Author: Alex Masidlover

The fitness focus will be VO2 Max improvement and strength.

The technical focus will be a nice short stride

Strength Exercises for the week

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

Squat progressions, Turkish Get-Up, Cobra – we’re working on the Turkish Get-Up for a while since it is a complex but extremely useful exercise.

Suggested Drills for the week

Straight Leg Run – landing on the ball of the foot and using the springiness in the calf and achilles to keep ground contact time short.

B-March

B-Skip

Short strides with a focus on driving the feet back and a short stride length.

Tuesday Session

12 minutes warm-up

All efforts @ 5km race pace

A) 3 mins effort, 2 minutes recovery

B) 2 mins effort, 1 minute recovery

C) 1 min effort, 3 minute recovery

repeat A to C 3 times, i.e, 3 min effort, recover, 2 min effort, recover, 1 min effort, long recovery, 3 min effort etc.

12 mins Cool Down

Thursday Session

Easy warm up including drills

Fun with dice!

10 mins Cool Down

Weekend Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Do a long(ish) run on rolling hills – when you crest each hill aim to maintain the same effort as you ran the uphill for the same length of time it took you to run the uphill. This is a psychological and pacing drill so, within reason, the actual effort and pace doesn’t matter; the aim is to keep it consistent following an uphill effort.

At least 10 minutes cool down

The fitness focus will be tapering for the GMAA XC Championships.

The technical focus will be practising all the drills with a view to having a good race warm-up routine.

Strength Exercises for the week

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

Side Plank with hip dip, Supine Toe Tap (not on exercise DB; lie on front raise one leg, tap toe on floor and raise leg again do some reps then change legs), Bird Dog

Suggested Drills for the week

Leg swings

Straight Leg Running

A-March to A-Skip progression

B-March to B-Skip progression

High Heels drill

Side stepping

Carioca

Strides whilst imaging a balloon attached to your head.

Tuesday Session

10 minute warm-up

4x 6 minutes @ 5km pace with 4 minute recoveries.

10 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

10 mins easy warm up including (extra) drills

4 x 400 @ 10km race pace – lots of recovery

10 mins Cool Down

Weekend Session

Cross-country or 9km at race pace in a muddy field.

The main fitness focus will be work on negative splits!

The technical focus will be running with a short stride (and therefore high cadence).

Strength Exercises for the week

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

Squat progressions, Turkish Get-Up, Cobra – we’re working on the Turkish Get-Up for a while since it is a complex but extremely useful exercise

Suggested Drills for the week

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

Strides while keeping a high cadence

Tuesday Session

No warm up!

Start at an easy pace, every km (or 1.2km if on the track) get faster – try and use your judgement to be unable to get any faster by the time you get to approx 50 minutes of running.

10 minutes of easy running to cool down

Thursday Session

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

2 or 3 REPS of:

1600m effort as 800m @ roughly 5km pace and then 800m 5-10 seconds faster then 400 easy to recover

10 minutes strength work

5 mins cool down

Weekend Session

Long* Run with a fast (10km race pace) finish

*Long is relative to what you have been doing recently; no more than 20% longer than any run you’ve done in the past 4 weeks.

The main fitness focus will be work approaching VO2 Max but with sets carefully selected to get the most time at that effort for the least (perceived) effort!

The technical focus will be running with a short stride (and therefore high cadence).

Strength Exercises for the week

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

Squat progressions, Turkish Get-Up, Cobra – we’re working on the Turkish Get-Up for a while since it is a complex but extremely useful exercise

Suggested Drills for the week

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

Strides while keeping a high cadence

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

2 or 3 REPS of:

800m effort, 2 mins staying mobile, 400m effort, 1 minute staying mobile, 200m effort straight into 600m easy – the ‘efforts’ should be minimum of 5km race pace but can be max for distance at athletes discretion

10 minutes strength work

5 mins cool down

Weekend Session

Long* Run with a fast (10km race pace) finish

*Long is relative to what you have been doing recently; no more than 20% longer than any run you’ve done in the past 4 weeks.

The main fitness focus will be lactate shuttling – working on efforts above and below lactate threshold (the highest level of effort where lactate concentration in the blood still remains steady), however, following Wythenshawe XC we’re going to spend some time working on going from a ‘leg lift’ section into fast flat terrain.

The technical focus will be running with good posture.

Strength Exercises for the week

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

Glute Bridge, Turkish Get-Up, Cobra – we’re working on the Turkish Get-Up for a while since it is a complex but extremely useful exercise

Suggested Drills for the week

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

Lunge Progression (Static Lunge, Walking Lunge, Jump Lunge – all with focus on keeping core upright)

Strides while imagining a balloon lifting your head

Tuesday Session

10 minute 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 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

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

5 REPS of:

2 minutes high knees (over low hurdles) into 400m best effort followed by 400m easy

10 minutes strength work

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) with a 50-100m stride every 1km.

The fitness focus will be VO2 Max improvement – the key metric that determines performance over ‘middle’ distances and is best improved by efforts of 4-8 minutes

The technical focus will be short stride running – according to Brian Mac this can be an effective way to improve cross-country running speed – this should help to improve pace over ‘softer ground’ like that which we encountered yesterday!

Strength Exercises for the week

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

Glute Bridge, Turkish Get-Up, Cobra

Suggested Drills for the week

Straight Leg Run – landing on the ball of the foot and using the springiness in the calf and achilles to keep ground contact time short.

B-March

B-Skip

Short strides with a focus on driving the feet back and a short stride length.

Tuesday Session

10 minute warm-up

Then keep repeating the following until it is time to cool down:

3 minutes at 5km race pace

2 minutes at steady pace

2 minutes at 5km race pace

1 minutes steady

1 minute at 5km race pace

3 minutes easy then repeat…

10 minute cool-down

This session has been shown to allow athletes to do an extended amount of hard effort when compared to a session with fixed duration intervals of 5km race pace

Thursday Session

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

FOUR 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

Strength Work

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

Do a long run (distance will be up to you but this should be your longest run of the week) but aim to do the last third at the pace you would normally race the distance of your long run e.g. if your long run is 21km then the last 7km should be run at half marathon pace.

The fitness focus will be tapering for the Wythenshawe Park XC.

The technical focus will be practising all the drills with a view to having a good race warm-up routine.

Strength Exercises for the week

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

Glute Bridge, Turkish Get-Up, Cobra

Suggested Drills for the week

Leg swings

Straight Leg Running

A-March to A-Skip progression

B-March to B-Skip progression

High Heels drill

Side stepping

Carioca

Strides whilst imaging a balloon attached to your head.

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 including (extra) drills

4 x 400 @ 10km race pace – lots of recovery

10 mins Cool Down

Weekend Session

Cross-country or 9km at race pace in a muddy field.

IMPORTANT: Thursday’s session will be at the track but the main set will be on the grass in the centre so ensure you have trail/fell shoes or spikes.

The fitness focus will be improving lactate clearance – for when a short effort builds up lactate in a race and you need to maintain pace while the lactate is cleared.

The technical focus will be dealing with uneven terrain and tight turns.

Suggested Drills (and technical work) for the week

A-Progression (Stationary, March, Skip etc.)

Low hurdles

Strides with a 180 turn

Strength Work

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/

Glute Bridge, Turkish Get-Up, Cobra

Tuesday Session

PREP: Split yourselves into two groups; try and ensure that everyone in each group is of a similar ability i.e. there will be a faster group and a slower group (this can be done during the warm-up). We will name the groups A and B for the remainder of the description.

10 Minutes Warm-Up

Start with both groups running at an easy pace.

Someone (anyone) nominates a point visible a little way further along the path/route.

Group B sprints to the nominated point and Group A continue at ‘recovery’ pace.

As soon as group B reach the nominated point then Group B slow down to ‘recovery’ pace and Group A sprint to catch Group B.

When Group A catch Group B then another person nominates a point and then we repeat…

Group B sprints to the nominated point and Group A continue at ‘recovery’ pace.

As soon as group B reach the nominated point then Group B slow down to ‘recovery’ pace and Group A sprint to catch Group B.

When Group A catch Group B then another person nominates a point and then keep repeating the pattern until there are 10 minutes left.

10 minutes cool-down

PACES and distances: The recovery pace should be a nice ‘aerobic’ pace; a pace you can hold a conversation at but leaves you occasionally needing to pause the conversation to take an extra breath. The sprint pace should be an acceleration to 90% of max, i.e., the pace you would do strides at. The chosen points to sprint to should be between 50 and 100m away.

Thursday Session

PREP: Set out a rectangle on grass (or other moderately uneven surface); the long side should be around 100m and the short side around 50m.

Warm-up with drills

FOUR REPS OF:

Run at half marathon effort (under lactate threshold effort) along the long side and then run at faster than 5km effort along the short side. Continue running the circuit for 5 minutes.

Take a 2-3 minute break.

Cool Down

NOTE: I have used the term ‘effort’ instead of pace – since the workout is not to be done on a hard surface or track then this may reduce your pace for a given effort; therefore focus on effort rather than measured pace.

Weekend Session

Long run with a stride (accelerate to 90% sprint pace, hold for 20 breaths then decelerate) every 1km

The fitness focus will be improving VO2 Max (the body’s ability to take in and use oxygen and a key predictor of middle and long distance endurance event outcomes).

The technical focus will be maintaining good posture when fatigued.

Strength Exercises for the week

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

Side Plank with hip dip, Supine Toe Tap (not on exercise DB; lie on front raise one leg, tap toe on floor and raise leg again do some reps then change legs), Bird Dog

Suggested Drills (and technical work) for the week

A-Progression (Stationary, March, Skip etc.)

Lunge Progression (Static, Walking, Jump)

Strides focusing on ‘balloon’

Tuesday Session

10 mins easy 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

Long Warm-up with drills

4x1200m at 10km race pace – focus on form in last 400m of every rep

Cool Down

Weekend Session

Long run then when 10 minutes from home (or wherever you’re finishing); 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., i.e., as per the Tuesday session.

The fitness focus will be lactate shuttling; we will be working around (above and below) threshold pace (the pace you can run for around an hour for most people).

The technical focus will be more XC focused.

Suggested Drills (and technical work) for the week

Laps of Nan-Nook wood

Straight Leg Run

B-march

B-skip

Srides focusing on arm drive

Strength Work

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/

Glute Bridge, Turkish Get-Up, Cobra

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

20 mins easy warm up including (extra) drills

4 TIMES:

400 m @ marathon pace, 200m @ 5km pace, 200m @ half-marathon pace, 200m @ 5km pace, 200m @ half-marathon pace, 400m @ marathon pace

5 mins Cool Down

Weekend Session

Long run with a stride (accelerate to 90% sprint pace, hold for 20 breaths then decelerate) every 1km