Rock n Road Runners Thursday Intervals: Vo2 Hill Repeats

This is a 60 minute group run focused on building strength, stamina, power and speed through interval-based training.

This weeks session will be based at Westmount but we will still meet at The Freedom Tree before jogging over to People’s Park/Westmount.

This session is lead by fully-qualified run coaches Dan & Rik and entails a thorough warm up consisting of easy running, mobilisation work, dynamic stretching, drills and strides. This warm up also focuses on improving various aspects of run technique, biomechanics and efficiency. Not will interval training improve your performance at all distances but it’s a really fun and social way to train. Anyone and everyone can benefit from interval-training regardless of experience level or goals.

The main set is usually interval-based, meaning that there is some faster-paced running for a set time or distance, interspersed with recovery which is either easy jogging, walking or standing. The aim of each interval session is to improve a certain aspect of our physiology, such as our pace at Lactate Threshold, Vo2 Max or increase our Running Economy and Neuromuscular Efficiency.

These sessions are also individualised for each attendee as we regularly carry out 3k and 5k time trials (or use a recent race result) to ascertain pace zones for different running intensities. This allows you to run at the right effort and avoid overexerting and overtraining.

The first session is free and all subsequent sessions are £5, unless you are a member of the Rock n Road Runners run club. If you would like to join the club click here or email rocknroadrunnersclub@gmail.com for more info.

THIS WEEKS SESSION

– Warm Up: Easy jogging, mobilisations, drills

– Strides: 4-6 x very short bursts of speed

– Main Set: Vo2 Hill Repeats

6-8 x 2 min hard hill reps / 3min  jog back recovery

The hard hill reps should be about 3k/5k effort, 9/10 RPE or a pace you could hold for about 10-12mins. Breathing should be rapid and shallow but controlled.

Try and run each interval at the same intensity. Make a note of how far up the hill you run each time and try to aim for the same spot each time.

The recoveries should be an easy jog back down the hill until your heart rate and breathing is back under control.

Running uphill has been shown to be very effective at reaching Vo2max intensity as the heart has to work harder to overcome the force of gravity.

– Feel free to carry out your own cooldown. This won’t be included in the 60min session