Thursday Night Runs
When the lighter nights come in we will be starting to run most Thursday evenings if possible. Keep an eye out here for more details and also the Trail Monkey page
Community Values
The aim of the running group is to facilitate groups of training, it will be on us all to organise and co-ordinate this as a community, perhaps every week we can decide on a venue to run from, the majority decides! The aim is also to nurture our fledgling running community and so in this spirit I ask that everyone come to the training runs with an open mind, a big smile and willingness to welcome newcomers into our special community. The special thing that epitomises Trail Monkey is that everyone is welcome to run with us, all that we ask in return is a willingness to be part of the community and embrace the values of community, inclusivity and respect for each other.
Timings
Weekend runs will be at 8am sharp and evening runs will be confirmed in due course.
If further advice or coaching is something you seek, I may have capacity to coach a limited few people if required, contact me if this something you are interested in to discuss terms.
Disclaimer
Please be aware that these runs are not organised by or affiliated with Trail Monkey as an organised run. People take part in these runs at their own discretion and in that vein are accountable for their own safety, nutrition and common sense on the cliff paths.
Training groups for the winter for the Double Top Ultra
The Plan for the next few months
As you can see from above, this is a rough plan running every two weeks adding 15 minutes initially on to every run and then after the 2 hour mark adding 30 minutes. By the time you get to late April the time spent out running is quite sizable even with the subtle addition of 30 mins per run every two weeks! This is not a definitive plan and the dates are moveable but as a plan for the winter for both Solo and Relay runners its a good guideline to gradually build distance as part of a weekly training plan.
The idea will be to try and get a core group of runners going every two weeks. I will not be able to make each one as will most of us, but with these dates in mind and a rough idea of duration all whoever is running needs to decide on is a venue.
Because it is winter and cold it is important that we all run at our own pace, hence the timing aspect rather than a set distance, this means we all meet up, we run at our own pace and then at the half way time mark we turn around and head back, which will mean there will be a good coverage between quicker and slower runners so no one is alone for too long and no one gets cold! Hopefully we will have group of people at similar paces who will stick together, but this is an ideal rather than a rule. Obviously anyone is welcome, but if existing group members bring runners who haven’t run the trails before, or don’t know the way I would ask that that person stays with the new runner as they may not know the way and to show them the ropes.
Equipment
For these runs you are going to need:
Trail Shoes
RuckSack or water bottle holder for water and any snacks you wish to bring
Waterproofs
Sunglasses (maybe, if we are lucky?)
Sun Hat (if we are even luckier!)
Energy Gels or food – more here on this
Water
This isn’t a definitive plan that will get you 100% ready for the Double Top as you will need to be doing other training in the week, but it will take care of the distance aspect for the most part, with a bit of tweaking as you get closer to the race for the solo runners in particular.