Best training methodology for the self-coached runner?

I've also looked into Igloi, Canova, Tinman CV at a very surface level but none of them seem as fleshed out in book/example plans format for me to adopt well, but if anyone recommends an approach similar then I'd be willing to incorporate them.

There is no one "best" training plan. It depends on who you are (physically, mentally, and bio-mechanically). The best training is the training that matches who you are.

Other important considerations are where you are training. Do you have hills, dirt paths, a track, is it very hot, very cold, at altitude?

Also consider when you are racing and if you plan to use races as training sessions.

“Better Training for Distance Runners” by Seb Coe’s father.

Because a person’s stress levels and hormonal profile, the latter of which is greatly influenced by age, have significant influence on one’s response to any particular method of training.

I must say by far the greatest program I have used is the not so known the Dancan system by the Swedish coach Jan Stensson.It's a great mix of the best from famous coaches in history e.g Lydiard,Canova, Daniels, Gerschler, Stampfl and Jan Stenssons' own experience from a long life of running.You find some older threads here at LR where he explains his method.

Hello, Jan! Posting under a different name again?

Totally agree. That said, I'd add Pfitz to your rotation. It's really solid just to provide structure/framework. You could use it around the clock for 5k-marathon training, with some minor tweaks here & there. It could probably use a little more speed but the training can get anyone strong with solid mileage, good long runs, medium long runs, and threshold sessions. Does a good job not opening the door for injury risk.

It sounds like you had (relatively) terrible results from the work you put in using the other plans. I'd recommend trying Daniels for a season just so you can see what an informed, reasonably structured training plan looks like. If you're in HS, Daniels is also one of the few plans that covers middle distance.

Whats your goal event?

Okay, makes sense. I’m good with Daniels then for now. I’ll give it a shot next year. I did pick it since it has been at the forefront of textbook solid training almost forever but was wondering if other options. Lots of downvotes for the other suggestions tho LOL

The Norwegian Method for Low Milage thread is full of testimonials of progress on 6-7 hours a week training and is really simple.

No stress on choosing what the workout needs to be / etc. Might be worth a look.

The best training methodology is the one you'll actually do.

well, I would say if you want to be self-coached then you have to coach yourself not follow the coaching on someone else. So that is your first consideration: do you want to coach yourself or are you simply looking to follow someone else's coaching plan.

If you decide to be truly self-coached, then let the fun begin (I am self-coached for the majority of my 50 years of running - only exceptions are in high school and college).

1) Find workouts that you like to do - do those

2) Listen to your body.

a) If you find something that works - continue with that.

b) If you find something that doesn't work - don't continue with that.

Pretty simple really.

There are no rules or formulas when you coach yourself. If you want to do X then Y, you do X then Y. You become the experiment. You want to try doubles, you try doubles. You want to try running every other day, you run every other day.

What I found that worked remarkable well:

1) best training happened when I was 24 and reduced my running to 4 day per week with cross training on the other days. Total mileage was 25-40. All runs were quality days (not necessarily hard, but I was doing no slow/recovery days. The recovery was happening on the non-running days. This allowed me to feel fresh pretty much every day. I think this worked so well because I was able to spend a lot of time running at a high quality without getting torn down by too much mileage.

I did my best training and racing while self-coaching. I can't offer any concrete guidance. It was all about:

- Using what was available in terms of hills, trails, routes, tracks, etc. I had a list of hills and their approximate length. I would run some form of hill probably twice a week while slowly adding volume or intensity to these sessions. I would run some odd-distanced loops in the local park and track progress on those.

- Ensuring I'm making progress. It's obviously easy to track progress with race results, but we're not always racing every week. I knew that if I ran 5xthis park loop with an average time of 3:20 per loop one week, and then two weeks later I was comfortably hitting 3:17s, that I was fitter. I did the same with all the hills.

- Listening to my body and adapting. I took what some might consider a lot of random off days. But I had no super concrete plans, so if something felt strange, I didn't hesitate to take an off or easy day or two or three.

Nic Bideau once said something like "If you run for an hour a day you'll get quite fit. If you extend one of those runs to one and a half or two hours you'll be even fitter and if you extend one more of those hour runs to ninety minutes you'll get very, very fit." That's about as simple a plan as you can have and if you add a day or two fartlek or some Hill work you'll have pretty much every base covered

I follow the forest gump plan

Just run baby

I would tell you but then you wouldn’t be self coached…

My next training block will be 1500m to work on some lower distance speed endurance before moving up to 5k/10k or potentially HM/Marathon.

But pretty much, all distances above 800m lol

I was wondering whether Daniels 1500m was good, but it seems good with many Rep pace reps throughout and getting good economy at that. I feel it could be a bit sketchy for 10k and above with the lack of threshold volume (compared to modern double threshold etc) but maybe it's made up for by other volume and intensity.

I've read up on some of NAU's training which is Daniels modeled for altitude and modern threshold approaches and it seems good but not sure how to apply specifically to myself so will go with Daniels for now.