Speed Endurance is established in various ways. Some sessions are on the track covering further distances than a race, for example a 200m sprinter running 250m – 300m. We however love to also get off the track and onto the trails to get in the countryside and enjoy the twists and natural challenges that trails offer. In winter we use various woodland areas and hills. Corstorphine Hill is a favourite. This session differs from the traditional runs up and down a short section of a single hill (that’s just gets dull). We instead go from the bottom of the hill to the top. Around 1 mile in length we run for 20-60 seconds and then stop, get 1 minute recovery and go again. Every rep changes as it is uphill, downhill or on the flat. Underfoot also changes every time so the athlete is adapting which is all great work for the joints.
We do similar in woodlands where we run round a loop for similar length of time, get 1 minute recovery and then repeat. Woodlands used are, Townhill or Duloch in Dunfermline, Valleyfield Woods near High Valleyfield or Bluebell Woods in Rosyth.
In summer we still get onto the trails but sprint flat out round them. Townhill Woods is the best for this as it has a perfect loop with 4 runs per loop. This time we still run similar lengths but if it is 20-30 seconds we get 5 minutes rest after and if it is a longer rep we get 7 minutes rest after. The loops vary in distance from short to long so it is well mixed up.
