Your coaching wishes… answered

Hi! I’m Honor, a UK Athletics qualified running coach and the new Training and Development Lead (Head Coach) for Hyde Park Harriers. I love being part of this amazing community and am excited to help all of you reach your running goals.   

A huge thank you to the 59 members who completed the HPH coaching survey. Your responses have been really valuable in shaping upcoming plans.

Here’s what I learnt and what we’ll be implementing…

More structure

A mega 93% of you are working towards a running goal. Some of you with a race goal in mind, and others just wanting to get fitter and faster. 

The survey revealed that the most popular distances are the half marathon and 5k. So we’re introducing two structured training blocks:

1. 5k Training Block (8 weeks, 17th June – 11th August): This will culminate in our track day on 11th August, with the option to race the Evensplits York 5k on 9th August.
2. Half Marathon Training Block (8-9 weeks, 12th August – 6th/13th October): Perfect timing for the Lisbon club trip and other autumn half marathons. This plan will also help those aiming for a PB at the Abbey Dash on 13th October.

Weekly plans will be shared on the HPH Training Pals Facebook page, and our Thursday interval sessions will align with these goals. These plans are suitable for all levels, and our coaches will be there to support you with cheerleading, advice, and accountability!

More speed and strength

Almost 3 quarters of you felt in-person interval sessions help you with your running goals, so Thursday sessions are 100% here to stay. These will continue to alternate between WHM & Track. 

Thursday intervals are going to be improved however to help the 52% of people who wanted more help with strength and the 49% of people who wanted more help with running technique:

• Woodhouse Moor Intervals: Now featuring in-person strength and conditioning (S&C), led by Curtis Broadhead, a fellow UKA qualified coach.
• Track Sessions: These will now include advice on running technique and form, primarily led by me (Honor).

Thursday sessions are suitable for all abilities and will be a good workout even if you’re not following the full training plan. We’ll also be including 1 x suggested S&C workout each week on the Facebook group, that you’ll be able to do at home.

We’re looking for leaders / coaches to support us with these sessions, so please get in touch if you’d like to be involved!

More fun and training friends

Almost half of you wanted to be connected with other Harriers of similar ability to train with, and there were lots of comments about wanting sessions to be more fun.

So starting from 17th June, Thursday sessions will feature more partner work (to help you meet new buddies to train with), as well as more games / challenges.

We’ll also encourage those on the HPH training pals group to leave comments saying when / where they’ll be doing their sessions so you can pair up.

Coming up…

Not working towards a 5K or half marathon?

The structured training blocks for 5k and Half Marathon should suit anyone targeting a 10k too, however for those targeting an autumn marathon, we’ll look at some specific support for you folks, as an add on to the half marathon block in autumn. 

More S&C

Depending on how we get on with WHM intervals and incorporating more S&C into these, we’ll potentially explore a dedicated in-person S&C session.

More Sunday long runs

As part of the half marathon training block in the autumn, we’ll be looking at introducing more Sunday long runs for a range of abilities.

Session pick and mix

Once we get going with the above sessions we’re going to be putting together a few ideas of sessions to have on the HPH website, perfect for when you want a workout but aren’t sure what to do.

I’d love your feedback on these changes and really looking forward to helping you all with your goals. See you on the track soon!

Happy running, 

Honor