RECCE: Trooperstown Hill

Tomorrow at 11:30 there will be a recce of Trooperstown Hill, the 4th race of next year's Winter League and one of the best courses around.

I will depart from Rathgar at 10:30 for those who want to carpool. Otherwise instructions can be found on the IMRA website.

WEEK 6: Rene's Sessions

Tuesday: 30/30 session (20 min warmup and 20 cooldown at base pace). Target: 12min
Dynamic warmups and technical drills (2x20 sec high knees, 2x20sec bounding)
Location: Irishtown Stadium at 17:30.

Friday: 10x30 sec structured fartleks with 1:30 recovery. 60 min base run around it
Location: Marlay Park 12:00 Noon (I'm off work!)

Saturday: 65 minute hill run at base pace (Trooperstown Recce).
Location: Trooperstown Hill, Laragh, Wicklow

Sunday: 38 minutes grass run at marathon-pace with 10 min base pace warmup/5 base pace cooldown
Location: Marlay Park 11:00

WEEK 5: Rene's Sessions

Wednesday: 30/30 session (20 min warmup and 20 cooldown at base pace). Dynamic warmups
Location: Irishtown Stadium at 17:30. Will do Circuits after

Friday: 10x30 sec structured fartleks with 1:30 recovery. 36 min base run around it
Location: Leopardstown Race Course 11:00

Saturday: 32 minutes at marathon-pace with 10 min base pace warmup/5 base pace cooldown
Location: Marlay Park 12:00

Sunday: 50 minute hill run at base pace (Annacurra Recce).
Location: Aughrim, Wicklow, 10:00 (Mick Hanney and friends will showcase route)

BASE WEEK 5-8: General Guidelines

While I am at my week 4, you may be at a different place in your program. However, I'd like to give some general guidance on how to proceed next week if you're at a similar stage as me.

Basic Guidelines Stay
Yes, it's that simple, you can keep the basic format of Base Week 1-4, meaning 3 key workouts and preferably (if you have time) 1-3 base runs. Remember you can replace 1 base run with another cardiovascular exercise form (skating, biking etc.).

Key workouts

• 30/30 Session: This session now replaces hill sprints. See below for details.
  
• Fartlek: Same format as week 1-4, but increase your number of repetitions by 2 (I would do 10 at this stage)
• Marathon-pace run: Exactly like week 1-4, but if you've gotten faster then run this session faster as well (basically, the intensity should feel the same as in week 1-4, but the speed may be higher). Still run the first 10min and last 5min at base pace

Example of marathon-session week 5-8: Weeks - 1, 32 min; 2, 36 min; 3 42 min; 4, 30 min. This doesn't include the 15min warmup and cooldown.

30/30 Session
The 30/30 session, first introduced to me by Emma Cutts from the PeakCentre (a brilliant exercise physiologist), is one of the simplest most effective workouts around.

Purpose: Increase VO2 max, increase leg-turnover, increase mental strength, increase max HR (the hill sprints primarily focused on leg strength, we are moving on from that now).
How to: Find a grassy field, preferably undulating, and do 30 seconds max speed and 30 sec jogging in between. Stop once you can no longer maintain proper sprinting form.
Guidelines: This workout should feel quite unpleasant as you should try and stress your heart as much as you can. Don't do it if you have heart problems!
How many: As above, until failure.
Alternative: If you are extremely fit, the 30 seconds jog will allow you to recover too much. Change the session to 40/20 instead (40 seconds max intensity, 20 seconds rest). Try 30/30 first, however.

Do not use the 60/60 session. This is a very different workout with a different purpose and is for later use.

Base Runs
Keep doing 3 base runs per week if you can. If you're so tired you're running them at recovery pace, you're doing your key workouts too hard. Scale back on time or intensity, so you can get a bit more quality from these longer slower runs.

It's all about quality!

Strength Training
3 strength sessions per week is still recommended but if you don't have time, do some light plyometrics 3 times per week (squat jumps, frog hops, single leg squat jumps and similar exercises). Do 2x12-20 reps and this is enough to reap significant benefits in terms of muscular endurance (e.g. "speed increase").

BASE WEEK 4: Rene's Sessions

Week 3 was completed last week for myself and was the heaviest volume week. The fourth week of any cycle, should then take a step down again and allow you to recover strength for the next 4-week cycle.

Key Workouts of Week 4
The key workouts in week 4 are the same as in week 1-3, with one exception:

• Replace Fartlek session with a 1-mile time trial this is called a break-through workout
• Warmup/Cooldown: Do Dynamics stretches before, at least 15 minutes of base running, a few strides, and some technical drills. I recommend 2x20sec high knees and 2x20sec running with no arms this week. Do 5-15minutes base running when you're done as cooldown and then static stretches.
  

If you wonder what time you should be aiming for, send me your latest 5k, 10k, half-marathon, or marathon time and I will give you a range to shoot for.

Do this as your first key workout of the week so you are as fresh as possible.

Breakthrough Workout (explained)
Format: Race or time-trail
Suggestion: 1 Mile distance (Week 1-4)
When to do: Every 4 weeks in your periodisation week (easy week)
Purpose: Test your current fitness level and see if you're ready to move on to faster Target Pace Levels in your workouts. The result will tell you how you're progressing, especially if you monitor it every 4 months consistently.

Other Key Workouts
Follow it up with the two other standard workouts:

1. Uphill sprints (30 second sprints, 1:30 recovery). I do only 4 in this week, combined with a short hill run as warmup/cooldown
2. Marathon-pace run: A good session for the weekend. This week I would do only 25min marathon-pace with 15 minute easy running around (for example, 10 min warmup, 5 cooldown).

In addition, if you have time, ensure you get at least 3 slow runs in on the other 4 days of the week.

As an example, I would do:

1. 45-minute road run (morning)
2. 14-minute road run
3. 40-minute hill run

These are not recovery runs but base runs, so go comfortable but not ultra-slow.

I also recommend:

• 3 strength sessions (e.g. weights, resistance, core, plyometrics, Paul Kelly's circuits, etc.)