Month: January 2023

The main sets will be focused on lactate shuttling; working on the physiology and psychology of working around the lactate tolerance heart rate (the maximum heart rate / effort that can be maintained whilst lactate in the blood remains at a steady level; at any effort above that point lactate concentration continues to rise and you can only continue for a relatively short time at that pace.)

The technical focus of this week is keeping a tall posture for economical running and lower fatigue on long runs.

Suggested Drills for the week

A-March

Ball Slam

Jump Lunge

High Cadence running on the spot then lean forward from the ankle until you ‘fall’ into a run

Strides – imagine a helium balloon attached to your head lifting your head and torso up (but keep your shoulders relaxed)

Tuesday Session

8 mins easy warm up

1 minute, 2 minutes, 4 minutes, 8 minutes, 8 minutes, 4 minutes, 2 minutes and then 1 minute at ‘max effort for that time’. With 2 minutes at a recovery pace (probably 5-10s per km slower than marathon pace) between each effort

8 mins 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.

The main sets will be focused on lactate shuttling; working on the physiology and psychology of working around the lactate tolerance heart rate (the maximum heart rate / effort that can be maintained whilst lactate in the blood remains at a steady level; at any effort above that point lactate concentration continues to rise and you can only continue for a relatively short time at that pace.)

The technical focus of this week is keeping the upper body relaxed when working hard.

Suggested Drills for the week

A-progression

Strides whilst focusing on aspects of arm drive – a-prog x2 – correct plane, relaxed shoulders, 90 degree, relaxed shoulders, drive back, relaxed shoulders

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

Chain running – run in a line, the last runner runs hard (90% of max pace) to the front of the group, when the last runner reaches the front then the next ‘last runner’ sets of hard to get to the front. REPEAT for 15 minutes

10 minutes easy

15 minutes more chain running

10 mins Cool Down

Thursday Session

20 mins easy warm up – include the suggested drills for the week

FOUR TIMES:

4 x400m first lap at XC race pace/effort, then aim to slow down by 10s per lap on each of the remaining 3 laps – minimal rest between laps (just enough to get everyone to start at the same time).

Recover for 2-3 minutes after the 4 laps then repeat…

5 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) on a course that has rolling hills or Tatton Park XC.

The main set will be focused on lactate shuttling; working on the physiology and psychology of working around the lactate tolerance heart rate (the maximum heart rate / effort that can be maintained whilst lactate in the blood remains at a steady level; at any effort above that point lactate concentration continues to rise and you can only continue for a relatively short time at that pace.)

The technical focus of this week is making sure the knee is flexed when your foot touches the ground.

Suggested Drills for the week

Lunge progression

B-Progression

High-cadence running on the spot then lean forwards from the ankle until you cannot maintain balance without moving forwards

Strides whilst imagining driving the ground backwards

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

4 minutes of run fast* for a count of 20 breaths, walk for 10 breaths (repeating this cycle for 4 minutes) THEN full recovery including some easy running.

* fast – this should be a reasonably smooth acceleration to your maximum pace. By the end of the 4 minutes it will feel EXTREMELY challenging.

REPEAT the above four times

10 mins Cool Down

For background see here.

Thursday Session

20 mins easy warm up – include the suggested drills for the week

800m at Half Marathon pace then build every 400m until you are breathing so hard that you have to take a breath every step, following that 400m slow down just enough to be able to speak short (2-3 word) sentences, on the following 400m speed back up to the breathing every step pace, repeat this for 35 minutes.

This set is inspired by this post about finding your lactate threshold/VT2

5 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) on a course that has rolling hills or Tatton Park XC.

This week we will be doing some observed running to identify areas to work on in future weeks.

The main set will be focused on improving VO2 Max – the amount of oxygen the body can use during exercise; this is a key parameter in middle to long distance racing.

Suggested Drills for the week

Straight legged running

A-Progression (A-March, A-Skip, A-Run)

B-Progression (A-March, A-Skip, A-Run)

Strides

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

SEVEN TIMES: 3 minutes at 3km race pace 3 minutes recovery (can be walking)*

8 minutes cool-down

* This is one of the hardest sets of the year; reps 5 and 6 should seem almost insurmountable, rep 7 will only feel achievable because it is the last one…

Thursday Session

20 mins easy warm up – include the suggested drills for the week

FIVE OR SIX TIMES: 800s at 5km race pace with max effort on the straights – recovery until breathing normally

5 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) on a course that has rolling hills or Tatton Park XC.

This week our technical focus is on a nice strong arm drive.

For our main sets we have some Christmas specials!

Suggested Drills for the week

A-Progression (A-March, A-Skip, A-Run)

A-Progression (A-March, A-Skip, A-Run) with focus on arm drive

Strides while focusing on the individual aspects of arm drive in each of 4 sets of strides; keeping elbow joint at 90 degrees, keeping the arm in the correct plane, getting a full arm drive and keeping the shoulders relaxed.

Tuesday Session

10 minutes 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 minutes cool-down

Thursday Session

20 mins easy warm up – include the suggested drills for the week

2000m effort 3 minutes rest

1600m effort 2.5 minutes rest

1200m effort 2 minutes rest

800m effort 1.5 minutes rest

400m effort

5 mins cool down

The efforts should be at approx. 5km race pace.

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) on a course that has rolling hills or Greater Manchester XC Championships