Thinking of taking up running? Fit4Life starts again this week

If you have thought about taking up running and are unsure where to start, the Fit4Life programme at Mullingar Harriers is a good place.

The January one starts on Monday (January 8th) and it will have you running 5k without stopping at the end of 10 weeks.

Michael O’Sullivan, head coach, and his team of 12 assistant coaches know what it takes to get beginner runners from a few steps to the 5k benchmark.

A number of them have done it many times since Fit4Life started at the Harriers 14 years ago, and all of them are trained in coaching beginners.

This writer completed the autumn Fit4Life, which ended on December 11, and can thoroughly recommend it.

I wasn’t a beginner when I signed up in October, as I had done a number of half marathons over the years, but I had fallen out of routine and wanted something to give me a kick-start.

Fit4Life was it, and I’m now thinking of signing up for this year’s Mullingar Half Marathon on St Patrick’s Day.

There is much to recommend about Fit4Life: if you’re a beginner, there is great encouragement and advice from the coaches. There will always be one of them available to keep you company as you get through the laps, and if you gain pace over the 10 weeks of the programme, there will be a coach to keep pace with you all the way.

If you’re not a beginner, there is something for you too: you might have a particular pace in mind and find it difficult to achieve and maintain it on your own. Well, there will be a coach to help you there as well.

The team spirit is high and because all the training is on the all-weather track at the Harriers grounds, no one gets left behind. Everyone is on the track together – the faster runners will go further in the five, 10 or 15 minute slots as directed by the head coach, but everyone starts and finishes together.

The company is great too. If you like to chat while running, there are plenty of people who like to do the same.

Michael O’Sullivan said it is a role of Mullingar Harriers to help get people in their catchment area active, and Fit4Life is a fundamental part of that. “The programme is designed for people who are complete beginners or people who are doing a bit of jogging and would like to get in with a group to see how they would get on.

“Our objective is to facilitate that and to give people access to our all-weather track, which is a different experience for people who would be doing a bit of walking or jogging on the greenways or the roads. When you get the opportunity to run on a proper all-weather athletics track, it’s a different experience.”

Michael said there isn’t a competitive element to Fit4Life; instead it’s about encouraging people to get started, and to give them access to the club facilities over the 10-week period.

Registration for the next Fit4Life is at 6.45pm on Monday January 8 and the cost is €40 for 10 weeks (if you miss the first night, you can register on a later night). Sessions run till March, on Mondays at 7pm for approximately 45 minutes.

Michael said: “At each programme, we start on the basis that people are either beginners or casual joggers, and the purpose over the 10 weeks is to get people confident and fit enough to run a 5k without stopping. Some people will have a target of a time in their mind; others will just be delighted to be able to run at their own pace and finish a 5k.”