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GARVOC export and Commonwealth Games marathon runner VIRGINIA MOLONEY will share a six-week Surf ‘T’ Surf preparation plan with The Standard readers.
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Week four marks the halfway point of the program.
Well done to those who are dedicated and have been following along.
In this week’s sessions, you really should be starting to notice a difference.
It’s around this point in a six-week program that runners start to lose a bit of enthusiasm and momentum.
There are three pieces of advice I can provide you with it.
Firstly, mix it up. Change your running path, the music that you run to, the running gear you train in and the time of day that you run.
“Keep the body guessing” is the line that my ‘instafiance’ Trent uses when he is keen to encourage me to change it up a little, probably so that he is not so bored on the bike!
Changing up your running path or usual routine certainly helps with my second point – keep a positive mindset.
If you are going out for your session and you’re not feeling 100 per cent, don’t stress and talk yourself out of it.
Keep your head and your feet in the same place.
Think about what you are doing now, not how far you have to go or what you’ll feel like in two kilometres’ time.
Think about all the great benefits of training and being in the outdoors.
Thirdly, no surprises here, grab a buddy and have them keep you company.
You could run together or have them support you on the bike.
This makes training far more enjoyable and it keeps you both accountable.
Our favourite way to train is to organise a coffee catch up or brunch afterwards, it feels like a little reward and puts you into a better mindset leading into the session.
For the intermediates this week, I wanted to outline the Mona Fartlek session.
Named after long-running Surf T’ Surf ambassador and Australian running legend Steve Monaghetti, this session caters for all fitness levels and is a great all round workout.
This is a continuous workout. When it says ‘hard’, it means, go fast but stay strong and in control.
When it says ‘float’ this is your time to recover however this is not a slow recovery jog, this is at an easy to slightly faster pace.
The number at the front is the number of repetitions; ie. 2x 90 seconds hard with 90 seconds float means; go hard for 90 seconds, float for 90 seconds, do this twice and without stopping move onto the next layer of the workout. Good luck!!
Shout out this week to Steigen Sport superstar Sally Beggs! Sally is an avid supporter of all community running events and has been involved in many of the Surf Coast Run Series and Surf T’ Surf fun runs!
Sally also sold me my first pair of Steigens which took me to a win in the 2016 Melbourne Marathon – I haven’t worn another brand of sock since! Thanks Sal!
Week four:
Beginners (I rarely run)
Session one: Five-minute walk, 5x 150m-200m jog hill/incline (walk back down), five-minute walk.
Session two: Two-minute walk, 15-minute jog, two-minute walk (three repetitions), finish with a walk.
Session three: 55-minute jog/walk.
Week four:
Intermediate (I run weekly and am trying to improve my 10km time)
Session one: 3km warm up, 6x 200m hill reps (jog back to bottom of hill), 2km warm down.
Session two: Warm up 10 minutes. Mona Fartlek (19 minutes): 2x90 seconds hard with 90 second float, 4x60 seconds hard with 60 second float, 2x 30 second hard with 30 second float, 6x15 seconds hard with 15 seconds float. Cool down 10 minutes.
Session three: 2km warm up, 5km Park Run (or Threshold if you can’t make Park Run – this means you sit just below race pace but you are ‘on your limit’), 5km easy jog post threshold.
Cross train on the in between days and always recover with a small milk and a stretch.