Speed training plan progress

I’ve now been following a plan to try and increase my pace over short distance for a few weeks and I’m quite enjoying it. It’s only an 8 week plan, which to me feels doable, hopefully long enough to have an impact, but short enough to stick to.

In my last post I’d put what I’d done in the first week of training, and I’ve now completed another two weeks. Again, I’ve swapped the days about to suit what else is going on, but this is what I’ve done:

Wk2:

• M: REST
• T: Interval – 10min warm up, 10 x 2min hard / 90sec recovery, 10min cool down (5.8miles)
• W: 6.4 mile off road steady run
• T: 36 min strength workout
• F: Threshold – 10min warm up, 2 miles @ threshold pace, 10min cool down (4.15miles)
• S: 40 min strength workout
• S: REST

Total miles: 16.39

Wk3:

• M: Interval – 10min warm up, 10 x 1min hard / 1min mara pace, 10min cool down (4.38miles)
• T: 5.22miles – headtorch road run steady
• W: 35 min strength workout
• T: Threshold – 10min warm up, 3 x 2k @ 5k pace / 3min recovery, 10min cool down (7.11miles)
• F: 40 min strength workout
• S: 7.97 mile off road, hilly, steady run
• S: REST

Total miles: 24.68

I did fail miserably on the threshold run for wk3 – not that I didn’t complete it, but that I missed the buzz of my watch for the second recovery, meaning that by the time I realised I only got about 20 secs of recovery before my next 2k started! But I still managed to hold my pace and complete the session. I also was on an out and back route (very few circular routes near home) and didn’t turn round soon enough which meant the cool down was longer than 10 minutes and a much longer than expected run.

I loved this weekend’s run though. My husband had been looking for different places to run that aren’t too far away from home and had mapped a route starting at the car park for Wharram Percy deserted village and looping round through Thixendale. We were lucky to have a gorgeous day with bright sunshine and had fun exploring the village, up and down the dales and through some muddy sections. We weren’t in any rush, we walked the steep hills and thoroughly enjoyed the run. After being made redundant and the resulting fun of searching for a job I will admit that there are some days that I’m not feeling particularly positive – runs like this really, really help. I love the time outside in the countryside and it is great to share it with my husband too (I know I’m lucky that we both enjoy running). That said, I like the interval runs too – there is a definite sense of accomplishment when you are done.

So now on to week 4.

The pictures are all from our run from Wharram Percy.

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