Training takes place every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:00 pm sharp. We meet from 6:50 pm on and warmup starts at 7:00pm without exception.

Tuesday nights are interval/speedwork session. We meet at the Community College, Naas Road.

Thursday nights are long (4-12miles) or Tempo runs (20-40mins). We meet at the Community College, Naas Road, Blessington.

New members and beginners are most welcome at every training session.

Also, 5k time trials will take place at certain times throughout the year and will be decided upon on an on going basis. We also try to get out in the woods sometimes. Forest trail runs usually take place on certain Sundays depending on numbers instersted during the week.

There are various running levels to deal with so it will be necessary to divide members into groups or packs according to their ability; i.e. beginner/intermediate/advanced. Just because you are part of one group does not mean you are there permanently; moving between packs is recommended and depending on the intensity you want to train at you can move down as well as up.

Fitness tests can/may carried out at regular intervals. These will be optional but recommended as they are a great way of seeing your improvement after all the effort!

Sessions will take the format of: meet and greet; warm up jog; stretching; sport specific training; cool down stretching and depart. It is envisaged that some people within various packs will take on the role of pack leaders and decide on the training session to be undertaken on the night.

Tuesday Session

This is the interval or speedwork session of the week. It will be divided into standard and easy interval. Beginners are not advised to take part in interval training but are welcome to come up and treat it as a Thursday night session. If someone is not feeling up for interval training then a Fartlek session is recommended.  Here are the next few week interval sessions: (Note: these are general session for the club. However, if you are on a different program and targeting a certain race please continue with your schedule).

SESSION EXAMPLES

Notes on pace

When starting off it can be difficult to gauge your own pace but gradually you will get an appreciation for the way your stride should feel when required to travel a 5k, 10k or even mile pace. With the introduction of 5k time trials this year you should get to know your 5k pace quickly and be able to gauge all other paces from that.

Thursday Session

This is a long run of between 4-12 miles or a Tempo/Threshold run of duration 20-30 minutes. Beginners will be instructed in the walk/run schedule and route to take. Due to the dark evenings we are running within the town but as the light increases we will be using country roads. Please wear reflective clothing.

Saturday

Depending on numbers interested durin the week we may meet for a 5K Time Trial.

Sunday

Again depending on numbers the Trail run usually starts 10am. Here is the route, click on the hybrid view to see it properly. Description of trial and directions are on the route link.