The fitness focus will be VO2 Max improvement – the key metric that determines performance over ‘middle’ distances and is best improved by efforts of 4-8 minutes
The technical focus will be short stride running – according to Brian Mac this can be an effective way to improve cross-country running speed.
Suggested Drills for the week
Straight Leg Run – landing on the ball of the foot and using the springiness in the calf and achilles to keep ground contact time short.
B-March
B-Skip
Short strides with a focus on driving the feet back and a short stride length.
Tuesday Session
10 minute warm-up
Then keep repeating the following until it is time to cool down:
3 minutes at 5km race pace
2 minutes at steady pace
2 minutes at 5km race pace
1 minutes steady
1 minute at 5km race pace
3 minutes easy then repeat…
10 minute cool-down
This session has been shown to allow athletes to do an extended amount of hard effort when compared to a session with fixed duration intervals of 5km race pace
Thursday Session
10 mins easy warm up – include the suggested drills for the week
FIVE TIMES: 800m as 200m maximum effort then 600m 5km pace minus 5 seconds per km, then recover fully (2 to 3 minutes)
5 minutes easy running to cool down
This is a tough set; if you want to know why you’re doing it I have written some details here.
Weekend Session
Minimum of 10 minutes warm up
Do a long run (distance will be up to you but this should be your longest run of the week) but aim to do the last third at the pace you would normally race the distance of your long run e.g. if your long run is 21km then the last 7km should be run at half marathon pace.
Manchester Harriers and Athletics Club 