Tag: fitness

This week we’re still focusing on XC fitness and skills; we have two sets that keep intensity relatively high with minimal rest

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

Squat to Pop Squat progression

Split squat to alternating leg lunge jump

Suggested Drills for the week

Mobility circuits including A and B skips

Tuesday Session

15 minute warm-up

8x 3 minutes @ 3km pace with 1 minute recoveries.

13 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

Warm-Up

FIVE TIMES: 800m faster than 5km pace, 200 easy, 200 max then recovery (easy or walking/stretching)

Cool down

Weekend Session

A long (relative to your normal weekly runs) run with strides (accelerate to 90% of your max speed and hold for 10-15 seconds) every 1km.

This weeks sessions are focused on keeping a nice high cadence when running and on building the ability to do efforts near threshold; ideal for cross country season.

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

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

A-Progression Drills

High Cadence on the spot with a ‘fall’ into a run

Strides; imagining you have a balloon attached to your head drawing your torso up

Tuesday Session

10 minute warm-up

40 minutes of:

During the warm-up decide an order to run in.

Start out at a steady (long-run, i.e. arerobic) pace the first runner then chooses when to start the interval, how fast to run the interval and where to end the interval – they do no need to tell the rest of the group their decision, the rest of the group will simply attempt to keep up as best they can. Once the first runner reaches the end point they have selected for their interval they turn around and run to the back of the group.

For a detail explanation with diagrams see here.

10 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

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

7 x 400m hard effort (faster than 5km race pace) 20 second standing recovery

2 minutes recovery

7 x 400m hard effort (faster than 5km race pace) 20 second standing recovery

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) but every 1km do a stride (accelerate to 90% of sprint speed, hold it for 10 breaths or approx 20 seconds, then decelerate).

This week we’re still focusing on XC fitness and skills; we have two sets that keep intensity relatively high with minimal rest. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that these are a progression on last week’s sets.

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

Squat to Pop Squat progression

Split squat to alternating leg lunge jump

Suggested Drills for the week

Mobility circuits including A and B skips

Tuesday Session

15 minute warm-up

7x 4 minutes @ 3km pace with 1 minute recoveries.

13 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

10 mins easy warm up including (extra) drills

5 x 1200 with reducing rest (starting at 120 seconds rest)

10 mins Cool Down

Weekend Session

A long (relative to your normal weekly runs) run with rolling hills, put in an effort on the uphills.

This week we’re still focusing on XC fitness and skills; we have two sets that keep intensity relatively high with minimal rest

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

Squat to Pop Squat progression

Split squat to alternating leg lunge jump

Suggested Drills for the week

Mobility circuits including A and B skips

Tuesday Session

15 minute warm-up

8x 3 minutes @ 3km pace with 1 minute recoveries.

13 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

10 mins easy warm up including (extra) drills

5 x 800 with reducing rest (starting at 120 seconds rest)

10 mins Cool Down

Weekend Session

A long (relative to your normal weekly runs) run with strides (accelerate to 90% of your max speed and hold for 10-15 seconds) every 1km.

This week we’re circling back to do some more work on Maximum Lactate Steady State (MLSS) / Thresold, but also working on some explosive power drills.

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

Squat to Pop Squat progression

Split squat to alternating leg lunge jump

Suggested Drills for the week

We’re going to be mixing up some mobility work, strides and then progressing in to the strength progressions and some broad jumps.

Tuesday Session

10 minutes 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 minutes cool-down

Thursday Session

5 Minutes easy running

Drills and Strides

8 times 300m hard 100m recovery

2 minutes recover

8 times 300m hard 100m recovery

5 minutes easy running to cool down

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

This week we’re still focusing on XC fitness and skills; we have two sets that keep intensity relatively high with minimal rest

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

Squat to Pop Squat progression

Split squat to alternating leg lunge jump

Suggested Drills for the week

Mobility circuits including A and B skips

Tuesday Session

15 minute warm-up

8x 3 minutes @ 3km pace with 1 minute recoveries.

13 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

10 mins easy warm up including (extra) drills

5 x 800 with reducing rest (starting at 120 seconds rest)

10 mins Cool Down

Weekend Session

A long (relative to your normal weekly runs) run with strides (accelerate to 90% of your max speed and hold for 10-15 seconds) every 1km.

The fitness focus will be tapering for the second XC of the season.

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

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

Squat to Pop Squat progression

Split squat to alternating leg lunge jump

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

5 x 400 @ 10km race pace – lots of recovery (or 5×800 if not doing XC)

10 mins Cool Down

Weekend Session

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