Modifying Your Training Plan
Life happens. Illness, injury, travel, work stress, and unexpected schedule changes are inevitable. This guide will help you navigate these situations while minimizing disruption to your training adaptations.
The Golden Rule: Continue Forward, Don't Make Up
When you miss workouts, resist the urge to "make up" what you missed. Continue with the plan as written. Your training plan is designed with progressive overload in mind—stacking missed workouts creates excessive acute stress and increases injury and overtraining risk.
Think long-term: One missed week won't ruin your race. Trying to cram that week into the remaining time might.
Missing Individual Workouts
General Approach
Continue with the plan as written. Don't try to make up missed sessions.
Exception for long rides/runs: If you miss a long session (your key weekend workout), you can swap it with the next day's workout if:
The next day was an easier or shorter session
The swap doesn't create an overwhelmingly difficult day
You're confident you can complete both the long session AND any other work planned for that day
Example of acceptable swap:
Saturday: Long ride (missed)
Sunday: Easy 60-min recovery spin
Solution: Swap them—do the long ride Sunday, easy spin Monday
Example of unacceptable stacking:
Saturday: Long ride (missed)
Sunday: Brick workout (bike + run)
Don't try to do both—just continue with the plan, you missed the long ride
Never Stack Multiple Missed Workouts
Trying to combine multiple missed sessions into one day:
Creates excessive fatigue
Increases injury risk dramatically
Compromises workout quality
Defeats the progressive overload principle
Better approach: Accept the missed training, continue forward, and adjust race expectations if needed.
Training Through Illness
The Neck Check Rule
Use this guideline to decide whether to train or rest:
Symptoms above the neck (runny nose, mild congestion) with no fever:
Light training may be okay
Reduce intensity significantly (easy Zone 1-2 only)
Shorten workout duration
Skip if you feel particularly fatigued
No hard efforts, intervals, or races
Symptoms below the neck (chest congestion, body aches) or fever >100.4°F:
Take time off completely
Focus on rest, hydration, nutrition
Return to training only when symptoms resolve
When in doubt, rest. A few days off now beats weeks of compromised training (or worse illness) later.
Returning After Illness
Don't jump back to full training immediately. Your body is still recovering even after symptoms resolve.
Gradual return protocol:
Days 1-2 post-illness:
Easy aerobic sessions only
50-60% of normal duration
Monitor how you feel closely
Days 3-5 post-illness:
Increase to 70-80% normal duration
Still easy intensity
Can add light tempo if feeling strong
Days 6-7+ post-illness:
Resume normal training if energy levels are good
Be cautious with first hard session back
If fatigue spikes, extend easy training another few days
Severe illness (7+ days off):
Consider consulting with a coach or modifying your training plan
You may need to adjust race goals if close to event
Focus on maintaining fitness rather than building it
Managing Injuries
Stop or Modify Immediately
Don't train through pain. Acute pain is a warning signal. Ignoring it typically makes things worse and extends recovery time.
Sharp, sudden pain: Stop immediately Dull, aching pain that worsens during activity: Stop and assess Mild discomfort that improves with warm-up: Proceed cautiously, monitor closely
Cross-Training Principles
When injured, the goal is maintaining fitness without aggravating the injury.
General guidelines:
Choose activities that don't stress the injured area
Running injury → Pool running, cycling (if pain-free)
Cycling injury → Swimming, pool running
Swimming injury → Cycling, running (if shoulder isn't involved)
Important caveat: Don't view cross-training as license to increase volume. Match the duration/intensity of what you'd have done in your normal training, not MORE. The temptation is to compensate, but overloading other systems increases injury risk elsewhere.
When to Seek Professional Help
See a physical therapist, sports medicine doctor, or appropriate specialist if:
Pain persists more than 7 days despite rest
Pain is severe or sharp
Swelling, bruising, or visible deformity
Pain prevents normal daily activities
You've had this injury before and it's recurring
You're within 6-8 weeks of a key race
Don't DIY serious injuries. Early professional intervention usually shortens recovery time and improves outcomes.
Training During Travel
Maintaining Fitness on the Road
Prioritize key sessions: If you can only do 60% of planned training while traveling, focus on:
One hard workout per week (if time permits)
One long aerobic session
Fill in with whatever else fits
Hotel room workouts:
Bodyweight strength work (if traveling without access to gym)
Stretching and mobility work
Core stability exercises
Finding places to train:
Research running routes before arrival (Strava heatmaps are useful)
Many hotels have gym partnerships or guest passes
Pool running in hotel pools works if outdoor training isn't safe/practical
Adapt to circumstances:
30 minutes of quality > zero minutes of perfection
Walking meetings instead of sitting still
Use stairs instead of elevators for easy aerobic work
Time Zone Changes
Jet lag impacts:
Disrupted sleep affects recovery and performance
Coordination and reaction time are impaired
Judgment about effort levels can be off
Training through jet lag:
First 1-2 days: Keep training very easy
Don't attempt hard sessions until adjusted (usually 3-5 days)
Use morning light exposure to speed adaptation
Training can actually help reset your clock if timed properly
Race Travel
Arriving at destination race:
1-3 days early: Minimal acclimation needed, stay on home schedule
4-7 days early: Partial acclimation, awkward middle ground
8+ days early: Full acclimation possible
Training taper during race travel:
Don't add training volume to "explore" the area
Stay off your feet more than normal
Reconnaissance of race course is fine, but keep it truly easy
When Training Feels Too Hard
Persistent Fatigue Despite Following the Plan
If you're consistently struggling to hit prescribed intensities:
Step 1: Check the basics
Sleep: Are you getting 7-9 hours consistently?
Nutrition: Are you eating enough total calories and protein?
Life stress: Major work or personal stressors impacting recovery?
Illness: Low-grade illness can sap energy without obvious symptoms
Step 2: Reduce intensity first
Complete prescribed workouts at lower intensity
Example: Threshold session at 85-90% of target instead of 95-105%
Endurance rides at lower end of Zone 2
This maintains training stimulus while reducing stress
Step 3: Reduce volume second
Cut workout durations by 20-30%
Maintain workout frequency (better to do shorter sessions than skip days)
Keep some intensity work to preserve top-end fitness
Step 4: Add recovery time
Take an unplanned rest day or very easy day
Extend your recovery week by a few days
Sometimes one extra recovery day prevents two weeks of struggling
Different Fitness Level Than Plan Assumes
Plan feels consistently too easy:
Increase intensity within prescribed zones (toward upper end)
Add 10-15 minutes to endurance sessions
Contact coach about moving to more advanced plan
Plan feels consistently too hard:
Start with intensity reduction (as above)
If still struggling, reduce volume
Consider whether you selected the right plan for your current fitness
Don't arbitrarily change the plan structure. Making it harder/easier within the framework is fine. Completely redesigning the progression usually backfires.
Life Stress and Training
How Non-Training Stress Impacts Recovery
Work pressure, family challenges, relationship issues, and personal stress directly impair your ability to recover from exercise. Your body doesn't distinguish between training stress and life stress when it comes to recovery demands.
High-stress periods:
Back off intensity first (keep volume for mental health benefits)
Prioritize sleep even more than usual
Maintain easy aerobic training for stress management
Skip hard sessions if feeling overwhelmed
Signs life stress is impacting training:
Elevated resting heart rate
Disrupted sleep despite fatigue
Persistent muscle soreness
Decreased motivation
Increased irritability
Balancing Training and Life
Training should enhance your life, not dominate it. If training is creating more stress than it's relieving:
Reduce training volume temporarily
Focus on what you enjoy most about training
Skip races that are adding pressure rather than excitement
Remember: there will always be another race
Communicate with family/work:
Set realistic expectations about training time
Don't sacrifice critical life responsibilities for training
Build flexibility into your schedule
Plan key training weeks around lower life-stress periods
Adjusting for Schedule Conflicts
Moving Workout Days
General principles:
Keep hard days separated by 48+ hours when possible
Avoid stacking multiple hard sessions on consecutive days
Endurance sessions can move more flexibly than key interval work
Acceptable adjustments:
Swapping Tuesday/Wednesday workouts
Moving long weekend ride from Saturday to Sunday (or vice versa)
Combining two easy sessions into one slightly longer session
Problematic adjustments:
Doing Tuesday threshold + Wednesday VO2 workout on same day
Stacking long run + long ride on same weekend when plan separates them
Skipping all recovery weeks to "save time"
Compressed Training Weeks
If you have a particularly busy week:
Identify the 1-2 key sessions (usually one hard, one long)
Do those sessions even if you have to skip others
Fill in what you can around them
Don't try to compress 7 days into 4
When to Significantly Modify or Abandon the Plan
Situations Requiring Major Changes
Extended illness or injury (2+ weeks):
Consult with a coach about restructuring
May need to adjust race goals
Focus on rebuilding gradually rather than catching up
Major life events:
New job, moving, family emergency
Survival mode: maintain minimum fitness
Return to structured training when life stabilizes
Persistent overtraining symptoms:
Elevated resting heart rate for 1+ weeks
Declining performance despite adequate rest
Chronic fatigue, irritability, sleep disruption
Frequent illness
Action: Take 1-2 weeks very easy, then rebuild gradually
Rebuilding After Setbacks
General approach:
Start conservatively (60-70% of where you were)
Build back gradually over 2-4 weeks
Don't try to make up for lost time
Reassess race goals if needed
You'll regain fitness faster than you built it initially if you have a solid training history. Well-conditioned athletes bounce back more quickly than beginners building fitness for the first time.
Getting Additional Help
When to contact a coach:
Persistent issues that you can't troubleshoot
Major disruptions requiring plan restructuring
Recurring injuries
Uncertainty about whether to continue training
For personalized ongoing support and training modifications: Explore our coaching services