About us
The Stevenage Striders Running Club is a road running club formed by local runners who were keen to encourage other runners to run and have fun.
We know that joining and running with running clubs can sometimes be a little intimidating. At Stevenage Striders we first and foremost want members to enjoy their running. This may lead to running in races, improving race times and furthering your running. However, if that doesn’t fit with a member’s personal running objectives then so be it!! The diversity of runners within the club enriches it and we value all members.
Stevenage Striders was founded in August 2013 on a foundation of inclusivity. Since then we have grown but stay loyal to our roots of support, encouragement, inclusivity and being a free to run organisation. We have grown to around 280 members across the whole range of abilities, and if you are at all interested in getting into running, or joining a club to boost your existing training, consider signing up below. We look forward to welcoming you!
Stevenage Striders has been and always will be free to join and free to tun and we do not and never will have any monthly subscription fees. All of our training sessions are free including our monthly track session held at Ridlins running track. None of our sessions are compulsory of course and you are welcome to attend as few or as many as you wish.
The club maintains it’s free to join and zero monthly subscription fee with donations, sponsorship and fund raising. If you wish to donate to the club, feel free to click the button below and donate any amount, as much or as little as you wish.
The club training sessions are held at 7:15pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Details of the sessions are contained within our training diary. We generally meet in the car park in Hampson Park. The postcode is SG1 5QU. This gives us easy access to the wide network of cycleways in the Stevenage. Once a month on Wednesday we train on the athletics track at a Ridlins, Woodcock Road.
We also get together on a Sunday morning for a longer (slower) training run. This usually covers a distance of at least 7 miles, with options to run up to 10 – 11 miles. The runs are social, with regular regrouping so that we stay together and support each other. The meeting point and routes for the Sunday runs vary each week and use a combination of road and off road routes in and outside of Stevenage. Details can be found on the club training diary.
Our training sessions use a combination of traditional interval training, fartlek runs and steady/tempo training. Our interval training has a twist!!! Conventional interval training often uses periods of fairly static recoveries. At the Striders we use active ‘roll on/roll off’ recoveries. More beneficial and less risk of causing injury.
Speed endurance
After an appropriate warm up we use a series of timed intervals (efforts) where we run harder/faster before running slowly (recovery period). During the recovery period we all re-group before starting the next effort….and so on. The training groups cover a route of about 4-7 miles and are based on pace groupings. Runners need to be able to run at least 5km continuously to take part in these training sessions.
Interval, hill or tempo paced training
These sessions tend to focus on developing your running technique and pace. They tend to operate over a confined area using shorter measured intervals (such as 400m, 800m). We also used mixed hills and tempo runs. The training sessions are suitable for anyone who can run at least 5km continuously. Your running pace does not matter!!! Taking part in these sessions will radically improve your running!!
The speed endurance session and hill/interval based sessions are featured on alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays so all runners can get a balance in their training even if they can only come along each Tuesday or each Thursday.
Wednesday training
Once a month on a Wednesday, we meet at Ridlins track in Stevenage for our training session. This is a structured session that focusses on technique and pace on a more forgiving and flexible surface, for all abilities. Runners should be able to run at least 5km continuously before taking on our track sessions. We do ask for £3 for this session to cover the hiring and lighting costs however this is the only chargeable element of our training.
Zero to 5k starter group
Our zero to 5k starter group complete a 10 week programme that progresses from short run/walk efforts to completing a 5k parkrun. Look out for the dates of the next programme on our training diary. Graduation from the Zero to 5K training group enables runners to take part in the whole range of other weekday training sessions offered by the club.
Sundays
Our Sunday morning runs are a great excuse for exploring the local countryside outside of Stevenage. We usually have two groups who meet. One covers a distance of 5-7 miles whilst the other offers a run of between 9 and 12 miles. The groups vary the running routes and starting points and often go out of Stevenage exploring the surrounding countryside. They all have one thing in common – they are run at a slower, long run pace where the focus is on building endurance and having a social run. We should be able to talk and run!! Look out for the meeting point and start time on the club diary.