WFC Runners - 30th August Session

This week saw the return of Coach James from his extended holiday/paternity leave.  We met at Abbey Gardens and with a dry sunny evening ahead of us we warmed up and headed out on our merry way.  

There was an excellent turnout of 20 runners with 4 new faces.  Welcome to the group Jenny, Emily, Caroline and Ben!

After the past two weeks being longer intervals and hills I thought some shorter intervals would be he order of the day.  The intention was to head to Oram's Arbour and use the park there to do our session.  We headed up the high street, past the courts and over the railway to the park.  

Wikipedia says the following about Oram's Arbour:

Oram's Arbour was an enclosed settlement during the Iron Age, in what is now Winchester. Limited dating evidence suggests the enclosure was dug in the early-mid first century BC. The town wall of the Roman civitas capital of Venta Belgarum which succeeded the Iron Age settlement cut across its eastern end.

(look out for more Winchester facts in the coming weeks!)

Once in the park I realised we had a slight issue.  The area I had hoped to do the session was being used for a footy match!  I therefore had to improvise.  Unfortunately this turned out session from a flat session to a hill session!  

The plan was simple.  Run 14 x 30 sec sprints with a short rest between each. One rep would be uphill and the next downhill.  The sprints were targeted at working on the top end speed of the runners whilst at the same time building some endurance.  Unfortunately we had a few injuries occur.  Simon H had a reoccurrence of an ankle injury, Simon E tweaked his hamstring and Ben had some knee issues!  Hopefully they all recover quickly.    


Once finished we headed back down to Abbey Gardens for our cool down.  

It was so nice to be back and seeing all the amazing runners once again.  Thank you to everyone for their messages and support over the last few weeks.      

Next Tuesday's blog will feature an article on why sleep is important to runners as well as the news and general announcements! 

See you next week!

James