Junior Training
RRR offers qualified coaching for juniors and is something we are very proud of. The number of juniors joining the club has increased significantly over recent years along with increased standards. The juniors finished an excellent 4th in the Frostbite League season 2007/2008 and with a structured training program ahead of them RRR have the potential to score even higher. The juniors are doing us proud, thanks guys.
Training For Seniors
Running is a very competitive and rewarding sport. This can be split into 3 categories, racing against others with the aim of winning, running against yourself in an attempt to achieve a new personal best and/or crossing the finishing line in one piece (and enjoying it).
Unfortunately we don't tend to get something for nothing in life and no matter what category you are working on there is no substitute for training and:.
The only real training for running is running.
This doesn't mean running on a running machine either. Real training is out in the elements, varying your routes both on and off road, varying your distances and pace, and going where no car can go. Runners do actually enjoy this sort of training, especially those very long Sunday runs stretching over 10 miles.
No Pain No Gain - It's all well and good enjoying your runs (ok. I am referring to the more serious runner at this point) but this won't help to push you towards your limit. Somewhere amongst these easier runs (which are now recovery runs apart from the long Sunday session) we must introduce speed and/or hill work. It is recommended each session is followed by rest or a recovery run the following day. Attempting to push our bodies and adapt to a higher workload will no doubt help push us towards injury, something we really want to avoid. Those niggling bits which tend to pop up during racing or training are body indicators, maybe telling us to back off a little. However, there has been many a runner (the more younger ones) who can 'run through them', take head, life does have a habit of catching up.
Speed Interval Work - The main aim during these sessions is to run faster than your race pace for whatever distance you are training for. If you're training for a 10k your speed sessions should be notched above your intended 10K pace. Recovery between intervals is also very important, it's a matter of getting your heart rate back down and a measure of your fitness during a scheduled training program is a faster recovery between efforts. Over time you should need less recovery time between intervals. This also means your body can work at a higher work rate for the same effort during a race, which allows you to run faster (sounds good in theory).
A rule of thumb is a maximum effort time of 16 minutes. For example, this could be be broken down to:
16 x 1 mins, 8 x 2 mins, 5 x 3 mins, 4 x 4 mins or 3 x 5 mins.
The longer efforts of 3mins or higher are more suited for longer race distances such as half marathon. The biggest problem is sorting recovery time between intervals. Over a few weeks this should be reduced. Running on short grass will also make the going a little easier on the knee joints. An example for 8 x 2 mins could be:
8 mins jog warm up.
2 min effort (faster than race pace)
1.5 min stop
30 second jog
repeat 2 min pattern another 7 times.
8 min jog warm down
It is important to maintain effort pace, the last one should be the same pace as the first one (all faster than race pace). After 2 weeks reduce stop period to 1 min.
Hill Sessions - The main aim is to increase strength over undulating territory, such as cross-country racing. Find a preferably traffic free hill and jog to it. Reps normally consist of hard run up and easy jog down to recover. Can be divided into short, medium and long hills (depending on your hill). Just like interval work, you should do more reps of the short compared to the long. By keeping check of the time the last hill should take the same time as the first, but not so easy first time round.
The number of hill sessions can increase over the weeks. A rule of thumb is if you find your uphill time has dramatically reduced, you have either ran too fast on the earlier ones or you are tying to do too many. At this point there is nothing to be gained.
A long hill could be between 600 - 800 metres. Start with 4 reps and build up to 6 over a few weeks. Short hills could be 50 - 100 metres over the steepest part of the hill, starting with 8 reps and building up to 12.
Good luck and stay injury free.
Sunday Training
Perhaps this is what club running is all about (when we're not racing). Getting out and seeing what our countryside really has to offer and going where no car can go. Most of our Sunday runs aim to use as much off-road as possible, covering from 10 to 18 miles, but more importantly, spending time on feet and enjoying it.
Most recently we have started to venture out from different meeting points, including Bury, Warboys and Wyton. Other routes have also taken us around Gratham and Rutland Waters, which do require a little more planning.
You don't have to be a member to join in and we won't push the pace. Come along and introduce yourself.
Enjoy the run.
Prevention Is Better Than Cure
1. 1. Watch for early signs of overtraining, pay close attention to fast running, down hill running, curved or uneven surfaces.
2. Days of high intensity should be followed by low-intensity days. This hard/easy system is applied to both the days of the week and month of training. Much like we have hard/easy days, after a period of 4 weeks of increased intensity, we need a cut back of one week to moderate intensity.
3. It has been recommended for speed work we run at about 85–95% of your maximum heart rate. Running at 100% carries with it a great risk of injury. Speed training sessions spark your running performance but be cautious not to overdue it.
4. Build warm-up and cooldown portions into all high-intensity workouts. High-intensity workouts include hills, speed sessions, tempo and fartlek runs.
5. Warming up prior to your run acclimatizes your body to the rigors of the run by increasing the blood flow to your working muscles. Your warm-up should be at about 40–50% of your maximum heart rate.
6. A cooldown of at least 10 minutes helps flush out lactic acid from your muscles, slowly lowers your heart rate to its resting state and restores your body’s resting equilibrium.
7. Having flexible muscles and tendons is crucial to injury prevention and to running your best times. A stretch should never hurt; be gentle. Work on your flexibility and range of movement.
8. Be patient in your training; improvement in performance comes with time. Injury interrupts one of the key aspects of your program—frequency.
9. With any severe pain, seek medical attention.
10. Keep your training challenging and enjoyable by pushing beyond your current comfort level. You will discover an improved performance and stay injury free, if you balance the high-intensity sessions with rest.
