OK the beginner program hasn’t changed in the last couple of years, so we’ll concentrate on explaining the others.
Intermediate
This program has had the most people go through over the last 2 years, and this is the most important thing about it-
1. If you turn up to the training, you’ll make your goal. We’ve had one or 2 people train with us who DNF’d, but mostly these were people who didn’t come consistently. Overwhelmingly if people turned up and did the training, made their target.
Mondays
You’ll most likely cover about 8km, but distance is not the key here, effort is. You’ll be doing some sort of repeated effort to build speed. A typical workout might go like this-
1km warm up to start line, then 5x repeats around a apx 800m block, with the emphasis on speed around 3 sides with an active recovery on the 4th side. 1km warm down
Tuesday
Find a route that has plenty of hills, and run up and down like a mad person. Here’s an example . You need this session to prepare you for the TNF course.
Wednesday
Lucky you- a rest day!
Thursday
Pace run- this is a middle distance run that you should do at a decent pace. You should feel uncomfortable, striving to cover the distance, training yourself to operate longer at higher speed.
Friday
Rest day/ Cross Training. Consider going to the gym to get in some core strength exercises. You don’t need big guns (arms) for running, but a strong core will make you feel like the running is a bit easier.
Saturday
LSD- Long Slow Distance. This is where you build up your endurance. You’ll notice that most of these runs are labelled ‘NRG’ this is because I’ve stolen the runs from the Northside Running Groups‘ Six Foot Track training program. I’ve found that it matches what we want to do very neatly. If you have a running group in your area, consider joining them, or make up your own runs to match the distance/ difficulty. The Sydney Striders also have a Six Foot Track program. Note- if doing your own program you’ll generally want to make your Saturday runs progressively harder over the first 3 weeks then schedule an easy week. Also note that after Six Foot Track, we’ve scheduled a whole bunch of runs to fill in the time before the North Face race. There is some training on the course, some races to keep you honest and even a run through the mountains with Brendan Davies. All of these are free to attend so please come along. You will find people who run at your pace so don’t worry about getting left behind.
Sunday
An easy 10km to get the lactic acid moving!
Advanced
the advanced program is very similar to the Intermediate, but with less days off, some more km covered and (for me) some time goals attached. I don’t know if the time goals are needed or desirable, but I’ve decided to give myself these goals to monitor my progress.
Monday
Same session as Intermediate, but my goal is to keep up with a faster group. I’ve already been working on this for several months, and I figure I’m about 60-70% there
Tuesday
Do the hills session that the Intermediate group does on Wed.
Wednesday
A new addition is the mid week long run. This should be about 20km and take about 2 hours. The time is more important than the distance so if you are going significantly over 2 hours, cut down the distance. This is an easy run so keep the pace under control. My chosen run is the ‘7 Bridges‘ as it’s about the flattest I can get with the correct distance. If you’d like to join us, we leave from the corner of Pacific Highway and Shirley Rd at Crows Nest approximately 4:30pm each Wednesday. But please let me know if you are coming via the Facebook page
Thursday
Same as Intermediate, for me it’s trying to keep up with the ‘Fast Middies’ group at NRG, they run about 5min/km average over 12km on a Thursday night.
Friday
Cross training- remember, it’s worth it……..
Saturday
Long Slow Distance. You’ll notice that most of these runs are labelled ‘NRG’, this is because I’ve stolen the runs from the Northside Running Groups‘ Six Foot Track training program. I’ve found that it matches what we want to do very neatly. If you have a running group in your area, consider joining them, or make up your own runs to match the distance/ difficulty. The Sydney Striders also have a Six Foot Track program. Note- if doing your own program you’ll generally want to make your Saturday runs progressively harder over the first 3 weeks then schedule an easy week. This year my goal is to run with the ‘Fast Middies’ as my endurance is ok, I just need some speed……Also note that after Six Foot Track, we’ve scheduled a whole bunch of runs to fill in the time before the North Face race. There is some training on the course, some races to keep you honest and even a run through the mountains with Brendan Davies. All of these are free to attend so please come along. You will find people who run at your pace so don’t worry about getting left behind.
Sunday
Another easy run, mine is a little bit less than 16km as I run across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and back, you should find a run that makes you feel good- because next week you’re doing it all again!
A word about goals. I’m just a normal, middle of the pack runner. I’m trying for a sub 14 hour finish this year, but I’ll admit it’s pretty unlikely. In 2011 I finished in 18:39, in 2012 I made 16:34 so it’s just this side of possible. I’m going to train like I need it and if something happens to stop me I won’t be too upset, but there’s no harm in dreaming! To get there, my (very loose) goals are this-
Six Foot Track 5:30
Canberra Marathon 3:35
Good luck to everybody who joins us, and let’s see what the race brings!