(upbeat music)
- So the week leading into a race
can sometimes be overwhelming and even complicated
with all sorts of final things needing to be done,
and that's before we even think about
our last few training sessions.
So I always found it reassuring to have a go-to run workout
that I knew would help me feel good
in the approach into race day.
So on that basis, I'm going to share with you
three slightly different key run workouts
that I would choose from
to help me get primed in the lead into race day,
that you too can adapt for your final preparations.
(gentle electronic music)
So before I get into the details
of these three different workouts I would choose from,
it's worth noting that in terms of total duration,
I never do more than half an hour of running
for this type of run session in race week.
10 to 15 minutes of nice easy jogging as a warm-up,
before we get into the particular main set
that I'm going to discuss in a second.
So on that note,
the first of these options that I would choose from
would be my Fartlek option.
Now the particular Fartlek
that I used to like doing was the Moneghetti,
named after famous Australian runner himself,
Steve Moneghetti.
So the idea behind the Fartlek run session,
or certainly as I was always taught it when I was younger,
was that it would get you ready
for the particular intensity of whatever race
you have coming up,
but without doing too much of that intensity
that it would be tiring you out.
So on that notion, the Fartlek is one continuous run
but split up into effort versus recovery
of one to one ratios in duration.
So the specifics of the Moneghetti in itself
are starting with a 90 second effort
at your particular race intensity.
Then followed by 90 seconds of recovery,
which could be a nice and easy jog,
very easy to get yourself ready
for the next effort in the Moneghetti
which is the 60 second effort at that same intensity
that you started off at,
followed by an equal 60 second recovery,
and so that pattern continues.
We then go to 45 of on, 45 of recovery off.
30 on, 30 off.
And a final part of the Moneghetti,
is the 15 hard with 15 seconds recovery.
So that in total with your effort and your recovery
gives you eight minutes of running
in that Fartlek fashion that just flows up and down
in terms of intensity and recovery.
And once I'd completed that,
I would then have repeated
back into that 90 on 90 off and so on
to do two full sets to complete my Moneghetti Fartlek.
But of course,
you could quite happily just do the one set
and that would be a really good and sufficient primer
for a Fartlek type run session in race week.
(gentle music)
So my second session that I would look to choose from
on my race week run session
is what I call my tempo run.
Now this is based on a kilometer rep in total,
but don't worry if you don't have a running track nearby,
'cause that's where I would usually have done it,
or indeed if you don't have a sports watch,
like one of these with GPS
that can tell you how far you're going in a rep.
You can still do this based on time,
and I'll chat about that in a moment.
But on the notion of that one K,
what I would do is
800 meters at my chosen race pace intensity,
and then 200 meters nice and easy jog,
giving that total of one kilometer.
Then I would do that three times through,
which I felt was just enough to give me the sensations of
what I'd be expecting on race day, at that intensity,
but not too much that I'm starting to feel tired or fatigued
from it.
Or alternatively,
I also sometimes chose to do this same session
but at half the distances.
So what I would do is
400 meters at that race pace intensity,
and then 100 meters nice and easy jog recovery,
and I'd probably do that five to six times through,
giving me again the same sort of total
as the three times a kilometer.
But in terms of times,
if you don't want to do this in distance,
for me personally I would have done that 800 meters
as about three minutes of running,
and one minute of easy jogs,
so you could do the same
and not worry about the distances as such.
Alternatively, on that shorter option,
you could do 90 seconds of running at your race pace,
and 30 seconds of jog recovery.
(gentle music)
So my third and final option for this race week run session
is what I'd call my speed set.
Now there's nothing too fancy about this block of work,
it's just something that allows the body to feel
like it's working hard,
and then give it some recovery after.
And the details of it are,
just 30 seconds of good effort that builds up
to about your race pace,
doesn't have to be exact,
but just something that feels like a good effort,
30 seconds easy,
do that five times through
to give us five minutes of effort.
You can have a minute of easy recovery,
and then repeat that whole set again
to give 10 minutes of effort.
Now I actually sometimes would repeat that through
one final time,
giving 15 minutes in total,
but it's entirely up to you,
how you're feeling in the week,
it's just a nice little primer set
that gets the body moving,
surges I suppose you could call them,
just up to 30 seconds in total,
and then that's you.
Finish up, and have a nice easy cooldown.
So that's my list of three run sessions
that I used to like choosing from
on the week leading into a race,
just to give the body an idea of those intensities
that are about to come on the weekend,
but not so much that you end up being too tired from it.
And on that note, when would you maybe do these sessions?
Well we've talked quite a lot on the channel
about run day Tuesday,
and that's a good time to do these sessions,
but Wednesday would work just as well,
and even if you're short of time,
well Thursday morning isn't the end of the world.
Just so long as you're not doing it
the very day before the race.
Now hopefully you find this video interesting,
and have enjoyed it,
please hit that thumb up Like button, if that's the case.
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And if you want to see a video that we've done
about Fartlek running,
you can find that here.
And if you want to see one that Mark and I did
about how to run a five K faster,
well you can do that here.