Winter Block 1 Training Plan

PH Racing Club are pleased to reveal the first block of our Winter 2016/17 training program which has been put together by our coach, highly respected athlete Ben Hukins.

Block 1 is quite a long period of time and so has been split in to Phases 1A and 1B to make it more manageable with a mini suggested feature race at the end of these mini blocks.

Block 1 Duration 9 weeks: 3rd October to 4th December

Block Focus: 5km/10km

Phase 1A Duration 5 weeks: 3rd October to 6th November

Phase 1A Focus Race: National Short Course Cross Country Championships

Phase 1B Duration 4 weeks: 7th November to 4th December

Phase 1B Focus Race: East District Cross Country Championships

Notes:

Block 1 is primarily focused on building strength and endurance as a base/building block to work from for future races early in the Spring. Whilst there are various cross country and other events going on which people are encouraged to participate in as they see fit the focus of block 1 of the training is building that base rather than focusing on sharpening up for racing with a long term view to be race fit, sharp and flying for goals later in the winter season and early in the Spring. This base building phase should prove useful and worthwhile for all whether you are working towards a Spring marathon, cross country or the early Spring road racing season.

The schedule focuses on the standard club Tuesday and Thursday sessions but now we are trying to introduce some weekend sessions and help with further suggestions and structure to the remainder of your weekly training as you see fit. The weekend sessions may be a bit adhoc and not so well planned so keep a watch for updates.

As always, the block focus races are suggested and members are free to choose their own target races or not to race.

Hill sessions in the winter will be held at Dunfermline Public Park which is lit and traffic free.  Two hills will be used: Medium hill and Long hill.

Week	Commencing	Tuesday	Thursday	Weekend
PHASE 1A
1	3rd October	Hills 2 sets of 8x45sec hills Dunfermline Public Park Medium Hill Jog back / 4mins between sets recovery	Mix 10mins / 8mins / 6mins / 4mins / 2mins 4 / 4 / 3 / 2mins rest	East District Cross Country Relays
2	10th October	Speed Endurance 8 x 3mins 2mins recovery 5km to 10km pace	Speed 12 x 1min 3mins recovery Fast (mile race pace)	East District Cross Country League
3	17th October	Hills 8 x 90sec hills Dunfermline Public Park Long Hill Jog back recovery	Mix 8mins / 4x2mins / 6x1min / 4x30secs 4mins / 2mins / 1min recovery	National Cross Country Relays
4	24th October	Tempo 4-6 x 6mins tempo 2mins recovery See tempo table	Hills 3 sets of 6x45sec hills Dunfermline Public Park Medium Hill Jog back / 4mins between sets recovery
5	31st October	Speed 12 x 1min 3mins recovery Fast (mile race pace)	Speed Endurance 8-10 x 2mins 90secs recovery 5km race pace	National Short Course Cross County Championships
PHASE 1B
6	7th November	Mix 10mins tempo / 10 x 1min / 10min tempo 4mins / 1min / 4mins recovery	Hills 6x45secs / 4x90secs / 6x10secs Dunfermline Public Park Jog back / 4mins between sets	Masters International Cross Country and Open Races
7	14th November	Speed Endurance 16 x 1min 1min recovery 5km pace	Mix 10mins / 8mins / 6mins / 4mins / 2mins 4 / 4 / 3 / 2mins rest	East District Cross Country League
8	21st November	Hills 2 sets of 10x45sec hills Dunfermline Public Park Medium Hill Jog back / 4mins between sets recovery	Speed Endurance 9 x 3mins 2mins recovery 5km to 10km pace	Off Road Interval Session Saturday Morning at Craigluscar Hill Devils Burdens Recce Run Sunday See Sunday Runs page for details of both
9	28th November	Tempo 2 x 12mins tempo 2mins recovery See tempo table	Speed Endurance 6 x 2mins / 2mins recovery 5km to 10km pace Easy ahead of race	East District Cross Country Championships

Suggested Additional Training:

With regards these suggestions please feel free to incorporate these in to your other training although within reason and not overloading yourself with too much quality work. If coming to a Tuesday or Thursday session you should ideally be fresh to hit the session at the required pace/effort level. This maybe means a day of easy running before or after the club session day as opposed to complete rest. For any individual or personal advice or help with your all round plan / training week then please feel free to get in contact.

If doing Tuesday and Thursday sessions I would suggest only doing 1 of the below. If doing no quality work in a week then you could do two of the items listed below.

1. Short hill sprints at the end of your steady run to keep some speed in the legs (or to develop a little). At the end of a steady run do 6 to 8 short (<10second) sprints up a moderately step hill at full effort. Walk back down the hill after each effort. Whilst full effort the duration of these sprints and walk back recovery should have minimal fatigue on the body. Do this after 1 or maybe 2 runs a week.
2. 60minute Steady-State run (steady fast run or any other name you fancy!). This is just a run that should be performed faster than your normal steady run pace. This should be 10 to 15% slower than your 10km pace. To calculate this work out your km split for your 10km race time, calculate 10% of this value and add it to the km split to work out your pace. Example: 45minute 10km is 4:30/km (270secs/km). 10% of 270secs is 27secs (15% is 40.5secs). Therefore your target run pace is between 297secs (110% = 270+27) and 310.5secs (115% = 270+40.5) i.e. between 4:57 and 5:10 per km.
3. 60minute progression run. A 60 minute run where you get faster through the run. These can be done in a variety of ways but the ones I recommend are:
   • Finish the run with the last mile at HM pace. Each mile during the run gets 10seconds quicker. I do this as a 10mile run but I would suggest you do as a 60minute run. Calculate your HM pace for your last mile and then work back to calculate the duration of the run required to get roughly 60minutes in.
   • Use a known loop (maybe a different known loop than the usual!) of about 1.5 to 2 miles in length. Run round the loop for 60 minutes with each loop getting quicker. Start with say an easy loop and aim to have a consistent progression over the loops to finish with the last loop in about 10km/HM pace.