Striders of Croydon are a friendly running club based in Croydon, Surrey. The Striders take part in road running, cross country and league athletics. Recently, the club experienced a surge in membership, many of those new members are interested in joining the club for their spring marathon preparation.

Striders Team Manager Krzysztof Klidzia initiated an England Athletics Club Run visit with the aim of assisting the club supporting the marathon training programme.

By working in partnership Coach Urban Bettag, Team Manager Krzysztof Klidzia and the club committee agreed on the club priorities for developing the marathon programme. Three visits to the Striders club house at Sandilands have been agreed and covering a marathon seminar in December and two practical running sessions in January/February.

The marathon seminar was well attended and runners at all abilities had the opportunities to address and discuss their questions. A lot interest and questions regarding nutrition, marathon training and the long run were raised. Via the club’s FB group ongoing support has been provided with marathon training related questions on speedwork for marathon runners, recovery, fuelling, hydration, strength training, competing in the heat, tapering, etc.

The practical sessions were targeted at the improver group targeting a sub 4-hour marathon and a faster group targeting a sub 3h 45. An out & back long run with the aim of even pacing was conducted, followed up with a marathon-specific long run, which consisted of bouts of marathon pace running stimulating the athlete’s energy systems required for the marathon. Both runs were supported by run leaders from the club.

“It has been a valuable experience having Coach Urban along for the talk and runs, those attending will surely have learnt something from your relaxed style of explaining and it will make them think of different ways to improve their marathon performance.” – Krzysztof Klidzia

Fundamentally, awareness about the physiological requirements of the marathon, aerobic conditioning, pacing strategy and training priorities has been improved

The Striders of Croydon are committed tailoring their marathon training and technical advice to the club members’ needs and will continue to review and make improvements to the marathon training.