The fitness focus will be lactate shuttling – working on efforts above and below lactate threshold (the highest level of effort where lactate concentration in the blood still remains steady)
The technical focus will be running with good posture.
Suggested Drills for the week
A-Progression (A-March, A-Skip, A-Run)
Lunge Progression (Static Lunge, Walking Lunge, Jump Lunge – all with focus on keeping core upright)
Strides while imagining a balloon lifting your head
Tuesday Session
10 minute warm-up
Alternating minutes at 10km / Cross-Country race pace and half marathon race pace, i.e., 1 minute at each for a total of 16 minutes – repeat this twice with a break of 5 to 6 minutes between the efforts.
10 minute cool-down
Thursday Session
10 mins easy warm up – include the suggested drills for the week
3x 800m @ 10km race pace with 400 easy between reps followed by a threshold effort* with 50m ‘sprint’ bursts.
* threshold should be approximately a pace you can sustain for an hour – this will be somewhere between 10km and half marathon race pace. This table allows you to look up your ‘VDOT’ based on race paces and then table 2 on the same page shows your threshold pace.
10 mins cool down
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) with a 50-100m stride every 1km.
Manchester Harriers and Athletics Club 