WFC Runners - Romsey 5, parkrun update, Courtenay Road sprints, Week 3 challenge update

News

This week's main event was the Romsey 5.  The website describes the race as:

"The Romsey 5 Mile Run is set within the grounds of The Broadlands Estate, once the home of The Earl Mountbatten of Burma. The surface is mainly tarmac with a short distance of smooth hardcore. The course is 3 laps of the estate making it one of the flattest 5 mile races in the county"

We had 5 Fit Clubbers running and yet again there were some amazing performances!  

Elise - 42:11

Sarah H - 42:47

Alex - 44:58

Pete - 47:29

Glenna - 47:32

Look out next week for Elise's race report!

On the Saturday we had another successful parkrun morning.  We had 12 runners at Winchester with PBs for Jenny 24:29, Colin 21:00 and Carrie 24:06.  Considering the conditions were slippery underfoot and corners had to be navigated with care, those were impressive times.  The PBs did not stop there!  We also had Alice running her PB at Salisbury with a superb 25:37.  Lastly we had Trish running at Penrose parkrun in Cornwall. 

Read the full consolidated report here:

http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-01-26

Thursday 24th January - Courtenay Road Sprints

This week saw 26 runners smashing out sprints on Courtenay Rd.  We met outside river park and were all excited to welcome back Bex for her first post-baby run with the group.  After the normal chat we headed off for a gentle warm-up alongside the North Walls Rec.  We then turned and headed up the hill to Courtenay rd.  Once there I talked the group through the session. 

It was a fairly simple start with the group doing 4 x 45 second sprints down the road, with jog recovery back to the start.  This was to push the runners and get their legs nicely warmed up.  After this we got into the meat of the session with 4 reps of the 2x45second intervals.  Basically the runners would run for 45 seconds, I would blow the whistle and they would have 45 seconds to get back to the start.  Pacing it well would see the runners getting back to the start point, going off too hard would see them not quite make it back, and going off too easily would see them easily make it back in the timescales.   The purpose of this is to get the runners dialling into their pacing and understanding their capabilities.  Once this was completed we did 2 x 1min sprints with jog recovery back to the start.  

It was another tough session on a bitterly cold evening.  The runners worked exceptionally hard and there were some aching legs as we jogged back down the hill to River Park.  After a cool down and a chat we headed our separate ways.

Next week’s session will be starting at Abbey Gardens at 7pm. After the session we will be heading to the pub for a drink and a bit of a social catch-up!

New Year Running Challenge
  
With week 3 drawing to a close there are still a large proportion of you wonderful runners still on 100%.  As the weather starts to get colder and winter illnesses hit there are more people playing their wildcards, and with 9 weeks remaining and the challenge soon stepping up to the next level of difficulty it will start to become a real test.  

Best of luck for week 4 and start thinking about your week 5 - 8 predictions!  Please keep the stories and updates coming!  

Race Write-ups

Stubbington 10km - by Simon Boyden

The Stubbington 10k was always being to be a real challenge for me! 

Expectations were low as preparation hadn’t gone particularly well (loss of motivation and having been out for a friend’s 50^thBirthday celebration the night before being the main reasons).  I had hoped that by signing up for the Stubbington 10k (as well as Winchester and Eastleigh 10K’s) last autumn might spur me on but the inner chimp hadn’t reappeared....so it was going to hurt!

We met early on the Sunday at Ben and Shelley’s house as they had very kindly offered a lift to get to Stubbington in plenty of time.

Conditions were rather cold but dry for the 10am start. The course is gently undulating with a couple of inclines to get the thighs complaining (well mine anyway!). After theobligatory pre-race picture WFC we made our way to the start line.

The race started (rather quietly) and I got into a rhythm that didn’t feel too bad. I managed to follow a chap dressed as Batman for 2/3km before he disappeared up one of the hills never to be seen again. Then it was just a process of ticking off the kilometres. I did enjoy the varying scenery of countryside and coast which kept things interesting....there was even a posse of drummers en route to spur us on!

I’ve been regularly running 7km around my home with my Labrador, so it came as no surprise that I really start to tire after this point. My pace slowed and I started using every lamppost and post box as a short term goal to get to without stopping.

The final 2 km was long and if I’m honest rather uncomfortable, so when Coach James appeared to encourage me with a few hundred yards to go I was a relieved man. Shortly before the finish line I receive further welcome support from the rest of the WFC Runners which was greatly appreciated....thank you! My time of 1.11 was nothing to write home about, but it’s a start and I know I can do better. 

After a finishing group photograph it was off home to a welcoming hot bath.

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/

Race Calendar

The race calendar is now stored here:  https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/race-calendar-2019-and-beyond.html

Kit

Details and prices of kit can be found here: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/kit-details-and-prices.html

WFC Runners - parkrun, Blue Ball fun, Anne's marathon update, Stubbington 10km write-up , Challenge Update

News

With no races this week the main news is parkrun related.  This week Fit Club had 20 runners at 4 different parkruns.

Alice was visiting the home of parkrun at Bushy Park.  This was her 3rd visit and she managed to take 1m15s off of her previous best running 26:25. Elise and Pete were at Netley Abbey parkrun and Glenna, Trish and Fran all visited Brockenhurst.  

This left the rest running at Winchester, where once again we were the 2nd best represented club after WADAC.  Conditions are North Walls are starting to get a little muddy (as those without trail shoes will attest) and so going is getting harder.  Despite that there were some cracking performances.  Most notably Sharon S running a cracking new PB of 26:53.  We also had Mike and Anna who both ran great times, despite running 14 miles beforehand!  

Here is a link to the consolidated report:  http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-01-19

Lastly I'd like to give a special shout out to Shelley T who has managed to continue her run streak from the start of December and as of Saturday reached 50 consecutive days!  





Thursday 17th January - Blue Ball Hill

This week saw 29 Fit Clubbers turn up for one of the hardest sessions we have run.  We met as usual at Abbey Gardens and welcomed new comers Alf, Pete, Matthew and Amelia to the group.  After our normal warm-up we took the slightly longer route to Blue Ball Hill.

Once at the bottom of Blue Ball I explained what we were going to do.  The plan was fairly simple, 12 reps up to the junction and back down, running as hard as you could.  As the group size was so large we split into two groups.  Whilst the first one was running the second was recovering.  As soon as the first was back down the second group went.  It was a very hard session that got harder as legs got more tired. 


The group were amazing.  You could see how hard people were working on the way up and down.  You also knew it was a tough session as the level of conversation dropped in line with the number of reps people had done!

After the final reps we took some photos and then jogged back to Abbey Gardens for a stretch.  

Next week’s session will be starting at River Park Leisure Centre at 7pm. 

New Year Running Challenge
  
After 2 weeks we still have a whopping 29 runners still on 100%, however the strain is starting to show with some runners choosing to use their wildcard.  As the weather starts to get colder and legs start to get tired it will become more difficult to stick to your target.  My advice is to plan your week in advance and make the time to ensure you get your alloted runs in.  

Best of luck for week 3 and keep the stories and updates coming!  

Anne A London Marathon Training Update

As most of you are aware I am training for the London Marathon in April his year in support of a wonderful charity, Leonard Cheshire Disability, for whom our lovely fellow runner Shelly Talbot works- so no pressure! I am also lucky as I have Rachel Mills as a partner in crime who is also running in support of Crohns and Colitis UK.

I have agreed to write a periodic blog to share with you he highs and lows of training. I am not a natural runner but have always wanted to slog around a marathon (although I am querying that at the moment) so this will be a warts and all update!

After hours and hours of studying training plans, guidance and  reading advice I chose a plan that gave me the best chance to doing the marathon The Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan 18 week programme (a lot are 16 weeks)   basically 4 runs  a week one of which is a long slow run plus one cross training session). How hard can that be!

Day 1 of training was actually Christmas Day – 3 miles – perfect as I had already planned to do parkrun what a great start! The first couple of weeks were really good and quite exciting to be training for the Marathon with long runs of 8 and 9 miles so far so good! Week three a little more tricky the legs were beginning to rebel luckily I also have the short term focus of the WFC runners challenge where I had signed up to 5 runs a week through January so more motivation to keep going.

Sunday of week 3 the plan called for 6 miles which tied in really well to the organised 11k “meet the Leonard Cheshire Marathon Team” run in Green Park in London. Out of 98 runners only 6 people turned up but still great t meet some of the other guys who consisted of Ultra runners and seasoned marathon runners and me and my friend Kate as novices. I huffed and puffed around the run at the back of the group (I really only have one speed) but had a lovely time although I did have a crisis of confidence on the way home as I read one of the comments from the runners on his Strava page saying the run was really good but very slow! I really was trying ,my hardest! Luckily I remembered a great quote “comparison is the thief of joy”  - Note to self;

I think I need to keep reminding myself of this.

Week 4 Tired heavy legs and really fed up with running this week. Although did two lovely early morning runs in London the downside of this being 4.45 alarm call which doesn’t help. Rachel and I did a super cold run on Sunday I didn’t have enough layers on and I could hear Coach James in my ear assaying “ no such thing as bad weather only bad clothes” nevertheless we completed our 11.2 miles as per the plan and then home to a soak in an Epsom salt bath!

What’s next? Week 5 and a training run on my birthday how good is life? This weeks plan is a ramp up to 12 miles may be a bit tricky as I fly to the Maldives on Friday night….such a hard life...looking forward to some relaxing recuperation oh and some all inclusive cocktails!

Race Write-ups

Stubbington 10km - by Catherine Westoby

I first learned about Stubbington 10k when I received an email saying I had entered. I thought this was a scam, but then caught up on the Runners Whatsapp Group Chat and discovered that Allen had decided I would need to run off the Christmas calories so entered on my behalf!

My training on the lead up to the race was less than ideal.  Before Christmas I bought new trainers and picked up a hip injury and could barely run for some time.  The week before Stubbington I was also struck down by a cold & had a wheezy cough right up until race day. Despite this I was really determined to complete Stubbington as I had to drop out of Gosport half last year, which was gutting.

The morning of the race I felt really chilled as I had very low expectations of how I’d do and set out with a mind set to just enjoy it and hopefully get through as pain free / cough free as possible.  We travelled down with Coach James and 1R and arrived in good time to do the standard couple of wee’s, shoo some chickens and get an obligatory pre-race picture.  It was great to see so many familiar faces from Fit Club and it felt like a proper team event.  Again, it was the first race I haven’t had pre-race nerves which is probably because we were chatting right up until the start… taking things seriously of course!  

There was a short walk to the start line and it was only then when I appreciated how many people were racing.  Despite this it didn’t feel too congested at the start and I soon forgot I was injured and started way too fast as standard.  The course was a nice mix of gentle ups and downs with some long stretches of flat.  Running by the sea front was my highlight as there were drums and a tail wind.  My hip started to hurt at this point, but with only 3km to go and lots of support by the road I kept a smile on my face.

I found an extra gear after seeing fit clubbers on the side cheering everyone to the finish line and managed to sprint finish and pass a few people on the line.  This probably wasn’t that sensible as it really hurt but it didn’t feel right just coasting in.  My finish time was 53:28 which is only 41 seconds slower than my PB.  I was chuffed with the result considering my sub-optimal training of late.  

I would thoroughly recommend Stubbington to anyone that hasn’t raced it before and will be adding it to my race calendar for next year.  It was well organised, got a great top included and so many FitClubbers PB’d.

Finally, it would be rude not to mention the car snacks provided by James and 1R.  Starters of crisps, main course of flapjack, rice crispy bites (Waitrose no less) and sides of jelly babies and wine gums.  Pudding was Maoam.

Stubbington 10km - by Coach James

I was a late entrant to the race having fortunately been able to take Caroline's place after her injury ruled her out.  I travelled down with Catherine, Allen and Sharon and we got there in plenty of time to collect our numbers, grab a team photo, have a wee and walk to the start.

Knowing that I wasn't 100% fit and was undertrained I was targeting a sub 50 minute run, but I secretly had in the back of my mind that I thought I may be able to squeeze around 48 mins.  Subsequently I had decided to start further back in the field so that I would be forced to take the first mile easier than I would do if I were starting further forward.  

The race started with very little fanfare and we were off!!  As expected the first half mile was fairly congested and so this meant I was able to get nicely warmed up by the time the field started to thin.  By this time I was into my stride and feeling good.  

The course undulated through the first few miles and as the course went on I started to push my pace a little.  Just before halfway I caught Ben, who was working hard and running well.  As the route wound on I could see Anna running ahead of my down the road.  Every time I thought I was catching her she would accelerate away (usually on the downhills).  She was having a cracking run and was clearly on for a fast time.

It wasn't long before we turned onto the sea front at Hill Head and were greeted by a large drum band.  The tempo was excellent and I found my pace picking up as a result.  As we rounded the corner on the front I could see that Anna had caught up with Lynn and Mikaela and so I mentally targeted catching them before the finish. Just before we turned off the front I pulled level with the ladies and managed to push on past.  they were all running extremely well and clearly supporting each other through the last couple of miles, which was great to see.        

We soon approached the school, however the finish was on the far side and so there was still a good half mile to go.  I was starting to tire so was just focussed on keeping my form and not falling over!  As I rounded the final corner I could see Mike and Allen cheering us in.  I remember thinking that they must've run extremely well to already be back taking photos! I tried to pick my feet up for a sprint finish and crossed the line stopping my watch on 46:13.  Shortly after Anna, Lynn, Mik and Ben came through.  We made our way back to where Mike and Allen were standing and cheered in the rest of the team


As coach I was so proud on the day.  Seeing the hoards of Fit Club shirts before, during and after was a sight to behold.  I was also proud of how we conducted ourselves as a team.  We were so supportive on the way round the course and then we all stood together as a team and cheered every last runner home.  After more team photos we headed off.

On a personal note I was really pleased with my run.  I paced it really well and ended up having every mile faster than the previous (Royal Flush Negative Split) and felt great at the end.  I'm hoping I can carry this forward into the rest of the year and maybe even get close to my PB at some point!

It was a great day out made even better by the car snacks on the way home!

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/

Race Calendar

The race calendar is now stored here:  https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/race-calendar-2019-and-beyond.html

Kit

Details and prices of kit can be found here: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/kit-details-and-prices.html

WFC Runners - Stubbington 10km, parkrun, car park sprints

News

The main event this weekend was the Stubbington 10km.  Being the first race of the year and being a fast and fairly flat course it is a popular race with 1,900 entrants (1,744 finishers).  

The Fit Club family had a great turnout with 15 runners taking part with Lynn and Mik also running for WADAC.  The course did not disappoint, proving to be just as quick as advertised.  There were a few hills, but nothing like the hills on the Winchester 10km. There was also a strong breeze but fortunately this helped rather than hindered.  All of this meant that we recorded a number of fast times.  We had PBs for Allen, Mike H, Anna H, Ben H, Shelley T, Sharon S and Alex H as well as a course PB for Lynn (only 1 second off of her overall PB). 

It was a great display of team work with all of the Fit Clubbers waiting by the finish to cheer the rest of the team in.  We grabbed pre and post team photos and generally had a fantastic morning out. Here is the full list of results:

The next big race is the Romsey 5 on the 27^th Jan (unfortunately sold-out) this is followed by the Winchester 10km on the 24^th Feb. 

In parkrun world we had 18 Fit Clubbers at 3 different venues.  We had Jake at Moors Valley, 16 of you at Winchester and myself at Netley Abbey (review below)

The run of good form shows no sign of abating with 3 new PBs at Winchester.  These were Jenny L with 24:56, Matthew P running 22:38 and Ben Smith running a super quick 19:17  and moving up to second in all time WFC parkrun standings.  In addition we had Stefan Kemp and Lucy Gardner running Winchester parkrun for the first time.

Here is a link to the consolidated report:  http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-01-12

Thursday 10th January - Park and Ride Sprints

This week’s Thursday session saw the runners head to the South Winchester park and ride for an interval session.  There was a whopping 26 runners joining coach James for a mixed distance workout.

After a warm up we went straight into the session.  It was an innovative session which used the unique layout of the park and ride car park.  There is straight section of road which has 8 parking sections (roughly 30m long) spaced evenly along it and at the top of the 8 sections there is a path.  We therefore set-up the session so that the runners sprinted up the first parking section and then jogged along the path and down the second, sprint up the 3^rd and jog down the 4^th, sprint up the 5^th and jog down the 6^th, sprint up the 7^th and jog down the 8^th.  The runners then had to sprint as hard as they could back to the start (roughly 200m). 

 

This was repeated 6 times through.  Each rep in total was around a third of a mile so this section of the run was roughly 2 miles of running. 

Once this was done we ran a couple of rounds of “meet and retreat”.  Runners paired up with someone of similar speed.  I then set them off running in opposite directions around a half km loop.  The aim was to run as hard as possible around the loop.  When they met their opponent they high-fived, turned and ran back the way they had come from.  The aim was to then beat your opponent back to the start.  After two repeats of this we did a short cool down and stretch. 

Next week’s session will be starting at Abbey Gardens at 7pm. 

New Year Running Challenge

With week one complete we had a huge 29 people (out of 36 in the challenge) hitting 100% of their runs.  This is excellent and shows real commitment. Of the 29 there were 3 people who achieved 7 runs or more last week (Shelly, Sarah L and myself).    

Injury and illness meant that not everyone was able to meet their targets, but next week is a new week and there is still a long way to go, so there is all to play for.  Especially as in the later blocks hitting target runs, distances and paces becomes harder as time goes on.  

Keep focussing on making the time to get your runs in and push yourself to do that little bit more that you would usually.   

Best of luck for week 2 and keep the stories and updates coming!  

Race Write-ups

Netley Abbey parkrun - by Coach James

I last visited Netley Abbey 5 years ago for the 100th event. In the time since I last visited I have gotten married, had two kids and run 216 more parkruns at another 97 different venues!!

Despite the time that has lapsed, I remember the day clearly. It was bitterly cold, there was a freezing cold wind coming off the water and there were a number of large, unavoidable puddles as you headed up into the woods. The start of the course was run the other way, dropping down to the waterside at the start, before heading up into the woods, but other than that it felt very familiar. What was also familiar was the warm welcome that visitors were given, we were all made to feel like part of the family and were cheered on the whole way by the superb volunteers!

Unlike my first visit, this time I was pushing Elsie, in the running buggy. We arrived early and met the core team before attending the run brief...well we hoped to attend the run brief but Elsie ran off to see a big ship going past! We caught the end and a couple of other tourists talked me through the course.

The route is a three lapper mainly on hard-packed trail or concrete. There is a long straight at the start before the route turns and heads up into the woods.  In the woods there is a small loop before you head back down the hill.  At the bottom of the hill you turn and drop down again to the prom next to the water.  You then head back up to the main path.  This is repeated 3 times and on the final time you turn and head to the finish.   

As I had Stubbington 10km in the morning I had decided to take it easy so lined up with the running buggy at the back of the pack. It was lovely conditions for running and everyone seemed in good spirits. I started chatting to a local runner (didn't catch his name) and we stayed together for most of the run. I was nice to be made so welcome and be able to talk about running and parkrunning.

It wasn't long before we were heading up the hill the final time, once more round the woods and back to the waterside and in to the finish. After getting scanned we headed to the play park where Elsie had a good run around, before going to the excellent café. It was a shame that we couldn't have stuck around for longer, but we thoroughly enjoyed our time. We will definitely not leave it another 5 years before visiting again!

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/

Race Calendar

The race calendar is now stored here:  https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/race-calendar-2019-and-beyond.html

Kit

Details and prices of kit can be found here: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/kit-details-and-prices.html