Regular weekly club training sessions are available at the following times. There is no minimum pace requirement, all abilities are welcome, and coached sessions are scalable to relevant experience and speed.
If you are interested in road running & cross country (and middle distances on the track from 5000m upwards), simply turn up at our clubhouse on Thursday evenings at 7pm and be ready to run. Ask for the training organiser and he/she will ensure you are welcomed into the group and given a clear session briefing.
Please note that there are no training sessions on race nights, which include the last Thursday of every month (the club handicap), Assembly League races and some Chingford League races. Please check the fixtures calendar for details of upcoming races.
Road and Cross Country Training
Monday, 7:00pm
Circuit training
VPH&THAC Club House, St Augustine’s Hall, Cadogan Terrace, London E9 5EG
Small and intimate training classes taking place in the main hall of the clubhouse. Covering aspects of strength and conditioning, circuit training is led by Coach Tony Bunbury at the clubhouse in Victoria Park. All abilities are welcome.
Tuesday, 7:30pm
Coached session: Interval / speed training (open to all abilities)
London Marathon Community Track, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London E20 2ST
Interval training with Coach Mick Cairns meeting at the London Community Track in Stratford. The session starts with a group warm-up and a walkthrough of the planned session. This is followed by approximately 30 minutes of effort, with clear instructions of target pacing, time for efforts and resting times. Repetitions are scalable to personal ability.
Training details also continue to be published on a weekly basis here to be run ‘virtually’.
If you have any questions about this, or wider club training sessions, please contact Lily Zechmann, Jade Dos Santos or James Hirst.
Tuesday, 6:45pm
Performance training group (invitation only: sub-16 minute 5k runners)
Mile End Stadium, 190 Burdett Rd, London E3 4HL
In addition to VPH offering the Olympic Community Track sessions for the wider club, there is also a performance-orientated training group for more regionally competitive athletes who train in a group of 20-30, with ad-hoc Thursday/Saturdays too. Tuesday sessions are typically 7-10km in volume with the group ranging from 15:46-14:20 for 5km.
General guidance for newcomers would be any of the following as a guide: <16/5km, <33/10km, <73/HM, <2:35/Marathon. If you do not currently fall within any of these boundaries, we would suggest trying the Community Track sessions first, where there will still be various <17/5km athletes to train with
Please contact Nat Rowland, Adam Millbery or James Hotham to get an introduction to the training group and an update on the current schedule and capacity.
Thursday, 7:00pm
Member led group runs: run-walk , 5k , 10k & 16k
VPH&THAC Club House, St Augustine’s Hall, Cadogan Terrace, London E9 5EG
Group runs start from the clubhouse covering familiar local routes across different distances in a friendly and relaxed environment. Distances are also flexible if preferences fall between the classic 5/10/16km routes. The session begins with a welcome briefing for new joiners or recent members, before organising into pace groups based on demand on the evening.
The clubhouse itself has secure bike-parking, secure storage, shower and changing room facilities. The bar and kitchen is also open from 7:30pm for members to socialise and relax after the session. The bar is contactless and hot food is normally prepared by volunteers.
NB. On the last Thursday of each month, we host our monthly club handicap from the VPH clubhouse instead of the usual group social runs.
Thursday, 7:00pm, meeting at the Clubhouse
Coached session: ‘Project V’
Various locations in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London E20 2ST
Coached session: ‘Project V’ tempo training with Coach Steve Hobbs meeting at the clubhouse first before making their way and jogging to specific locations within the Olympic Park in Stratford. The session itself starts at 7:30pm and focuses on threshold pace work, which can be described as medium effort intervals that may last up to 10 minutes (a variation on shorter track workouts).
Sunday, 9:30am
Member led group runs
VPH&THAC Club House, St Augustine’s Hall, Cadogan Terrace, London E9 5EG
A more informal session self organised and self guided by our members. Often first getting to know each other from the regular weekly training sessions or Thursday group runs. Then arranging specific meeting times at or near the clubhouse and determining distances and pacing on a week-by-week basis.
The clubhouse itself has secure bike-parking, but the main hall is not open store bags and no current access to the changing rooms/showers.
Track and Field Training
Specialist Track and Field training takes place on a weekly basis at Mile End Stadium. New prospective members are invited to contact Alf Vickers or Cornelia Abe-Minale beforehand to make introductions and arrange to attend a first session:
- Seniors – Sprints, Hurdles and Jumps: 7pm Tuesdays and 7pm Thursdays at Mile End Track (with Coaches Alf Vickers & Kelvin Richards).
- Seniors – Middle Distance: 7:30pm Tuesdays at London Community Track (with Coach Mick Cairns)
*NB. Currently no throws coaching available.
Junior Track & Field training
Details on junior training sessions are on the junior website