2016 Hillary Trail Run Training Plan

I'm big on planning and tracking training. You can take the project manager out of the office, but you can't take the PM out of the person. Here's my training plan for the 2016 Hillary Trail Run. Because my life is a bit hectic at the moment, I'll plan one week at a time with a general goal to work back up to my pre-Queenstown Marathon volume of 80k+ per week as soon as possible. I'll probably want to hit one week of 100k a few weeks before the race to allow for a taper, with at least one run of 50k (probably the first half of the Hillary plus a bit more.)

Week Beginning Plan / Actuals Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Total
7th Dec Plan Recovery 16k Hilly road run 16k Trail run 32k
Actuals Recovery 16k Hilly road run 16k Trail run 32k
14th Dec Plan Rest 5k Fast Rest 10k Easy road run 10k Easy road run 10k Easy road run 16k Trail run 51k
Actuals Rest 8k Fast Rest 10k Easy road run w/ 4 x 100m strides 14k Easy road run 5k Recovery Run 13k Trail run 50k
21st Dec Plan Rest 14k Easy road run 14k Easy road run 10k Easy road run Rest 16k Trail run 10k Easy road run 64k
Actuals Rest No run - Work 14k Easy road run 10k Hilly road run w/ 4 x 100m strides No run - Revenge of Christmas dinner 21k Trail run 12k Trail run 57k
28th Dec Plan Rest 10k Easy road run 10k Easy road run 21k Trail run 20k Easy road run 10k Easy road run 10k Recovery run 81k
Actuals Rest No run - Lazy git 17k Hilly road run at easy pace 18k Trail run 10k Recovery run w/ 4 x 100m strides No run - Family time 29k Long, slow, hilly road run 74k
4th Jan Plan 10k Road run at recovery pace 14k Easy road run 14k Easy road run Rest 10k Easy road run 10k Easy road run 10k Easy road run 68k
Actuals No run - Legs tired 14k Easy road run w/ 4 x 100m strides 14k Easy road run w/ 4 x 100m strides Rest No run - Work 10k Road run with 5k at 5k race pace No run - Travelling for vacation 38k
11th Jan Plan Week Off - On Vacation
18th Jan Plan 17k Easy road run 14k Easy road run Rest 14k Easy road run Rest 30k Long, slow road run 10k Trail run 85k
Actuals 17k Easy road run 5k Recovery run 14k Easy road run w/ 4 x 100m strides 14k Easy road run Rest 29k Long, slow road run 10k Recover-pace road run 89k
25th Jan Plan 14k Easy road run 14k Easy road run 14k Tempo run 5k Recovery run 10k Easy road run 5k Recovery run Rest 62k
Actuals 14k Easy road run 14k Easy road run No run - Too tired No run - Family cockup 21k Long, slow road run 10k Easy road run Rest 59k
1st Feb Plan 50k Trail run 5k Recovery run 5k Recovery run 14k Easy road run 14k Easy road run Rest 30k Long, slow run 118k
Actuals 54k Trail run No run - Family & extra distance over w/e 5k Recovery-paced road run 14k Easy road run w/ 3k @ 10k pace 10k Hilly road run 13k Trail run Rest 96k
8th Feb - Taper Week 1 Plan 34k Trail run 5k Recovery run Rest 10k Easy road run Rest 20k Easy road run Rest 69k
Actuals 33k Trail run Rest Rest 10k Hilly tempo road run 5k Recovery run with 6 x 50m sprints 5k Marathon pace road run 20k Hilly slow run 73k
15th Feb - Taper Week 2 Plan 5k Recovery run 14k Easy road run 5k Hill training 5k Easy run Rest 13k Trail run Rest 42k
Actuals 5k Treadmill recovery run No run - Work & childcare issues 14k Easy road run 5k Road run with hillsprints Rest No Run - Work 15k Trail run 39k
22nd Feb - Race Week Plan 10k Easy run 5k Easy run w/ strides 5k Recovery run Rest Rest 80k Race Rest 100k
Actuals No run - Work 5k Progression run No run - work 5k Recovery pace road run Rest 80k race Rest 90k

Notes:
  • I'll try and run 5 days per week to start with, moving up to 6 days per week when I'm a bit more back in the groove
  • Running during the week tends to be worked into my daily commute. The easiest distance for me to run is 14k because this is the distance from my office to the train station where I leave the car. Shorter distances actually take longer because of the run/walk to the train station in town, the wait for the train etc...
  • Most of my mileage will be on the road because of the commute runs, but I need to get out on the trails at least once a week. I know the Hillary Trail route, having run all of it in separate sections (I've run Arataki to Piha, and Piha to Muriwai as separate single-day runs), but I'm really a novice and need the time to learn the technique
  • I do a lot of hilly running, but will need to do more. I'll also need to run up and down some stairs a lot of times. I've done the hundreds of steps on Te Henga walkway before, but this time it will be after some 70k+ of running

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