As promised we start training for the cross-country season this week. I am planning to move some of the late August and September sessions to William Scholes’ Field in Gatley – so please keep an eye on email and this site for announcements as to when the first one will be.
As always I will be looking at both technical skills and fitness in my sessions, but they will be rather different from the last few months!
The fitness focus will be lactate shuttling.
The technical foci will be; Grass Running, Tight Turns and Even Efforts.
Suggested Drills for the week
A-progression
Lunge progression to Jump lunges
Tight turns (gradually accelerate to 90% sprint, decelerate to cone, 180 turn, accelerate to 90% sprint, decelerate to starting point)
Tuesday Session
10 Minutes Warm-Up
5x 4 minutes at half marathon pace, 4 minutes at 10km pace
10 Minutes Cool Down
Thursday Session
5 minutes easy
A-progression
Lunge progression to Jump lunges
Tight turns (gradually accelerate to 90% sprint, decelerate to cone, 180 turn, accelerate to 90% sprint, decelerate to starting point)
Hard Starts – on grass; run to the first marke r (200-400m in to a 1km course) at MAX EFFORT and then finishing the course (remainder of the 1km circuit) at 2-3 seconds per km faster than 10km race pace. Have a standing or walking recovery until breathing normally again. Do 3-6 reps depending on available time.
5 minutes easy
Sunday Session
Minimum of 10 minutes warm up
Find a hill suitable for ideally 3 minutes of effort. Acclerate to maximum over the first few paces, maintain this pace for approx 10 breaths (should be around 20 seconds), walk back down the hill for 10 seconds, turn around and repeat the uphill. Do 8 reps. This will take around 4 minutes do a steady pace for around 6 minutes and aim to end up back at the bottom of the hill. REPEAT 3 TIMES (30 minutes total for this block).
This is a Tabata style workout, but done on a hill to help reduce over-striding tendencies.
At least 10 minutes cool down
Manchester Harriers and Athletics Club 