Thursday Evening Training Recap

Interval training with 100% Fitness

On Thursday evenings I join a running group called 100% Fitness which is run by a lovely lady called Gemma. Gemma was recently training for a body building event and despite it being her first ever event she was placed and then found herself invited to compete in Greece. She is totally dedicated to both her fitness and healthy eating lifestyle and is such an inspiration to those who train with her.

My Thursday evening running trainer
has earned a place on Team Hercules UK

Last week we had interval training.

• warm up
• training session
• warm down
• recap

Warm up

Gemma made us almost shuffle along to the rugby field where we were to start but first we had spent a few minutes stretching whilst the training that evening was explained. Once we were at the field we were to run around its perimeter at about 70% effort.

A new venue for training

Training session

Our interval training was also pyramid training and we had to form a team of two and run to first of four markers and back. Then the next runner would do the same whilst runner one did star jumps or jogging on the sport. Then runner one would run to the second marker and back. The second runner would do the same and so on until all four markers had been run. Then we had to do the same starting with a run to the fourth marker working back down to one. We had to do this at 70% effort and the last at 90%. 

Once a team had finished then we would would do the same on a smaller grid on our own (not as a team) whilst we waited for everyone to finish the pyramids.

Warm down

Our warm down was another very slow jog back to our meeting point and there we did some stretching.

Another very warm evening
I must remember insect repellant next time!

Recap

I usually have one or two friends with me on these sessions and it was very tempting to stay at home as they were not going. However, I am working on consistency and am not going to let excuses get in the way. I was glad I did this as I really enjoyed the session and had these things in mind:

• I tried to be realistic and look for small improvements and try not to go mad and over do things.
• I tried to focus on the exercises as we did them and not on an outcome.
• I listened to Gemma's advice and tried to do as she asked.
• I looked for what worked for me and improved on that.

I could not run as fast as some which was fine. My effort had to be at a lower level, about 70%, because I recognised it would be a long and hard session and I know from experience I need to pace myself. I did push when we were told to and I was happy with the effort I was able to achieve.

I found the jog to and from the training very hard as it is difficult to go slowly and it needs much more effort but it made sense given how much work we were to get through that evening.

A tough evening's work

The aim of the training was to help increase our speed which would also help us when racing. 

An excellent evenings work thanks to Gemma and her patient training.