Thursday Session 25/10 – Market Hill, Maldon (No Witham Meet)

23 October 2018 - By David Jobling

This Thursday we are doing hill repetitions at Market Hill, Maldon, reprising a hill session previously proving quite popular with our members.

Please let’s meet 19.30 where we usually do in the Maldon Tesco’s car park by the click and collect point (the far right hand side) for our session introduction after which we’ll head off for a warm up run to Fullbridge Quay (at the bottom of Market Hill) where we’ll run through our dynamic stretches and drills before we kick off the session main part.

The session main part will then last for 30 minutes and consist of athletes running up Market Hill, from our start point at Fullbridge Quay, all the way to the pedestrian crossing at the top where you will ease off/stop, turn around for an initial walk then jog recovery back to the bottom – then go again.

Pacing suggestion is to try and do all the ascending runs at the same effort and even pace, perhaps start off around or just slower than Tuesday night “Tempo Run” pace and vary this depending on how it’s going for you? Maybe pick 2 or 3 of the following technical points to focus on during the session:

1. Run close to upright but with a slight lean from the ankles – this posture helps expand the chest and aids breathing.

2. Speed up and shorten the stride to get up the hill efficiently – kick that back foot forward!

3. Stay efficient by keeping shoulders squared to the hill and not rocking with the effort.

4. And drive those arms to help lift your body and coordinate legs.

A reminder then why we do hill repetitions:

1. It’s “specific strength work”, using the hill to increase strength.

2. It’s easier on joints and connective tissues than similar efforts on flat terrain.

3. It builds “can do” mindset to smash those hilly races and XC’s.

THE OTHER STUFF – we’ll be sharing the footpath with other footpath users so please extend the usual courtesies, it is well lit but please do wear high viz items and it’s always recommended to bring something to drink and clothing layers to stay warm after the session and on your way home – it’s looking colder as the week goes on.

Sasha and I look forward to meeting up with everyone on Thursday – it’s unlikely we’ll be able to take the support buses to base camp so items will be left there pretty much unsupervised. DJ