Trail running: How to build a training plan?

When you want to improve your trail running, and more broadly in endurance sports, structuring your training can be essential. Always increasing the volume or speed will quickly lead to stagnation, or even regression. So, when should you prioritize one type of training over another? Find out in this article!

The goal of structuring your running sessions is to reach your maximum potential on the day of your goal, but also to allow yourself enough rest to respect your body and maintain motivation in the long term.

The first step is therefore to define your objective as precisely as possible:

Which race? Distance? Elevation gain? Potential weather conditions? What race time to aim for? ... And above all, what date?

There are several schools of thought on the best way to prepare for a trail running goal. But one of the most common is certainly the following.

Macrocycle, mesocycle and microcycle.

The more time you have before your goal, the better you can prepare. Ideally, for a major goal, you should have about 6 months of preparation. However, most training plans span a period of 12 to 16 weeks.

• The macrocycle is the set of all your training sessions aimed at helping you achieve a major goal. For example, the Mont-Blanc marathon.

• The mesocycle represents a training block designed to develop a specific quality or skill. For example, endurance, speed, or qualities specific to a race (in the case of the Mont Blanc marathon, this could be the elevation gain at race pace).

• A microcycle is generally a one-week period. It consists of several workouts arranged in a logical order.

A macrocycle is therefore a set of mesocycles, which is itself a set of microcycles.

Mesocycles in detail.

We will continue with the example of the Mont-Blanc Marathon with an ideal preparation spanning a period of 6 months.

General physical preparation (GPP) : GPP, or general physical preparation, is the first phase of a training season. Ideally, it follows a rest period that allows the body and mind to begin training in a state of freshness.

The goal of general physical preparation (GPP) is to prepare the body for what will follow. It naturally includes easy runs, but also muscle strengthening, core exercises, etc.

Developing your aerobic base : This is where you gradually begin to work on endurance, or base fitness. You maintain an easy pace, meaning a pace at which you can hold a conversation (below 80% of your maximum heart rate). You gradually increase the volume of your runs, as well as adding some longer runs.

Speed and intensity work : During this phase, the majority of training sessions are still done at an easy intensity. But, always keeping the concept of progressive overload in mind, interval training, threshold training, or tempo runs are added. This is what we call quality training. This quality training should not be excessive, otherwise it risks causing overtraining or even destroying the aerobic base.

Specific preparation : By specific preparation we mean reproducing the race conditions: The target speed on race day, the planned nutrition, the terrain (technicality and elevation gain/kilometer ratio), and even the temperature (If the event takes place at midday in late June, it may be wise to have adapted to the heat).

Sharpening: This is the period of relative rest before a race. The goal is to arrive rested, but with the engine not completely switched off!

PLEASE NOTE:

Some coaches prefer to reverse the timing of speed work and base training. However, be careful not to push your body to high intensity if it's not yet prepared.

Each mesocycle is progressively integrated into another: Intensities can be gradually introduced in the preceding cycle and continued, but at a lower intensity, in the following cycle. Similarly, long runs can be scheduled within the mesocycle aimed at developing speed. The goal is therefore to create "refresher doses" of each quality.

Microcycles in detail.

A microcycle is therefore referring to a week of training.

Gradual progression: Each microcycle is followed by increasing the workload progressively. Some coaches recommend increasing the load by 10% from one week to the next, but this is very theoretical. The general idea is to allow the body time to adapt before asking more of it.

Recovery week

It is essential to allow for weeks of regeneration. To do this, the volume can be halved compared to the previous week.

It's generally accepted that you should plan a recovery week after three weeks of progressive training. It's up to each individual to test this based on their own experience. Perhaps after two weeks of training, for example, but it's not advisable to wait more than three weeks before taking a break. Remember that it's during recovery that the body assimilates past training and becomes stronger!

Some principles for planning your training week:

• Space intensive sessions at least 48 hours apart

• Keep at least one full day of rest

• Maintaining a healthy lifestyle maximizes the effects of training for the body (sleep, diet, absence of stress).

Conclusion for organizing your trail running training plan.

There are many ways to train, and what we have just seen is one example among many.

However, the key principles remain the same:

• Training creates stress on the body, which in turn creates fatigue.

• In response to this stress, the body seeks to adapt:

1/He will first recover from the fatigue caused.

2/It will overcompensate and create adaptation to the stress caused.

3/The body will lose this adaptation if the stimulus is no longer repeated.

Planning your training means finding the optimal balance between stress, recovery, and supercompensation phases. To be a high-performing athlete, stress or stimuli must be varied. And above all, enjoyment must be present as often as possible to maintain motivation.

I hope you learned something from this article; if so, feel free to share it!

Good run.