have since done an A and am currently back on a Week B.

Only time will tell if this helps me reach my aims, but on the weight loss side, things are already working well with 1 lb lost in the first week and an impressive 5 lbs in the second. This could just be a blip, but the early signs are good that I might have lost the Christmas weight.