This week we will be continuing with our phase of working on 1 mile and 5km race preparation. The sessions are designed to result in peak 5km form by the week of the 19th of June (the week of the Manchester Mile and the first Sale Sizzler)
The technical focus of this weeks drills is on knee flexion; ensuring that the foot strikes the ground after the knee has started flexing and the foot is moving backwards
Suggested Drills for the week
Straight leg running
B-progression
Strides with focus on short strides and 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
5 Minutes easy running
Drills and Strides ~ 15- 20 minutes
8x400m @ mile race pace* with 400m easy recovery
5 minutes easy running to cool down
* If you are not sure what your mile race pace is then go for a hard effort on every 400 meters and try and get the same time in each – once you’ve done this session a few times and can get the times of each 400m roughly even that should be a good approximation of your mile race pace.
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 