Some hill and speed sessions for you courtesy of Mara Yamauchi

Mara Yamuchi is a two-time Olympian, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and one of the UK's fastest female runners of all time with a personal best of 2:23:12. Her sixth place finish in the 2008 Beijing Olympics is the joint best performance ever by a British woman in the Olympic marathon. She now lives in London and works a writer, commentator and coach

Cross Country – (you could use the hills and fields and path next
to Leisure centre or similar)

Warm up  - Jog and dynamic drills. (For dynamic warm ups and drills - see separate
blog).

The session is then divided into 4 with squats, squat jumps or split-squat jumps in between
each set, alternatively you can use push-ups, burpees or other exercises but do
2 exercises, i.e. 8 of each between each section with no restbetween sections.

1) Long hills Hard (300 metres), jog back down up to x 8.

2) Circuit (approximately 4-600m on grass flat fast)(no rest) X- 6 .

3) Short hills, jog back down, 150 m, x 6.

4) Short sprints approximately 50m x 8 with 8 seconds between each from when last person
finishes. Number of reps can vary according to length of hill/circuit and ability but minimum of 2 is recommended with a maximum of 8.

Don't forget the exercises between each section.

Warm down - jog and static stretching

Track session

Warm up - jog and drills.

Main session:

800m x 2;
600m x 2 (both 5km pace approx);

400m x 2;
200m x 2 (both max effort).

200m jog between each.

For a longer session: add 1000m to start. 

Shorter
session 1: drop 1 x 800m and 1 x 600m.

Shorter session 2: drop 1 of everything

Warm down
- jog and static stretching

Cross Country - you could use the hills and fields and path next to Leisure centre or similar)

Warm up - Jog and dynamic drills. (For dynamic warm ups and drills - see separate blog).

The session is then divided into 4 with squats, squat jumps or split-squat jumps in between each set, alternatively you can use push-ups, burpees or other exercises but do 2 exercises, i.e. 8 of each between each section with no rest between sections.

1) Long hills hard (300 metres), jog back down up to x 8.

2) Circuit (approximately 4-600m on grass flat fast)(no rest) X- 6 .

3) Short hills, jog back down, 150 m, x 6.

4) Short sprints approximately 50m x 8 with 8 seconds between each from when last person finishes. Number of reps can vary according to length of hill/circuit and ability but Mara recommends minimum of 2, max 8.

Don't forget the exercises between each section.

Warm down - jog and static stretching

Track session

Warm up - jog and drills.

Main session:

800m x 2; 600m x 2 (both 5km pace approx);

400m x 2; 200m x 2 (both max effort).

200m jog between each.

For a longer session: add 1000m to start. 

Shorter session 1: drop 1 x 800m and 1 x 600m.

Shorter session 2: drop 1 of everything

Warm down - jog and static stretching