This week saw the runners tackle a pyramid session. We met up at Abbey Gardens where we had our usual pre-run chat and warm-up before jogging over to the North Walls rec where the session would be based.
It was another gorgeous evening with the sun beating down on the parched ground of the North Walls Rec. It was a fantastic turnout with 18 runners joining me for what promised to be a cracking session.
We were also joined for the first time by the most wonderful Alistair Jury, husband of Tina. Welcome to the group!
We were also joined for the first time by the most wonderful Alistair Jury, husband of Tina. Welcome to the group!
The cricket pitch on the main field is roughly 400m in circumference and so we broke it into quarters to roughly measure out the required distances. One slight blip was the presence of a few girls having a lovely little picnic right on our route...so we had to divert round.
The session saw us starting with short sharp sprints and slowly increasing the distance upto a half mile effort, before dropping slowly back down to the short sharp sprints. This therefore looked as follows:
- 100m sprint with 30 sec recovery
- 200m sprint with 45 sec recovery
- 400m hard effort with 1:30 min recovery
- 800m hard effort with 3 min recovery
- 400m hard effort with 1:30 min recovery
- 200m sprint with 45 sec recovery
- 100m sprint with 30 sec recovery
The aim was to go full out for the sprints and then aim at a fast 5km pace for the 400m and 800m reps. This would see the runners working on their speed as well as their endurance. The speed would come from the sharper sprints, with the longer reps being physically taxing. By then repeating the sprints at the end would see the runners working very hard on tired legs, hopefully replicating the later stages of a race. These sessions also help build confidence as, psychologically, you have gotten the worst of it out of the way half way through which means you tend to see the session being finished strongly.
After a rest to catch our breath and the obligatory photos we headed back to Abbey gardens for a cool down and to say our goodbyes!
It was another great session. I love that the runners give so much during the intervals but are all so positive and happy before during and after.
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