I Resolve: to do my homework, learn a new word every day, lose weight, get more rest, be a better person, exercise. Every year there’s a new list of most popular resolutions, and every year I guess we all wonder how we’ll keep these resolutions.

Last year I vowed I would finally sign up for a yoga class. I talked myself right out of it, bought a book on the subject, and called it a day. No matter how I arranged my schedule, I didn’t seem to have time for yoga. Except that wasn’t true. I could have, and should have taken that class on a cross training day.

Last year was also to be the year I would register for the 50-mile segment of the Blue Ridge Breakaway cycling event. This was the first year they cancelled the Blue Ridge Breakaway. My husband and I decided 2017 would be the year I would not run a marathon so I could focus on shorter races. I ran my first 50k Ultra Marathon last year. Resolutions don’t always work out the way we plan.

This marks my fourth year-long training plan experiment. There have been mixed results.

It was just over 4 years ago that I discovered sports periodization: a system of training – actually, the planning of training – that encompasses weeks, months, or even years; a system that has ultimately been adopted by nearly every professional sport, and has even been applied to the athlete’s diet.

The idea is to divide the year into phases where each phase emphasizes a different training goal. For example, the year may include a period of time for building a strong base, improving speed and strength, flexibility, and time dedicated to active rest/recovery.

I’m especially dedicated to the endurance phase. I simply adore running to the point just shy of exhaustion day in and day out. And the more you run, the more your body allows you to run. It works out well that way.

One year I held onto a peak weekly mileage of 55-65 miles for 8 weeks. I did well in the half marathon before the peak, and flopped in the two marathons I ran after the peak. Last year I held a peak weekly mileage of 35-45 miles for most of the year. I did not do well in a spring half marathon, but then I survived a 50k. In retrospect it’s always easy to see the error of my ways, but I love these year-long experiments – not to say they aren’t exceedingly frustrating from time to time.

I can see that my best years have been when I’ve incorporated more variety into my training, which ultimately leads back to those phases, or periodization. The good thing about breaking the year into phases is that one goal (yoga for example) doesn’t have to become overwhelming. It becomes part of one phase; if you like it, keep doing it.

Resolution:

1. a firm decision to do or not to do something, or. . .

2. the action of solving a problem.

The first question to answer is what activities will best solve our problem and/or allow us to meet the goal of each phase of training? I’ve decided there’s more than one answer.

A handful of periodized programs can be found across the web, and it turns out they pretty well match a runner’s periodized schedule: Endurance/Base-Building, Strength, Speed, (perhaps a build-up for a key race), Rest and Recovery.

One of these programs is from OutsideOnline; a five-part (five-month) plan called “The Shape of Your Life.” Each month the training focuses on a different goal: 1) endurance, 2) strength, 3) flexibility, 4) speed and power, 5) balance and agility. Month six focuses on active rest and recovery – then you start the process again.

The value of changing the focus of each phase is that you can also change the sport, if that’s something that interests you more than doing the same sport all year. And even if you prefer to train all year in your dominant sport, cross-training can balance your program and help achieve the goal of each phase.

For example, running, swimming, rowing, basketball, cycling, dancing, and even yard work will build endurance. Each of these activities can also be used to build speed and strength when performed fast, or devote a phase to a different anaerobic sport, such as racquetball, tennis, sprinting, or weightlifting.

Cross-Train with the Right Sport

Runners: Cycling maintains leg strength and cardio fitness while giving you a break from impact on your joints.

Cyclists: Running and rowing develop strength in the torso, quads, and glutes.

Climbers: Calisthenics use body-weight resistance to build strength without adding bulk.

Swimmers: Rowing builds key strength in the shoulders, arms, legs, and torso.

Kayakers: Swimming works the arms, shoulders, and torso, improving power and range of motion.

(Bones weaken if you do only low-impact activities. Strengthen your skeleton by mixing in high-impact workouts like running, jumping rope, or playing ball sports.)

A Full-Year Periodized Schedule

Endurance

Endurance, or aerobic, activities increase breathing and heart rate, which keeps your heart, lungs, and circulatory system healthy, improves overall fitness, and delays or prevents diseases (including various cancers, diabetes & dementia). If you’re always running out of energy after about an hour, you may not have created a strong foundation or you’ve skimped on the base-building phase.

”Technically, endurance is a combination of efficiency (lean body mass), physiology (a dense network of mitochondria that produces energy in the muscles), genes (a high percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers), plumbing (an efficient heart capable of moving more blood per pump), and strength in those areas that help transfer force between the upper and lower body (the hips, lower back, abdominal, and other core muscles).” Outside Online

Duration: some programs specify a base building phase of 4-8 weeks, while others suggest as long as 6 months. Arthur Lydiard, Olympic and international running coach (also known as the “Father of Jogging”), has been quoted as saying to base build “As long a time as possible.”

For Runners: base building includes miles, and lots of them. Determine your peak mileage, how much time you want to devote to this phase, then choose a plan that matches the two safely. One approach is to follow your favorite marathon training program, eliminating or reducing the speed sessions, for as many weeks as desired (stop after 4 – 8 weeks, stop when you reach the program’s peak mileage, extend this phase to six months by duplicating weeks in the middle of the program, or by ramping up mileage more slowly).

Remember, this is the time for aerobic development. If you intend to increase your mileage to a new peak, you may not want to combine the stress of speed work concurrently.

Non-runners: swim laps, walk, cycle, play basketball, skate, ski, climb stairs/hills, dancing, or rowing. Even yard work, such as raking leaves, digging, mowing, chopping firewood, etc can be aerobic. Work up to a minimum of 150 minutes (2-1/2 hours) each week using any combination of activities that keeps you engaged. Start slow.

Strength

A low-volume, moderate to high-intensity weight training program, when added to an endurance training program significantly improves upper and lower body strength as well as running economy. Adding speed work will improve running strength, but this is different from maintaining a strong core. Incorporating a strengthening program to the endurance phase establishes a good base/foundation from which to build on during the strength phase.

Studies have shown that a strength training program added to the endurance runners’ training results in little or no impact on V02max, blood lactate accumulation, or body composition, yet improves speed.

Of two runners that are equal except for muscular strength, the stronger runner will be faster over any distance. Lowering the maximum strength required for each stride translates into improved efficiency and consequently greater endurance.

When muscles don’t need to work as hard, they don’t require as much oxygen or circulating blood, and will not put as much demand on the heart, resulting in a lower heart rate. Greater strength equals greater endurance.

A good weight training/strengthening program (upper and lower body specific exercises) should be a part of every training phase to one degree or another (running may be reduced during this phase while strengthening exercises are increased). Build a strong base during endurance and increase the effort during the Strength phase. Strength and Speed phases may overlap in some programs.

How to Build Strength to Improve Running Efficiency

10 Essential Strength Exercises for Runners

Speed

Anaerobic exercise (exercise performed without oxygen!) is defined as short duration high intensity exercise lasting anywhere from merely seconds to around two minutes. After two minutes, the body’s aerobic system kicks in. Anaerobic exercise is typically intense enough to cause lactate to form, and is used by athletes to promote strength, speed and power and by body builders to build muscle mass.

To run fast you need strong muscles. Speed training builds stronger muscles, including the heart, improves running efficiency and form, creates mental toughness, and ultimately improves the runner’s pace. RunnersWorld says, “Research suggests that 30-second to five-minute bursts of intense exercise interspersed with rest periods will yield unique physiological changes—from faster fat loss and better blood sugar control to improved blood vessel function—that slow runs cannot deliver as efficiently.”

Duration: 4-10 weeks is the general guideline.

Runners: There’s lots of variations of speed training: intervals of various distances at the track, hill training, strides, tempo runs, fartlek runs, 3/1 runs (speed up the pace for the last quarter distance of the total run), etc. Reduce overall mileage during this phase to compensate for the added stress of speed.

Follow the speed workouts included in a shorter distance training program, such as for a 10k, 5k or shorter race, or simply incorporate weekly bouts of speed training (1-3x). This is also a good time to test yourself with shorter races or time trials.

Non Runners: Keep in mind that almost any sport can be performed in an anaerobic state (i.e., running/cycling/walking/swimming fast). Other traditional anaerobic sports include: Racquetball, Hiking (especially with a weighted pack and uphill), tennis, sprinting, weightlifting, possibly baseball/softball, ice hockey, and soccer.

8 Common Running Workouts, Explained (With Examples) 

Four Fast Speed Workouts for Any Runner 

Running 101: Basic Speed Workouts For Runners

Avoiding the “Black Hole” of Training

For runners, the next phase may be a second endurance phase that would re-build peak mileage in preparation for a marathon race (including a taper). Other athletes may focus on balance and agility, or a flexibility phase to improve range of motion, which just might incorporate that yoga class.

The last, or first phase depending how you look at it, should always be a period of active rest (3-6 weeks – more or less as needed).

There’s two types of active rest:

1. a significant reduction of training – for example, cut your training by a third or half – called a step-back week (like taking a deep breath before charging forward again), and

2. just as almost any exercise can become anaerobic, almost any exercise can be used for active rest. With a duration of about 20 minutes, walk or run at a very slow pace, swim, cycle or complete a series of easy stretches. Easy movements (that don’t stress the system) aid recovery, in most cases, more so than being sedentary.

I’ve been working on my full-year plan all week. The post-marathon rest and recovery period from last year inadvertently lasted all the way through the holidays leaving me with a longer than usual base building phase this year – probably six months. This should give me the advantage of warmer weather, however, for the strength & speed phase when I can cycle outside and every ride will become incredibly anaerobic tackling those hills I haven’t seen since last summer. The last endurance phase will build-up mileage for another 50k race this fall, and maybe this will also be the year for yoga.

Other approaches to Sports Periodization:

The Greatest Fitness Tips. Ever.

Here’s how to reach peak shape for any sport with one 12-week program.

FIRST MONTH: Complete a full-body weight-lifting circuit twice weekly. Do your cardio workouts on three other days, going long once. Each week, increase the duration of the long day’s workout by 10 percent. During the fourth week, cut the workout load by 50 percent.

SECOND MONTH: Follow the first month’s plan, but cut back to lifting once a week and add another day of cardio. During the eighth week, which is for recovery, cut everything in half.

THIRD MONTH: Stop lifting and use that day for cross-training. Ramp up speed by completing one cardio day each week with intervals at your intended race pace. Your long cardio day remains the same for the first two weeks, and for weeks 11 and 12 you cut its duration in half. During week 12, taper by doing only 50 percent of week 11’s work.

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Here’s a simple way to periodize your training: Alternate three-week phases in which you perform three sets of 8-12 repetitions in the first phase and four sets of 4-6 repetitions in the second phase. Adjust your weights accordingly so you’ll use lighter weights for three weeks and then heavier weights for the next three weeks. This approach will help you increase strength, raise your metabolism, and improve muscular endurance. — Craig Friedman, Performance Specialist, Athletes’ Performance

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Simply alternating cardio and strength days, while important, is not enough. As a diagram, periodization might look something like those blocky steps and valleys you see on preset treadmill programs—go hard, ease off; go hardest, ease off; go hard; ease off. The popular training programs developed by Joe Friel—author of The Mountain Biker’s Training Bible and The Triathlete’s Training Bible—present a monthly workout schedule in which the third week is the hardest of the four. The key is to create a program with multiple layers of periodization, taking the staggered approach within each workout, each week, each month, and ultimately through the duration of your program. “Periodization is the most likely way to achieve athletic success,” says Friel.