Before you start.
If you feel out of shape, or you're recovering from injury or worried about an existing condition, see your GP before you start running.
If you’ve not been active for a while, you may want to build your fitness levels gently by walking before you move on to running.
Running Shoes.
Running requires very little equipment, but a good pair of running shoes that suit your foot type will reduce the risk of injury. There are many types of trainers on the market, so get advice from a specialist running retailer who will assess your foot and find the right shoe for you.The shoes’ shock absorbers weaken over time, increasing your risk of injury. It’s advisable to replace running shoes every 300/400 miles.
Starting out
To avoid injury and enjoy the experience, it’s essential to ease yourself into running slowly and increase your pace and distance gradually over several outings. Start each run with a gentle warm-up of at least five minutes. This can include quick walking, marching on the spot, knee lifts, side stepping and climbing stairs. Start walking for an amount of time that feels comfortable (anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes). Once you can walk for 30 minutes easily, include some running intervals of one to two minutes into your walking at a speed that feels comfortable. As time goes on, make the running intervals longer, until you're running for 30 minutes continuously. Run with your arms and shoulders relaxed, and elbows bent.
Regular running for beginners means getting out at least twice a week. Your running will improve as your body adapts to the consistent training stimulus.
It’s better to run twice a week, every week, than to run half a dozen times one week and then do no running for the next three weeks.
At East London Runners we would recommend that you initially attend our Monday Evening Track Sessions and the Saturday morning parkruns. At the track and parkrun you can build your distance and stamina up each week by initially walk/jogging and then develop into running.You can run with us for up to 3 sessions to see if our Club is suitable for your needs abnd then decide if you wish to join us.
Track Meet Grant and others at 6.45pm at Ashton Playing Fields, Woodford Bridge, Essex, IG8 8AA for a 45 min floodlit track session. Fee which may payable on the night is £3.80 per person. Nearest tube Station is Woodford on the Central Line.
If you are new to running or would like to complement your other running/training with track work, then why not come along on a Monday evening and improve your running no end by doing something that no other single training session will better. www.vision-rcl.org.uk/ashtons_home.html
parkrun parkruns are FREE, timed 5k runs organised by parkrun at 9am each Saturday at Wanstead Flats(Harrow Road side)This run is off-road. Also at Valentines Park, Ilford, this run is on tarmac, and across London and the UK and now abroad also! It would be a good way to run shorter distances with others in a good safe environment when starting out. Both local parkruns consist of 2 laps so there is the opportunity to start by just running one lap of approximately 1.5 miles with the full run being 3.1 miles. You do not have to be a fast runner or have any experience to join in. Register at www.parkrun.com
East London Runners weekly activities May to October 2013.
Monday - Track night. See Track Section of this website. Suitable for all levels from beginners to experienced runners.
Most Tuesday evenings If published on this website and facebook we meet at Wanstead Leisure Centre at 7pm for a 6 mile'sh run. Suitable for those comfortable running 5 miles plus
Wednesday - Club Night run from WLC at 7pm, typically 10k in distance. Suitable for those comfortable running 5 miles plus
Saturday morning parkrun. At 9am FREE timed 5k runs/races at Wanstead Flats (Harrow Road), Valentines Park, Ilford and many other venues across London, the UK and other Countries. Suitable for all levels from beginners to experienced runners.
First timers register at www.parkrun.com
Sunday mornings - 10 Mile Forest runs/occasional road run.- Most often in Epping Forest but sometimes in Hainault Forest. We meet at different locations each week as published on this website and our Group page on Facebook 3 or 4 days in advance. Suitable for those runners comfortable running 8 miles plus.
In addition we Race in the ELVIS Summer Series of 7 races, some of which fall on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Others on Saturday, Sunday and August Bank Holiday Monday. See ELVIS Section of this website for full details. Members are free to attend or not attend as suits their individual needs. Non-Members can try us out for up to 3 runs before considering joining
Details of individual activities, as above, will be posted on the Latest News page of this Website and on our Group Page in Facebook about 3 or 4 days before each activity.
Wednesday Club Run Night - Suitable for those comfortable running 5 miles plus.
We meet every Wednesday at 6.50pm for 7.05pm at Wanstead Leisure Centre, Redbridge Lane West, Wanstead, London E11 2JZ. Located midway between Wanstead and Redbridge London Underground Tube Stations (Central Line) See Map below. Please ask at Reception for directions to our Meeting Room.
Most people arrive between 6.50pm and 7.05pm for any club announcements and recent race results prior to the run starting on a Wednesday evening. We normally have between 50 and 70 runners of varying speeds and abilities running each Wednesday evening.
The best way to see if the club suits your needs is to come and run with us! It is not compulsory to attend every run, race or session. We all run together for the first mile or so. We ask that for safety reasons you do not wear MP3's, IPod or any other type of music player whilst on Club runs.
Club membership is £20 per year. Membership commences from 1st April and runs until 31st March the following year. This fee includes membership of England Athletics (now £10) whose year also runs during the same period. Should you join during the year an appropriate reduced fee will be calculated and payable. This figure can be obtained from Club Treasurer Don Bennett or Chairman Frank Brownlie.
The benefits of being a registered member of England Athletics are as shown in the section below.
The first few times you run with the club there is no obligation to join. Please feel free to come to one of our Club runs and try us out. It is important that the club is suitable for your needs.
The membership fee pays for our use of a meeting room, toilets and post run showers. It does not entitle you to membership of any Leisure Centre activities such as the weight room or fitness clubs. These are available from the front desk.
Once you are a registered athlete you will be sent a competition licence. Along with this you will also receive a username and password which enable you to log in to keep your profile up to date. To go to the 'Edit My Profile' page please click here or go to www.englandathletics.org/editmyprofile. This will help you to get the most from the benefits we are able to offer athletes.
Some examples of the services we provide to athletes are:
• Discounted road race entry for registered members of affiliated clubs
• £5 voucher for specialist retailer Sweatshop for for registered members of affiliated clubs with a further 10% discount on subsequent purchases. See www.sweatshop.co.uk/ea
• Regional and inter-regional championships in partnership with established competition providers.
• National Championships across a wide range of event groups
• Representative opportunities for talented athletes at a national and regional level.
• International representative teams in major events and across varied age groups
• Providing athletes with access to support services to improve their training and conditioning.
• Working with UK Athletics to bridge the gap between potential and performance.
• Working with established bodies to secure more investment for talent development.
• Subsidised training events for club members.
• Entry benefits for major road races and competitions.
Club Member of South of England Athletic Association. www.seaa.org.uk
Local Races
We also compete in a number of local races, anything from 5km to 20 miles and beyond, and you’ll often find a number of members relaxing and socialising after their Wednesday run in the upstairs bar at the George public house in Wanstead High Street opposite the entrance to Wanstead underground station.
London Marathon
The club has had a long relationship with the London Marathon. We’ve been involved with organising a drink station in Poplar High Street, around the 20 mile point in the race, for many years and we always get a number of club members regularly running and training for the marathon.
The main marathon training takes place from early January each year and there are opportunities to train with other members of a similar standard. With Epping Forest on our doorstep a lot of the training can take place off road.
