Last Wednesday, Richard Stannard and I turned out in strong winds to kick start our winter speed training, running  15 x 400m at the Eton and Windsor track. We  knuckled down to get through the set, neither of us as fast as we have run, the  75-77sec per 400m would hardly set the world of running a light, but it was the right pace for us at this time of year and more importantly  we put the proverbial stake in the ground and made a start to our come back. 

I found it quite amusing, the two of us running side by side , Richard’s aim  to win the Windsor Triathlon again in 2010, mine is not to come last…….In early winter our aim is to start off with short reps and over time add on distance. This allows us to adapt to race pace and then build up stamina. This is a much more effective way to train than starting off running long slow distances and then afterward trying to increase to race pace.

Richard has a valid excuse for being slower than usual. He  was knocked off his bike and broke  both his wrist and hip this summer. Unfortunately causing him  to write off the triathlon season. However, like a true pro he has put this behind him and started clawing his way back to fitness. As you may have seen in the press, he has broken quite a few age UK and European group records in the pool recently, but unfortunately this does not help his running !!!

I have less excuses,  too much work does not really count, But I too have turned a corner and shall be at the track every Wednesday throughout the winter.

In the summer we run a very popular Open Water Swim facility and so in winter we have decided to extend our offerings. Richard as set up  indoor turbo training in a large hall in Cobham, which he has aptly called Turbo Torture.  If you are up for a bit of punishment he will get you bike fit over the winter, so that you are in race shape come the start of next season. He has assured me that the music is loud enough to drown out everyone’s heavy breathing and  groans of pain from the punishment he dishes out.

For me, I shall take charge of the track running at the Eton and Windsor track. Anyone who wants to join in the programme is welcome to attend. We shall start off with 400m reps and progress through 800m’s to 1,200m up to mile reps.  I will split us in to three groups; beginner, intermediate and fast.

The levels are designed not to exclude anyone, I want as many people as possible to suffer together

For the first session the slower group will run 10 times 400m on a 3 minute circle.

So long as you can get round the 400m in under 3mins ( 12min/mile)  you will not be left behind……

I would suggest anyone who runs under 2mins per 400m (8min/mile) should the intermediate group. They will run 12×400m on a 2min 30 second circle. Ideally this group will run between 1min 30 and 2mins per 400m.

Richard and I will take the fast group, we shall be doing 16 x400m on a 2 min circle and the aim is to run no slower than 90 secs per 400m (6min/mile) however I shall be aiming  at 75sec per 400m (5min/mile).

The emphasis for everyone is on quality not quantity, and the rest times are kept short deliberately to stop people going too fast. This is much better for building up the aerobic endurance we all need in all triathlons

Sessions will start at 6.30pm with a warm up for a 7pm start.

I look forward to seeing some of you at the track!

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.