jake_h wrote:
It would end in May, at which point I'll race some (mostly 5K, maybe a 10). What duration of racing would be reasonable at this time - a few weeks, or all summer? And how would I stay near the top of my game over the summer before stepping it down in, say, September? Have I started this plan too soon in the year?
I've basically never raced, and know nothing about periodisation, peaking, racing seasons, etc so could do with some guidance.
You can't actually maintain peak racing fitness that long, especially as a newly serious runner. A few years ago, a couple hard 5Ks a month apart was all I could do before I had to reset. Now I can hold things together longer with 5K/10K races built into the training plan, but I'm still only peaking for one big effort (if it's a marathon/HM). Big buildups lead to big peaks, which lead to big races...which lead to a big hole to dig yourself out of afterwards.
If I were you, I'd approach it like this. Pick the one or two most important races in May. If there's two, they need to be at least 2 weeks apart. You can and should run other races, but you'll mostly train through them. ("Training through a 5K" at my age means I only back off for a couple days beforehand rather than a week.) So you hit your first peak race, recover, then fit in whatever you can before tapering for the second race.
After the second race, you do whatever you have to do to recover again, whether that's easy jogging for two days or two full weeks off. When your body feels ready for moderate workouts, add some of them. A low key race? Fine, but keep it low key. The last few years, I've found that I could peak for one big race in May, do a low-key race in June, and then slowly do a second buildup to another peak race in late September. But it's definitely a second buildup rather than a preservation of fitness from the first one. You keep some of what you built, but you can't just stay at peak fitness for months on end. Especially in a big race effort, you take what you've built and then burn it.