Your Training Plan Isn’t the Holy Grail, So Stop Worshipping It

You know that feeling when you miss a run and suddenly act like you've committed some kind of sacred betrayal?

Yeah. That nonsense stops today.

Let’s talk about this weird reverence runners have for training plans — especially marathoners-turned-ultra-runners in our glorious 35+ crowd. Somewhere along the line, we started treating these plans like holy scripture. Something that must be obeyed at all costs.

Like, “The Plan said I had to run 10 miles today. It’s raining knives, my hamstring feels like a violin string, my cycle has arrived a week early, I haven’t slept in three nights... but hey, gotta stay faithful to the program.”

C'mon… really?

Here’s the thing:

Your training plan isn’t a Bible. It’s a guide. A framework. A decent stab at structuring your fitness around your life — not the other way around.

It’s not divine. It wasn’t hand-delivered by the ghost of Emil Zátopek. It’s a set of educated guesses made at one point in time, before life inevitably did what life does — HAPPENED.

Ricky Gervais said it best (in his own way): “Just because someone wrote it down doesn’t mean it’s true. Hitler wrote a book.”

Exactly. Let’s not get too carried away just because something’s typed and formatted.

What Happens When You Treat It Like Gospel?

Let’s list a few familiar sins:

• You run when you’re injured because “the plan said so” — and now you’re hobbling for two weeks.

• You panic over missed workouts and try to “make them up,” which is code for cooking yourself alive.

• You turn your brain off and let a PDF call the shots — even when your body is screaming for mercy.

Look, I love a good plan. I build them for a living. But if your plan doesn’t account for reality — it’s not a plan. It’s just a fantasy with some intervals attached.

What Smart Runners Do Instead:

They adapt. They listen. They tweak. They know that progress isn’t linear, and neither is life. And they don’t confuse discipline with blind obedience.

Let me be crystal clear:

Missing one session doesn’t derail your fitness. Getting injured because you were too proud to adjust? That’ll derail everything.

Replace the Guilt with Strategy

You ever beat yourself up for skipping a run because work ran late, or your kid had a meltdown, or you were just done?

You felt lazy. Weak. Like you failed.

Nah.

Try this instead:

• “I moved that run to tomorrow so I could actually recover — and that’s how I stay consistent long term.”

• “I took an extra rest day because I’m 42 and I don’t bounce like I used to — that’s called maturity.”

• “I cut today’s run short because my left calf felt spicy — and I’d rather adjust than rehab.”

  Sound soft? Cool. Now let me show you the injury report of the runners who didn’t think that way. (Spoiler: it's longer than a Tesco receipt.)

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This Is About Playing the Long Game

Look, I know you want to crush your next race. Maybe it’s a 50K, a 100-miler, or your first Hyrox. You want to go all in.

And I’m here for that.

But going “all in” doesn’t mean going “all out” on every session, every week, no matter what. That’s how people snap. That’s how they ghost their goals by June because their IT band staged a revolt.

Real toughness is knowing when to flex. Real wisdom is knowing when to pull back. And real results come from consistency — not perfection.

Final Word (Before I Step Off My Soapbox)

Your training plan is your guide, not your god. Your trainer is there to help if you have concerns, not do it for you.

It can bend. It should evolve. It should serve you — not the other way around.

If you’re showing up most days, staying intentional, adjusting when needed, and not losing your mind over red dots on your Strava… then guess what?

You’re doing it right.

And if you ever need help adapting, re-routing, or just venting about a week that went sideways — that’s what I’m here for.

Keep running smart. Keep trusting yourself. And stop treating that plan like it’s sacred scripture.

Run Strong, Run Long, Run Better

John Withinshaw Your Coach Who Loves a Structured Plan… But Will Happily Burn It if It Stops Making Sense

JDW Fitness