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This week the only Fit Clubber we had racing was Lynn at the Salisbury 10. Lynn ran an excellent 1:18:59 and described the race as follows: "This is my second year in a row and I definitely recommend it. It is undulating but the downhill stretches more than make up for the uphill parts (two notable hills at 10k and 12k). The route is through the countryside rather than into the city itself. It’s not too far away from here so home by lunchtime and there was plenty of parking. Quite a few people doing it seemed to be running London in a couple of weeks."
This week we had 24 Fit Clubbers running at 5 different parkrun venues. There were 19 at Winchester, Sarah and Jenny at Eastleigh, Elise at Lee-On-The-Solent, Charles at The Eden Project and Trish at Penrose.
There were more superb runs and yet again more PBs
Stefan - (19:54) - Winchester
Colin - (20:28) - Winchester
Lucy G - (24:35) - Winchester
Simon M - (25:47) - Winchester
Karen P - (26:47) - Winchester
And we also had the following course PBs:
Allen - (19:22) - Winchester (equal all time PB)
Jenny - (25:19) - Eastleigh
Sarah - (25:21) - Eastleigh
Shelley - (25:38) - Winchester
Elise - (26:36) - Lee-On-The-Solent
Trish (28:06) - Penrose
Also special mention to Jo, who recorded her highest ever % age grading at Winchester with 63.68%. Also to Charles who recorded a 17:55 and 9th place at the Eden Project despite going the wrong way and having to double back!Here is the consolidated parkrun club report:
Thursday 11th April Training Session - St Giles Hill
This week 20 eager runners met at Abbey Gardens for the Thursday run session. The weather was beautiful (perfect for running) and the session was to be in the park on St Giles Hill.
After the normal warm up we headed up the steps to the park. This was the first little effort with the runners taking on the steps to the top.
Once there we headed over to the bottom corner of the field. Here a path goes up the hill, diagonally across the park. Half way up the hill there is a lamppost and this is where the first set of reps went to. The aim was to run hard up the hill to the lamppost, turn and run hard back down to the start. Here we had a short break. We did this 5 times.
Following this we did two reps up the full length of the path all the way to the top of the hill and back down with a short break in between.
After this we did a jogged lap of the whole park as a short recovery section, before regrouping back in the bottom corner. We then repeated the first half of the session (5 short, 2 long hill sprints).
We then headed to the view point for the normal group photos before jogging back to Abbey Gardens for a cool down.
Following the session we headed to Number 5 Bridge Street for a cake sale in aid of Rachel's London Marathon charity. Here we did the presentations to Rachel and Shelley for their 1st and 3rd places in the challenge. There were loads of cakes and we even had a visit from Mike and Laura, who came to show their support for our amazing marathon runners.
Next week we will be meeting at Abbey Gardens at 7pm.
Race Reports
The General 10km by Elise Gilbert
When we arrived we got out the car to register and collect our numbers, it was such a cold wind so we collected our numbers and sat in the car. At 09.45 we braved getting out the car as the queue for the toilets was getting longer and I always need a nervous wee!! It was so cold stood in the queue, we made our way to the start line and once huddled in the crowd it felt a bit warmer I just wanted to get running to keep warm. They came over with a loud speaker but we couldn't hear a word, next thing I knew we were off.
To start with there was about 20m of downhill only to be followed by a big hill I can only describe as ROCKY ROAD, once I was at the top of this hill I was no longer cold and my face felt like I had two JAM TARTS on my cheeks. We then ran down a track and through some woods underfoot I can only describe it as feeling like VICTORIA SPONGE as we had had some rain in the days leading up to the General. I was happily running along quite comfortable until I turned the corner and saw a another big hill in front of me, I slowly plodded up and then we went through some woods only to come downhill the other side, it felt quite steep running down and I thought I would lose control like a JAM ROLY POLY. 
I spotted a water station ahead so knew we must be at the halfway point, I carried on and guess what...another hill was ahead of me. I don’t mind hills but by the time I got to the top of this one all I wanted to do was give up and fall in a heap and cry. I found from somewhere the determination to carry on, we entered into more woodland and it was a winding path, I looked at my Garmin and it said 5 miles so I knew it was just over a mile to go.
We seemed to be running round and round the woods for ages and I kept seeing the same people and I remember thinking to myself that I was sure we had gone wrong somewhere, up ahead we finally saw a Marshall who was on his mobile and didn't know which way we had to go, a group of us decided to go round the woods to try and get back on track.
I kept checking my Garmin but at this point it said over 10k. Yet again there was a very steep short hill in front of us I dug deep and managed it as I knew this had to be the last hill!! How wrong I was, they threw in one more for good luck. I have never been so glad to cross a finish line. Once I had finished I waited for my friend and everyone was moaning about the lack of signs towards the end. I ended up finishing on 1hr 6 mins 40 seconds which technically is a PB as it’s my first (& my last) ever trail run.
Whinlatter parkrun by Glenna Greenslade
Whinlatter parkrun is described as a hilly run through Whinlatter Forest Park taking in the beautiful views of Derwentwater and the surrounding mountain ranges. The run comprises one lap, with a loop, using forest trail surfaces. As I had run Keswick and Fell Foot parkruns on previous visits to the Lake District this one had to be done.
We arrived in plenty of time as Dave was tailwalking and we met the very friendly Run Director and her team of volunteers. We were amazed to see Emma and Richard Carter, fellow Winchester parkrunners and members of WADAC who had arrived in the Lakes the day before
The route started on a narrow section with about 500m of slight downhill so, full of confidence that maybe it wasn’t that bad, it then opened out onto a wider track where the uphills begin and after about 1k I started to wind down to a power walk. The route continued uphill for approximately 1k before it started heading for a short downhill section to the start of the loop. A sharp downhill narrow path led onto a short flat section before we climbed again and re-joined the path. Another 500m or so uphill before a short downhill sprint to the finish, at a somewhat higher elevation than the start!
Whinlatter Forest is a challenging event and the most elevated parkrun in the UK and officially the second toughest parkrun in the UK. The relatively new Woolacombe Dunes parkrun is thought to be tougher than Whinlatter.
As there were just 72 runners, walkers and joggers, this meant my finish position was higher than it has been for years!!
When I am next visiting the Lake District I will try Whinlatter again and try and improve on my time by walking less. We had just spent a week doing some strenuous walking before undertaking this parkrun, on our next visit we will have to try and arrive on a Friday with fresh legs for Saturday!
Whinlatter parkrun is described as a hilly run through Whinlatter Forest Park taking in the beautiful views of Derwentwater and the surrounding mountain ranges. The run comprises one lap, with a loop, using forest trail surfaces. As I had run Keswick and Fell Foot parkruns on previous visits to the Lake District this one had to be done.
We arrived in plenty of time as Dave was tailwalking and we met the very friendly Run Director and her team of volunteers. We were amazed to see Emma and Richard Carter, fellow Winchester parkrunners and members of WADAC who had arrived in the Lakes the day before
The route started on a narrow section with about 500m of slight downhill so, full of confidence that maybe it wasn’t that bad, it then opened out onto a wider track where the uphills begin and after about 1k I started to wind down to a power walk. The route continued uphill for approximately 1k before it started heading for a short downhill section to the start of the loop. A sharp downhill narrow path led onto a short flat section before we climbed again and re-joined the path. Another 500m or so uphill before a short downhill sprint to the finish, at a somewhat higher elevation than the start!
Whinlatter Forest is a challenging event and the most elevated parkrun in the UK and officially the second toughest parkrun in the UK. The relatively new Woolacombe Dunes parkrun is thought to be tougher than Whinlatter.
As there were just 72 runners, walkers and joggers, this meant my finish position was higher than it has been for years!!
When I am next visiting the Lake District I will try Whinlatter again and try and improve on my time by walking less. We had just spent a week doing some strenuous walking before undertaking this parkrun, on our next visit we will have to try and arrive on a Friday with fresh legs for Saturday!
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
Race Kit
The full range of kit available to purchase and instructions on how to order can be found in the following link: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/kit-details-and-prices.html
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