Modernizing Daniels'

His plans are merely templates, and should be taken with a grain a salt. They can be modified to the ability and desires of the runner. He states that all the time.

He does talk about hill sprints, and that a runner should add them to his or her weekly run training. He just does not put it in his workout templates. In the beginning of the book, there is a section on hill sprints or hill training.

Once you advance as a runner, and you feel the need to make your training more dynamic than what it is, then tweak the plan. I take some things from Daniels, and i take some things from Canova and put together my own training plan. No running book is perfect, and no coach is perfect, so use what is necessary, and discard what isn't necessary.

So if you want to add hill sprints to one of your weeks, than add hill sprints. If you want to increase your interval sessions, than increase your interval sessions.

I get what you mean. And I remember in the 5/10k plans, he mentions doing hill repeats in Phase I. I know enough to alter workouts. I'm more meaning, if a co-worker walked up to you and asked you to make him a training plan, what would you add to Daniels' for them to blindly follow

JamesTheAmateur wrote:

I'm not pretending to know nearly enough to give any suggestions myself, but I was wondering what you guys thought when it came to some of the aspects of Daniels' that seem kind of dated. Like never prescribing hill work or having tapers. His plans are good, I'm following the 10k one now and have had success, and they are made to be a template. But what would you recommend for someone that solely followed the plan? I've made alterations here and there, but I've read a lot about training principles so it isn't a total shot in the dark. I'm more wondering what you would add to a Daniels plan that you would print out and give to Joe or Jane Doe.

I would suggest the new DANCAN-system. Its partly Daniels with his VDOT -paces , but its much more and a smarter more effective system than Daniels. I have f. ex coached a Kenyan runner during 2½ year almost without any races and on lowmileage,just 6 sessions per week and around 60-70 miles per week. Now recently he ran 1:32 at 30 k as a pacemaker in a marathon and he felt strong when he had to stop there.

Can you share what his training looked like, outside of 6 sessions per week and 60-70 miles per week.

Thanks!

One maxVO2-pace interval, mostly 20 x 400m , and one LT-interval 6-20 x 800-1600m in the weekly program.

Also the special long run with fast finish 10-40 min in intervals or sustained LT pace. Always one day rest in the week.

Thats it folks! DANCAN-system! The future system.