My Training Plan

I could almost say I don't have any plan, but based on my results I revised my planned goal times. This year I would like to go below 21 minutes for 5K, and below 45 minutes for 10K. My predicted time for Half Marathon is 1 hour 43 minutes - I would be very happy if I could run it in less than 1:45 - I have noticed that my aerobic base, which plays greater role as the distance increases, is not optimally developed.

I have collected bits and pieces of information from the web. I am trying to learn as much as possible to have good results in a very short time. There is an overwhelming amount of information available on the subject. Sometimes theories and specific approaches are conflicting between each other. How often should one run, for how long and how intense? There are multiple theories and multiple answers.

'No pain no gain' school is presently replaced by 'scientific' approach - base your training on HR (heart rate) or LT (lactate threshold). One have to find out the value of MHR (maximum HR) to build a training plan based on HR zones or even better one should measure the lactic acid level in a blood to determine exercises intensity.
There are multiple formulas to calculate the value of MHR, those formulas are not very accurate and can produce result as far of as 30 bits per minute simply because people are different. So the best way to measure MHR is to take it when the body is reaching this point during very heavy exercises. Even when those values are determined zone training could be done in many different ways. There are schools of Low Heart Rate training like Maffeton method, producing good aerobic results leading to improved times for some distance runners, and doing nothing or even decreasing performance for others.

It gets much more difficult to determine the values off Lactate Threshold, one basically needs a lab to do so. What it means and how to apply those values to real training? There are multiple theories and schools. I am not ready for this yet.

I heard that increasing millage is good enough for a new runner. Increased miles by itself will produce great improvements. So my plan is to add as many miles as possible and watch the result. Or it was my plan until not so far ago. I was running around 30 km a week (kmw) in January, I have been adding more kilometers, I run 50 km a week at this point. I am feeling good and probably could go to 70-80 kmw. There is one problem - It takes many hours to run so many kilometers. In addition, during the summer months I love to ride my bicycle. I could cut hours on the bicycle if I haven't been planning to try triathlon this summer.

At this point I am thinking that I will have to improve quality of my workouts. There are speedworks, intervals, tempo runs, fartleks, and many more ways to improve running performance. I did try some but in a really casual way. I will have to study those workouts and apply it to my training especially if the result of my 10K run in Mississauga (12 of May) will be weak.

Based on my 5K race time my 10K time is predicted by various sources to be around 46min 30 sec. If my time will be worse it means that I have to make a serious revision of my training.