Senior Training

I know I am going to struggle to make it to sessions over the next couple of months as I have a lot going on and I am putting a fair amount of time into the athletes at school to see if we can get a team or two into the all-Ireland schools cross country. With this in mind to try and keep some focus to the sessions I have put together a six week block of training. I have tried to make the first blockmore generic for the purpose of building-up aerobic fitness. The plan would be to follow this with a choice for the second block of more event specific training tailored towards either:

I will be absent as attedning the Connacht schools AGM-So have left you with some fun:

5 sets of (1200m followed by 1 min rest, before a 400m, followed by 200m brisk jog (in 2 min or less))

Session for saturday- warm-up then 5x5min with 75seconds recovery (if you can manage it). We have been running similar sessions of 90 seconds recently so have a go at running them off slightly less recovery. Obviously the efforts are fairly long and the recovery is fairly short so you have to find the pace that you can cruise at- this should be around your cross country pace. I suggest using the loop we used on Tuesday as it includes a little bit of a hill and the trails provide a nice surface. Meet for 10 am at the Pavilion. Have a good one. Best of luck to those of you running Dublin.

Some great performances in the half marathon on Sunday so some of you may wish to leave doing a session until Saturday morning to ensure you have recovered, or scale back your session slightly tonight.

Advanced (marathon group)
2 x 10 minutes threshold off 2min30 recovery around the Gaelic and rugby pitch, then as make your way up to the track for Parlauf relay (continuous relay 8x200m each)

Final session before the half marathon for many of you. You don't want to take too much out of the legs at this stage so a smaller session that usual. I have included some work at half marathon pace to allow you to get a feel for it. It is a pace that not many of you will often run at- slightly slower than threshold pace but faster than steady running.

Advanced

I am away for the week so unfortunately won’t be at the sessions as many of you put the finishing touches to your preparation for the Galway city half marathon. Obviously at this stage ‘the hay should be in the barn’- i.e. the hard training should be done, and if it’s not there is nothing you can do about it now! If you are training for the Dublin Marathon or Berlin, and you are doing the half next week, it is a good opportunity to put in an easier week.

At Dangan - meet for 10am start having already completed a warm-up jog...

With many athletes competing at either the national league final or Claregalway 10km I don't expect a huge turnout but for anyone who does want to train rather than race I suggest you head for the hill!

Matt's Senior Endurance Training Instructions:

Wednesday - Track - Meet 5.45 pm on Track at Dangan having run easy for 10-20 min warm up

Session - mile repeats off 90 seconds recovery

Matt's instructions for Saturday:

Saturday 31st July - Meet outside changing rooms at Dangan 10am after 10 min warm-up jog.

Session - Threshold running

Key principles - You are aiming to run at the pace where running switches from aerobic exercise to anaerobic exercise. By not running so fast that the activity become significantly anaerobic it means that you can sustain a pace that will really work the cardiovascular system for a long period of time. After the first couple of minutes your heart rate should be at 80-85% of your max.