The Principles of Periodization - The Secret Running Tip to Peak Performance

Periodization (planning your training in blocks that each have a different goal, instead of repeating the same week all year) is how you peak for the right race at the right time. Below: how to cut your programme into blocks, what you can learn from the way elite runners structure their year, which runs really count and which don't, and which type of running matters most for your race distance.

Most runners do the same-old training all year round, then wonder why they stall. Apply these principles and you can outrun people who are, on paper, faster than you. Start with the blocks.

Running Tip #1: Cut Your Running Programme Into Blocks

Here's the core idea: you cut your running programme into different blocks, and in each block you devote your attention to specific types of running. You do this to prepare yourself properly for your goal race.

Different coaches approach these blocks — these running training phases — differently, and use different names for them. But it all pretty much comes down to the same thing. In general, I'd identify the following blocks:

Base Running

You concentrate on putting in the mileage and keeping speed low.

Quality

Mileage goes down, but intensity goes up — intervals, reps, threshold sessions.

Taper

Depending on the distance, you have a 1 to 3 week period where you seriously lower the mileage to get your legs fresh at race day.

Race

What it's all about!

After-Race

For shorter races this can be a day or two — but this is an especially important phase after longer races such as the marathon. Even when you feel fine not long after your marathon, I'd strongly advise you to take it really easy, because of the damaging effects of the marathon on your legs.

It's also important to recharge every now and then. Take a short break from running, come back fresh, and you'll be ready to roar again.

Running Tip #2: Learn from the Big Boys

Pick up any serious running training book and it will inevitably spend a lot of time on periodization. That tells you everything you need to know about how important it is.

A great general training book — Daniels' Running Formula — explains periodization very well. Daniels tells you exactly how long each phase should be, depending on how many weeks you have before your race.

Per race distance, he tells you precisely what you should be doing. He identifies the following phases:

Foundation

Early Quality

Transition Quality

Final Quality (including Taper)

As you can see, this is not too dissimilar from the running training blocks I identified above.

Running Tip #3: Make Each Run Count - Or Not?

Here's where a lot of runners go wrong — and I'd encourage you to be honest with yourself about this. The tendency is to make every single run count. To go hell for leather, every time you lace up.

Why is that a problem?

A sensible training schedule alternates hard and easy days. A hard day is a quality workout — a tempo session, an interval session, a long run. An easy day is a rest day, a recovery run, or cross-training.

The thing is, if you're running every day without genuinely applying the concept of recovery runs, your easy days become semi-hard days.

And the knock-on effect is that your hard workouts suffer too. Because you haven't fully recovered, your hard session isn't as fast or as long as it should be.

You end up doing semi-hard after semi-hard after semi-hard — and that leads to sub-optimal performance across the board.

Knowing when to rest and when to go for it — that's one of the hardest parts of running training. But it matters enormously.

Running Tip #4: Know Which Type of Running Matters Most for Your Race

The tricky part — and this is where your periodization plan really takes shape — is working out what matters most in each block.

That depends heavily on the race you're training for.

If you're preparing for a marathon, your focus will be more on longer, slower runs. If you're preparing for a 5k, intervals become far more important.

That doesn't mean you skip intervals entirely when marathon training. And it doesn't mean you abandon long runs when you're building for a 5k.

But your programme will look and feel significantly different — and it should.

Periodization is key to running your absolute best. It's not about running hard, or running as much as possible. The trick is smart scheduling — putting the right type of workouts in the right phase of your race preparation. Do that, and you'll be surprised what you're capable of.

Need help putting a world-class running programme together? Check out my coaching service. I'd be delighted to start working with you!

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