Tweaking a Training Plan

When coaches design training plans, we schedule hard runs and rest days strategically to give the body enough time to recover. But you may find that you need to rearrange it a little to fit around your work or school schedule. It’s OK to do this to an extent, but make sure you still leave enough recovery time after your tough days.

For instance, I often have runners training for a 5K complete their workouts on Wednesdays and long runs on Sundays. It’s fine to shift to different days as long as you keep two to three rest days in between: Tuesdays and Saturdays, or Wednesdays and Saturdays. But moving to, say, Tuesday and Thursday won’t give you enough time to fully recover from your workout and be ready to run to your potential on your long run. (Unless you’re a pro and have nothing to do all day but train, sleep and eat.)

Some coaches may say you don’t need as much recovery time. But I place a lot of emphasis on the long run, and when you have enough time to recover, your long run—and all your runs—will be of higher quality.

Jay