Why I love paper training plans

Call me a Luddite, if you will. But I love a paper training plan when I’m working towards a goal. There’s something so motivating and satisfying about having it pinned up where you’ll see it every day and being able to tick off sessions with a pen.

I use various things to plan and track my training. I plot it out in a Google sheet (the same way I plot it out from scratch for every runner I work with) and I keep track of it in both Garmin Connect and Strava – so I’m not averse to a bit of technology. These are great for a long-term view and indispensable for looking back on over the years. If I want to know how much training I did for that 10k PB I got back in 2016, I can find out.

But, even a notification beeping on my phone asking me if I want to run today is nowhere near as motivating as that paper training plan stuck to the fridge.

Over the summer I entered a series of 5k races and started to be more structured with my strength training. I wrote myself a training plan and ticked off most of my sessions. Sometimes they were adjusted and I’d scribble on what I’d done instead of the planned session and seeing the ticks build motivated me to keep going and working towards my goal.

I chipped a good chunk of time off of my 5k time this summer running 22:02 on a rainy evening in July (less than a minute behind my fastest ever 5k back in 2016). And that six-week training plan stuck to my fridge had a big part to play in that.

As I turn my attention now to my autumn half marathon and then the cross country season, I have a new paper training plan already collecting its ticks as I diligently head out on my runs.

My training plans for you

All of my training guides come as a PDF which you can read and store on your computer or phone. But because I know how motivating it can be to tick off your runs each week in felt tip pen, I recommend you print out the training plan page and stick it somewhere that you’ll see it every day.

I always love getting photos sent to me by runners of their training plans full of ticks and sometimes even gold star stickers if they’re feeling particularly proud of a run.

• How to Run 10k plan
• How to Run a Faster 5k and 10k plan
• How to Run a Half Marathon
• How to Run a Marathon

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