INTERVAL TRAINING
EVERY WEDNESDAY
FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED?
Every Wednesday evening, you’ll find our coaches leading interval sessions at Southwark Park Athletics Track. Join us to take your running to the next level in a friendly and welcoming environment, suited to runners of all abilities. These sessions are offered in collaboration with London City Runners.
Why Join?
Each week our experienced coaches guide you through a structured interval session to improve your speed and speed endurance. This includes a warm-up, drills, approximately 45 minutes of interval running, and a cool down. The sessions are open to runners of all abilities, and you will always be grouped with runners of similar pace to make the session both challenging and enjoyable.
Sessions are often designed as part of specific training blocks, but you can come to any Wednesday as it suits you! You don’t have to be training for that specific event to get the benefits of interval training. If you’d like to see what’s coming up at the track, take a look at the schedule below the booking calendar.
Please ensure you arrive on time and have already warmed up with 5-10 minutes of easy effort jogging. Unfortunately we will not be able to wait for any latecomers to begin the session.
We offer two different sessions each evening, one at 6 pm for those who have a 5K PB of under 20 minutes, and another at 6:45 pm, which is open to runners of all abilities.
In order to enjoy these sessions fully, you should be able to run a minimum of 5K continuously.
You can stay informed with the latest updates and information about Wednesday Track by joining our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/261555703085947/.
BOOKING SYSTEM
Please refer to the Important Notes below the sign up form before making your booking.
WHAT'S NEXT AT THE TRACK?
Until the end of April, the 6:45 pm session will be geared towards spring half and full marathons. While the sessions are primarily focused on speed endurance, they will be highly beneficial no matter what your training goals are. The 6 pm session will include a choice for marathon focused intervals, or those geared towards 5K/10K. If you have any questions, please do get in touch.
6:45 PM SESSION
15 JANUARY - 500m intervals
22 JANUARY - 700m intervals
29 JANUARY - kickers (3 min, 1 min)
05 FEBRUARY - 5 min & 1 min intervals
12 FEBRUARY - time-based pyramid
19 FEBRUARY - 6 min intervals
26 FEBRUARY - 1200m intervals
05 MARCH - 1 mile intervals
12 MARCH - 8 min, 2 min intervals
19 MARCH - 1600m, 400m intervals
26 MARCH - speed sandwich
02 APRIL - 8 min intervals
09 APRIL - 1K intervals
16 APRIL - 800m intervals
23 APRIL - 3 min intervals
6 PM SESSION: SUB 20 MINUTE 5K PB
5K/10K PREP
15 JANUARY - 400m, 200m intervals
22 JANUARY - 600m, 200m intervals
29 JANUARY - 400m intervals
05 FEBRUARY - 1K intervals
12 FEBRUARY - 5 min intervals
19 FEBRUARY - 3 min, 30s intervals
26 FEBRUARY - 1 mile, 100m intervals
05 MARCH - 6 min intervals
12 MARCH - 1200m intervals
19 MARCH - time-based pyramid
26 MARCH - 800m intervals
02 APRIL - 1K, 100m intervals
09 APRIL - descending ladder (distance)
16 APRIL - 1K intervals
23 APRIL - 400m intervals
6 PM SESSION: SUB 20 MINUTE 5K PB
HALF/MARATHON PREP
15 JANUARY - 2 min intervals
22 JANUARY - 700m intervals
29 JANUARY - 4 min intervals
05 FEBRUARY - 1 mile intervals
12 FEBRUARY - 8 min intervals
19 FEBRUARY - alternating KMs
26 FEBRUARY - 1 mile, 100m intervals
05 MARCH - 1K, 2K repeats
12 MARCH - alternating 1600m / 800m
19 MARCH - time-based pyramid
26 MARCH - 10 min intervals
02 APRIL - 12 min, 30s intervals
09 APRIL - alternating 1600m / 800m
16 APRIL - 1 mile, 100m intervals
23 APRIL - 3 min intervals
IMPORTANT NOTES FOR BOOKING
We have instituted some new rules for booking, so that we can continue to provide you with a high quality coaching service, and so that everyone who wants to attend a track session will be able to do so. Please read the below carefully:
Before booking your first session, you will be prompted to create a Team Up account. You will have the option to purchase either a one-off session or a package of sessions to use in the way you would for a fitness studio or gym.
For those on the waitlist: if a place becomes available, you will automatically be added to the session up to 6 hours beforehand if you have a pre-booked membership. After this point (or if you do not have a membership package) if a place becomes available, you will need to confirm that you wish to accept it before you are added to the session. You should be sent a notification letting you know you have 1 hour to claim the space.
Everyone who comes to a session must have either pre-booked, or been let in off the waiting list. Please do not just arrive and expect to pay on the day, as this is unfair to those who may have been turned away from a session, or had to attend a different time than their preferred. It also becomes a health and safety issue if too many people turn up unexpectedly. The only exception to this is if you have contacted starr.performance.coaching@gmail.com and been given permission to do so (e.g. if you are having technical difficulties with the booking system).
If a session has less than 15 people booked by 6pm on Tuesday evening, we may need to cancel the session. If you know you'll be coming, please book in advance.
There is a 24 hour cancellation policy in effect. You must cancel outside of this window in order to be refunded or have the session credited back to your class package. Should you cancel late, you will lose the credit, but you will open up a space allowing someone from the waitlist to attend in your place.
If you have purchased a class package:
Should there be a break in sessions (e.g. over the Christmas holidays), a universal hold will be placed across everyone’s packages to ensure that this period does not count towards the expiry time limit
If you pick up a long-term injury and cannot attend for a significant period of time, a hold can be placed on your package to resume at a later date
Meet Our Coaches
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Natascha Starr
Natascha first started running as a teen on her high school cross country team. Since then, she has run numerous races from the mile to the marathon, on both road and trail. Her love for the sport lead her to qualify as a UKA running coach.
She coaches both remotely and face-to-face in London, and also works as an ambassador for Salomon. Her aim is to spread the love of running to as many people as possible!
Natascha holds the following qualifications:
UKA Coach in Running Fitness; UKA Off-Road, Fell & Mountain Leader; Outdoor First Aid
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Richard Coates
Running has always been a loyal companion in Richard’s life whether it’s via his own running adventures or coaching and inspiring others. He’s been running since his teens racing all distances up to multi day mountain ultras. Whilst he might not be as fast as in his younger years, he can still mix it whilst enjoying the personal challenge of mountain ultra-marathons with the camaraderie that they bring.
Richard is an experienced and very friendly UKA coach who’s been coaching runners of all abilities for 11 years, working remotely or face to face in London. He also runs training camps in the Algarve and the UK. Outside of coaching, Richard helps run his own gym in Battersea and helps / mentors a variety of young businesses to successfully develop.
