Month: June 2022

This week the training focus will be mixing VO2 Max improvement using Tabata Style training and hopefully many of you will be racing either the Manchester Mile, the Sale Sizzler or both. Good luck to everyone racing.

Tuesday Session

15 mins warm up

4 minutes of run fast* for a count of 20 breaths, walk for 10 breaths (repeating this cycle for 4 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 four times

15 mins Cool Down

For background see here.

Thursday Session

No session – if not racing then try a solo fartlek run; warm up nicely then pick a point to run to, run at the maximum pace you feel you can achieve to the point you’re running to, recover, repeat, then cool down.

Sunday Session

Long* Run – surges every 1km; accelerate to 90% of max pace, hold that pace for 10 long breaths (about 20-30 seconds), focus on imagining your head and torso being lifted by a balloon.

*Long is relative to what you have been doing recently; no more than 20% longer than any run you’ve done in the past 4 weeks.

This week I will be using the Thursday session to look at everyone’s form and, with their consent, do some video analysis with a view to determining which technical areas to work on over the next few weeks. Additionally we will be doing some pacing challenges. Hopefully, this time no minor domestic catastrophes will interfere…

We’ll be continuing with the 5x1km theme ready for the first Sizzler next week.

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

5 TIMES: 6 minutes @ 10km race pace, 2 minutes super easy running as recovery

10 minutes cool-down

Thursday Session

5 minutes warm-up

Observed strides

5x1km @ 5km race pace 60 seconds rest

5 minutes cool down

Sunday Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Find a hill suitable for at least two minutes of effort but ideally three, then run 6 to 8 intervals starting steady and accelerating to the maximum effort you feel possible by about half way up the hill, sustain that to the top. Walk down the hill until your breathing returns to normal, then jog down to the starting point.

You may notice that most weeks at the moment include a hill set – hill sets are great for; reducing overstriding, building strength and doing high effort aerobic work with low(er) injury risk.

At least 10 minutes cool down

This week I will be using the Thursday session to look at everyone’s form and, with their consent, do some video analysis with a view to determining which technical areas to work on over the next few weeks. Additionally we will be doing some pacing challenges.

The fitness focus will be to improve VO2 Max; 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. Improvements to VO2 Max can be elicited with efforts that are just below (lactate) threshold (the point most athletes can sustain for around an hour) and thus are relatively ‘easy’ to achieve.

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

4 TIMES: 8 minutes @ 10km race pace, 2 minutes super easy running as recovery

10 minutes cool-down

Thursday Session

5 minutes warm-up

Observed strides

400m @ self selected pace*

400m 10s faster than self selected pace

400m 10s slower than self selected pace

400m 10s faster than self selected pace

400m 10s slower than self selected pace

400m 10s faster than self selected pace

400m 10s slower than self selected pace

400m 10s faster than self selected pace

400m 10s slower than self selected pace

1km handicap race

5 minutes cool down

* Choose a pace you are confident at being able to improve by 10s on subsequent 400s, i.e., a pace you are confident is at least 25s per km slower than your fastest 400m rep time.

Sunday Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Find a hill suitable for at least two minutes of effort but ideally three, then run 6 to 8 intervals starting steady and accelerating to the maximum effort you feel possible by about half way up the hill, sustain that to the top. Walk down the hill until your breathing returns to normal, then jog down to the starting point.

You may notice that most weeks at the moment include a hill set – hill sets are great for; reducing overstriding, building strength and doing high effort aerobic work with low(er) injury risk.

At least 10 minutes cool down

This week our technical focus is on hip stability – keeping the hips high and level to promote running economy and minimise injury.

Our fitness focus is still 5km race pace and the Thursday session continues our progression through 5x1km with diminishing rest.

Suggested Drills for the week

Lunge Progression – remember to keep your leading knee behind your leading toes and your trailing knee should not quite touch the ground.

A-March to Skip Progression – ensuring chin, toes and knees are ‘up’.

Strides with a ‘balloon’.

Tuesday Session

10 minutes easy running

10 minutes @ 10km race pace, 5 minutes recovery pace, 15 minutes @ 10km race pace, 5 minutes recovery pace, 10 minutes @ 10km race pace

5 minutes cool down

Thursday Session

5 minutes easy running

Drills

5x 1km @ 5km target pace with approx 90 seconds rest between efforts

10 mins cool down

Sunday Session

Long* Run – surges every 1km; accelerate to 90% of max pace, hold that pace for 10 long breaths (about 20-30 seconds), focus on imagining your head and torso being lifted by a balloon.

*Long is relative to what you have been doing recently; no more than 20% longer than any run you’ve done in the past 4 weeks.