IMPORTANT: Thursday’s session will be at the track but the main set will be on the grass in the centre so ensure you have trail/fell shoes or spikes.
The fitness focus will be improving lactate clearance – for when a short effort builds up lactate in a race and you need to maintain pace while the lactate is cleared.
The technical focus will be dealing with uneven terrain and tight turns.
Suggested Drills (and technical work) for the week
A-Progression (Stationary, March, Skip etc.)
Low hurdles
Strides with a 180 turn
Tuesday Session
PREP: Split yourselves into two groups; try and ensure that everyone in each group is of a similar ability i.e. there will be a faster group and a slower group (this can be done during the warm-up). We will name the groups A and B for the remainder of the description.
10 Minutes Warm-Up
Start with both groups running at an easy pace.
Someone (anyone) nominates a point visible a little way further along the path/route.
Group B sprints to the nominated point and Group A continue at ‘recovery’ pace.
As soon as group B reach the nominated point then Group B slow down to ‘recovery’ pace and Group A sprint to catch Group B.
When Group A catch Group B then another person nominates a point and then we repeat…
Group B sprints to the nominated point and Group A continue at ‘recovery’ pace.
As soon as group B reach the nominated point then Group B slow down to ‘recovery’ pace and Group A sprint to catch Group B.
When Group A catch Group B then another person nominates a point and then keep repeating the pattern until there are 10 minutes left.
10 minutes cool-down
PACES and distances: The recovery pace should be a nice ‘aerobic’ pace; a pace you can hold a conversation at but leaves you occasionally needing to pause the conversation to take an extra breath. The sprint pace should be an acceleration to 90% of max, i.e., the pace you would do strides at. The chosen points to sprint to should be between 50 and 100m away.
Thursday Session
PREP: Set out a rectangle on grass (or other moderately uneven surface); the long side should be around 100m and the short side around 50m.
Warm-up with drills
TWO REPS OF:
Run at half marathon effort (under lactate threshold effort) along the long side and then run at faster than 5km effort along the short side. Continue running the circuit for 10 minutes.
Take a 3-5 minute break.
Cool Down
NOTE: I have used the term ‘effort’ instead of pace – since the workout is not to be done on a hard surface or track then this may reduce your pace for a given effort; therefore focus on effort rather than measured pace.
Weekend Session
Long run with a stride (accelerate to 90% sprint pace, hold for 20 breaths then decelerate) every 1km
Manchester Harriers and Athletics Club 