Why is it so hard to go from running 4 days a week to running 5 days a week?
I was talking to a client recently, who is training for a marathon, and she has been running 4 days a week for quite some time.
She has chosen a training plan that she believes will get her where she needs to be to achieve the lofty time goal she has set for herself. And, she goes out and executes every one of her training runs with purpose.
But, she is worried that the training plan she is selected actually calls for her to run 5 days a week.
She is worried because she just doesn't know how she is going to fit it in. You see, Wednesdays are a hectic day for her family, her husband works a 12-hour shift that day, and the kids have soccer and band practice. After taking care of all her family and work responsibilities, she really has no time to get in a run on a Wednesday.
It is not uncommon when I talk to runners to hear, "I only have time to run 4 days a week", or "I just can't fit in a run on Tuesday & Wednesday with my schedule," or "Can I train for a marathon running 3 days a week?".
The reality is, while runners have their running goals, like getting a BQ or breaking 45 minutes in the 10k, or something else like that, runners also have work, family, and community commitments and goals.
So, what did I tell this particular runner?
Make Wednesday a rest day.
Her response?
"But the plan says Monday and Friday are rest days, and to run on Wednesday."
I know. Yup it does.
But I'm going to share a cheeky like secret with you here, the same one I shared with her.
The plan is a guideline!
I'm gonna say that again. The plan is a guideline.
Whoever made that plan, wherever you got it from, applied the training principles that will cause you to increase your cardiovascular capacity and musculoskeletal strength so you can excel at the marathon you want to run. They have gone ahead and broken out the distances and intensities and plugged them into a calendar that they think is optimal to spread the work out over weekly increments for the duration of the training cycle you want to do. The plan reflects what the creator believes. But it is not the only way!
Again, the plan is a guideline.
Take it and move it around to suit your schedule. If you need a rest day on Wednesday because you have other things to do, make Wednesday a rest day.
There are three things to keep in mind when moving workouts around:
Don't stack hard workouts (like intervals) together.
Don't stack a workout and a long run together.
Never try to make up for a day by trying to do two runs on the same day.
That's it. Don't' do those three things, and go ahead and move the runs around, so they work for you.
If you are looking for guidance on how to tailor your training to your race, you should read this post on training specificity.