Purpose
- To provide a place for runners in and associated with the UQ Community (staff, students and alumni) who are aspiring to improve their fitness via the activity of running through targeted sessions such as repetitions, tempos, hills and track work.
- This group will also provide a social experience/participation component where the group meets for drinks/meals after sessions to promote a team environment and opportunity to connect.
Ability expectations
- To be able to run for 1 hour continuously (speed does not matter)
- All runners, regardless of speed/ pace, can improve with sessions such as that proposed below and these can be altered with the coach (Nathan) on the day to suit the runners ability
- The group may naturally split into two ‘slower’, & ‘faster’ groups during the session
- Some participants who are faster runners may also choose to compete for UQAC in QLD Athletics events and will be directed to the appropriate program/coach for their ability if the RRR is too ‘slow’, however, they are more than welcome to participate
Sessions
- Focused on improving participants’ fitness generally, but also specifically for fun run 5K-42km road events, e.g., Park run improvements, Brisbane Marathon, Gold Coast Half Marathon.
- Almost all sessions would NOT be on the 400m track. We would use the riverside gravel path, sometimes grass runs, and other UQ fields. The use of the UQ road/walking paths would also be preferable for hill repeats and longer jogs around the University. Access to the track once or twice a month would also be great for exposing runners to this element and getting them involved in the facilities available at the University.
- Nathan will design and manage the sessions
- Sessions will be on rain or shine. Not lightning or storms
Structure
- Times – Wednesday evenings 5:00 pm-6:00 pm for the remainder of Semester 2 2024 and the upcoming summer semester
- Meet and greet at the above time
- Warm up jog – 10 minutes in one group (less experienced), 15 minutes for the other (more experienced). Nathan would always jog with the lesser experienced group in the warm up if we are not all together
- Regroup for warm up drills, and run throughs
- Communicate session via a white board and marker and verbally describing and directing runners on what to do, where to go, and how fast it should be/feel.
- Example sessions may be 8 x 3 minutes with 1 minute standing recovery, or 5 x 4 minutes with 90 seconds standing recovery.
- Nathan expects to either stay behind the back group on a bike and or walk/run to call out/blow whistle for the repetition to stop or stand at a pre-provided turn around point
- Warm down similar to the warm up.
- Debrief, thank you and direction for post-run social activity if organised prior
Financials
- First 2 sessions are free to see if this type of group is for you
- Membership to UQAC is required for insurance purposes (one off payment per year). Around $20-25 after your first 2 sessions
- From there on it is only $5. All proceeds go to the UQ Athletics Club to be spent at the committees discretion
- Payment is collected by Nathan online via an Osko payment device and or via cash and transferred to the club.
- If participants would like further coaching outside of these parameters, Nathan is happy to provide this for financial reimbursement separate from the RRR
How to Join
Please email n.cook1@uq.edu.au to be added to the mailing list and find out the details of the next week’s run club. You must email Nathan or respond to his invitation each week so he has an estimation of the numbers for each session.
We are working on building a booking system through Queensland running events. However, at this point, we will be using email to communicate