Tuesday Interval Sessions at the Dome
On Tuesday evenings we are hosting an interval session for distance runners along the flat and fast riverside path near the O2 (formerly known as "The Dome") on the Greenwich peninsula.
Coaching is by Karen Hancock and Malcolm Hinsley, assisted by Andy Reeves and John Cullinane.
Over the winter the session will be at lactate threshold (LT) pace. From mid-February, we pick up the pace to help Spring marathon-runners sharpen up their speed, and in the summertime we focus on race distances up to 10k.
Where and when?
We meet at 7:00pm prompt at the David Beckham Football Academy on East Parkside and the session finishes by 8:00pm. Please arrive ready to run and make sure to bring your own stopwatch. A stopwatch with a multiple lap timer would be ideal for our sessions. See the Dome page for further details. Please book online if you would like to attend, as we need to limit numbers of health and safety reasons. The sessions have become very popular, and we only take bookings up to 7 days before each session; no block booking is allowed. Please remove your name if you change your plans to free up your spot for others.
Who are the sessions for?
The sessions are targeted at endurance runners and triathletes who take part in running events throughout the year on any type of surface. Ideally, you should have built up a good base of stamina and endurance before you start to introduce faster-paced work. LT work is the best form of speed training to do over the winter to supplement your aerobic conditioning work before you start to sharpen up your speed after the New Year in preparation for your spring target races. If you are in doubt, get in touch with Karen or Malcolm.
What is the format of the sessions?
The sessions last one hour and consist of a 1/2-mile jog warm-up, around 30-40 minutes'-worth of repetitions, and a cool-down 1/2 mile jog. Because of time constraints we cannot include work on technique/drills. We cover around 6 miles in total in these sessions (including warm-up/cool-down). Future sessions are shown below.
The purpose of the sessions in winter is to increase your lactate threshold – i.e. the pace at which you start to experience accumulation of lactate in your tissues. Push up your LT and you will find your race pace at all distances from 10k and upwards improves (when combined with improving your endurance). An additional benefit of the sessions is that they teach you good pace judgement.
How do I know what my lactate threshold pace is now?
There are 3 ways:
By perceived effort:
"A hard but sustainable effort" – about the level of effort you would expect in a race lasting about 60 mins (between 10 mile and 10k pace for most people). It should feel "comfortably hard", but you need to concentrate to keep it going.
By Heart Rate Monitor:
Most people's LT if they have a good endurance base will be in the region of 85-90% of their Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) pace. Less well-trained runners will find their LT nearer to 80% of their MHR.
From a recent race performance:
If you use a Garmin or other SDM for training, you can be more precise about the pace you need to achieve in these sessions by putting a recent race performance into a calculator: the pace you want is described as "tempo intervals."
Late Summer Sessions
After the club's Grand Prix series we change our focus back to longer races, the main event being St Neots half marathon on 16 Nov. Sessions are based on lactate threshold, and on the way we have half an eye on the Middlesex 10k (like St Neots, a club championship race) and also the Cabbage Patch 10. Despite being based on LT some of these sessions will be quite hard and are aimed at regulars, newer runners are encouraged to feel good about cutting the session short if that is appropriate.
There will be a short warm up - if you need 20 mins of preparation then please arrive early.
Please make sure you know what your current pace per mile is at 10m, 10k, or 5k before coming to the sessions. If you are not sure, put a recent race performance into the calculator above and check what it predicts for you over those distances per mile. Please email either or both of us if you have any questions.
Sessions may be varied on the day depending on circumstances.
| Date | Session |
| 05 Aug 2008 |
2x1K, 2x1M, 2x2K (75 sec) |
| 12 Aug 2008 |
3x2M (1:40) |
| 19 Aug 2008 | 5-6x1M (75sec) |
| 26 Aug 2008 |
2x2M (1:40), 2x 1k(60 sec) |
| 02 Sep 2008 |
2x2K, 2x 1M, 2x1K, (75 sec) @LT/10k/5K |
| 09 Sep 2008 |
6-8x10k (60 sec) |
| 16 Sep 2008 | 2x1k,2x1m,2x2k (60,70,75 sec) |
| 23 Sep 2008 |
3x2m (90 sec) |
| 30 Sep 2008 | 5-6x1m (70 sec) |
| 07 Oct 2008 |
2x2.5m, 2x1m (1:40 sec, 60 sec) |
| 14 Oct 2008 |
2x2m,2x1m,2x1k (75 sec) @LT,LT,10k |
| 21 Oct 2008 |
6-8x1k (60 sec) |
| 28 Oct 2008 |
6x1m (80,70,60 sec in pairs) |
| 04 Nov 2008 | 2x2.5m, 2x 1m (90,60 sec) |
| 11 Nov 2008 |
2x1m,2x 1K, 2x 800 (60 sec) @LT,10k, 5K |
| 18 Nov 2008 |
6-8x1k (60sec) |
| 25 Nov 2008 |
5-6x1m (60 sec) |