You’ll only achieve your Personal Best (PB) with a lot of effort. So it you aren’t up for effort, then this isn’t the program for you.
Having said that, I’ve designed this slightly harder program in a similar format to the ‘Beginner to Intermediate’ program so that both will work in sync. This means that you can interchange any day’s activity between the two programs, depending on how you are feeling on the day.
I did this because I designed both of these programs for myself and sometimes due to other activities on that day, I may not be able to fit the scheduled activity into my day and sometimes I just don’t feel up to pushing myself as far as perhaps I should. But by interchanging the odd day between programs I will still remain on schedule with my training.
Overview of the PB Program
This program also works on the 20/80 principle, which is that 20% of the exercise you do will give you 80% of the benefit.
Both training programs have similar weekly distances but where the beginner program focuses on conditioning, this program is geared toward increasing your speed and endurance.
Each week consists of a long easy run (usually around 10-12 km) an interval session with a total distance of roughly 1,600m, a Time Trial (a run over a measured distance at speed), hill repeats or a hill run, and four Cross Fit sessions for overall strength and muscle conditioning.
So a weekly program looks basically like this:
- Day 1: Easy run 10 km
- Day 2: (AM) 20min Cross Fit Gym session (PM) Intervals 400×3, 200×2
- Day 3: (AM) 20min Cross Fit Gym session
- Day 4: Time Trial 5km
- Day 5: Hills 2km warmup then 4km up and down hills then 2km jog.
- Day 6: Recovery day
- Day 7: (AM) 20min Cross Fit Gym session
What I’m referring to as ‘Cross Fit’ is an exercise session you can do either in the gym or at home that will consist of squats, kettle bell swings, push ups and core work etc., all aimed at improving your overall strength and flexibility.
Leg and core strength exercises should be performed in every Cross Fit session. The stronger you are in these areas, the greater muscle endurance you will develop.