This week I will be using the Thursday session to look at everyone’s form and, with their consent, do some video analysis with a view to determining which technical areas to work on over the next few weeks.
The Tuesday session will be focused on pushing your lactate threshold / maximum lactate steady state closer to your VO2Max – the Thursday session is a good ‘fun’ anaerobic set.
Tuesday Session
10 minutes warm-up
8 TIMES: 4 minutes build to maximum effort, 2 minutes super easy running as recovery – the aim should be to start each 4 minute effort at roughly 5km race pace and then aim to get faster and faster.
10 minutes cool-down
Strength and Conditioning
All exercises should be body weight variants only unless an S&C coach (can be me) has agreed you have perfect form. Good examples of form can be found on https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises
We will be doing split squats and then jump split squats / lunges
Thursday Session
15 minutes warm-up – including A, B and C drills
Observed strides
5-6 TIMES: 400 max effort into 200 easy into 200 max effort – followed by a 2-3 minute recovery
5 minutes cool down
* Choose a pace you are confident at being able to improve by 10s on subsequent 400s, i.e., a pace you are confident is at least 25s per km slower than your fastest 400m rep time.
Sunday 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 