Speeding up for Spring - Week 3: The Myth of Kenyan Hills and Practising Pace Now that you have a nice little time trial under your belt (or at least some of you do!), we are going to start digging in and working on 2 important elements of any training plan: hill training and pacing. Let’s start with hills – there are loads in North London! “What if I am planning on running a fast and flat 5 or 10k?”, you ask. “Why should I care about hills?” Well, hill training is also strength training in disguise. Even if your target race is flat, getting in some hills in your runs will strengthen your legs and help with fatigue even over shorter and flatter courses. So, what exactly are Kenyan Hill sessions? Kenyan Hills are interval runs where you run with the same effort up and down the hill. This differs from hill sprints where you sprint up the hill and recover going down. For this week’s session, we will be starting with 2 sets of 10 min. So following a good warm-up of at least 10 minutes, choose your hill (or hills – Primrose is always good to do a figure 8 up and down) and run up and down with consistent effort for 10 minutes. Then recover/rest for 3 minutes. It’s ok if you need a little longer! Then repeat the 10 minutes up and down, and be sure to cool down afterwards. You can then pat yourself on the back, because that is a tough session. If you want to know where the name came from…well…it’s not as obvious as you may think [https://www.traininkenya.com/2020/04/18/myth-busters-kenyan-hills/] Next up is this week’s speed session where you’re going to need to tune into several different paces. This is good practice for understanding what it feel like to run at different efforts so you can hone into the right pace during a race. The original session is: 4 x {200m (1m pace) 200m (3k pace) 400m (5k pace) 400m (10k pace) [3min rest/recovery]}. Total 4800m Remember you can always see the approximate times by customizing the schedule and using the pace calculator, but you can also try this time-based variation: 4 x {30s (1m pace) 1min (3k pace) 90s (5k pace) 2min (10k pace) [3min rest/recovery]}. Total 20 min fast running with 12 min recovery Warning – for some the time-based variation may be a bit tougher! Happy Running! Sarah Reading & Films Hi Chasers. Firstly an apology for not posting Christmas run pics as promised, I was poorly with the lurgy and it dropped off my list of things I could do! So sorry for that. Back in action now though and the lurgy has got me in the mood for reading and films. Please share your suggestions for books and documentaries/films that are either about running or that have inspired your attitude to running. Include a little line on why you like it and I’ll pop on Insta so that others can enjoy. Either DM me on Facebook Messenger or even better share on the Club Facebook page so others can read it. Thanks! Rebecca x Social Media Although we can't all meet up in person, Mornington Chasers has an active and supportive community you can connect with online for latest news and to connect with other runners from the Club: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Fundraising Ava Clara Paiva is running 100 miles this month to fundraise for helping women to escape abuse. If you would like to contribute, the fundraising link is available here Virtual Pilates Class Pilates led by Danielle Smreczak take place on Mondays at 6pm. Connection details will be shared on Facebook in advance. The recording for this week is available here. Cross Country Consultation England Athletics is organising a consultation on cross country, specifically on equalising opportunity for both sexes. Click here for the link to the survey, which closes on 29 January. Calendar You can find our full calendar on the website. 06/02/2021 PROVISIONAL: Chingford League race 4 Velopark Results If you want to upload a photo or your results are missing, log in to our website and update your picture and Power of 10 ID. Links Send your stories to newsletter@chaser.me.uk. Home Facebook Twitter Strava