• 13th - 19th April

For the hills find a runnable slope, 5-6% gradient is ideal. If you keep the recoveries to 60 seconds it’s actually a really tough session and will get the calves working. Because you are doing these 2 tough workouts a week it makes it even more important to keep those easy runs at a low heart rate and RPE. 6:00+ km pace is not too slow, and if you can keep them on the flatter side for now. Any problems let me know, but keep working hard Laura and those gains will be soon come.

119 Points Achieved

MONDAY

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2pts | Stretches

2 POINTS

A stretching routine you can do daily to help with your flexibility. 30 seconds for each stretch is plenty.

4 Points
Woke up feeling pretty stiff after racing followed by golf at the coast into gales yesterday. Went to track tonight but did two loops to get the legs moving and mainly helped the juniors with the long jump so kept it very light. Stretches where needed tonight especially as I am up early to do hills before heading into London for work
Well done Laura. Nice to hear you are helping out too. Coaching in person can be so rewarding. Do you mind me asking what you do for work? Just out of pure curiosity more than anything.

TUESDAY

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23pts| 20 x 30 Secs Hills

23 POINTS

10 Mins WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

1 x 30 Second Hill Rep (RPE: 9)
60 Seconds Downhill @ Easy Pace (RPE: 4)
x 20

10 Mins CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

Great session as hill reps force you to run with good form, lifting the knees higher and really driving the elbows back. Work hard for the 30 seconds uphill, recovery back down for 60 seconds.

23 Points
Tough morning on the hill but we got it done. Not a fan of training in the morning but actually this went better than expected. Tried to keep it as consistent as possible which was pretty much achieved. Legs felt better after the session than before. Off to London today for conference, I work in cyber security and compliance for schools.
Yeah I’m not a morning runner it has to be said, especially a tough session like this. But as you say, consistency is the key and it’s a good session this one with an element of strength in there too getting up the hills. That sounds like a whole different world to me, but quite interesting. Thanks for sharing. We do have some interesting jobs in the team, the most quirky being Claudia Winkleman’s personal hair stylist 😂 Excellent work Laura, hope you have a good day at work.

WEDNESDAY

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2pts | Stretches

2 POINTS

A stretching routine you can do daily to help with your flexibility. 30 seconds for each stretch is plenty.

25 Points
Both run and stretches complete. Been super tired today yesterday was a long day in London and was up in the early hours with an ill cat ( he is fine he does this occasionally) first half of the run was a struggle and not helped with the wind. Continued the strategy of only seeing time and heart rate on the watch to ensure it’s truly easy which is keeping these runs a a better pace. Strides felt much better than expected I was pleasantly surprised. Body feels pretty good especially when you consider I should have had my monthly physio maintenance yesterday (London meant it got pushed back a week). Normally I feel in desperate need of this but actually feel better than normal at this stage.
So many positives coming from the feedback (apart from the ill cat and lack of sleep, sorry to hear that). But I think that switch to time and heart rate is a huge change and in the past going out and smashing out 10-11k+ in 60 mins would have just left you even more tired and not getting the aerobic adaptions we want from the easy runs. So it’s a double win really, recover quicker and more benefits. And this approach will allow you to feel better rested for those key sessions. Well done Laura.

thursday

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26pts | 5 x 1km

26 POINTS

2km WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

1km @ 5k Pace (RPE: 8)
2 minutes recovery
x5

2km CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

Classic session. Super simple. The end result being you have a better understanding of your current time for a 5K. Work hard and ideally finish each rep a few seconds quicker than your current 5k pace.

26 Points
Average pace over the 5 reps was 4:15per k wanted a few seconds quicker but will take this after Tuesdays session. Faded a bit on rep 4 and 5 with rep 5 being very poor until I got my head down and got the pace up to around 4:10 per k for last 300m. Legs felt like they had worked hard on Tuesday but no tightness or concerning areas and even the normally problematic calves are still feeling good. Ignore all heart rate data from this session left my arm sensor on charge and remembered very quickly how poor the watch data is on its own.
Sometimes it’s just about being consistent with the training and what I’ve always seen with my runners and my only running to some degree is you’ll have a period of say 6-8 weeks where it feels like nothing is happening and the 5k pace continues to stay where it is (in your case 4:15) but then out of nowhere you’ll suddenly run 4:10 pace and make that step up. Rather than knocking the odd second off each week. So you’re doing great and if you keep hitting the sessions I think you’ll have the same experience and suddenly you’ll drop to 4:10. And then the same thing happens again as you edge closer to that magic 4:00 mark. Great work Laura

FRIDAY

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2pts | Stretches

2 POINTS

A stretching routine you can do daily to help with your flexibility. 30 seconds for each stretch is plenty.

8pts | Gym Legs/Core L1

8 POINTS

A good all round session to work the legs and core. You should have built up to this fairly gradually, so don’t dive in head first as you want to take your time building your strength. Be sensible with the weights to begin with.

If short on time combine 2 exercises together (superset) them to save on the recoveries. Ideally one leg exercises and one core exercise where possible. Eg squats and planks.

11 Points
All done today managed to do the strength before leaving for London whilst finishing up work and the stretching when back at the hotel. Legs are feeling in good shape after a big week of sessions.
So pleased to hear that. You’ve crammed a lot into the midweek and to feel good is a real confidence booster. Awesome work Laura.

SATURDAY

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30pts | 100 Mins Run

30 POINTS

Slowly adding time to your longer runs is the way forward. Keep the effort level down and continue to check in with your form.

30 Points
All 100 mins completed today in 2 runs, 48 mins in total jogging to start of bushy and doing the parkrun. Really steady until the last part of the parkrun when we got a little bit competitive. 52 mins along the river after getting home actually pleased I cut up the runs as that was needed after a 3 hour journey back this was very easy paced with keeping HR under 145 for majority of the run.
Great work Laura, it’s hard not to get carried away at parkrun. My last km which should have been 4:30 pace was 4:09 and involved a sprint finish against a fellow club member 🤦‍♂️ Love the way you are talking right now though and it’s so true, easy days easy, go hard in the sessions, that is what is going to bring you the best gains. So keep training like this and you continue to see improvements. Best week yet in terms of training pts.

SUNDAY

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Rest Day

0 POINTS

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