Improve Your Running Course

We will be launching our Improve Your Running Courses in January 2023With this course you will work through a 9 week series meeting each week and will graduate with a 5k at Milton Keynes parkrun.

This course is for those who have maybe completed beginners before and can run for about 20 minutes (at any pace before the course starts) but who would like to improve their running. It will follow a similar style to the beginner’s course building up each week, but it will start with longer intervals from the outset. There will be an introduction to some speed work, but this is not the focus of the course. As part of the course there will be homework requirements and prior to the start of the course we will ask you for a benchmark running time.

All the courses the club offers are very popular so prior to booking your space we ask for the following commitment from you:

  • You will need to be able to attend all nine sessions to ensure that you achieve the greatest possible result. You will be able to manage your work and personal commitments to ensure full attendance.
  • You undertake to complete two homework sessions per week (in addition to the weekly group session) and understand that it is important to spread these sessions evenly throughout the week to allow sufficient recovery and prevent injury. You understand that to see improvement in running it is necessary to commit to a regular running routine of around 3 sessions per week
  • You will submit a benchmark time showing how far you can run in 10 minutes prior to the start of the course, you can then repeat this at the end of the course to track your improvement

As a guide if you can already complete a comfortable sub 30 minute parkrun we would suggest looking at other courses. If you wish to work on speed or specific distances, please look at the details of other courses that are launching in January a Need for Speed course and Beginners courses. You should only book one course.

If you are an existing runner and don’t want to commit to a specific course then a weekly club run may be a better option for you. Why not try out some runs in our Run Schedule.

The 5k graduation will be a chance to see how your running has improved before perhaps moving on to other courses the club has to offer and runs in the club or maybe to running longer distances.

You’ll need to be a member of Redway Runners to participate in our Improvers’ course, annual membership is just £5 and can be completed online. Check out our Join page for all the details.

To book a place sign in to your Redway Runners Love Admin account, then go to ‘Events’ tab at the top and find ‘Improve Your Running Courses January 2023’ and book a place.

If you are a beginner then check our beginners courses, click here

We are also offering a ‘Need for Speed’ course to improve 5K times, click here

To ensure you get the latest information about our courses, please sign up to our club newsletter


NEXT COURSES START January 2023

The January 2023 course will work to ‘Graduating’ at the free Milton Keynes 5K parkrun at 9am on Saturday 11 March 2023 (so keep this morning free when you book). Latest date for ordering club standard kit for this graduation will be 12 February 2023.

About the Courses:

Course Number 7
Course Leads Becky C/Ian P
Day Wednesday
First Week 11th January 2023
Start time 6.30 pm
Meeting Area Woughton Leisure Centre, Leadenhall
What3words Liability.cycles.smiles
Number of spaces 35

FAQs

The course runs for 9 weeks, and you’ll need to commit to attending each week and doing two ‘extra’ sessions as homework. You’ll also commit to undertaking the free Milton Keynes parkrun for the final graduation run.

The club has an under 18s group with an experienced coach who will use age appropriate distances for under 16s wanting to run. If you do decide you would like to bring your under 16 to a beginners or run with the club please check that the run lead is happy to take them before the run.

Both people need to join and register in their own name, so we know who we have on our courses

It is always best to attend the first week as we cover a lot of general information about the course, but if you really cannot attend the first session still register for the first session, then come along week two and make sure you introduce yourself to the run leader before the start of the run

Yes – we successfully completed our first Improvers course in January 2022, and further courses have run since then. The name has changed to “Improve your Running” but this is still the same overall course

The course is aimed at those who have done beginners before and can currently run for about 20 minutes or run a 5K like parkrun in over 30 minutes. If you are an existing runner and have previously completed a comfortable sub 30 minute 5K run, our other runs/courses would be better, have a look at our weekly runs

We suggest you should be able to run for about 20 minutes (at any pace) to join the course. The aim is to work on improving running. You will still work at your own pace and build up gradually. Please note that there should be no medical reason which would make running dangerous for you and if in doubt please ask your GP before attending

Everyone can run at their own pace, starting off with a warm up and then moving into a mixture of running and walking that will build up over the course

The sessions are usually measured over time rather than distance and the run/walk intervals build up following a plan to prepare you for the 5km parkrun at the end. In some cases participants may end up running further than 5km but there is no set distance target other than the 5k parkrun

No the aim of the course is to improve, this could mean different things to different people. There is no pace or distance target other then completing the 5k graduation parkrun at the end of the course. If you wish to focus specifically on speed or distance please consider Need for Speed or Moving on Up Courses

 

The course is 9 weeks, and about an hour each week. To get the most out of this course, you need to be able to set aside a couple more 1-hour sessions per week, but hopefully the running bug will last a lifetime!!

The course is free, but to take part you need to be a Redway Runners member, membership is just £5 and lasts to the 31 March

A pair of running trainers, some comfortable trousers, a drink and a stopwatch if you have one. If the weather is bad you will need appropriate clothing to keep you warm/dry.

For courses taking place in the evenings during October to February, you are strongly advised to have small torch or head torch.

Hopefully you will be able to complete the free Milton Keynes 5km parkrun that is held on a Saturday morning (at 9am by Willen Lake).

Find out more details on parkrun and how to register.  Remember to put your club as ‘Redway Runners’.

If you are not a member, you’ll first need to join Redway Runners, which you can do easily on link here.  Once you have an account, you’ll be able to access events in your online profile and book on to the beginners course you wish to book.

If you are already a member, login to your Redway Runners profile, select Events and then book on the course you want.

If you would like any other information about the club, check out our About section or get in touch through the Contact page.

At Redway Runners we like to share details of runs and progress being made so we will often take pictures, sometime videos, to share on our social media and newsletters.  If you do not want this then this course might not be right for you.

Still unsure you’re ready?

This is what just one of those who completed the course said:

“I think it was a brilliant course to do, a great way to meet other runners at the same level. Stick with it & do the homework runs & you will 100% see an improvement with your running. Plus the support it amazing” – Rachel Foster