Return to Running
Getting back to Running in Groups and Setting Goals following the easing of restrictions
As Coaches and Run Leaders we are in a unique position to be able to make a real difference to people’s mental and physical health and well-being as we plan to return to training together as Covid-19 restrictions are easing. As we all know running has incredible health benefits, for both physical and mental health and with restrictions easing, getting your Run NI Group together will hopefully happen in the not-to-distance future.
Recently there have been a few webinars from England Athletics and JogScotland addressing the subject of how to manage our runners as we return to training and we would like to share their content with you. Our runners and athletes will have had very different lockdown experiences, some will have had more time to exercise than others and we need to take this into consideration.
Being able to enjoy the social aspect of running in groups again will be key when we get back together again but we wanted to give you some food for thought when planning for your groups to return.
We would recommend that as coaches you communicate with your runners before they return to a group session, find out about what training they have been doing; how they are feeling about themselves; and what goals they would like to set. Encourage them to think about short term (6 weeks), medium (6 months) and a long term goal (a year).
There are two types of goals they can consider:
Process Goals, ie Focusing on a specific element eg running technique or practicing taking water or gels on board if they are thinking of doing a marathon.
Outcome Goals, eg being able to complete a 5k or 10k, improve on a 5k time by 10 secs or a 10k by 20 secs or maybe finish in Top 50 of a small race or Top 1000 in a larger event.
Whatever goals you decide, they should be appropriate for your runner and we recommend using the SMARTER approach. You can help empower your runners by getting them to take control of their goals. making them achievable and getting them to use these goals as stepping stones to take them forward.
Think about communicating to your runners that fitness WILL come back and to be patient with themselves and enjoy the process and to focus on that process and not the outcome.
It might be a good idea is to set post lockdown PB goals rather than chasing PB’s times they set before lockdown. Vary training to stimulate runners and focus on having fun and enjoying being back running together again as a group.
You may need to offer a run/walk group, a 5k group and possibly a 7k group as people will return with different levels of fitness. If you need any help with offering these groups feel free to contact Patricia or Paula as we may be able to come out and help. Their contact details are below: