• December 1st - 7th

3 good sessions this week. Obviously feel free to swap out the intervals for the club efforts. You could also split Thursday into two if you prefer and wanted a shake out run Sunday. But another opportunity to run a fast parkrun and test the fitness. Any problems let me know. Keep up the great work Sarah.

95 Points Target

Pretty good week overall, all sessions completed!

MONDAY

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60 Mins

18 POINTS

60 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

Keep that RPE down. You want to be able to run and chat, speaking of which, joining a group can add to the enjoyment here.

18 Points
Easy 60 mins, quite a slow pace, a little bit cautious in the dark and wet as I fell over on Friday’s easy run. I have been googling and I think I need to practice my form and picking my feet up more and google also says there are some exercises I can do to strengthen calves etc. One of those runs where once I got out I enjoyed it even though it was cold and wet.
I think the reality is, the slower we run, the more likely we are to trip, as we won’t pick our feet up so much. Plus being in the dark obviously make it’s much tougher to see those small trip hazards. We have a lot of fallers in our club runs, due to the large groups and running around the dark streets of Hastings. Invariably each week, someone falls. All that said, you are right, there are some exercises you can do to improve your leg strength. I have a short 10 min leg workout on the site that I start a lot of runners off doing. We could add that to the plan, once, or twice if you wanted. You set a timer and it’s over before you know it. That will help build some extra strength in the legs. Let me know if you want me to include them. But well done on today’s run and glad you enjoyed it.

TUESDAY

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Circuits

15 POINTS

Always fun to train in a group. Ask for help if unsure on your technique on the exercises.

0 Points
Didn’t make it back from work in time, very busy traffic as I have to head home through Newcastle City Centre, combination of Christmas Shoppers and NUFC Champions League matches is making travel home from work a nightmare. I have booked onto a circuit session before my Pilates session on Thursday instead which should be no problem getting to as I’m working from home.
That’s ok, well done on scheduling in another session for later in the week. What do you and Andy do for work out of interest? Just being nosey really but don’t feel like I know you as well as some of my local runners. There are some interesting occupations on the team. I actually have another runner called Sarah Taylor. Her job? Personal hair stylist for Claudia Winkleman. She even appeared on the BBC Credits for Celebrity Traitors.

WEDNESDAY

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8 x 2 Mins Hill Reps

26 POINTS

10 Mins WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

2 Mins Uphill (RPE: 8)
3 Mins Downhill @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)
x8

10 Mins CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

Big session this! But ideal if you have a hilly race coming up. Focus on good form and don’t go off too hard in rep 1, let the hill make it tough. Good luck! You got this. Run tall & proud.

26 Points
Did this one today (Friday) as had waited for Andy to be home from work on Wednesday but he was quite late back. Adapted this slightly as my hill wasn’t long enough for 2 mins up and 3 mins down. So I ran up the hill at effort, I continued past the top of the hill to a lamppost a few metres away and then jogged back down. I had a 30 second rest at the bottom then ran up again to the same spot. It was taking me about 1 min 20ish to do the hill. Sadly my work isn’t quite as interesting as the other Sarah Taylor, I work in payroll for a local charity and Andy is an engineer. I had noticed the other Sarah Taylor on the Traitor credits so that’s pretty cool! I’d imagine Claudia to be nice in real life. We both work on the south of the river and have to travel through Newcastle to get home so can be tricky sometimes, although we have started looking at house’s to move across the river.
That’s pretty cool that you live right in the city. Except on games day by the sounds of it. Nice to work of a charity though and be doing something for a good cause. As someone with no practical skills at all, an engineer always impresses me. No worries about tweaking the session. As long as the effort was there that is what matters so well done for changing it up slightly. Nice to have Andy along as well.

thursday

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Pilates

10 POINTS

Always a good session to work on flexibility and strength.

25 Points
Did my circuits class tonight followed by a strength and mobility class that I hadn’t tried before. It was kind of like pilates but with more things in to help with mobility and flexibility, I think a lot of it would be quite helpful for running.
That does sound quite beneficial. I think the good thing about this pts system is it makes you realise how much other things contribute to your running fitness. With Strava too many get obsessed about how many miles they are running, when a double session like this is just as valuable as say 6 or 7 miles on the road. Great work Sarah

FRIDAY

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Rest Day

0 POINTS

0 mins @ RPE 0-1

“Rest days are key. Our body adapts and gets stronger when we rest & recovery. Have a good one!”

SATURDAY

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parkrun

30 POINTS

10 Mins WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)
8 x 100 metre Strides (RPE: 8)

parkrun @ 5km Pace (RPE: 8)

10 Mins CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

Running with others can reduce perceived effort so parkrun is a good option as an alternative speed session. 10 mins easy WU & CD please.

Picked a flat parkrun that we hadn’t done before for this. Struggled to get going a bit after class Thursday and hills Friday. Still managed to do under 35 mins though. Would like to go back to this one in the spring and see if I can improve on my time, as it’s mainly flat and a little downhill.

SUNDAY

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60 Mins

18 POINTS

60 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

Keep that RPE down. You want to be able to run and chat, speaking of which, joining a group can add to the enjoyment here.

Annual Xmas run to Fenwicks window, running time 44mins and elapsed time 68mins as we stopped in pub for a half on the way back haha.