Tag: Threshold

This weeks fitness focus is on efforts slightly under threshold (maximum lactate steady state) and unpredictable surging efforts- starting to get specific to the demands of cross country racing with efforts from 40 minutes to an hour.

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

Ground touches (while running)

Leg swings

Carioca (Grapevine)

Tuesday Session

10 minutes easy running to warm up

Twenty minutes of effort – spend 2-3 minutes building to a pace where you are gasping for breath, then dial back the pace a little bit to the point where you can say 3-4 words – hold that pace. If you feel that you could manage a full sentence of talking then accelerate until you just start to gasp for breath and then ease back a little.

5 minutes easy

Repeat the twenty minutes effort

5 minutes cool down

Thursday Session

10 minutes easy running

Drills

Dice Fartlek – there will be dice at the end of each straight. You will roll the dice…

1 = 200m easy

2 = 200m Hard

3 = 400m Hard

4 = 400m easy

5 = 600m Hard

6 = 800m Hard

Cool down

(Inspired by https://www.snackinginsneakers.com/fartlek-workouts/ )

Sunday Session

A long (relative to your normal weekly runs) run make sure to include some hills in the route every time you encounter a hill, even a small one, put in a max effort for the first 30 seconds of the hill (or the whole hill if its a really small hill).

This weeks fitness focus is on efforts slightly over threshold (maximum lactate steady state) – starting to get specific to the demands of cross country racing with efforts from 40 minutes to an hour.

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

Ground touches (while running)

Leg swings

Carioca (Grapevine)

Tuesday Session

10 minutes easy running to warm up

FIVE TIMES: 6 minutes running at 10km / cross-country race effort and 3 minutes easy running

5 minutes cool down

Thursday Session

10 minutes easy running

Drills

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

Cool down

Sunday 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 ‘lactate shuttling’ the ability to do short very hard efforts during a long hard effort (just like cross country running).

The technical focus will be keeping a good upright posture when running.

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-March to A-Skip progression

Lunge progression with a focus on keeping torso ‘tall’

Strides whilst imaging a balloon attached to your head.

Tuesday Session

10 minute warm-up

4x 8 minutes @ 10km pace with 2 minute recoveries.

10 minute cool-down

Thursday Session

10 mins easy warm up including drills

3x 800m @ 10km race pace with 400 easy between reps followed by a threshold effort* with 50m ‘sprint’ bursts.

* threshold should be approximately a pace you can sustain for an hour – this will be somewhere between 10km and half marathon race pace. This table allows you to look up your ‘VDOT’ based on race paces and then table 2 on the same page shows your threshold pace.

10 mins Cool Down

Sunday Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Find some rolling hills and do a run at a conversational pace but with a bit more effort on the uphills.

At least 10 minutes cool down

As summer draws to a close we are heading towards XC season – in fact, nationals are this week. This week’s foci are driving the ground backwards and staying near threshold.

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

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

Straight legged running

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

Tuesday Session

10 minute warm-up

Marathon Pace – 5 minutes
Easy 3 minutes
Half Marathon Pace – 5 minutes
Easy 3 minutes
10km Race Pace – 5 minutes
Easy 3 minutes
5km Race Pace – 5 minutes
Easy 3 minutes
1 mile Race Pace – 5 minutes*

10 minute cool-down

* If your mile pace is sub-5 minutes then feel free to do 1 mile ‘best effort’ and have some extra rest 🙂

Thursday Session

5 minutes easy

Warm-up drills

SIX TIMES 1km @ 10km race pace (or faster) with 90 seconds rest

Cool-Down

Weekend Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Find a course with some ‘rolling’ hills (at least 4 hills that take between 90s and 10 minutes to climb) put in a maximal effort up each hill – maintain that for a further 30 seconds after you crest the hill – ideally there should be a flatish section at the top.

At least 10 minutes cool down.

As summer draws to a close we are heading towards XC season – particularly with the Nationals in less than a month. This week’s foci are staying tall while running and doing efforts over threshold, recovering just under threshold and repeating.

IMPORTANT – we will be doing some of Tuesday’s session on grass – please bring appropriate footwear!

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

Straight legged running

Hopping

Strides while staying tall

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

Thursday Session

5 minutes easy

Warm-up drills

Set One (on the track) – 200 easy into 200 max – no recovery – repeat for approx. 15 minutes

Followed by Set Two (on grass) – around a circle set out in cones the group will run at a steady pace in a line around the circle of cones, the first runner in the line will speed up and run around the circle until they catch up with the back of the group. Repeat…

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.

At least 10 minutes cool down.

As summer draws to a close we are heading towards XC season – particularly with the Nationals in less than a month.

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.

As summer draws to a close we are heading towards XC season – particularly with the Nationals in less than a month.

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

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

Straight legged running

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

Tuesday Session

10 minutes warm-up

Chain running – run in a line, the last runner runs hard (90% of max pace) to the front of the group, when the last runner reaches the front then the next ‘last runner’ sets of hard to get to the front. REPEAT for 15 minutes

10 minutes easy

15 minutes more chain running

10 mins Cool Down

Thursday Session

5 minutes easy

Warm-up drills

Pyramid – 400. 800, 1600, 800, 400 with 400 m easy between each. Efforts at 3km pace.

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.

This week our technical focus is on foot landing; ensuring your foot lands close to under your center of mass and that your knee is flexing as your foot lands.

Our fitness focus is VO2 max improving efforts.

Suggested Drills for the week

Walking Lunges – remember to keep your leading knee behind your leading toes and your trailing knee should not quite touch the ground.

Straight Legged Run or ‘claw’ – keep your leg straight, driving with your glute muscles and lightly tapping the ground with the ball of your foot.

Jog on the spot building to a very high cadence then lean (from the ankle) slightly forward until you naturally start running.

Short (30m build, 30m @90%, 30m decelerate) strides in back-and-forth pairs; on each pair – focus on keeping a short stride length (and high cadence) in the first stride of each pair and then driving back with the feet on the second stride in each pair.

Tuesday Session

10 minutes easy running

5 Times: 5 minutes max effort followed by 5 minutes easy

Thursday Session

5 Minutes easy running

Drills and Strides

FOUR (or FIVE if time allows) Mile reps i.e. 4 laps of the track at 5km race pace (or faster) – take a 3-4 minute recovery between efforts either standing or staying mobi;e

5 minutes easy running to cool down

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

As promised we start training for the cross-country season this week. I am planning to move some of the late August and September sessions to William Scholes’ Field in Gatley – so please keep an eye on email and this site for announcements as to when the first one will be.

As always I will be looking at both technical skills and fitness in my sessions, but they will be rather different from the last few months!

The fitness focus will be lactate shuttling.

The technical foci will be; Tight Turns and Even Efforts.

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.

Suggested Drills for the week

A-progression

Lunge progression to Jump lunges

Tight turns (gradually accelerate to 90% sprint, decelerate to cone, 180 turn, accelerate to 90% sprint, decelerate to starting point)

Tuesday Session

10 Minutes Warm-Up

5x 4 minutes at half marathon pace, 4 minutes at 10km pace

10 Minutes Cool Down

Thursday Session

5 minutes easy

A-progression

Lunge progression to Jump lunges

Tight turns (gradually accelerate to 90% sprint, decelerate to cone, 180 turn, accelerate to 90% sprint, decelerate to starting point)

200m max effort then 600m maintaining perceived exertion – followed by 2-3 minutes standing recovery.

5 minutes easy

Sunday Session

Minimum of 10 minutes warm up

Find a hill suitable for ideally 3 minutes of effort. Acclerate to maximum over the first few paces, maintain this pace for approx 10 breaths (should be around 20 seconds), walk back down the hill for 10 seconds, turn around and repeat the uphill. Do 8 reps. This will take around 4 minutes do a steady pace for around 6 minutes and aim to end up back at the bottom of the hill. REPEAT 3 TIMES (30 minutes total for this block).

This is a Tabata style workout, but done on a hill to help reduce over-striding tendencies.

At least 10 minutes cool down