Tag: seniorstraining

This week we will be doing drills that help to encourage a slight forward lean from the ankle.

The sessions this week will be targeting 5km race pace – and Thursday’s will not be on as usual due to the Sale Sizzler.

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 glute bridge progressions – starting with unweighted and moving to either single leg, weighted or both

Drills

B-Skips

High cadence jogging on the spot then lean from the ankle into a run

Strides – imaging being pulled forwards from the chest

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

6 TIMES: 90 seconds minute max effort (5km race pace if doing the Sizzler) then 5 minutes easy running

10 minutes cool-down

Thursday Session

NO SESSION – SALE SIZZLER

Sunday Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Long (relative your weekly volume) run with strides every 1km i.e. accelerate to 90% max, hold for approx 30 minutes then back to easy running

At least 10 minutes cool down

This week we will be continuing with our phase of working on 1 mile and 5km race preparation. )

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

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

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

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

5x1km @ 5km race pace 1-2 minutes recovery

5 mins 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 will be doing a little anaerobic style set to celebrate the spring equilux.

We will be working on posture in our 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

Single leg squats on to a box (or chair)

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

7 x 3 minutes at somewhere between mile race pace and 3km race pace with 2-3 minutes between efforts

10 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

5 Minutes easy running

Drills and Strides ~ 15- 20 minutes

10x400m @ mile race pace* with 90 seconds rest (gentle walk)

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

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

Speed work continues with a classic session this week. Having watched a few people’s heads dropping during the 1 km reps we’re going to be doing plenty of posture work in the warm-up; although we’ll be keeping it short to get through all 20 200s!

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 minutes warm-up

Two minutes max effort, 4 minutes easy jogging, repeat…

10 minutes cool-down

Thursday Session

5 minutes easy

Warm-up drills

20x200m (max effort) walk back to start.

Cool-Down

Weekend Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Your longest session of the week and aim to do a ‘stride’ (30m acceleration, 30m holding 90% max pace, 30m decelerating) at the end of each km (or half mile if you insist on imperial units!)

This week we are looking at some varied warm-up movements and continuing with the 5km training.

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 Bulgarian Split Squats.

Drills

Walking knee hugs
Step unders
Squat to twist
Heel to toe walks
Pogo hops
A skips

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

40 minutes of:

6 mins hard effort, 2 minutes easy effort

10 mins Cool Down

Thursday Session

5 Minutes easy running

Drills and Strides ~ 10-15 minutes

5x1km – with loads of rest.

Cool down

Sunday Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

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.

At least 10 minutes cool down

This week we will be continuing to work on pace with some 1-2 minute anaerobic efforts.

We’ll be working on practice a classic race warm-up for 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

Split squats or bulgarian squats are this weeks exercises.

Suggested Drills for the week

Toe touches – swing left leg forward while keeping it straight and aim to touch the toes of your left leg with your horizontally outstretched right arm; repeat this on the opposite side.

A-Progression

B-Progression

Straight Legged Running

Carioca (also known as grapevine)

Strides

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

40 minutes of:

During the warm-up give everyone in the group a number from 1 to 3, ensuring that there are roughly equal numbers of ‘1’s, ‘2’s and ‘3’s.

Start out at a steady (long-run, i.e. arerobic) pace then pick a landmark (lampost, postbox, bush, cone, anything!) that you are about to run past, the whole group should continue running at a steady pace after passing it, continue for 30 seconds, then all of the ‘1’s should run fast (3-5km pace or faster) back to the selected landmark, turn around at the landmark and continue, fast, back to the group. When the ‘1’s return to the group, pick a new landmark and then the ‘2’s run fast back to it after the whole group has gone 30 seconds past the landmark, repeat this for the ‘3’s and then continue this pattern until it is time to cool down.

For a detail explanation with diagrams see here.

10 mins Cool Down

Thursday Session

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

2 times 800m max effort for that distance.

4 times 400m max effort for that distance.

8 times 200m max effort for that distance.

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) do a 20 second acceleration to just shy of sprinting at the end of every km.

This week we’re working at well over LT2 (Second Lactate Threshold)/Maximum Lactate Steady State (MLSS) – these workouts are hard but can very quickly build ‘top end’ fitness for newer athletes and are helpful for experienced athletes to maintain fitness.

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

Straight legged running

B-Skips

Strides

Tuesday Session

10 minute warm-up

7 x 3 minutes at somewhere between mile race pace and 3km race pace with 2-3 minutes between efforts

10 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

Warm-Up

6 times 800m @ max pace at which you can hold good endurance form – stay mobile for 2-3 minutes recovery.

Cool down

Weekend Session

Do a long run (distance will be up to you but this should be your longest run of the week) on a course that has rolling hills – put in max effort up the hills (assuming its reasonably local and the hills are less than 5 minutes to climb).

This week we are looking at some varied warm-up movements and continuing with the 5km training.

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 Bulgarian Split Squats.

Drills

Walking knee hugs
Step unders
Squat to twist
Heel to toe walks
Pogo hops
A skips

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

40 minutes of:

6 mins hard effort, 2 minutes easy effort

10 mins Cool Down

Thursday Session

5 Minutes easy running

Drills and Strides ~ 10-15 minutes

5x1km – with loads of rest.

Cool down

Sunday Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

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.

At least 10 minutes cool down

With Marathon training complete for most people we move into a period of speed work for 5km and shorter distances. We mix some fast running with focusing on keeping our heads up and running tall this week.

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 minutes warm-up

Two minutes max effort, 4 minutes easy jogging, repeat…

10 minutes cool-down

Thursday Session

5 minutes easy

Warm-up drills

20x200m (max effort) walk back to start.

Cool-Down

Weekend Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Your longest session of the week and aim to do a ‘stride’ (30m acceleration, 30m holding 90% max pace, 30m decelerating) at the end of each km (or half mile if you insist on imperial units!)

Another nice week of threshold (MLSS – Maximum Lactate Steady State) work!

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

Split squats or bulgarian squats are this weeks exercises.

Suggested Drills for the week

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

High Knees running

Strides while focusing on getting a full arm drive and keeping the shoulders relaxed.

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

Warm-up drills

400s with reducing rest – starting with approx. 2 minutes rest and reducing by 10s per rep – until we get to no rest (10-12 reps total)

Cool-Down

Weekend Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Your longest session of the week and aim to do the last 3rd at as close to race pace for that distance as you can.