The power of the basic week

After I ran the Portland Marathon last month, it was clear I needed to change how I was training.

Yes, I had beat my previous best time, but I fell quite short from what I thought my potential was at the beginning of training.

I have plenty of excuses: I got sick a couple times, work stress increased and new priorities appeared in my personal life. Either way, when I look at my training critically, I was trying to do too much. My goals were unrealistic. I wasn't able to train as long or as frequently as I had in my plan every week. And when I could, I was often overdoing it.

I didn’t take the time to evaluate what I could do consistently week after week. I was just trying to cram in as much as I could hande. This meant I was erring on the side of too much not too little.

I needed to take to good advice I’d been ignoring, because frankly it sounded boring.

The basic week.

I got this concept from Gordo Byrn and John Hellerman in their Substack / digital book, Endurance Essentials.

The idea is that you create a basic weekly plan that fits your ability level and the time you have available to train. Something you can execute without fail. A week designed to be highly repeatable.

My rule to keep me honest: if it can't be done consistently it doesn't belong on the plan.

My current basic week

Using a 2/2/3/3 frequency

That’s 2 swims, 2 bikes, 3 runs, 3 strength

Mon: morning bike trainer w/ some pep ; afternoon 5×5 weight training
Tue: morning easy run ; after work swim
Wed: afternoon 5×5 weight training
Thu: morning track repeats, after work swim.
Fri: morning easy bike, afternoon 5×5 weight training
Sat: long run
Sun: rest

This is significantly scaled back from what I was trying to do earlier in the year. However, with this plan I’ve been able to get a solid 8+ hours of training. More importantly I’m able to recover in between sessions reliable. I feel it’s safe to say I can maintain this level of training. Giving me a solid base of consistent training to build on next year.

Nothing fancy here: no building, no fitness tests. Just consistent training week after week.

Consistency is the foundation of any good training program.

Keep moving forward.
- Daniel Otto Spencer Polehn