Need an enjoyable 60-minute run workout to make you feel good at season's end? Emma-Kate Lidbury has just the thing…
Equipment needed: run shoes and socks, run shorts and top, watch/heart rate monitor/GPS and water or energy drink.
Try to schedule this session on a day when you won’t have any other intense workouts, so that you’re able to focus on it 100% and achieve maximum gains.
It shouldn’t tax you too greatly, but if you’re sore or tired the next day, avoid any hard running and do a light spin or swim instead.
The feelgood run
Warm-up
10mins steady run, gently building your effort.
Main session
4 x 4min intervals. Progress so that first interval is easy and final one strong. Rest 2mins between each. Then repeat same pace and feeling/perceived effort, but do 4 x 2mins with progression and with 1min rest between. Then 4 x 1min progressed intervals with 30secs rest between. Final rep is always at your ‘feel-good’ fast pace.
Cool-down
8-10mins steady run.
Main benefits
Performance benefits
Learning to progress your effort and pace without the help of a GPS is a great skill to have for racing. If you’re able to control your speed in the early stages of a race, it’ll ensure you always have something left in the latter miles of the run when so many people often struggle or ‘blow up’.
This workout is perfect for helping you hone your own in-built sense of pace and will yield huge benefits come race day.
Mental benefits
As you progress through this workout, you’ll obviously have to progress effort, but try to stay focused on your form as you fatigue. This is great practice for racing and is an important skill to master. Repeat positive mantras and run through a head-to-toe checklist of form cues as you run.
Physiological benefits
This is a great aerobic endurance workout with the focus on perceived effort, form and pace. Progressing effort/pace through intervals 1-4 is a great way to learn how to govern speed early on and then push it later when you’re more fatigued.
The rest intervals allow for just enough recovery for the quality of your workout to remain high, ensuring maximum fitness gains. Try to avoid focusing too heavily on running to a set pace. Instead just run at a speed which is strong, smooth and feels good.
Adapt for Ironman
You could easily increase the number of repetitions across all intervals to five (that is, 5 x 4mins, 2mins, 1min). You might also like to make this the second part of a double run day after an early-morning 40-50min run.