Garmin Coach HM Plan - my thoughts

[Richard7]

Within a couple of weeks of my June Half Marathon I set myself a challenge off running the distance (no race just for me) and decided to use Garmin Coach HM plan.

This is an adaptive plan that is meant to tailor to your running/fitness etc.

If you want to know more about Garmin Coach there is plenty of YouTube etc this post is about my experience with it.

I set myself a target goal and the plan got under way. It felt a bit like the first time I used a Sat Nav - hopeful but cautious!!

For me I would say the plan had pros and cons. On the plus side

* It increased my runs from 3 to 4 days a week safely

* It varied my running including strides, intervals, progression runs, long easy, goal pace

* It got gradually more challenging

* I learnt to do warm up and cool down runs

On the negative side

* The plan only reveals the next 3-4 runs at a time so you do not get to see the plan completely unfolded

* Whilst you can reschedule runs the plan is what it is - you do the runs it tells you to do

* A lot of long slow runs much slower than I would usually run at - at times I didn't feel stretched

* All runs included an optional element and it took me a long time to realise I need to do these

* Took me a long time to adapt to warm up/cool down runs rather than walking

My plan has come to an end and I really do not feel able to achieve the goal that I set myself. So today as a tester I set out on a 10k run with a goal pace slightly higher than my target HM pace. I got to 7k and bailed out! Could I have continued - possibly yes but not sustaining the pace. Could I have done a HM around this pace - NO!

So a failure - well not really … no I didn't achieve my goal but I would say for me that the plan definitely had its benefits. I have learnt some new techniques such as progressions runs and in the midst it did give me confidence to do longer runs, I just feel that for me I needed less tapering and more high mileage towards the end than the plan gave me.

I think for my first half marathon I got lucky doing my own thing. Next time I will feel more equipped to do the same using some of the techniques from the Garmin Coach plan but not using it as the guide.

I am still hoping to do another HM distance this year and plan to add some long runs to the mix over the coming weeks - we will see - maybe October or maybe later!! For now I treated myself to a Free Run today and whilst I didn't make my planned distance I really enjoyed the challenge and the running itself.

Keep running everyone 👍😀

[Dexy5 10 Miles]

That’s interesting Richard. I’m taking part in the GSR in 2 weeks time and looked at the website’s 12 week race plan but found it had 4 runs a week and it was mostly easy running pace and for time not distance. I’m not sure I would have got to 10 miles that way. I liked the adaptability of extending juju’s plan and knowing that I could still do parkrun . I’ll never know if the results would have been better but I’m sure the 10 weeks up to now fitted in with my life better.

[Richard7 Half Marathon in reply to Dexy5]

That's kind of what I did earlier in the year, took the principles from Ju-Jus plan to get myself up to the distance. The GC plan just didn't feel right by comparison. Good luck with your GSR. (Great South Run??)

[Dexy5 10 Miles in reply to Richard7]

Yes that’s right. It’s right on our doorstep and I’ve watched people doing it every year. Never thought it would be possible for me to run it. All thanks to c25k and the lovely people on these forums.

[SaskAlliecat Half Marathon]

Thanks for the review Richard. I've been using the training plans on Runkeeper Go but was wondering about getting an updated Garmin and trying their training plans. I think I'll stick to Runkeeper for next year and save the cost of an updated watch..... for now. It seems to maybe have a bit more flexibility (I can move the runs around to suit my needs, choose 3 or 4 runs per week and can view the entire plan ahead of time, but isn't truly interactive in that it doesn't change based on how I am running)

[Richard7 Half Marathon in reply to SaskAlliecat]

Yeah the plan kept on telling me I was on track, I think a lot of it depends on what you say at the end of the run. It asks you how the run felt. Most of the time I said Moderate .. maybe that was my downfall!! I think I am ready to do my own thing again for a while 😀

[Hidden]

I think that though the slow runs aren’t stretching you, they were building in stamina and - had you kept going- eventually speed. That’s the theory anyway. Did you read the Polar blog post I posted yesterday about slow running? Mind you, his idea of slow running was 3-4min/km!

[Richard7 Half Marathon]

Yeah, I get the idea behind the slow runs and do think they were working - just don't understand why the plan stopped offering them up so early. No I will take as look at your post - I love a good read 👍😀

[UnfitNoMore Metric Marathon]

The Nike plans are very similar... they do show the whole plan, but it adapts every Sunday so there’s little point looking at the next week as it won’t be the same when you get to it.

Slowing down and going long works for lots of people, including the man Kipchoge who ran one recently at 9:30 a mile (fast until you consider he marathons under 4:30)

I found the Nike version didn’t do much for me first time around, but now I’ve got to grips with what to expect it’s working wonders this time... the next plan starts off my recent stats so each plan is an extension of the one before really, maybe Garmin coach will work in a similar way.

[Richard7 Half Marathon]

Just to highlight the point I was talking about - my stats from Strava came through yesterday.

Comparing September to August

30km less 5h less (But only 1 day less active)

And looking back at the plan my only runs over 10k - 31st Aug 12k and 24th Aug 15k

Longest in September 8k