The Next Step After 5k

Have you completed the club beginners’ programme or are otherwise able to run 5k?Want to run faster and further?

Improvers will be restarting on Monday 8 January meeting at 10am. This course will aim to progress Eagles from running 5.5k to running Richmond Park 10k on Saturday 10 March and to provide an introduction to speed work. There is no requirement to attend all the sessions but you will make most progress if you do and you will also be expected to do “homework” outside the Monday sessions if you wish to take part in a training plan for 10k. The length of the sessions will necessarily depend on the distance being run that day but you should allow from about an hour to 1 ½ hours. The sessions will move around depending on the focus of the session but the first session will meet at Ealing Green. (Daytime runners not intending to follow a training programme or already able to run 10k are welcome to join us for any of the sessions; details of individual sessions will be advertised each week.)

As discussed in a separate article, we are hoping to offer a continuous run at 11am on Thursdays after beginners and this could provide a second run in a 10k daytime training plan.

For those who can’t make daytime sessions, there are plenty of training sessions going on in the evenings. All sessions are open to everyone in the club. The sessions that appear to be hardcore – intervals, track and hills – are, in practice, more beginner-friendly because everyone stays in the same place so there is no worry about getting lost. For those who still feel a bit daunted, Starter sessions will be offered on an ad hoc basis to introduce you to the options available. A provisional programme is set out below – all meeting times at 7.30pm.

Wed 10 January Starter short club run (meeting at Ealing Green for anyone who isn’t feeling confident after the holiday break)

Wed 17 January Starter hill strides (meeting at Ealing Green but then going to the area near the Town Hall and using either the bridge to do some short sharp hill strides after appropriate warm-up and drills to prepare to do hills)

Wed 24 January Starter speedplay (meeting at Ealing Green and using the short club run with little bits of running at faster pace so that you learn to run at more than one pace)

Wed 31 January Starter long club run (meeting at Ealing Green and reassuring you that you can have a go at doing the long club run)

Thu 8 Feb Starter hills – meeting at Haven Green to go to West Walk

Tue 20 February Starter track – meeting at Osterley track

There will be informal workshops for those people who would like to work out how to put all these sessions together to make a training plan for Richmond Park 10k https://thefixevents.com/run-richmond-park-5k-and-10k-race-4 on Saturday 10 March 2017. These informal workshops will be offered at the following times:

11am Monday 8 January (after the Improvers’ session)

8.30pm Wednesday 10 January (after the Starter session / club run)

12noon Thursday 11 January (after first daytime run)

In addition, we will probably offer a 10k dress rehearsal along the river to Chiswick Bridge and back on Saturday 3 March meeting at 9.45am to start running at 10am.

If you’ve already done a few short club runs or parkruns and are free on Wednesday evenings or Thursday mornings, then the combination of beginners and a club or daytime run can also help to extend your distance.