The number one reason runners quit their training plans isn't injury. It isn't motivation. It's rigidity.
A plan that says "10km tempo on Wednesday" doesn't care that your kid has a fever on Wednesday. It doesn't know you have a flight on Thursday or that you got four hours sleep. It just marks the workout missed and waits for you to feel guilty.
Good coaching bends. Here's how to think about training when life isn't cooperating.
Not every run needs to be the prescribed run. Sometimes the most important thing is just running — 20 minutes, easy, to keep the habit alive and remind your legs what they do.
When the week goes sideways, ask yourself: what's the minimum I can do that still counts? Usually it's less than you think, and doing it is almost always better than nothing.
If your week has one quality session, make it the long run (or your key workout for the upcoming race distance). Everything else can be shortened, moved, or swapped for easy effort.
Easy runs are the most negotiable. Quality sessions are more important. Rest days are completely non-negotiable — they're not wasted days, they're where fitness actually gets made.
Most training plans implode on Tuesday. Work explodes. Kids need things. You had every intention of running and then it's 10pm and you're on the couch asking yourself what happened.
The fix: stop planning by day and start planning by window. "I'll run when the kids are at school" or "I always run at 6am before the day starts" beats "I'll run on Tuesday" every time.
Miles works best when you tell him what's going on — not just your run data, but your life. The more he knows, the better he can adjust. Traveling for work? He'll look for hotel gym options. Big week coming up? He might pull back the volume now so you arrive rested.
That's the whole point. You don't train around your life. Your training fits inside it.