My concern/question now is what do I do next? I am considering signing up for the Dark Side but I don’t know what to do to maintain my fitness level without burning out and then what to do to hit a PR or two along the way with 5ks and 10ks. And dare I shoot for a time in a second HM or just stick with running being enough?
-Short Answer -
There are 6 weeks from the end of PHM to DS. If you want to consider both races as "A" races, then do something like a reverse taper design. This will allow a quick turnaround.
1/21 - Peak
1/28 - Medium
2/4 - Peak
2/11 - Taper
2/18 - PHM
2/25- Follow 2/18 week without the HM (exchange HM with a short 45-60 min easy run instead)
3/4- Follow 2/11 week
3/11- Follow 1/28 week
3/18- Follow 2/4 week
3/25- Follow 2/11 week
4/1- RACE
Keep in mind, it takes about 6-8 weeks for the body to really adapt to the stimulus of real training without a taper. So anything less than 8 weeks between races that includes appropriate recovery is unlikely to make huge gains between one race to the next. Although the earlier you are in your running journey, the more gains you're likely to see even with a short turnaround.
- Long Answer -
I like to view training in cycles.
-Microcycles are within training plans. They tend to last 4-6 weeks. Each microcycles has a unique focus for the training.
-Mesocycles are the training plan itself. They tend to be 2-4 microcycles, thus being usually around 12-18 weeks.
-Macrocycles are a stacking of multiple training plans on top of one another over the course of a year.
There are a few ways to approach a Mesocycle.
1) Race more and train less - An approach filled with races where you're always trying to run near "A" effort. This approach can work if one justifies that without a normal training routine, the gains made from run training are usually smaller.
2) Train more and race less - An approach filled with usually a single "A" race and possibly 0-2 "B" races along the way that are shorter in distance and may or may not be used as fitness assessments moreso than a true PR attempt. This approach tends to yield bigger gains in performance over the course of a single cycle.
3) Race more and Train more - An approach where a person attempts to train at a high level and concurrently attempts to race several times during a training plan at a high level. This is the riskiest approach because it contains the highest risk for injury.
Between option 1 and 2, neither is the "right" choice. It's a matter of preference and what your personal goal is for running. High lofty PR goals and you want them sooner rather than later - then go option 2. Prefer the enjoyment of doing more races over a short span and you're fine with slower incremental gains - then go option 1.
Next, you have to decide how to approach the next Mesocycle once you've had your "A" race occur. This would be where you're at right now (or post-PHM). I tend to evaluate the performance of the "A" race to decide what needs to happen next. Why did I succeed or fail to meet my "A" goal? What could I have done differently? What was my main deficiency in the last Mesocycle that could be improved upon? Answering these questions helps guide what to do during the next cycle. Additionally, deciding how your Mesocycle will be approached from a standpoint as seen above in the three main different options. In about 80% of cases that I deal with, it usually means more endurance work to continue to see the gains desired. Even the 5k is still 80-85% aerobic in nature. And I recently listened to a podcast where Tom Schwartz was claiming that according to his research runners are nearly 95% aerobic as a power source within 90 seconds of the start of the 5k. What's more endurance work? That tends to be your really slow running and a continued incremental increase in running volume.
The final consideration is the training load. The body works well in cycles. Which means once the Mesocycle is done, and your "A" race is completed, it's ideal to allow the body to recover. This helps continue a feedback loop in your body of stimulus, recovery, adaptation. If you jump back in too quickly from one training plan to the next and do so near the "middle/end" of the plan, you may find your training load stagnates if you try and hit the same "peak". This is when someone will start grinding themselves into the ground. Generally speaking, either the volume or the % intensity (within reason) needs to continue to rise throughout the training plan in order to continue to see gains and not lead to a stagnation. So I usually recommend 7 days off or completely easy following a HM (rule of thumb is 1 day off/easy for every 3k of "A" racing done). There might be a fear of losing fitness from taking that time off. But in my view and experience, fitness doesn't go away that quickly. If I take off 7 days completely, then train for the next 7-14 days at an appropriate level, then I'm almost always right back where I started. It's sometimes runners' fear of recovery/loss of fitness that holds them back the most from making the biggest gains from training.
