Australian Masters Athletics Championships 2020 Training and Racing Overview

Australian Masters Athletics Championships for me is with runs over four consecutive days with 10000m track, 1500m track, 5000m track and 8000m XC. It will be held in Canberra, my home town. The cross country circuit is across the road from my home. It's a grueling weekend where I will aim to win my age (M55-59) in all four races. Times don't matter. The trickiest race is the 1500m for me. The 2019 championships were cancelled by Covid.

I ran 13km today, the new norm on Friday evening. I'll continue to train high volume, Parkrun on Saturday, a couple of sessions a week (typically 800m efforts with short recovery and leg speed strides), mostly on grass, as many long runs as I can fit in as recovery runs, especially on the weekend. I'll begin track racing again on 28th January and aim to peak for the championships which commence on 5th March. Below a run down of training, racing and resting that usually gets me there uninjured and in great form.

Direct Preparatory Period - Track racing recommences

28th January 1500m Track
30th January Parkrun 5km
2nd February 800m/1500m session
4th February 800m Track race
6th February Parkrun 5km
8th February 800m/1500m session
10th February 1000m Tempo run 3:00-3:10/km
13th February ACT 5000m Track Championships
16th February 800m/1500m session
18th February ACT Masters 800m Track Championships
23rd February Taper Commences (10 days before Championships). Reduce training cumulative volume to 85km/week before Championships commence).
24th February 1500m Track race
27th February Unknown Session, see what I am missing.
2nd March 1000m Tempo run 3:00-3:10/km

Racing Overview - Competition Period Australian Masters Athletics Championships
5th March 10000m AIS track
6th March 1500m AIS track
7th March 5000m AIS track
8th March 8000m XC Stromlo