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.
Manchester Harriers and Athletics Club 