2022 training and race planning

We're now well into the new year so if you haven't already set your target for the year it's time to do it and we're here to help.

Firstly - decide what you really want to achieve in your running this year. Is there a race or challenge that you can target? Set yourself a SMART goal to help you to get there and use the Training Zone for advice on your training goals.

Secondly - Tell our Training Wizard what it is that you really want to do. This will set you a programme at the start of each week after you have given four pieces of information :

• What you want to do

Do you want to start running, run 5k or less, run 10k, run a half marathon or run a marathon?

• The target

Do you have a particular time barrier you want to break or do you want to build up your training to a certain number of days per week?

• The focus for the week

You should think about your overall plan from now until the big day and break it down into phases where you can concentrate on one fitness component at a time. Depending on the time you have from now until your big event you may spend a few weeks building an aerobic base before bringing in some strength work and then some speed work to really give you the edge. The Training Wizard will ask you if you want to build an aerobic base, build strength-endurance, build speed-endurance or improve running economy.

• How much time you have or how hard you want to train

One of the unique things about the Training Wizard is that it gives you a bespoke programme that is set one week at a time. You can tell it whether you need an easy, moderate or hard week so, rather than trying to stick to a generic three or four month programme that doesn't understand what is going on in the rest of your life, the Training Wizard allows you to tailor your training for a stress-free training experience!

Thirdly - Use our online entry system to enter your event but not before you've talked your training partners into entering with you. Training and preparing is much more enjoyable if you have the 'banter' of others who you are training and racing with! Our online entry system now offers multiple entries so you can enter together and our handicap scoring system features a head-to-head comparison function so you can keep tabs on each other as you build towards the big day!

Good luck with whatever you set yourself for this year!