Alternative speedwork sessions

As you all know this new period of lockdown as meant another temporary halt to our in person Tuesday sessions. So I though now would be a good time to refresh these do-it-yourself suggestions.

I also wanted to take the opportunity to say a massive thank you to the whole committee for their efforts in managing the club in such unchartered territory. I have no doubt any of them had any idea they were signing up for steering the club through a pandemic when they volunteered for their respective roles! Thanks to the whole committee.

A big additional thank you to Sarah and Craig for holding the whistle for me on track for what turned out to be way longer than I think any of us was hoping. I am grateful to them both for stepping up when I didn’t feel able. I am very much looking forward to next spring.

So, back to the training. Below are a few suggestions to take us through November and December (if needed!):

• 3-minute efforts with a gradual pace increase
• Consistent pace over a consistent distance
• Acceleration within a continuous effort
• Quick slow quick - 1 minute efforts
• 3-minute efforts with a gradual pace increase
• 12 reps of Christmas

Please use these sessions as a spring board of ideas you might want to try in your own running over the coming weeks.
Remember training sessions must always be athlete led. Please be mindful of and make adjustments for your body, your training needs and your current training load. Please take into consideration environmental factors (such as slippery surfaces) and remain mindful of the health and safety of yourself and those around you.
If the weather is colder you might find that a slightly less intense session with more active rest time is more appropriate to the circumstances.

As before these sessions look to use the FITT model which is a way of adjusting training load. FITT: Frequency, Intensity, Time (duration) and Type. Track/speed sessions give an opportunity to vary these different factors and through the cycle of stress and recovery we can begin to see improvements in our running.

You will need some sort of timing device and an object to mark yourself against such a tree or park bench.
Each session has a time for the markers to be set at. As part of your warm up make a note of your starting tree then time yourself doing an easyish run/jog for the stated time, whichever tree you get to is your end marker.
Use these two markers for the rest of the session.

For each session complete a session warm up – make sure to include some exercises to slowly raise your heart rate appropriate to your level of fitness and to the session about to follow. Your warm up should slowly warm you up to the level at which you are about to start exercising. Include some dynamic movement to gently increase range of body movement in line with the session that is about to follow. Use this time to prepare your mind for exercise and set your intention.

— Jen Delaney