Our 8 week plan is written by our head-coach to improve running technique, endurance and speed.
These are the sessions we ran in our training sessions.
Speed session
| Date | Session |
|---|---|
| Tuesday 6 December | Hill training |
| Thursday 8 December | Fartlek |
| Tuesday 13 December | 2 minutes x10 1 minute recoveries |
| Thursday 15 December | 4 minutes, 2 minutes x3 1 minute recoveries |
| Tuesday 20 December | Winter Handicap #3 |
| Thursday 22 December | Christmas light run |
| Tuesday 27 December | To be confirmed |
| Thursday 29 December | To be confirmed |
| Tuesday 3 January | Parlaauf |
| Thursday 5 January | 90 seconds x15 30 second recoveries |
| Tuesday 10 January | Hill training |
| Thursday 12 January | 1 minute x10 1 minute recoveries then 1 minute x10 30 second recoveries |
| Tuesday 17 January | Winter 9 |
| Thursday 19 January | 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute x3 1 minute recoveries |
| Tuesday 24 January | Winter handicap #4 |
| Thursday 26 January | 90 seconds x4 90 second recoveries then 60 seconds x6 60 second recoveries then 30 seconds x6 30 second recoveries |
Reference
Mountain run
Our annual group run to, and up, Summerhouse Hill (143.9m) in Beachborough. Come prepared for trails, a few stiles and the odd cow-pat.
Mountain run route description
Hill training
Always a firm favourite amongst our runners; hill training takes place on Radnor Cliff, Sandgate.
Hill training route description
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.