North East Running

At the start of this year I blogged about my running goals . Turning 50 in July - I wanted this year to be special. Running in the M50 category in July and August was a real chance to do well and to target this period. I also wanted to do a marathon performance I was proud of in the spring. This would have the double benefit of giving me the core endurance strength to then build on for later in the year. So... Jan-Mar Went from 90k a week at the start of Jan to 120k a week at end of Mar ( summary here ) - this hard work resulted in a 2:54 marathon which was a 4min PB in April! Apr-Jun So the foundation was in place. It was time to tweak the training and focus on the 5k and 10k races in July. I dropped the distance a little - so stepped right back from 120k a week and took things back to 80-90k per week. The typical week was... Mon - Easy Tue - Hard session of 8x200m, 4x400m, 4x400m, 8x200m Wed - Easy Thu - Intervals - either 8x1k, 4x1mi or 8 hills. Fri - East Sat - Hard parkrun Sun - M...

Over the last few years I have ran quite a few road races and loads (170+) parkruns - but I have done very few races on the track. I fancied getting a decent 1500m effort on my Power of Ten record so put my name forward for a local club event. This then left me with the questions: What time do I want to aim for? What is the race strategy to get that time?  In terms of a target time, I know that if I run a really good parkrun (5km) I can get 17:30 which is 3:30/km. So a 1500m at 3:30/km should be comfortable - which would equal a 5:15 1500m. I also like round numbers - so going for a sub 5 minute 1500m seemed like the target to go for. This would need an average of 3:20/km pace. A 12x400m interval session is always a good indicator as to what speed you can run at. Two screenshots below show sessions I've done this year (a) with the club on a proper track and (b) on a lunchtime on a bit of flat tarmac. The track efforts where at 3:10-3:15/km pace. The lunchtime efforts where at 3:15-...

Running up hill strengthens slightly different muscles and also if you can run fast up hill then it makes it easier when you get back on the flat again. The segment below is a good little climb near the railway station in Durham. -  https://www.strava.com/segments/15049242 At just under 300m in length and around +20m in elevation (7%) it's not so steep that you cannot build up any pace, but it's tough enough to make you gasp for breath at the top. Find your local hill to run up When I am doing this session, I plan it in as part of a bigger run. So maybe 2km warm up, then six attempts at the hill sprint with a nice rest looping around to the bottom after each effort. Then 1-2km warm up at the end. A few years' ago I pulled my calf doing hill sprints, so I'm always that little bit extra careful with a good warm up before a hill session, This blog post is part of a set of posts looking at how to run faster: - https://northeastrunning.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-...

Basically an interval session in which you are varying the length of the efforts and the intervals. The session below is... 4 sets of 200m (20s rest between each effort) 2 sets of 400m (40s rest) 2 sets of 800m (80s rest) 2 sets of 400m (40s rest) 4 sets of 200m (20s rest) Some will say that you should try and maintain the same pace for each effort - but for me this will inevitably mean making the 200m effort too comfortable and the 800m maybe too hard to maintain. So as you can see from above splits in the screenshot for my first km when the splits were short I was hitting just over a 3:20/km pace and the middle km for the 800m splits it was nearer 3:40/km. But at the end of the day you aren't looking at your watch - you are just putting in the effort for the distance and checking the pace after the session, This blog post is part of a set of posts looking at how to run faster: - https://northeastrunning.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-to-run-faster.html

Maybe there is a little bit more science to it, but for me a threshold run is pretty much as fast as you would go in a race. Maybe 2 or 3 seconds slower each km that absolutely flat out. Also you probably won't have the same adrenaline going as if it was a big race - but it's a training effort where you aren't holding back much. Threshold run As you are going hard, maybe the most important part of the session is planning a route which allows you to safely cross any roads. A nice tarmac surface without too many inclines is also good. Also plan to do the run at a time where you aren't having to barge past a path full of people out for walks. The screenshot above shows a recent threshold run I did - maybe I'd do a parkrun at a 3:42/km pace - you can see from the above splits that on average this tough effort was 4s/5s slower per km (depending on elevation gain). Finally, remember to vary your training efforts - doing three threshold efforts a week will drive ...

Tempo runs should be runs at a hard pace, but a pace you know you can comfortably do. So if your 5k race pace is around 3:45/km then drop 20s off this pace to say 4:05/km so that you are within your comfort zone - but still having to put an effort in. If your race pace is around 5:00/km, then maybe drop aim for 5:25/km for a tempo run. The coach at the club I go to used to call these 'comfortably hard' runs. If you can have a conversation then you are not trying hard enough. Tempo run As the effort is a little easier on a tempo run, I tend to make the run a little longer than just a 5k when doing this as a training effort. 10k is a nice distance to do - an out-and-back route on a decent surface. If there is a little bit of undulation then it keeps it interesting as you have to put a touch more effort on the up-hills to keep the pace there and then get a slight easing off on the downhills. In the weeks leading up to a half marathon race I like to doing a weekly tempo ...

A fast session I really enjoy is a progression run, it's quite fun to plan out how you'd work up to a fast pace and then keep an eye on your watch to slowly ratchet up the pace over around 8km. Example progression run The screenshot above shows an example progression run. A few points below: The warm up isn't quite as important for this session as the first couple of km are at a reasonably comfortable pace. As it's not as intense, as say an interval session, I'd suggest running a little further - maybe 8km or 10km. Plan a sensible route, no major roads to cross in the last 2-3km. Measure it out on a tool like Strava Route Builder so you know how far it is. Plan to finish at your race pace, then work the calculations back to make sure you jump up in pace ever 0:10/km each km. So in the example above, to finish at 3:50/km pace the initial km was at 5:00/km pace. Finishing hard mimics a race where you want to give everything for the last 1-2 km to finish ...

Watch any video on youtube about how to run a faster 5k and they'll always mention the 'interval session'. Basically this is running 1km at around your race pace. Then having 60-90 seconds rest. Then doing it again until you have done five (or maybe eight) intervals. The interval session The above screenshot shows an interval session I did recently. A few points of note Do a warm up first. Personally, I just like doing a 2km run, starting pretty slow, but in the second km stretch the pace up a few times. Others do stretching - but generally I quite like just spending 8-9 minutes building up to running pace. Plan a route that is pretty flat and has no nasty road junctions. Run each km at roughly the same pace you'd run a parkrun. I'd do a typical parkrun in around 18'20 to 18'40. So this is roughly 3:45/km pace. But some days you feel good and it'll be slightly faster, some days slightly slower. If you run your parkruns in around 25:00 then do...