Weekly Workout: Revisit and revamp a past session

Coming up with 52 original workouts for each week of the year is no easy task. It’s also not practical and somewhat irresponsible. Doing a different workout each week might seem like a good way to get fit and fast, but is actually likely to be counter-intuitive.

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Depending on your current level of fitness and more importantly, your running goals, the workouts you do should be tailored specifically for your training. In many cases, you’re likely to do workouts that are very similar to one another and which aim to build and improve specific aspects of your fitness such as speed, strength and endurance. Over time, you’ll adapt to the workouts and become fitter, allowing you to gradually run a bit further or faster each subsequent session.

If you’re training for a 5K, this could mean running 200m or 400m repeats on a track. 10K training could incorporate one kilometre or mile intervals. Training for a longer event like a half or marathon might include tempo runs and longer intervals.

Rather than suggest a completely novel workout to do this week, we suggest revisiting a recent workout and attempting it again. However this time, try adding a few more repeats or run your intervals or tempo a bit faster than before. The idea is to increase the amount of quality running you do within the session, either by upping the volume or the intensity.

This will help indicate if and how your training has progressed and show the improvements you’ve made so far. If the training isn’t working, maybe it’s time to try something new. If it is and you’re happy with the results, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Rather, stick with what works and modify it slightly to keep seeing further gains.