Women’s Running USA – September 2019

24 WOMEN’S RUNNING SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

How

to

Recover

When

Your

Training

Plan

Goes

Off the

Rails

Step one: Don’t panic.

BY CAITLIN CARLSON

TRAINING WHAT NOW?!

H

ow’d your training go this

summer? If your gut re-

action is to cringe a little,

you’re not alone. Everyone

hopes their race prep—whether it’s

for a 5K or a marathon—goes accord-

ing to plan, but it’s actually pretty

common for things to get off track ev-

ery now and then, says Melanie Kann,

a New York Road Runners coach.

Whether it’s due to injury, illness,

work stress, or even lack of motiva-

tion, it’s important to remember that

life happens: “We don’t train in a bub-

ble,” Kann notes.

So getting derailed en route to your

fall race is a relatable, if not totally

expected, issue. (Phew!) And what’s

even more reassuring: You can easi-

ly get back on track. “The best plans

have some flexibility built into them

to accommodate life’s little ‘speed

bumps,’” says Kann. In fact, she says,

“If you come across a plan that says

every single workout must be execut-

ed perfectly, run away!”

First things first. “Take a deep

breath and focus on what you’ve done

already to assess where you currently

are,” says Kann. Next, determine what

you can do in order to keep moving

forward. “Just as no two runners are

exactly alike, no two courses of action

will be the same either,” says Kann.

Here, four common scenarios—and

their action plans—to help you deter-

mine your own course of action.

THE SCENARIO

You were injured for three weeks of your

marathon training plan and now you have

eight weeks left before race day.

Assuming you’ve been cleared

by your doctor or PT, start with a

series of short runs or run-walks

of 20 to 30 minutes every other day

for that first week. “This will en-

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JASON SCHNEIDER sure everything is in working order