WFC Runners: WFC Runners - Races galore, PBs, parkrun and different types of run

News

This week was a busy one for Fit Clubbers! We had Anne running the Baccus Half, Sharon (One R) running the New Forest Half, Rachel and me running the Stockbridge 10km and Will running the Stockbridge 2km. Read more about these below. We also had a great turnout at parkrun with loads of PBs and some fantastic running from the whole team.

This blog also describes the various types of training run that runners commonly utilise in their training! See the main article below.

As mentioned above Anne was running the Baccus half marathon. Their website describe the race as follows:

The Surrey Bacchus Half Marathon - your chance to enjoy England’s premier Wine Marathon with five tasting stations (serving six different wines) over the Half Marathon.

Half of the route is inside the beautiful Denbies Wine Estate and the other half through National Trust Countryside and woodland along the Pilgrims Way and North Downs Way. It's a demanding route, but you'll have suitable respite at each of the sampling stations, then at the finish you can carry on the party spirit of the event at the post-race Hog Roast.

There is also a full marathon option which has 10 wine stations and a 5 mile race which offers just the one wine station. The race is traditionally run in fancy dress and so Anne ran it dressed as a bottle of wine. From everything I have heard is an amazing experience.

We also had Sharon "One R" Smith running the New Forest Half. This is described as:

A stunning multi-terrain course running through the heart of the New Forest. A blend of forest enclosures, open roads, far reaching views and of course, famous New Forest Ponies. Fast and flat.

Congratulations One R and Anne!!

I took part in the Stockbridge 10km. With a growing family attending races is not always going to be easy for me, so when I saw that the Stockbridge 10km allowed buggy entries I thought it was the perfect chance for some Daddy daughter fun with Elsie in the running buggy. I was joined on the morning by Rachel Mills whilst Will ran the kids 2km race and Simon supported superbly from the sidelines

It was a mix terrain course that I had been warned was hilly in places. I ran it in a credible 52:30 (a buggy running 10km PB) despite needing to take some strategic walk breaks on the steeper parts and taking a bit of a tumble in the final kilometre. Rachel ran a cracking new 10km PB of 54:29 and will ran the 2km race in 12:06 to place 27th in the kids race. Superb running from the super speedy mum and son duo!

Read all about our experiences at these races in more detail in next week's edition!

This week saw a large number of Fit Clubbers attending parkrun. The bulk of the club were at Winchester, but we had Jake representing us at Linford Wood and Glenna doing the same at Queen Elizabeth.

Queen Elizabeth is a tough, hill, cross country course with a whopping 380ft+ of elevation gain across the 5km (making it the 11th hilliest parkrun in the UK). This didn't stop Glenna posting a super speedy course PB (32:23), bettering the time she set back in 2015. Cracking running.

We had a great turn out at Winchester with (by my reckoning) 15 Fit Clubbers taking part (12 registered). We had PBs for Will (30:41) and Simon Mills (29:52), Anna Hastie (24:12) and Jennifer (28:17). We also had a course PB for Shelley (27:09) and a post-cancer PB for Tina (30:54). Mike Hastie also ran his fastest time (20:37) since he set his PB in September 2017!! What an inspiration you all are.

I started near the back and slowly worked my way through chatting to you wonderful Fit Clubbers en route which made for a lovely, sociable run.

This week's Thursday session saw a record breaking 35 runners taking on a tough sprint session on the viaduct. The session was 4 sets, each consisting of 2 short sprints and one long. In total this equated to 8 lengths of the viaduct!

There was some amazing running by the fantastic runners in a session that will improve both speed and endurance.

Read all about it here: http://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2018/09/wfc-runners-6th-september-viaduct.html

Next week is the WFC Running Club's 1st birthday. To celebrate we will be holding our normal 7pm session on Thursday but following it up with drinks at Number 5 on the Bridge to celebrate an amazing year. Please try and make it...even if you can't make the session, please join us for drinks!

Run Types

There are eight basic types of runs that are practiced by runners of all levels everywhere. These evolved through a global trial-and-error process over many decades. They survived because they work. If you want to get the most out of the time you devote to training, you will need to learn and practice them, too. You can add all kinds of wrinkles to these formats — for example by combining two of them within a single session — but even in their most basic form, the workouts described below will help you become a better runner.

Recovery Run

A recovery run is a relatively short run performed at an easy pace. Recovery runs serve to add a little mileage to a runner’s training without taking away from performance in the harder, more important workouts that precede and follow them. Recovery runs are best done as the next run after a hard workout such as an interval run. Do your recovery runs as slowly as necessary to feel relatively comfortable despite lingering fatigue from your previous run.

Example: 4 miles easy

Base Run

A base run is a relatively short to moderate-length run undertaken at a runner’s natural pace. While individual base runs are not meant to be challenging, they are meant to be done frequently, and in the aggregate they stimulate big improvements in aerobic capacity, endurance, and running economy. Base runs will make up a bulk of your weekly training mileage.

Example: 6 miles at natural pace

Long Run

Generally, a long run is a base run that lasts long enough to leave a runner moderately to severely fatigued. The function of a long run is to increase raw endurance. The distance or duration required to achieve this effect depends, of course, on your current level of endurance. As a general rule, your longest run should be long enough to give you confidence that raw endurance will not limit you in races. There are many spins you can put on a long run, such as progressing the pace from start to finish or mixing intervals (described on the last page) into the run.

Example: 10-15 miles at natural pace

Progression run

A progression run is a run that begins at a runner’s natural pace and ends with a faster segment at anywhere from marathon down to 10K pace. These runs are generally intended to be moderately challenging—harder than base runs but easier than most threshold and interval runs. Because they’re a medium-effort workout, the recovery time is less than more intense sessions.

Example: 5 miles at natural pace + 1 mile at marathon pace + 1 mile at half-marathon pace

Fartlek Run

A fartlek workout is a base run that mixes in intervals of varying duration or distance. It’s a good way to begin the process of developing efficiency and fatigue resistance at faster speeds in the early phases of the training cycle, or to get a moderate dose of fast running later in the training cycle in addition to the larger doses provided by tempo/threshold and interval workouts. They can also serve as a less-structured alternative to a traditional interval session such as a track workout.

Hill Repeats

Hill repeats are repeated short segments of hard uphill running. They increase aerobic power, high-intensity fatigue resistance, pain tolerance, and run-specific strength. The ideal hill on which to run hill repeats features a steady, moderate gradient of 4 to 6 percent. Hill repetitions are typically done at the end of the base-building period as a relatively safe way to introduce harder high-intensity training into the program.

Example: 2 miles of easy jogging (warmup) + 10 x 45-second hill repeats at a hard effort with 2-minute jogging recovery between reps + 2 miles easy jogging (cooldown)

Tempo Run

A tempo run is a sustained effort at lactate threshold intensity, which is the fastest pace that can be sustained for one hour in highly fit runners and the fastest pace that can be sustained for 20 minutes in less fit runners. Tempo or threshold runs serve to increase the speed you can sustain for a prolonged period of time and to increase the time you can sustain that relatively fast pace.

Example: 1 mile of easy jogging (warmup) + 4 miles at a hard effort pace + 1 mile of easy jogging (cooldown)

There is a specific type of tempo run that is known as a marathon-pace run. A prolonged run at marathon pace is a good workout to perform at a very challenging level in the final weeks of preparation for a marathon, after you’ve established adequate raw endurance with long runs and longer progression runs featuring smaller amounts of marathon-pace running.

Example: 2 miles at natural pace + 13.1 miles at marathon pace

Intervals

Interval workouts consist of repeated shorter segments of fast running separated by slow jogging or standing recoveries. This format enables a runner to pack more fast running into a single workout than he or she could with a single prolonged fast effort to exhaustion.

Interval workouts are typically subcategorized as short intervals and long intervals, and are often performed on the track. Long intervals are 600 to 1,200-meter segments run in the range of 5K race pace with easy jogging recoveries between them. They’re an excellent means of progressively developing efficiency and fatigue resistance at fast running speeds.

Example: 1 mile of easy jogging (warmup) + 5 x 1K at 5K race pace with 400m jogging recoveries + 1 mile of easy jogging (cooldown)

Short intervals are 100 to 400m segments run at a hard sprint. They boost speed, running economy, fatigue resistance at fast speeds and pain tolerance. Distance runners typically use shorter, faster intervals earlier in the training cycle to increase their pure speed and then move to slightly longer, endurance-based intervals to improve fatigue resistance.

Example: 1 mile of easy jogging (warmup) + 10 x 300m at 1 mile race pace with 200m jogging recoveries + 1 mile of easy jogging (cooldown)

General Announcements

WFC parkrun Club

Winchester Fit Club Runners is set-up as a club with parkrun. If you go into your profile (there is a link to it on the parkrun results email and newsletter email) you can select your club. Change yours to Winchester Fit Club Runners and you will appear in the consolidated club report that we get each week.

WFC Runners WhatsApp Group

There is a WFC Runners WhatsApp chat group where we generally just wang on about running, races and cake. If you are not already part of this then please get in contact with Coach James or Coach Mike who will add you.

WFC Runners Strava Club

If you are a Strava user there is a Winchester Fit Club Runners club page. This can be accessed here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/WFC-Runners. Request to join and we will approve!

Booking onto sessions

Booking onto our training sessions enables the coaches to plan the session accordingly. You can book on in the following location: https://winchesterfitclub.simplybook.it/v2/

Winchester Half Marathon - Volunteers needed!

Some of you may have seen the post by Lynn on the WhatsApp group about the Winchester Half Marathon needing volunteers for this year's race. The race is on Sunday 23rd September and needs over 300 volunteers to be successful.

By volunteering you get free entry into next year's race.

If you are interested please follow this link: http://winchesterhalf.co.uk/get-involved/win-city-marshal/

Race Calendar

Here is an updated race calendar. If you have any others that you wish to add, please let me know!