training programs

Starting out

Week #1 begins on July 22. But don’t worry if you miss out, you can jump in anytime during the first three weeks.

These Training Plans assume that you’ll have done some level of physical activity relative to the distance you’re aiming to do.

For example, the Beginner Plan for the 23km event starts at 24km of total running for week one, whereas the 46km Intermediate Plan starts at 40km of total running for week one.

Weekly Format

‘Session / Workout’ on a Wednesday.

‘Long Run’ on a Sunday.

‘Easy runs’ or ‘Rest days’ during the remainder of the week

Pro Tip: Blake has assumed that you are also working, juggling family commitments and more in your life, so there are no ‘double-run’ days or crazy super weekly mileage goals.

Phases

Weeks 1 – 3 – are foundational, all about building up the base level fitness. 

Week 4 – is an absorption week. This allows your body to recover before taking the next step ahead.

Weeks 5 – 9 are specific training weeks (Pro Tip: This is the core of the Training Plan designed to prepare you for your specific race distance!)

Weeks 10 – 12 – are taper.

Week 13 – is race week!

PROGRAMS EXPLAINED

WHO ARE THESE PROGRAMS FOR?

There are two levels to the programming, Beginner and Intermediate, as we’re aiming to have a level of training that will suit a reasonable variety of participants. We do, however, understand that there is an extremely diverse range of athletes in the events, so it’s not an easy task to provide programs that are going to suit everybody. Although, there are ways you can look at adjusting the training to perhaps suit you a little better as an individual, and we will go into some detail about that below.

WHAT ARE THEY AIMED AT ACHIEVING?

With this type of programming we ideally want participants to have been running consistently for at least a few months prior to beginning the programs. Whilst the enthusiasm of someone jumping off the couch and into a program is commendable, it can also lead to increased risk of injury and inconsistency in the training. If there is one thing that we want athletes using these programs to achieve, it’s consistency! If you are able to follow the program most of the time, bearing in mind there are many external factors that might affect it such as family, hobbies and work, then you are going to be in a great spot to complete the events successfully.

HOW SHOULD I APPROACH THE TRAINING?

Consistency is king! If there is one thing to preach to people that are beginning running, or running to a program, it’s that consistency is the most important factor. It’s very common to see people get excited about running, then go flat-out like a lizard drinking and burn themselves out or get injured. To be successful in training, you want to be excited about it, and you want it to be to a level that you can complete without feeling like you’re extremely depleted and straining to get it done. When shifting sessions around (as will no doubt be needed pending individual schedules), one important factor is to avoid placing your harder sessions back to back, or having too many consecutive days off and then more consecutive days running. I.e Doing a hard workout, then a long run, then another moderate length run, then another run, followed by 3 days off.