Get in Gear

By Simon Loughran - UK Athletics Coach in Running Fitness (CiRF) and Athletics Coach

A great session for hitting a range of paces
Works endurance, acceleration and speed
Works well on the running track, on the road and in parks

Get in Gear is a great session for subjecting yourself to different paces while also getting a quality workout.

The Session

Find a section of road, grass or track about 600m–800m in length and note the following gears:

Gear 1: Jogging (taking it nice and easy)
Gear 2: Moderate Running (about the pace you could maintain for 45 minutes to an hour in a race)
Gear 3: Hard Running (about the pace you could maintain for 15-20 minutes in a race)
Gear 4: Fast Running (about the pace you could maintain for a minute or two in a race)

Start running in gear 1 and at roughly regular intervals progress to the next gear. So, you're simply progressing through the gears. When you get to the end take a two-minute recovery and then repeat.

Perform 4–6 sets of these, with a two-minute recovery between each.

Variations

Block Changes

To mix things up a bit, vary the order of the gears after the first couple of reps. For example, you could start with gear 3, then slow right down to gear 1 before blasting out a section in gear 4 then staying strong in gear 2 until the end of the session.

Freedom

You can devise any mixed-pace session (such as a fartlek) using gears as an alternative to pace or intensity.

The session is best performed on a loop so you can start, finish and rest at the same point.

For even more variety and speed try adding a five-second sprint (a fifth gear) to the very end of each section.

Since the session includes some pretty speedy running it's important to warm up well. Including a few strides at the end of your warm-up is a good idea. And remember to cool down afterwards.