Is it necessary to do your HARD workout on the same day every week?

Each week runners have certain key workouts they want to complete within their training schedule. It is these workouts that will give you the most physiological benefits in training as well as the confidence that will come from accomplishing that specific workout - such as a long run, tempo run, or an interval day.

Some runners feel they are required to do these workouts on the same day of the week, every week.  Actually, you might receive more mental and physical benefits by staying flexible. If you have 7 or 10 days in your training week/cycle and one of those days has to be a workout day or hard day give yourself the best chance at making the workout a success.  This may require you to be flexible with the day you choose to run your workout.

Training is hard enough on its own but then adding in work, family, and unexpected circumstances can make finding time to train and sticking to a strict routine challenging. Allowing yourself some flexibility within your weekly training and scheduled workouts will help more than derail you. For example if your workout is scheduled for a Tuesday and your legs feel like garbage, you are tired or work just got in the way it is okay to just push the workout to later in the week, like Thursday or Friday. That will hopefully give you the best opportunity at maximizing your workout effort, confidence, and mental focus.

A few things to keep in mind when adjusting your weekly workout days:

 - Make sure to allow adequate recovery time before your race. (Do not run a workout the day before a race!)

- Do not run two workouts too close together. Allow yourself adequate recovery time or your workouts will not be effective.