5km Hill Time Trial #1

Your Week 4 Wednesday session is a 5km hill time trial. This is a maximum effort session where you are trying to push yourself hard.

While there are plenty of benefits to this session you do want to look after yourself as you head back down the hill.

Remind yourself of these downhill technique tips: Lean forward, fast turn over and don't over stride. By doing these things you will decrease the impact on your body and you will also run faster coming down hill. 
 

We are looking forward to this time trial, it's one of those times where you are going to be huffing and puffing ;-) 

Week 4 Sessions

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• Monday 12 July, 6.10am
  Meeting Point: South Hagley Park 
  Map of Meeting Point: Netball Courts
  HIIT/Track Session
  
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• Wednesday 14 July, 6.00am
  Meeting Point: Outside Zeroes Cafe, 81 Cashmere Road
  5km Hill Time Trial
  Course Map: Click here
  
  You will do a short, flat out and back warm up before you start
  your time trial. It is an out and back course, run to 2.5km marker,
  turnaround and reverse the course.
  
  Time yourself and record at the end, we do this again in Week 8.

5km Time Trial Course Map
Click image to view

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• Saturday 17 July, 7.30am
  Meeting Point: Heathcote Domain, Port Hills Road side by the toilets
  Course Map: Click here

Course Description 90mins with pace work:

• From Heathcote Domain, run down Bridle Path Road to Main Road.
  Use the pedestrian lights to cross over onto the Coastal Pathway. 

• Continue along the Coastal Pathway towards Sumner until your turnaround time:
  = 45mins

• If you get to the end of the Causeway at Sumner, this is the furthest point on the course. Turnaround and head back to the start. If you have time left on your watch, do an out and back at the end. 
   

Note: You will see our other teams on the Coastal Pathway who have a different meeting point. You are running to time so disregard the KM markers on this course - they are there for our other teams. 

Course Map:
Click on image to enlarge

Education

How to race a hill race

With the 5km Time Trial on Wednesday we thought some tips on how to race a hill race would be useful.

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Tackling hills during races or important workouts can be daunting. It’s easy to ruin your race by wasting too much energy grinding up a hill or lose big chunks of time by slowing the pace too much.

To handle hills effectively in races, learn to run up and down them by effort, not pace. When you approach the base of a hill, you should already have a good feel for the effort you’re maintaining to keep the pace you need. So if you’re running goal race pace already, you should already know what that pace “feels” like. So, when you begin to ascend up the hill, focus on maintaining the same effort. Obviously, your actual pace will slow even though you’re running the same effort (don’t worry, you’ll make the time up on the downhill). The exact time you’ll “lose” on the uphill will be a function of the steepness and length of the hill.

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When you get to the top of the hill and begin the descent, simply maintain the same effort that it took to run your goal pace before you began up the hill. Applying the same effort will now make your pace faster than goal pace. For the most part, this will largely negate most of the time you lost going uphill and you’ll reach the bottom still on target.

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The secret behind this strategy is that by maintaining a consistent effort, you won’t lose crucial energy pushing either up or down the hill. Instead of becoming an energy sapping obstacle, the hill will be just another bump in the road and you’ll be able to maintain your pace and stay strong over the remainder of the course.
 

By improving your form and implementing this simple strategy, you’ll be able to conquer hills of all lengths and inclines. 

Other News

• Warm Gear: Make sure you have warm gear for before, during and after your session. Stack the cards in your favour to get your sessions in. Gloves, hats and thermals are key at this time of year. 
   

• Please read these newsletters each week as they contain important information you need for the week ahead ;o)

Inspiration

Winter can be the most beautiful time of year to go running. It may be more difficult and discouraging but the silence is deeper, the views are incredible and the feeling afterwards makes it 100% worth it.