How To Create Your Own Running Plan

All runners, both advanced and ones that are just now starting to get into this, often face the difficult task of creating a running plan tailored to their personal needs. Everyone’s schedule is different and personal inconsistency is a wide factor that can easily get in the way of using a universal running plan. So, how to create your own running plan without hiring an expensive coach? Well, this is what I will try to answer in this article, where we will go through all the specific factors that you should take into account when planning for your future running routine.

The best approach that I’ve found that works across most people, when they need to gauge their capabilities and properly plan ahead, is the following:

Now, let’s go through all of these steps one by one in order to understand the steps of this process better…

Personal Assessment

A good running program should cater to your own physical endurance, your health, and your needs. You shouldn’t try to change your lifestyle according to it, but should rather try to embed it into your weekly routines as naturally as possible. Remember that the moment a workout becomes a nuisance, you’ve already lost on a lot of potential progress and satisfaction from it.

First off, you need to gauge your current physical level and then determine what you are good at. This will help you figure out where to focus your future running plan.

The intensity of your program will depend on a few questions you need to ask yourself such as “are you out of shape?”, “Are there any chronic injuries or pain that you are currently dealing with?”, “Is my goal solely fat burning?”, or “Are you within the healthy weight ranges for your age?”. If you manage to check all of those boxes without any issues, then you are already one step into creating your program.

How you feel is what will determine how hard you can push for the next 8-12 weeks and how much you will be able to get out of every individual workout. Any issues such as pain or recent trauma should be taken seriously otherwise you can easily worsen your condition. High blood pressure or other health issues that require your doctor’s supervision should also be at the top of your head when figuring out the intensity of the program. If you aren’t sure how your cardiovascular system will handle it all, it is always good to go through a cardiac stress test.

Time management

Time is one of the hardest things to put aside for a consistent workout routine. Since most people are very busy, it is important that you figure out a few things in advance, such as:

Figuring where you will run might seem weird at first but imagine the following scenario – you want to train on a treadmill but the nearest gym is 60 minutes away in both directions. If you want to train 4 times a week, this makes 8 hours just to get to the gym and come back. This is why you need to look for nearby stadiums, public parks or trails that will save you a lot of time.

Now, take out a calendar and plan out the days of the week that you can run in, and the weeks that you will be training in the next few months. You are now making it official by choosing the start date and end date of your running program. You are also going to determine how many days per week and how many hours per day you will put aside into your regime.

Try finding a good balance between high-intensity runs and easy ones that will work with your natural energy levels and with your daily routine. Don’t go on a high-intensity run in the morning of a super busy day, as that will take away some of your productivity later on in that day.

Here is an example of a typical 5-running days schedule:

Monday – Rest day or easy run

Tuesday – Moderate to high-intensity run

Wednesday – Easy run

Thursday – Rest Day

Friday – High-intensity run

Saturday – Rest day

Sunday – Long run

Remember that you can use your rest days for cross workouts or other types of activities that will keep your body in good condition. Easy run days can also be spent in the gym doing a few exercises after a few easy miles.

After you create a schedule similar to the one above (with as many rest days as you want), figure out how many hours per run you will spare, how long the run will be, and when will it take place in the day. It can be in the morning before everything else in your day, or in the evening after you are done with your workday.

As a rule of thumb, you don’t want to put two intense days one after another and always get a rest day or an easy run after a long run day. Also, remember to use your heart rate zones in order to achieve your desired result and improve a particular part of your physical abilities.

If you want to stick to your running plan no matter what, I suggest getting a treadmill to avoid having to cancel your runs due to bad weather. Click here to see my guide on some of the best folding treadmills for this year!

Setting your goals