Plan for the week
Mon (7:30) - 2s and 1s up at Kirkhill.  Good old winter session now the nights have drawn in!  6X 2:00 efforts with 1:00 recoveries then 6 X 1:00 efforts with 1:00 recoveries.
Wed (6:30) - The schedule says 'Surges', but I am pretty certain there will not be enough light to do this up the Steads.  So we will do this running a circuitous route through the town.
Thurs (6:30) - Track - Pyramid. 200m, 400m, 600m, 800m, 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m efforts with 200m jog recoveries.


I am away on Monday.

Plan for the week
Mon (7:30) - Track 5K session.  1000m at 5K pace, 5X(400m, 100 recovery, 200m, 100m recovery – efforts faster than 5K pace), 1000m faster than first.
Wed (6:30) - 1/2K and tempo.  I fear that we may not have enough light for this, especially the section from the guidepost road through Bothal under all of the trees.  If it is looking dodgy, we will do 9's at Lancaster Park.
Thurs (6:30) - Short Hills.  10 X 10s sprints up hill.  60 second recoveries.  I am away.  I would suggest these be done at King's Avenue, running up the hill from the new building that used to be Greystoke Surgery.
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​Plan for the week
Mon (7:30) - Hills.  10X1:30 up with 2:00 down hill recoveries.  Cottingwood lane.
Wed (6:30) - Track (speed) - A new track session similar to the 'step down' session we sometimes do around Loansdean:  3 sets of - 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m with 100m walk/jog recoveries.  Extra 200m recovery between sets.
Thurs (6:30) - Bypass.  2 X 1.8m tempos - assuming the light is OK.  If not, we will do 9's around Lancaster Park.

I am around on Monday and Thursday, but away on Wednesday.

​There is no doubt that GPS devices, such as Garmins, are a fantastic advance and aid to running.  In days gone by you never knew how far you had run in training.  In races, you only knew what pace you were running when you passed mile or kilometer markers.  In some ways this was better though.  You concentrated more on the quality of your training runs rather than getting obsessed with distances.  People didn't do crazy things like doing a lap of the rugby pitches just to ensure that their mileage gets to X number of miles.  In races you used to have to focus on how you felt to judge if your pace was correct.  It meant that people got much more used to assessing the 'feel' of a run rather than relying on a GPS device to tell them what pace they are running.  'Feel' is more important than actual pace since your pace necessarily needs to adjust depending on, for example, whether you are running on the flat, uphill or down hill, or if you are running with or against the wind.

The other issue is that GPS devices are not as accurate as you might think, depending on circumstances.  I have been caught out in marathons aiming for a particular pace, hitting this, but then ending up with a longer time than expected - all because either I had run 26.6 rather than 26.2 miles, or at least that was the distance measured by my Garmin.  As a result, I have learn't that you need to aim for a pace about 5 sec/mile faster on my Garmin that I am after if I calculate what the average pace is to achieve my target time over the race distance.

There may be some situations where a GPS struggles more than others.  I have run 10K on the track and there is more error in the GPS reported distance than over a measured 10K race on the roads.  This will at least in part explain a problem in using your GPS to judge you pace when on the track.  On Wednesday night we ran 1600m efforts.  It was interesting to see how much out my Garmin was.  For example, I ran one of the 1600m efforts in 6:42.  This means my pace was 6:44 min/mile to the nearest second.  However my GPS showed the pace for that effort as 6:59.  Across the three 1600m efforts, on average my Garmin showed my pace as 13 second/mile slower than it actually was.

So the moral of the story:  GPS devices are aids, but they are not definitive.  It is better to run by 'feel' aided by your GPS rather than the other way around.  In generally don't rely on GPS devices on the track.

Plan for the week
Mon (7:30) - short hills.  Gladstone Street or Bankside.  10 x 10s hill sprints.  60-90s recoveries.
Wed (6:30) - Track 1600's.  1000m effort, then 2-4 X 1600m efforts, then 1000m.  2:30 to 1:30 recoveries.
Thurs (6:30) - Surges.  4 min steady, 40s hard, 3 min recovery, 3 min steady, 60s hard, 3 min recovery, 2 min steady, 80s hard, 3 min recovery, 1 min steady, 100s hard.  Route – Steads, first effort from left turn in Mitford.  


I hope to be around on Monday and Wednesday.  Good luck to anybody doing the GNR or any other race this weekend.

Are there any others who would be interested in joining an informal marathon group?  This is not about doing all of our training together.  See last weeks email for details.


Plan for the week
Mon (7:30) - Track 200's.  This is a new tough session.  The aim is to run 20 200m efforts with 200m JOG recoveries.  This means you do not stop running.  The efforts though should be significantly faster than the recoveries.  This means that it is as much about pace judgement as anything.  The idea is you lean this plus about changing gear.  If 20 seems too daunting (or it starts getting very late!), just do 12 or 15 to get a feel for the session.  I don't fully know how it will go.  The group will just split up.  It might be best just to stop when the first person completes 15 or 20 efforts.  Let me know how it goes.
Wed (6:30) - Hills.  10X 1:30 up with 2:00 down recoveries.  Mitford church.
Thurs (6:30) - 1/2K and tempo.  3 X approx 500m efforts then tempo.  Route – Allery Bank to level crossing.  1st effort level crossing to Park House.  Track to Guidepost road.  2nd effort to Hepscott Red House.  Down to junction and hard left.  3rd effort to farm track on right.  To Shadfen.  Short tempo - Tempo Shadfen to Jewson’s (1.4m).  Longer Tempo - Shadfen to Whorral Bank via Bothal and Pegswood Bypass (2.6m).


I'm away on Monday, but hope to be around Wednesday and Thursday.