Jonny Mellor is a current long distance GB athlete in training for Rio in 2016. He has transformed himself over recent years and is one of Britain’s brightest distance talents. For more information check out his website.
Jonny is one of the elite coaches who works at the Underground Training Station and he’s the head coach in charge of the running club. I decided my running needed a boost and what better way to get out of my slump than to go training with Jonny. I sometimes forget how lucky I am to have world class talent on my doorstep.
I wasn’t sure what to expect as I’ve always been running by myself. But I’m up for trying new things and it’s always nice to meet other people who have similar interests. One of the reasons I enjoy going to the UTS is because of the people and how friendly and nice everyone is, everyone is always welcoming and very supportive.
We started off with a gentle jog just to get warmed up this was for about 1.5K, its was a very gentle pace just to get the muscles warmed up, which was fine by me. There’s a nice quiet stretch of road by the railway track which is perfect place for doing gentle running and stretching drills. We did the following drills at the start of the session.
Walk forward cross your legs in front of one another and touch your toes
Walk forward and with your toes facing inwards touch the ground, take another step and point your toes outwards and touch the ground.
Side steps taking your arms above your head as you go.
Sprinting at 75% for about 20 metres and then a gentle jog back. 4 times.
The main training session was doing a 1 K lap and then resting for 75 seconds in-between each lap. Depending on your fitness you could go for 5K, 6K or 8K. I always find the first lap the hardest, as it takes my body time to adjust to running. I did the first lap in 5 mins 08 not the best time ever, but at least I was running again! I did five laps in the time and it felt good to be moving again. Towards the last lap my right knee was starting to throb a little bit but this could just have been from wearing in my new trainers.
I was pleased with how my first session went, it was good to get running again and I will definitely add this into my training program going forward. On a Monday evening it’s a hill session and Thursday is speed training. The cost for members is £3 and £6 for non members, totally worth the money to do training with such a lovely group of people and to be able to say you get trained by Jonny Mellor!