Threshold Session 20/12/06

Second hard session of the week on Wednesday, done with club mates. If you are a relative beginner you should only be doing two of these a week (a long run also counts as a 'hard' session as well).

The threshold session lasted for 6.5 miles and took 55 minutes with an average heart rate (HR) of 156bpm. A threshold session is where you work as close as possible to your anaerobic threshold level, which for me is the border between hard and moderate. At this intensity you should be able to do about 40 minutes to an hour and is less taxing on your body than a hard interval session (see blog below). It trains your body to work at higher intensities without putting a great deal of pressure on your muscles and frame.

After a good warm up I upped the intensity to about 170bpm and kept it there for about 35 minutes. The route included two big hills and some good flat sections to get the legs ticking over. A warm down followed and then a well earned trip to the local pub with club mates!

If you are clocking up the miles and looking towards a 10k, half marathon or marathon in the spring, think about introducing some speed work sessions as described in the last two blogs. This will help you up your race pace and teach your body to cope with higher intensities. You can work using a heart rate monitor, or simply base your efforts on speed. With an interval session you will be running close to sprinting in the hard repetitions (at a speed in which you could maintain for about 10 minutes maximum) and then slightly slower in the 'rest' repetitions. The 'rest' should be at threshold pace - a speed in which you could keep up for about fourty minutes to an hour. You should be absolutely knackered by the end of a hard interval session.

I've been doing both an interval and a threshold session for a month now and I've really noticed the difference. I've entered the Wokingham Half in February, so we shall see how much I can improve my PB of 1hr42.

For some good honest information on training for various distances go here.

Happy Christmas everyone!