Wednesday 6:30pm and Sunday 9am, £25 a month, from walk-run to your first 10k round the lake
The running group
A group for people who cannot run yet and people who can run a bit: a walk-run plan from the first week, two coached sessions a week round the lake and up the Nant Fawr, a 5k in eight weeks and a 10k in sixteen, and a trainer at the back as well as the front. £25 a month, with the plan for the other days, and the parkrun on Saturday as the test.
Most people who say they cannot run have simply never been shown how to start slowly enough. The running group starts with one minute of running and two of walking, round the flat path by the lake, and builds from there over sixteen weeks to a 10k. There is a trainer at the front for the people who are further on and one at the back for the people who are not, and nobody is ever left behind on the loop.
Wednesday at 6:30pm is the technique session: a warm-up, drills on the promenade, an easy interval set on the lake path, and a cool-down with the stretches that keep runners running. Sunday at 9am is the long one: the lake loop, the Nant Fawr to Cyncoed if you are ready, and a coffee from the kiosk after. The plan for the other days is two short runs a week, written down with the paces, and you tick them off on the group sheet.
Eight weeks in, the group does the Saturday parkrun together as a 5k test; sixteen weeks in, the Cardiff 10k or the Bay 10k, with Gethin or Hanna running it alongside anyone who wants company. Trainers are the only thing you need, and we will tell you if yours are wrong. £25 a month, no contract, and most people stay long after the 10k because the group becomes the reason.
What is included
- Two coached sessions a week, Wednesday evening and Sunday morning
- A walk-run plan from week one
- A trainer at the front and one at the back
- The plan for the other days, with paces
- The parkrun at eight weeks and a 10k at sixteen
- £25 a month, no contract
What it costs
£25 a month for two coached sessions a week and the plan for the days between. The first session free. Groups of up to fifteen with two trainers. The prices page has every option side by side; the bootcamp page has the timetable and the spaces.
Questions about running
I cannot run for a minute. Really.
Then we start with thirty seconds, and you will run a minute by week three. Everyone who has ever said that to us has finished the 5k.
What about my knees?
Tell us at the free session and we look at how you move. Most knee trouble in new runners is pace and shoes, both of which we can fix. Anything else, we send you to a physio we trust before you run.
The first session is free. Come and stand by the lake.
Tell us what you are after and roughly when you can train, and we reply within the hour between sessions with a time for a free first session: a walk round the lake, a look at how you move, and an honest answer about what it will take. Or just turn up to a bootcamp, the first one is free too.