[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_toggle title=”More about Andy Vernon” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n
Andy Vernon\u00a0is a British\u00a0long-distance runner\u00a0who specialises in the\u00a05000 metres, the\u00a010,000\u00a0metres\u00a0and\u00a0Cross Country running. Vernon competed at the\u00a02016 Summer Olympics In Rio De Janeiro\u00a0in the\u00a0men\u2019s 10,000\u00a0metres. He has also competed in two\u00a0Commonwealth Games (2010 and 2014) a\u00a0World Indoor Championship (2014), six\u00a0World Cross Country Championships (2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011), ten European Cross Country Championships (2005-2013 and 2016) winning medals at four of these championships. Vernon also won a Silver medal over 10,000m and a Bronze medal over 5,000m at the\u00a0European Athletics Championship (2014)\u00a0and a Gold medal in the 5,000m at the summer University Games (2011). This is in addition to more than 30 National titles.<\/p>\n
Vernon also boasts an impressive range of Personal bests of 1500m: 3:42, 3000m: 7:45, 5000m: 13:11, 10,000m: 27:42, 10 Miles: 48:09 and Half Marathon: 62:46. He currently competes for\u00a0Aldershot, Farnham & District AC.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n
Whilst following this training program it is important to understand a few rules to get the most out of the training you put in.<\/p>\n
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- Any day that is just listed as a run for x amount of time is simply a very easy and light run. You should be able to hold a good conversation while doing your easy run and you should always be able to run a bit further if you had to. This type of run is often referred to as \u2018junk mileage\u2019 but when training, no mile is a junk mile. Every mile you run serves a purpose and will help you improve endurance and strength while also helping you recover for the next hard day.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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- The warm ups and warm downs should be treated exactly like the steady easy running days. They are simply to get the body moving and warmed up prior to starting something faster.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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- There should be a considerable change in pace between your warm ups\/downs, recoveries and easy running and anything faster. If you can\u2019t pick the pace up for a threshold run or a session rep then you are doing the easy running too fast. It is extremely important that you have a change in pace when required. A one-minute rep should be faster than a five-minute rep. If you start doing everything at the same pace, you will find it very hard to get faster.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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- Anything listed as @ TP means at threshold pace. This is the training designed to increase your aerobic capacity and improve your lactic curve. Anything with this should be done at 80-85% of you maximal effort; you should be able to talk in 3-4 words at a time. If in doubt it\u2019s always better to go slightly slower than too fast but make sure it is faster than your easy running.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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- Remember that this is a guide and not gospel. If you need to change days around, take an extra day off or two due to tiredness, fatigue or injury than do so. If you need to shorten a run or would like to lengthen a run as you go a long then please do but don\u2019t stray too far from the program if you don\u2019t have to. It has been put together to steadily increase mileage and intensity in a structured way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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- Good luck in achieving your goals and enjoy getting fit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_toggle title=”Phase 1 – Introduction to Running” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n
If you currently do none or very little running then you can\u2019t jump in at the deep end. Running is very strenuous on the muscles, bones and joints and doing too much too quickly is likely to result in injury.\u00a0You need to condition your body to withstand the stresses and strains it will be put under during training. Thankfully though, the human body is pretty resilient and very adaptable and by following these guidelines you should feel ready to progress on to the next phase comfortably.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.leedsrunningfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/10k-Plan-Phase-1.png\")
<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle title=”Phase 2 – Building Aerobic Capacity” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n
Aerobic Capacity put simply is the amount of oxygen the body can utilise per minute during exercise. The more oxygen your body can breathe in and send to the working muscles, the more efficient you will become allowing your muscles to work longer before fatiguing. This phase is fairly simple, you lengthen your runs and you work at your \u2018aerobic threshold\u2019 but the science behind it is not so simple. See below for more info.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.leedsrunningfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/10k-Plan-Phase-2.png\")
<\/p>\nWhat is aerobic threshold? I hear you ask. Well I\u2019ll tell you. Aerobic threshold (sometimes called lactic threshold or tempo running) is a given pace or effort that one can exercise at (in our case run) where the body is at its limit (or threshold) before the onset of lactic acid occurs. Typically this is around 80%-85% of your maximal heart rate and is completely individual as every ones physiology is different. There is a fine line between running at your aerobic threshold and being slightly over. If you\u2019re unsure it\u2019s always better to play it safe and run a bit slower than go too fast and blow up. It\u2019s actually very important that you don\u2019t go too fast as this is a very specific type of training with an outcome that will only work if its done correctly. The idea of it is to increase the bodies\u2019 capacity to working at this effort in order to run further distances, at faster speeds but still staying under that magic threshold effort where you don\u2019t build up the dreaded lactic acid. This will ultimately be just faster than the pace you should try to run your marathon at.<\/p>\n
Humans have three energy systems that we can use to exercise: aerobic, anaerobic and neuromuscular. Aerobic is working with oxygen and is used for endurance exercise (typically 10,000m and longer), anaerobic works without oxygen and is used for middle distance events (typically 800m-3000m) while neuromuscular is used for sprinting and power events. The 5000m require both a big aerobic capacity and lots of lactic tolerance, which makes this event very hard to train for at the highest level. If you watch professionals run a 10,000m race, it will generally be run at a medium pace and then they will sprint or \u2018kick\u2019, the reason they are able to kick is because they have only been using their aerobic system and not built up any lactic acid. When the end is near and the athletes start to sprint, the body automatically switches over to the anaerobic system. Often the winner is the person who has the highest tolerance to lactic acid or the one who was working within their aerobic system for the longest. The guys who cant kick will have already been running too fast for their ability and would have converted over to their anaerobic system long before the sprint finish begins. The 800m, on the other hand is very different. This race is run completely with the anaerobic system so this event becomes not about who has the fastest kick but who slows down the least. Often in this event every 200m split is slower than the previous. If you\u2019ve ever wondered why the last lap in the 5,000m or 10,000m is often faster than that of a 1500m it\u2019s all to do with the physiological systems the events require.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle title=”Phase 3 – 10k Training” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n
Now that we have a pretty big aerobic base to work from we can now start to implement 10k\u00a0specific training. This will be a mixture of steady running, sessions and long runs building up in either intensity or volume week on week to prepare your body to withstand 10k. It will be key to listen to your body during this phase as it\u2019s the hardest and longest phase of the program. If something starts hurting and you have to miss a day or change things round a bit then by all means do it. Remember that this is just a guide and is not gospel. Missing a few days\u00a0won\u2019t make much difference over a 10 week period but don\u2019t make the mistake of trying to make the training back up if you do have to miss some training though.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.leedsrunningfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/10k-Plan-Phase-3.png\")
<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle title=”Phase 4 – Taper” _builder_version=”3.18.4″]<\/p>\n
This is the best part of the schedule, this is where we start getting the body ready to race. In this phase the training will slowly start to trickle down and rest up so you\u2019re\u00a0ready to hit the race hard.<\/p>\n
- Good luck in achieving your goals and enjoy getting fit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Remember that this is a guide and not gospel. If you need to change days around, take an extra day off or two due to tiredness, fatigue or injury than do so. If you need to shorten a run or would like to lengthen a run as you go a long then please do but don\u2019t stray too far from the program if you don\u2019t have to. It has been put together to steadily increase mileage and intensity in a structured way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Anything listed as @ TP means at threshold pace. This is the training designed to increase your aerobic capacity and improve your lactic curve. Anything with this should be done at 80-85% of you maximal effort; you should be able to talk in 3-4 words at a time. If in doubt it\u2019s always better to go slightly slower than too fast but make sure it is faster than your easy running.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- There should be a considerable change in pace between your warm ups\/downs, recoveries and easy running and anything faster. If you can\u2019t pick the pace up for a threshold run or a session rep then you are doing the easy running too fast. It is extremely important that you have a change in pace when required. A one-minute rep should be faster than a five-minute rep. If you start doing everything at the same pace, you will find it very hard to get faster.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- The warm ups and warm downs should be treated exactly like the steady easy running days. They are simply to get the body moving and warmed up prior to starting something faster.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.leedsrunningfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/10k-Plan-Phase-4.png\")