Stopsley Striders Track Taster Session

On Tuesday 20th January, the Club held a free Track Taster Session for all members. 31 members registered to attend, a vast increase on the 11 or 12 who usually attend the weekly paid for session. 

The ‘track newbies’ were met at reception by our Chairperson, Claire, and just before 7:30pm everyone made their way down onto the track. Gez Fallon, our coach who regularly takes the track sessions, was on hand to explain some track etiquette and then provided us all with warm up instructions, the main element of which was 10 minutes of comfortable jogging around the track. Once the warm up was complete, Gez explained the main set to us all. 400m laps, at or around our individual 5km pace, with varying periods of static rest after each, 60 secs, 45 secs, 30 secs, then back to 60 and repeat. The set lasted approximately 20 minutes. We then divided ourselves into groups of 6 for what is known as a ‘train race’. With each group lined up in single file, they all begin to run. The person at the back of each ‘train’ then runs to the front. As they reach the front and call out, the next person at the back runs to the front and so on.This continues for 1 lap of the track. A fun event at the end of a great session. 

All that was left was a 400m jog to warm down followed by some stretching. The obligatory group photo was taken and Claire handed out chocolate gifts to all. It is rumoured that the chocolate gifts will be repeated at all track sessions! 

Thanks go to coach Gez Fallon for providing such an interesting session. Thanks also go to all members who attended, especially those who were at track for the first time. We do hope that you enjoyed yourselves and are minded to return regularly. 

The regular weekly track sessions cost £3 per person, which is paid to the club when signing up on Spond. This money does not go into the club coffers. Active Luton charge us to use the track and somewhere in the region of 18 people are needed to cover that cost. With only 11 attending regularly, the club is losing money.