Distance 24/25 - what to expect
Distance 24/25 - What To Expect
Welcome to everyone new to Sheffield and welcome back to those returning!
I am Sammy, the Distance and Xcountry Coach and this note is meant to give you a flavour of what to expect this coming semester.
Sessions
The club will run sessions most days of the week. I will take interval sessions on a Monday at Western Park at 5.30pm and at Woodburn Road track at 5.45pm on a Wednesday. For weekends where there are no races I will take a hill session at Bingham Park (meet at Endcliffe Parkrun finish) at 10am on Saturday morning.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays there are group runs meeting at Goodwin at 6pm which should be used as recovery runs for those doing the interval sessions.
The Monday and Wednesday sessions are meant to complement each other, so if we do longer reps on a Monday we will usually do shorter ones on a Wednesday and vice-versa.
In each session I will always ask you to jog to warm-up, do some drills, do the session and then a warm down jog and suggest that you stretch when you get home!
If you haven't done this type of training before then it can take a long time to get used to. There is nothing wrong with missing a rep if you need some extra recovery. The aim is to run them all hard but at a similar pace.
As the semester goes on, we will aim to slowly increase the number of reps/intensity over the course of the term as we are aiming at building towards BUCS Xcountry in February. If anyone is interested in also doing 800m/1500m as well as cross country we have a different schedule for a Mon but everything else will be suitable.
I will also suggest sessions for the Christmas vacation and the January exam period leading up to BUCS Cross country in early February as a lot of people may not be in Sheffield over that period.
Everyone will have differing reasons for coming to training and will have differing plans as to their goals and limits on the number of times they can train in a week. It is definitely not compulsory to come to every session. In fact, if you are new to these types of sessions, I would probably suggest only going to one of Mon/Weds a week and go to the Sat session too to start with.
I will create a spreadsheet with the planned sessions for Mon, Weds and Sat in 4 week blocks, if people want access to this then email me on s.n.rashid@sheffield.ac.uk.
Recovery
As an athlete, my philosophy was to have a relatively easy day on the day after a hard interval session/hard run/race. So, if I were doing both the Mon and Weds sessions, I would use the Tuesday and Thursday group runs just as recovery and take it relatively easy. The body needs to recover after a hard session of any kind. Similarly, I would never personally do a hard session on a Mon after racing on a Sunday. All of you will need to think of other training you are doing in a week too (whether it be long or short easy runs or a hard long run). If you are someone who runs most days (or every day), I would always suggest having at least one rest day in the week.
Diet is important too. I would also make sure that you stretch after any exercises and get a massage regularly or at least invest in a foam roller so you can self-massage. I also used to make sure I did some kind of resistance training (eg a weights session or a circuit session once a week) and also a yoga or a Pilates class. All of this aims to minimise the risk of injury. I would never run hard with a niggle as it could lead to more serious problems. Wearing the right running shoes which are not too old also is essential to prevent injury.
Races
As a club we enter a lot of cross country races, with a lot of opportunity to have a go if you are new to it. For cross country the South Yorkshire League is a good way of trying it out as it is fairly relaxed/low key (there are 4 races). The university relays in Manchester and Leeds are very short 1-2 miles per leg and always good fun with the opportunity of a night out afterwards. The other cross country races are the Northern relays (in Sheffield) and BUCS Xcountry. There is also a Varsity 5k road race and we usually go to the Isle of Man at Easter for a 3 days running festival (3 races in 3 days and a lot of partying) but again we encourage as many people as possible to have a go at all of these.
You will also have the chance to take part in track races. Indoors there are usually 3 events that the Uni take part in, Steel Cup (usually around late Jan early Feb) BUCS (mid Feb) and Varsity (around Easter), all in Sheffield. Outdoors there is BUCS over the 3 days of the first Bank Holiday weekend of May. For those inclined there is a separate 10,000m track championships usually a week or so before BUCS. There are also a lot of general/open indoor and outdoor meetings throughout the academic year and beyond in various locations.
I personally found track racing the most enjoyable part of being an athlete and I would encourage anyone to give it a go. Varsity is an ideal opportunity as we always try to have as many people as possible competing in whatever they want to try (even field events).
Going Forward
I am happy to talk to individuals about their goals and plans or answer any questions. I am also happy to hear any feedback/ideas/criticisms etc.
Whatever your goals, I am hoping the sessions will help improve your running and fitness in general no matter what your background. From experience of being involved with athletics here at university, I know it will take me a few weeks to learn everyone's names so please be patient with me!
Sammy (s.n.rashid@sheffield.ac.uk)