Month: April 2022

This week our technical focus is on keeping hips high and stable so we don’t waste energy moving our torsos up and down.

Fitness focus is still on VO2 Max in order to power through 5 and 10km races – those of you who did last weeks sessions will notice this is a gradual progression from last week. For some background on the Tuesday session I

Suggested Drills for the week

A-March

Heels Up running – lift the heel towards your bottom, but ensure you are driving forward with your knee so as not to extend the foot out backwards

Walking Lunges

Strides while imagining a balloon tied to your head and lifting it up.

Tuesday Session

15 mins warm up

6 minutes of run fast* for a count of 20 breaths, walk for 10 breaths (repeating this cycle for 5 minutes) THEN 4 minutes easy running

* fast – this should be a reasonably smooth acceleration to your maximum pace. By the end of the 6 minutes it will feel EXTREMELY challenging.

REPEAT the above three times

15 mins Cool Down

For background see here.

Thursday Session

5 mins easy

Drills

TWO TIMES: 1200 @ 85% VO2 Max Pace*, 400 easy jog, 800 @ 85% VMP, 2-3 mins recovery

* for a rough approximation of 85% VO2 Max Pace use somewhere between Marathon and Threshold pace from a Jack Daniel’s VDOT Chart.

Observed Strides

5 mins cool down

This is a variation on a main set I describe here.

Sunday Session

Long easy run – strides at the end of each mile (apart from the last one)

This week our technical focus is on arm drive – having a strong arm drive counters the rotational forces coming from your legs and means more of your energy can go into propelling you forwards.

As summer slowly approches our training begins to come away from the longer distances and starts to focus on 5 and 10km (and shorter) races. Almost all athletes should be capable of running 5km above their Lactate Threshold and many athletes will be capable of racing 10km above their Lactate Threshold – this means that VO2 Max becomes an important figure and so that’s what we now work to improve.

EDIT: VO2 Max is the maximum amount of oxygen an athlete’s body is capable of using per minute – it is a very strong predictor of endurance race performance, particularly 5 and 10km races for well trained athletes.

Suggested Drills for the week

A-March

High Cadence Jogging on the Spot then ‘falling’ into a run

Jump Lunges

Strides while imagining a balloon tied to your head and lifting it up.

Strides while focusing on keeping your out-breath long and slow and relaxing/dropping your shoulders.

Tuesday Session

20 mins warm up

TWO TIMES: 4 minutes of run VERY fast for a count of 20 breaths, walk for 10 breaths (repeating this cycle for 4 minutes) THEN 10 minutes easy running – you should be struggling to maintain the original ‘VERY fast’ pace by the end of each 4 minutes – for background see here

12 mins Cool Down

Thursday Session

5 mins easy

Drills and Strides

4x 1200 HARD walk around D until recovered (breathing normally) approximately two minutes – for background see here

5 mins cool down

Sunday Session

Long easy run – strides at the end of each mile (apart from the last one)

This week our technical focus is on ground contact time – we work on this with exercises that are plyometric in nature and start to improve the speed of the stretch-shorten-cycle of the muscles in the lower leg. We avoid any conscious attempt to reduce ground contact time when actually running as this will often lead to a bouncy run and thus wasted energy.

From a fitness perspective it is our last week focusing on the longer races (half marathon and marathon) so we’re still looking to increase Lactate Threshold; the pyramid session is a nicew way to get some variety and, if done well, leads to the two longest intervals being done at a higher pace than if all the intervals had been the same length.

Suggested Drills for the week

Straight Leg Run

High Cadence ‘fall’ into run – Start by jogging on the spot, increase the running cadence until running fast then lean forwards and allow the jog on spot to naturally turn into a run. Aim to lean forward from the ankle and not the hips.

Hopping for 30m – left leg a third of the way across the ‘D’, right leg on the way back – back and forth twice

Strides while imagining a balloon tied to your head and lifting it up.

Strides while focusing on keeping your out-breath long and slow and relaxing/dropping your shoulders.

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up, 40 minutes effort, 10 minutes easy. Efforts should be slightly slower than half-marathon pace.

Thursday Session

5 minutes easy

Straight Leg Run

High Cadence ‘fall’ into run

Hopping

Strides

Pyramid – 400. 800, 1600, 800, 400 with 400 m easy between each. Efforts at 3km pace.

Cool-Down

Sunday Session

Hills ( 6x 3 mins + jog back down)

This week our technical focus is on foot drive, i.e., maximising the force pushing us forwards when our foot is on the ground rather than pushing us up.

From a fitness perspective we’re still focusing on the longer races (half marathon and marathon) so we’re looking to increase Lactate Threshold; a relatively easy way to boost Lactate Threshold is training in sweet spot which is a point around 90% of threshold.

Suggested Drills for the week

Straight Leg Run

High Cadence ‘fall’ into run – Start by jogging on the spot, increase the running cadence until running fast then lean forwards and allow the jog on spot to naturally turn into a run. Aim to lean forward from the ankle and not the hips.

Heels Up running – run while exaggerating the lift of your foot towards your bottom, ensure you are driving the knee forwards.

Strides while imagining a balloon tied to your head and lifting it up.

Strides while focusing on drive the ground backwards.

Tuesday Session

5 minutes warm-up, 10 minutes effort, 5 minutes easy, 15 minutes effort, 5 minutes easy, 10 minutes effort, 5 minutes easy. Efforts should be slightly slower than half-marathon pace.

Thursday Session

5 minutes easy

Straight Leg Run

High Cadence ‘fall’ into run

Heels Up running

20 minutes sweet-spot (slightly slower than half-marathon pace) with a surge on the last 50m of every lap.

Strides (Extended Session)

Cool-Down

Sunday Session

Fast Finish Long Run – Last 5-10km (3-6 miles) at next goal race pace