Month: March 2021
Week 5: The Gang’s Back Together!
Posted on March 28th, 2021 by Sarah Funderburk
Rule of 6 is in – groups runs and track are back!
There are lots of exciting group runs happening on Tuesday already, but if you want to incorproate a session on Tuesday, this week is another progression run. There are also still some slots left for the 19:20 track session on Thursday as well as the coached session on Saturday (John will be leading that session!). Please sign-up via the calendare here and be sure to read all of the instructions. Thursday sessions are free, but you’ll need to book a slot and pay for the Saturday sessions.
Our sessions are all still building toward a 3k race that we are aiming to hold at Parliament Hill Track in April – exact date TBC, so stay tuned.
Tuesday:
- 10 min of easy running to warm up
- 40 minutes where you progressively get faster every 10 minutes. The guide for the pacing is your estimated marathon pace + 20 sec for the first 10 minutes, and then speed up by 10 sec for each subsequent 10 min. This is assuming you are calculating your pace min minutes/mile! If you’re calculating in min/kilometer, then it’s more like 6 or 7 sec every 10 minutes. This is a guide though; essentially you’ll want to go a bit slower than a steady pace at the beginning and then be going a bit faster than a steady pace by the end.
- 10 min of easy running to cool down
Thursday Track:
- 6-8 x 600m at your 3k pace with 3 min recovery between. Total 3600-4800m
Saturday Track:
- 3 x 1 mile with 3 min recoveries
Looking forward to seeing many of you this week.
Happy Running,
Sarah
Week 4: Spring cleaning
Posted on March 21st, 2021 by Sarah Funderburk
Happy first day of Spring, Chasers! We are continuing to clear out those winter cobwebs by focusing on threshold running and some 5k/3k pace work. This will serve us nicely for the 3k track race we are hoping to put on in April and start getting us thinking about all of those speedy Athletics races and 5k Parkruns that will start in June. And, of course, there is also the Chingford League 5k on Easter Monday.
So, for our last week of paired running before we can start groups of 6 again, the sessions are…
Tuesday Threshold
1 hour run, with ~15 min warm-up, 30 min at your threshold pace (10k to half marathon pace), ~15 min cooldown
Your personalized plan will show more accurate miles and timings.
Thursday “Track”
1600m (at your 5k pace) [400m jog/recovery], then 4 x { 400m (at your 3k pace) [400m jog/recovery] }. Total 3200m hard 2000m recovery
Warm up and cool down for at least 10 min each for the session.
It will be important to not go too crazy in that 5k mile so you have some speed left in your legs for 400m repeats.
Happy Running!
Sarah
Week 3: Run for your mother, but don’t stay up all night to get lucky
Posted on March 14th, 2021 by Sarah Funderburk
Happy Mother’s day today to our UK mom’s (note to self – send Mother’s day card in May)! Our next holiday is one of my favorite’s, St Patrick’s day. So pick a Chaser, and go out for a nice easy run or walk for luck on Wednesday this week. You will need Wednesday this week as either an easy recovery run or a full day of recovery between this week’s Tuesday and Thursday sessions.
On Tuesday, we have another progression run. This type of run is especially good for those of you training for a spring half marathon. As a guide, like several weeks back, you will speed up those legs every 10 minutes. The breakdown is:
- 10 min of easy running to warm up
- 40 minutes where you progressively get faster every 10 minutes. The guide for the pacing is your estimated marathon pace + 20 sec for the first 10 minutes, and then speed up by 10 sec for each subsequent 10 min. This is assuming you are calculating your pace min minutes/mile! If you’re calculating in min/kilometer, then it’s more like 6 or 7 sec every 10 minutes. This is a guide though; essentially you’ll want to go a bit slower than a steady pace at the beginning and then be going a bit faster than a steady pace by the end.
- 10 min of easy running to cool down
Be sure to start easy enough so you can conitnue to push yourself at the end of the 40 minutes.
For your speed session this week, we are moving to 1200m repeats. This session should feel a bit more relaxed than the 800m at 5k pace you did two weeks ago. You will still be going at a good clip though, so the longer distance/time will be the challenge. Therefore, focus on not going out too fast so you can stay relatively steady on each repeat and have enough energy to kick it up a notch on the last one. The session by distance is:
3-4 x {1200m (10k pace) [400m jog recovery]} – total 3600-4800m hard, 1200-1600m recovery
For a time-based variation, you can do:
3-4 x {5min (10k pace) [2min jog recovery]} – total 15-20min hard, 6-8min recovery
Remember to warm up and coold down with at least 10 minutes of easy running before and after the session. Incorporating drills before like we typically do at track is also a good idea. If you need some inspiration for drills, give me a shout!
Happy running!
Sarah
Week 2: Keeping pace
Posted on March 7th, 2021 by Sarah Funderburk
It’s week 2 of the new schedule, Chasers! This week is going to be all about pace, keeping it and changing it.
First up we a have a threshold run on Tuesday to go along with our Thursday speed session. For the Threshold run, you’ll start with some easy running to warm up, then do the specified mileage at your threshold pace (keeping the pace you can sustain for ~1 hour, i.e., somewhere between 10k and half marathon), then you’ll do some easy running to cool down. You’ll need to look at your customized schedule for the exact mileage and timing.
For this week’s speed session, we have another set where we will be varying the distances and the paces, getting shorter and faster as the session progresses:
1600m (10k pace) [400m jog] 1200m (5k pace) [400m jog] 800 (3k) [400m jog] 400m [1 mile pace] = 4000m hard, 1600m recovery
This is another set that is best done by distance as opposed to time. Message me if you’re having trouble figuring out how/where to do the session by distance, and I’ll help you troubleshoot. As always, warm up and cool down prior to the session, and incorproate some drill before!
Finally, since Monday is International Women’s Day, I’ll leave you with a quote from Wilma Rudolph, the inspiration for the Chaser logo on our vests.
“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion. The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”
Happy Running!
Sarah
