This Saturday you are all doing an 8k run, for some it's about intensity, for others it's about duration. In this week's education we share how you should plan a run when you are trying for higher intensity.
 

The First Third: Before you even start you need to make sure you have a good warm up. Once you start your run you are focusing on trying to find your rhythm. It's important that you don't go out too hard, if we are thinking of the scale of 1-10 for intensity you want to be sitting on around 7.5/10. This is just a little bit harder than your normal running speed.
 

The Second Third: This section is all about control. If you are feeling great try to increase your speed but you only want to look for a small increase. A good question to ask yourself is 'can I increase my speed by 5%?'. The aim is to pick up your pace a little bit but not go too hard too early. Now you are working at 8/10 where you know you are working but you feel you could maintain it for a long time. You couldn't have a conversation at this time. 
 

The Last Third: Now you are aiming to push hard, you are trying to work in an uncomfortable place. The breathing will be up and you will be experiencing discomfort. The key in this time is to focus on small targets in front of you, look ahead and see a visual point that you can focus on. As you get closer to the end you keep building your pace, it's really important at this time that you keep focusing on your technique, your body will be tiring so your technique focus will help you keep your speed up. Once you see the finish push as hard as you can right through to the last step!
 

Have a think about your approach for this Saturday before the run and then run smart.