In a previous post about training tools, I mentioned using an Annual Training Plan spreadsheet to organise my running events and workouts for the year. I’m excited to share this tool with you! This post will provide you with the spreadsheet template and explain how I use it to plan out my training and events throughout the year.

My Annual Training Plan Spreadsheet

I use a spreadsheet to plan my year. Firstly I enter the big goal events for the year then work out the best way to build the specific fitness required for each event. I use block periodisation which is based on a planning method outlined in Training Essentials for Ultrarunning by Jason Koop. This blog post on his website is a good guide on how he lays out the long range plan which iswhat I have based my spreadsheet off. I highly recommend reading Koop’s blog post and book to help you to use this planner to it’s full potential.

The main tab of the spreadsheet is an overview of a whole 52 weeks of training. Essentially a yearly calendar with running events and overarching training plan on it. This tab is to plan out the year ahead. Then there is another tab that is for laying out each training week to match the weekly goals. In this post I will elaborate on how to use the spreadsheet and how I use it to plan out my weeks then program the workouts into Intervals.icu.

Below are links to the spreadsheet. I am sharing a blank copy and the example and I may end up sharing an ongoing version of my plan. If you wish to use the sheet yourself please click File > Save a Copy and then you can edit it yourself. Please don’t request access to the original sheet template.

Training Periodisation

My training plan works by breaking the year up into periodised training blocks. A periodised training plan is made up of three nested cycles:

• Macrocycle (52 weeks)
  • The macrocycle is the longest of the cycles and refers to the season as a whole. In our case the macrocycle is the length of the year, so essentially the annual training plan represents a macrocycle of training.
• Mesocycle (3 – 5 weeks)
  • The mesocycle is a specific block of training within a season with a designated focus in mind. These may last anywhere from 3 – 5 weeks depending on the desired training adaptions. Some people have rigid lengths for cycles then impose recovery weeks. I tend to vary the length of a cycle depending on the goal of the cycle.
• Microcycle (1 week)
  • The microcycle is the smallest unit of a mesocycle which is usually a week duration. There is a separate tab in the annual training plan spreadsheet to plan out each week of training.

Workout Types and Training Focuses

I use five typical workouts and choose to focus on one type for each mesocycle. The workout types and their intensities are shown in the table below. These workouts roughly equate to heart rate zones that can be setup in Intervals.icu. If you are setting up HR zones in Intervals select the CTS Run training zones and it will create HR zones that match these workouts. It is best to run by RPE but I still like have the HR zones as another reference point to know where I am at.

Using The Annual Training Plan

Planning Your Year

Starting by saving a copy of the spreadsheet, then enter the start date and the key events you hope to complete during the year. Koop calls this creating the bookends of the plan. This is the backbone of the plan.

Now it’s time to fill in the year with training blocks that will best prepare you for the events you are taking on. It is best to start with the least specific training first then as the event approaches gradually transition to towards specific training. You can fill in cells for each training block by entering an ‘X’ in the cell that you want to fill with colour.

As an example, if you are training for a 100km ultra then Running Intervals are the least specific type of running for such an event. Intervals and speedwork are still important building blocks for succeeding in an ultra so they should still be done but start with these first then move into a Tempo Run block. Finally move into Steady State runs and Endurance run focus as the event approaches. Then you can fill in your desired training volumes for each week of the year.

This page is intended to be a guide for your year. It will need to be adapted as the year progresses. It should be a living document. Rigidly sticking to a plan without listening to your body is a recipe for injury and failure.

Weekly Planning

The main page of the spreadsheet is used for planning out the yearly training blocks. Once you know the focus and the desired training volume for each week then you can use the weekly planner tab the to program your individual workouts for each week.

The information on desired training volume from the main sheet is loaded across to the weekly planner sheet. You can choose the focus for the week. Then you populate each day with workouts till you reach the planned weekly volume. I won’t go into how to best layout your weeks in this post. But I follow a general rule of always having a recovery run the day after a hard session and I try to space out hard sessions a few days apart. Below is an example

Programming into Intervals.icu

In Intervals.icu I have built a library of commonly performed workouts. So when it comes time to program the week I can open up Intervals.icu and drag and drop the relevant workouts onto each day to replicate the plan from the spreadsheet. It is super easy and intuitive to build workouts in Intervals in plain text, here is a good guide from the forums on how to do it. Once you have created a workout you can drag it into your workout library where it can be reused later. I also use hash tags in Intervals to denote what type of workout I am doing, this way I can filter by workout type.

Once the week is programmed then the structured workouts are automatically synced to my watch and will pop up on the day that they are planned. I find that I am much more likely to comply with a plan made a week in advance than a plan made on the day. It’s a lot easier to decide a week in ahead to do a hard session rather than on the day. If I plan day by day it’s far too easy to take the easy way out and do an easy run rather than speedwork.

Summing Up

That’s it for now. I plan to share future updates to this plan as it evolves. You can use it and add your own metrics if you wish. I sometimes add elevation gain and training load goals into the yearly planner. Here is a summary of what we covered and how to best use the plan.

• Save a copy of the spreadsheet and have a play
• Start by entering the ‘bookends’
  • Start date
  • Goal events
• Fill in the gaps
  • Play around with filling in the gaps to build up to your goal events
  • This may take a few attempts to get something that works
  • I recommend reading Training Essentials for Ultrarunning and Koops blog post about long range planning to help guide you on how to lay out the year
• Set some weekly volume goals
  • Use the knowledge you have of your training history to prescribe a sustainable build of volume
  • Remember to never increase both volume and intensity, for running intervals weeks you will need to reduce volume to compensate for the additional stress on your body
• Plan out your weeks
  • Use the weekly planner to lay out workouts till you achieve the weekly volume goal
  • Your weekly workouts will depend on the focus for that specific training blog
• Program the week in Intervals.icu
  • Replicate the week on your intervals calendar using the workout builder and your workout library
• Final step is to get out and do the running, good luck!!

Let me know in the comments or via email if you have any feedback or recommendations on how I could improve my plan. I am always looking for ways to improve. Thanks for reading!