Structure

Time to start building some structure and focus into my training.  I'm still just kinda winging it with an outline and then crashing through races as they turn up.

Long term, I don't really have any goals - I know I'm not interested in anything long (even 10k I can't seriously be arsed with) and I'm enjoying track so I know long term something track based would be ideal target.  I must admit it would be nice to 'chase again next year but lots to put right before then.

Short term - I'd like to run well over the track stuff I am doing this year.  I would love to go sub 4.30 over 1500m - a huge ask - and sub 16.30 over 5k - certainly more achievable.  On a deeper level I would really be happy rocking up to Parkruns every week and knocking out 17-17.30 without killing myself (I've already done this)

So I know the limitations and what I need to do.  The limiting factor is speed.  The major contributing factor has been threshold running.  I don't need endurance BUT I do need volume to keep economy and weight loss.  I need to strengthen core & hips.  I need consistency.

This plan gets me to the end of summer.  The focus then will be to take my new found speed and add some endurance & strength which will help me build a bigger engine and focus on Frostbite and cross country races before the indoor season.

The plan I've built looks like this -

Mon - steady run
Tue - track session
Wed - recovery 60-80 mins
Thu - 5 mile threshold tempo
Fri - rest
Sat - parkrun & recovery 30-45 mins
Sun - easy volume 

There's 3 sessions in there. Obviously track races will move things around a little but the structure remains.

The threshold run is 5 miles on a flat route and the aim is 159-163 bpm HR and pace below 6/mm.

Parkrun is aiming to go around 5.30/mm but feel as comfortable as possible.  Last time this worked a treat. If I feel a bit fruity I'll have a go but running regularly at this pace will help long term and these are not focus races!

Track sessions I'll loop between -
8 x 400m (off 2 mins)
2 x 6 x 200m (off 1 min / 5 min)
3 x 800m (off 4 mins) 3 x 200 full recovery

These are short, sharp sessions aimed at getting the legs moving faster. I can't physically run fast enough to put myself in trouble right now but the 4.38 shows there's a bit of talent in there!

This phase will go until late Aug / early Spetember and then after a back off week or two I'll look to start increasing the sessions so the threshold will be 10k and the track sessions longer but more recovery.


Looks alright to be fair.  Similar to what I have already been doing - easy, steady, hard and repeat.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Canyon Speedmax CF 9.0 Ltd Review

Reboot - It's all about 2024

Progressive Tempo