What's the next block for?

As you plan the next phase of training, decide what it's there to change before you decide what goes in it.

Two weeks ago I wrote about the break that comes after the season, and once that break is over, the next job is planning the block that follows.

I think this is the best point in the year to decide what you're going to work on.

You've got a full season of races and training to look back on, and the next race that counts is a long way off. Nothing is being forced by a meet next weekend.

So before you write a single session, decide what this block is for. Then pick the handful of drills and exercises that train it. The drills come last, and they're chosen to fit the job, not the other way round.

If you coach a group, that's two lists. What the group needs as a whole, and what each athlete needs on top of that. If you coach yourself, it's one list, but the same question.

The first step is finding what held you back this season. One or two things is plenty, and they need to be specific.

"Get faster" isn't specific. "I'm reaching out in front of myself in the first few strides" is. So is "my hip drops when I land at top speed", or "I'm strong in the gym but I'm standing up too early out of the blocks".

Your races are the place to start. If you were level with people at 30 metres and losing them over the last 40, that points somewhere different from being behind from the gun.

Then film yourself. I went through how to do that in June in Watch yourself run, so I won't repeat it here, but a few minutes of slow-motion video from the side will show you a lot.

And any clips you already have from the season are worth going back through.

Once you know what held you back, write it down. It's the thing every drill and exercise in the next block has to answer to.

Then pick the few things that train it.

Say your problem is reaching out in front of yourself in the first few strides. The job is getting your push pointed back down the track instead of out in front of you.

So you pick things that make the wrong direction hard to do, which I went into more in Your start won't get faster in the gym.

Short hill sprints, because the slope gets in the way of your foot before it can reach out. Heavy sled marches, where the load forces you to lean and drive each leg back.

Wall drives to groove the lean. Falling starts, where you tip forward and your feet have to scramble underneath you to catch up.

That's four things, and they're all doing the same job. I don't think anything else needs to be in there to fix this.

Or say your hip drops when you land at speed. Then the job is holding your position on one leg while your body moves over it.

Single-leg work in the gym makes sense here, and I'd judge it by whether your hip and ankle hold their position as much as by the weight on the bar.

Different problem, different handful of tools. In both cases you can say exactly why each one is in the block.

Keeping it to a few matters.

Every drill you add takes time and energy out of a session, and I'd rather see three drills done properly than twelve done in a rush. A drill done badly is still practice, it's just practice at doing it badly.

It also makes the main work better. If the drills are there to fix the thing you're working on, they lead straight into the sprints that follow, and you go into those sprints already thinking about the right thing.

This doesn't mean everything outside your focus has to go.

I keep some drills in all year, because I see the quality slip when they've been left out for a couple of weeks. A short set of the basics, done well, keeps them there for when you need them.

That's still a reason, though. "I'm keeping this so I don't lose it" is a good answer to what something is for. "It's always been in the warm-up" isn't.

The same goes for anything that warms you up. Getting you ready to run fast is a job. Just make sure that's what it's actually doing, and that it isn't turning into a second session before the real one.

Because you picked everything for a specific job, you also know exactly what to check at the end of the block.

Film yourself again. If you were reaching out in front and you aren't any more, the work did its job and the next block can move on to something else.

If nothing has changed, don't pile more drills on top. Go back, ask whether the ones you picked are really working on the problem, and swap them for ones that are.

You can only do that because the list is short and every item has a reason. With a long list, if something improves you've no idea which part did it, and if nothing does you've no idea what to change.

So as you write out the next block, put one line next to every drill and exercise saying what it's for.

Some will be easy. You'll know exactly why they're there. Some you'll have to think about, and that's fine as long as you get to a real answer.

Some you won't be able to answer at all. Either give them a job that ties into what you're working on, or leave them out and use the time on something that does.

If you do this now, while there's time to think it through, every session for the next few months has a reason behind it.