This week we will be working on VO2 Max improvement (the key metric for endurance runners) and the psychological components of doing hard efforts.
The technical focus of this weeks drills is on knee flexion – making sure the leading foot is travelling backward when it touches the ground.
Suggested Drills for the week
Straight leg running
Toe taps
B-progression
Strides with focus on short strides and driving the ground backwards
Tuesday Session
10 minute warm-up
Marathon Pace – 5 minutes
Easy 3 minutes
Half Marathon Pace – 5 minutes
Easy 3 minutes
10km Race Pace – 5 minutes
Easy 3 minutes
5km Race Pace – 5 minutes
Easy 3 minutes
1 mile Race Pace – 5 minutes*
10 minute cool-down
* If your mile pace is sub-5 minutes then feel free to do 1 mile ‘best effort’ and have some extra rest 🙂
Thursday Session
20 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
Find a hill suitable for at least two minutes of effort but ideally three, then run 6 to 8 intervals starting steady and accelerating to the maximum effort you feel possible by about half way up the hill, sustain that to the top. Walk down the hill until your breathing returns to normal, then jog down to the starting point.
You may notice that most weeks at the moment include a hill set – hill sets are great for; reducing overstriding, building strength and doing high effort aerobic work with low(er) injury risk.
At least 10 minutes cool down
Manchester Harriers and Athletics Club 