The Perfect Ten

I recently purchased Bart Yasso's 'My Life On The Run' (which is an excellent read) and came across his 'Perfect 10' training program.

For better or worse, we live our lives by the Gregorian Calendar. We think about time in days, weeks and months and as a result, it is easy to think of training programs in the same way. Most Marathon training programs are 16 weeks in duration and each week starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday.

Bart believes that 'recovery' is the most important part of a training program, and that it is impossible to get in the required number of strenuous activities, easy activities and rest days in a typical 7-day cycle. He mentions that clinical studies have shown that because running utilizes the same repetitive motions, excessive workout intensity and duration does not allow for proper physiological adaptation. Muscles and tendons fatigue easily, and as a result, injuries occur. "Failure to allow for easy days and rest days between quality workouts is the most common training mistake and leads to injury". So, Bart's Perfect 10 training program has more emphasis on rest and recovery so the quality workouts are more beneficial.

This all makes sense to me. I know that I need to do a tempo run, a speed workout and a long run each week, but that I also should do 'easy' runs or workouts the day after each of these activities. That means I would need to run 6 of every 7 days, giving me only 1 day of rest each week - which historically for me, is a recipe for injury.

So, I think I am going to give Bart's Perfect 10 Half Marathon training program a try, with the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon as my target. I am by no means set on running the Raleigh Rocks race as I have no idea how my time I am going to have for running once our Baby arrives, but it at least gives me a target and something that I can use to test out this training program.

The program calls for 100 days of training, cycling trough Cycles 1, 2 and 3 three times and then a 10 day taper. With the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon scheduled for April 10th (which is conveniently day #100 of 2011) , I need to start my training on Saturday January 1st, 2011.

Here are the 10 day cycles:
Cycle 1
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1: Tempo Workout (20 minutes)
2: Rest/Cross-Train
3: 5 miles Easy
4: Speedwork (3 x 800)
5: Cross-Train
6: 5 miles Easy
7: 5 miles Easy
8: Long Run (6-8 miles)
9: Rest
10: 5 miles Easy

Cycle 2
-------
1: Tempo Workout (25 minutes)
2: Rest/Cross-Train
3: 5 miles Easy
4: Speedwork (12 x 400)
5: Cross-Train
6: 5 miles Easy
7: 5 miles Easy
8: Long Run (10-12 miles)
9: Rest
10: 5 miles Easy

Cycle 3
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1: Tempo Workout (35 minutes)
2: Rest/Cross-Train
3: 5 miles Easy
4: Speedwork (3 x 1600)
5: Cross-Train
6: 5 miles Easy
7: 5 miles Easy
8: Long Run (12-15 miles)
9: Rest
10: 5 miles Easy

Taper:
-------
1: Tempo Workout (20 minutes)
2: Rest/Cross-Train
3: 5 miles Easy
4: Speedwork (3 x 800)
5: Cross-Train
6: 4 miles Easy
7: Rest
8: 3 miles Easy
9: Rest
10: RACE DAY