I have two types of training schedules. The first type is just a calendar that tells me what workouts I want to do when. My goal–which I rarely reach–is eleven workouts a week: four bike rides, four runs, and three weight sessions. I try to do the bike rides Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Saturday; the runs Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Friday; and the weights Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. I also give myself little bits of info on each, like “long” rides are on Saturdays and long runs are on Fridays.

But there’s another kind of training schedule. That kind of schedule is the kind that gives you a basis for how much to train for how long to reach a certain goal. For instance, here’s an eight week long, six day a week(!) cycling schedule to get you going for a century ride. And here’s a similar schedule for a marathon, five days a week for 18 weeks.

I follow a different schedule for the century because I don’t think I can ride six days a week with the rest of my obligations; however, it’s a start. Similarly, I followed a different schedule for the marathon, and didn’t do well with it, but that’s more because of my poor compliance to it rather than a flaw in the schedule (for what it’s worth, the marathon schedule I followed had me running four days a week, just as the century schedule I follow has me running four days a week). But a training schedule is a great way to give you some guidance as to how much to train for a coming event–see if you can find one you like!