Our 8 week plan is written by our head-coach to improve running technique, endurance and speed.
It includes two sessions per week:
- a speed session which can be ran in your own time, or at club on Tuesday night (pre-registration required)
- a base session to be performed solo (or with socially distanced friends).
Speed session
| Date | Session |
|---|---|
| Tuesday 1 December | 1 minute x10 1 minute recoveries then 1 minute x10 30 second recoveries |
| Tuesday 8 December | 1 kilometre x5 (x6 for endurance group) 1 minute recovery |
| Tuesday 15 December | 3 minutes x3 2 minutes x3 1 minute x3 Run as a progression 1 minute recoveries |
| Tuesday 22 December | 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6 minutes 1 minute recoveries |
| Tuesday 29 December | Pyramid 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minute(s) 1 minute recoveries |
| Tuesday 5 January | 2 minutes x 10 1 minute recoveries |
| Tuesday 12 January | 90 seconds x15 30 second recoveries |
| Tuesday 19 January | 4 minutes, 2 minutes x3 1 minute recoveries |
Base session
To develop endurance and strength in the right areas, base sessions are a challenge that can be repeated week-after-week to gauge progress and measure goals.
Select from:
- Hill training, continuous for 20 minutes – Using our traditional hill training route or something local to you
- The Winter 9 mile
- Progression 6 mile
- Long reps – 1 kilometre x5 or x6.
- Folkestone parkrun
- Fartlek 5K
Don’t forget to warm-up and cool down to bookend each session.
Reference
Hill training
Always a firm favourite amongst our runners; hill training takes place on Radnor Cliff, Sandgate.
Winter 9 mile
The winter 9 is a hilly long run that should be tackled just below race pace.
Fartlek
Fartlek is Swedish for ‘speed-play’.
It is an unstructured form of interval training with continuous movement.
“Unlike tempo and interval work, fartlek is unstructured and alternates between moderate to hard efforts with easy efforts throughout. After a warm-up, you play with speed by running at faster efforts for short periods of time (to that tree, to the sign) followed by easy-effort running to recover. The goal is to keep it free-flowing so you’re untethered to the watch or a plan, and to run at harder efforts but not a specific pace.”
From Runners World: What is the difference between fartlek, tempo, and interval runs.
Parlaauf
Parlaauf is a continuous relay involving two runners. (Parlaauf is german for ‘pairs’).
Two runners will run around a track in opposite directions: one running fast and the other running easy.
When they meet, they swap pace.
The fast runner begins their slow recovery jog and the easy runner begins their sprint.
This continues for a pre-set amount of time.
Progression
“These workouts start at a comfortable speed, gradually get faster, and wrap up at marathon, threshold, or even interval pace. This kind of acceleration offers your body an opportunity to warm up, helps develop your sense of pacing, and trains you to hold onto your speed–even when you’re slightly tired.”
From Runners World – Fast forward your pace.