Coaching

Running and track coaching (where a qualified coach oversees the session) is available at a number of sessions each week as follows:

• Tuesday track sessions at New River (Wood Green)
• Tuesday track sessions at Padington
• Tuesday interval sessions at the Dome (O2)
• Thursday track sessions at Battersea
• Saturday morning hill sessions in Greenwich Park
• Saturday morning hill sessions in Hampstead

Serpentine don't hold regular triathlon specific coached sessions, although there are regular cycling and swimming sessions to complement the runnning sessions, most of which are overseen by either a Serpentine coach or an external coach:

• Monday swimming at Orchard Lisle
• Monday swimming at the Seymour Centre
• Tuesday spinning at Imperial
• Wednesday spinning at the Seymour Centre
• Thursday swimming technique at Orchard Lisle
• Thursday swimming distance at Orchard Lisle
• Sunday cycling

Our coaches all abide by the Coaching Code of Practice. Look in our volunteering section if you are interested in becoming a coach.

Advice from our coaches

• Frank Speaking by Frank Horwill. A superb collection of articles by Frank Horwill, a Senior British Athletics Federation coach, who works with the faster Serpentine runners and is a prolific writer on all aspects of running.
• Ask Karen. Karen Hancock, our level 3 coach who runs the Greenwich hill sessions, provides lucid answers to some of the questions put to her by relatively inexperienced runners.
• Advice from Derek Turner. Particularly for new runners and those planning a first marathon.
• Running a first marathon by Daniel O'Donoghue
• Advice for Women Runners. For most purposes, women runners face the same challenges, highs and lows as male runners. But there are one or two issues that affect women in particular. This section is intended to deal with those specifically.
• Marathon Training Seminar. Notes from the 2006 Spring Marathon Training Seminar.
• Bleep and Balke Testing. Information about these tests for VO2 max to help you set the intensity of your sessions.

Contacting us: coaching@serpentine.org.uk. Please remember that all the coaches have full-time jobs and other responsibilities, so please have consideration for their lives too. For example, it is usually best to make phone contact outside office hours, or better still, just use e-mail.