Are you thinking about beginning a new training plan to crush your next race? Did you think about what you should do to ease into that new training plan or are you just planning to 'jump' right into it?

Jumping into training plans is one of the number one causes for injuries! So many runners take a look at new race training plan and think 'that seems doable' and just forget about those weeks leading up to it. It's never a good idea to jump into a 20 mile week 1 training plan, if you've only built up to 10 mile weeks. 

I always like to add in 2-to-3 weeks of build-up, before beginning a new training plan. The build-up weeks don't need to be anything too crazy and it doesn't even have to include any speed workouts or goal-paced runs because you are just working on increasing mileage (it's never a good idea to introduce more than one or two 'new' things each week of training cycle). I.E. --> if you introduce 3 new miles that week and a goal-paced workout, then there's no room for also adding in a speed workout. It's all about BALANCE. 

I love to make my own calendars or keep track of my training runs on an excel doc! It helps me notice if I'm increasing my mileage too much each week or if I miss a few days from nagging injuries or being sick, I know that I will need to ease into training that next week (not just right back in full-bore). If you're able to reflect on your training each week, it will also help your MENTAL prep! I love to look back on my past training runs and remember those runs that I totally ROCKED- helps build up my confidence on my race day plan (or re-assess if things didn't go so well during training). 

PS HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Are you celebrating tonight, eating candy, or turning your lights off and pretending like no one is home? ->I will be eating some candy, watching my favorite Halloween movie Hocus Pocus, and not dressing up #adulting 

What techniques do you use to ease back into a training plan?

Do you use a calendar or journal for writing down some notes on each run/ training day?