NLC COACH MATT LONG TAKES YOU BY THE HAND AND LEADS YOU THROUGH ‘THE STREETS OF LONDON’ PAULA RADCLIFFE STYLE:
In the late 1960’s folk singer Ralph McTell famously penned the lyrics, “Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London, I’ll how you something to make you change your mind”. We very much hope that our session on 28th February 2025 will make you change your mind about the way in which you approach your training.
This session is aptly named after our three-time London Marathon Winner. A former Loughborough graduate who has the stadium in her very name, you will be aware she is a New Levels Coaching Ambassador who launched her Marathon Workshop with NLC at this very location just last month.
The 2005 World Marathon Champion (Helsinki) and former world record holder for the 26.2 mile distance was an ‘aerobic animal’ and you will be effecting a variant of one of her favourite sessions.
At first glance, the session appears deceptively simple. It’s 5 x 6 mins. The fact that (a) the total volume of the session exceeds 30 mins (including recovery) plus the fact that (b) recoveries are active rather than passive, tells us that it is aerobic rather than speed endurance which is being developed. It should be framed as an interval rather than a repetition session because the training stimulus is greatly contributed to by the mode of recovery as well as the ‘efforts’.
When we dig deeper into Paula’s ‘Streets of London’ session, however, we see that the proverbial ‘devil is in the detail’. The first two efforts are to be run @ threshold, which can be measured in RPE terms as 7 out of 10 or what the esteemed coach Jack Daniels called ‘comfortably hard’ – in effect the pace which one could theoretically sustain for one hour. The middle two efforts (3 & 4) are to be effected @ 10k feel pace or 8 out of 10 in RPE terms. Correspondingly the 5th and final effort is to be effected @ 5k feel pace or 9 out of 10 RPE.
So when reflecting on the above it’s clear that this mode of session has a progressive element. You are effectively moving through not one, not two but three gears rather than running at the same pace. It is because each effort (7, 8 or 9 out of 10 RPE) has a slightly different energy system contribution that the training effect will be greater than operating at a single pace.
So why did Paula use the above mode of training when she achieved the zenith of her fame as a marathon runner? The answer is that before her successes over 26.2 miles she became world class at the shorter distances namely 10,000m and 5,000m. She won a World Championship silver over the 25 lap distance in Seville in 1999 and three years later turned this into a European gold in Munich in the same year where she took gold in the Manchester Commonwealth Games over the 5k distance.
We mentioned earlier that this is an interval rather than a repetition session because we want you to be active rather than passive in your recoveries. Speed endurance work ordinarily means short repetitions with relative long passive recoveries. As this is an aerobic endurance session with long 6 minute efforts we want shorter recoveries but for them to be when you are effecting efforts @ threshold (7 out of 10 RPE) or 10k (8 out of 10 RPE) paces. So after the first and second efforts we want you to ‘float’ (slightly faster than a jog). After the third and fourth efforts @ 8 out of 10 RPE (10k feel pace) we want you to regress to a jog as the pace becomes a little more challenging. So it’s a little bit like a pendulum in that as the pace of the efforts progresses, correspondingly the pace of the recoveries regresses.
How can the Paula Radcliffe ‘Streets of London’ session be diversified?
You don’t have to operate @ threshold, 10k or 5k feel paces. If you are training for a marathon for example you could cover efforts over marathon, half marathon and threshold efforts for a progressive session for example. On the other hand if you are training to run a course best at parkrun, you could operate @ 5k, 3k and one mile feel paces.
Breaking progressive work into distinctive efforts may serve as a ‘bridger’ to being able to effect a continuous progression run where one moves through the proverbial gears without needing a float or jog recovery. This of course is considerably demanding so its best progressive intervals are used before one earns the right to progress in this sense.
What common mistakes should I look to avoid with the Paula Radcliffe ‘Streets of London’ session?
- ‘Overcooking’ the first two efforts. It takes discipline to hold back to a 7 out of 10 RPE efforts when you are fresh, motivated and with the adrenaline running. You have to hold back or you will find yourself in ‘top gear’ with little room for accelerative progression.
- Obsessing about how far you’ve covered on Strava for the entire session. If you are hell bent on doing this you will probably run all five efforts @ the same pace and yes you will run further than you would compared to gently moving through the gears, but be warned that the training effect will not be as great.
- ‘Cheating’ on the recoveries by jogging when you should be ‘floating’ and walking when you should be jogging. This means you will cover less cumulative volume for the session and once again the training stimulus will not be as great because you are behaving as if it’s a speed endurance session.
This article is written by NLC Coach Matt Long.
