When youre training for a race,a good training plan is key.

But what do you do when the plan doesnt match up with your life?

You get sick and miss a week, or you realize too late you started on the wrong date.

Or maybe the plan calls for something you just cant make happen on schedule, like a tune-up race.

What do I do???

I hear you wailing.

Well, dont worry.

Missed workouts are in the past, and youll move on without trying to make them up.

For the most part, anyway.

Lets look at a few scenarios where you might have questions.

But firstlets zoom out so we can see the big picture.

How youll feel:Youll feel pretty good during this phase.

Your biggest priority in this phase: Sticking to the program and preparing for the work to come.

This is the longest phase of the program, perhaps six to eight weeks long.

so that you might stay healthy and keep training.

If its a marathon program, youre probably doing some 18+ mile long runs.

Your biggest priority in this phase: Surviving.

The taper

What it is:After all that hard work, you finally get a break.

For shorter races it may be just a few easy days so you might rest up before race day.

Your biggest priority in this phase: Recovery.

Prioritize your key workouts(long runs, speed work) and try not to miss those.

If you have to miss a run for scheduling/life reasons, make the one you drop an easy run.

Dont venture to make up missed runs, especially if you were sick and/or had to miss multiple sessions.

Pick up where you left off.

And give yourself some grace those first few days backtake it easy and do what you might.

verify the program ends on race day.

Dont mess with the timing of those last few weeks.

Now lets tackle some specific questions.

Look, there’s a reason your training program lasts 12 weeks or whatever.

It’s because nosinglerun is going to prepare you for a marathon.

If it’s one of your short or easy runs, your fitness won’t really suffer at all.

Think of the runs as like money you’re putting into a piggy bank.

It’s more important to be consistent than to worry about one day’s individual contribution.

Sometimes you’re missing a run for a good reason, anyway.

You got sick and now you’re recovering.

Or you had a vacation and you took some time off and enjoyed yourself for once.

I started the program too early, and now I have extra time to fill.

Should I repeat some of the weeks?

That depends on where you are in the program.Do notrepeat weeks in the taper.

Thats meant to be a short, sharp decrease in mileage.

Stretching it out will rob it of its power.

(Tapers are magic, I swear.)

You alsodo notwant to repeat hard weeks in the peak.

(There are, of course, exceptions to these rules.

So what can you do?

Id recommend these approaches, in this order of preference:

Extend the beginning or build phases.

it’s possible for you to certainly repeat week five of a 16-week program, no sweat.

Add cutback weeks during the peak or late build phases.

Or say youre following aHal Higdon programthat alternates between 20-mile and 12-mile long runs during the peak.

When in doubt, make the added weekeasierthan the weeks before and after it.

Your body will appreciate the extra recovery.

What if I dont have a tune-up race to run?

Some training plans will throw in a race partway through the program.

(Our resident marathoner Meredith Dietzexplains the rationale here.)

A marathon program might have you race a half marathon in the middle of your training.

A half marathon might have you race a 10K.

Ideally, this will be an actual race.

Having to deal with all that bullshit is half the point of doing a tune-up race.

(Plug in your race timehereto see your predicted times at other distances.)

But maybe there isnt a 10K in your town that weekend.

Usually this isnt a part of the training program where the timing is super critical.

Run a time trial.This is just a race that you do on your own.

Reward yourself with a stale post-race bagel for verisimilitude.

Just do a regular long run.Usually the tune-up race takes the place of your weekend long run.

Make your best guess, and then do that.

What if I want to add a race that’s not on the program?

This is the opposite of the dilemma above.

Thereisnta race scheduled, but you want to do one anyway.

The simplest answer is just: run aloooongwarmup and cooldown.

And then you’re able to do the other six miles as an extended cooldown.

Same idea if youre meeting a friend for a run.

If the race is a longer onesay, a 10Kyou can also just treat it as a tune-up race.

Run it all-out, and dont bother making up the mileage.

I missed my longest run, and now its taper time!

Should I squeeze in a 20-miler real quick?

You know the answer to this one by now: no.

The taper is for recovery.

I ran all my long runs, but some of them went really badly.

I think I can redo my last 16-miler, but do it better this time.

How do I

That’s the neat thing, you don’t.

What if I am a special snowflake and believe these rules dont apply to me?

Honestly: maybe youre right.

A cookie-cutter program is not guaranteed to be perfect for everyone.

Just promise me something: whatever bad decisions you make,learn from them.

Maybe you think youll be fine with a shorter taper.

If you truly want to test that hypothesis, shorten your taper!

And then see how you do in the race.