Dear All,
Following some feedback from members and discussions amongst ourselves, as of Monday 31st July, we will be trialling a slight change to the Monday evening track sessions. Going forwards we will be publishing our sessions in advance in 6-week blocks (and in this case 12 weeks) so that members can see what sessions are coming up and, should they wish, plan other runs and activities around them. We are also aiming to be more structured with our sessions so that sessions are progressive and/or targeted to races and events. We will also be focusing on the same technical skill over a number of weeks so that you can practice it and hopefully see improvement. For those of you that come every week, we hope this won’t be too repetitive for you, but the more you practice the better you’ll get. We’ll also be asking you for some feedback in due course.
Rest assured, however, that everything else will stay the same. 7:30pm on a Monday evening at Tonbridge School Track; a led warm-up, followed by technical running drills, then the main session and ending with stretches. Oh, and I’ll still be sending out my weekly emails with a reminder of the sessions and payment details etc.
Block 1: 31/07/2023 – 04/09/2023
Shorter reps ideal for those targeting a 10k or other short race. Building a base for speed endurance running to take into Block 2
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | |
| 31/07/23 | 07/08/23 | 14/08/23 | 21/08/23 | 28/08/23 BANK HOLIDAY – NO COACHED SESSION! | 04/09/23 | |
| Session | 8-10 x 400m @ 5k pace / 7-8/10 Effort (200m recoveries lasting 2 mins) | 8 x 600m – splitting each effort into 400m @ 75% and last 200m @90% effort level (200m recoveries) | 6 x 800m – @ 5k pace / 7-8/10 Effort (2 min recoveries) | Mini Pyramids session – 200m, 400m, 600m, 400m, 200m (200m recoveries) Repeat for 25 mins | Bob’s 1,2,3 – 1 min Easy, 1 min Hard, 2 min Easy, 2 min Hard, 3 min Easy, 3 min Hard….. Repeat for 30 minutes | 1 Mile Time Trial Followed by 200m relay in 3’s for the remainder of the session |
| Notes | No coached session but athletes could do session independently. Easy reps = 4/5 effort, Hard reps = 7/8 effort |
Block 2: 11/09/2023 – 16/10/2023
Longer reps with a focus on endurance for those targeting an Autumn half marathon.
| Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | |
| 11/09/23 | 18/09/23 | 25/09/23 | 02/10/23 | 09/10/23 | 16/10/23 | |
| Session | 6 x 800m @ 5km race pace. 7/8 out of 10 effort. 2min recoveries | (4.30mins @ threshold pace) x 4 reps. 90 second recoveries. Runners to mark the distance on first rep, try to repeat for the session. Start each rep from start line. | Shift the gears: 800m (60% effort for first 600m, 70% for last 200m), 2min rest x 2 reps. 600m (70% effort for first 600m, 80% for last 200m), 2min rest x 2 reps, 400m (80% effort), 2 mins rest x 3 or 4 reps | 4 – 5 x 1000m @5k pace, 200m jog recoveries | Down the ladder: 1200m, 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m. 200m recoveries. Anyone completing within 25mins can run optional extra 200m reps. | 1 Mile Time Trial Followed by 200m relay in 3’s for the remainder of the session |
Needless to say, even if you are not targeting a race or event, speed sessions are beneficial to all runners as they help improve your endurance as well as your speed and they are quite sociable too. We cater for all abilities and paces and can adapt sessions to suit, so please do come and give a Monday session a try if you haven’t before.
If you can’t make it on a Monday evening feel free to run the session independently. If you don’t have access to a track or a route/area where you know the distances you can do interval work based on time. Or alternatively, you can do hill sprints or fartlek sessions.
If you’d like any guidance on other sessions you can do during the week please do feel free to chat to the coaches.
Kind regards
Sonja