News
Before we get into the main running news I would like to congratulate Steve and Hannah on the birth of their daughter! Mother and baby are doing well. Welcome to the Fit Club family baby Lucas!!
After a couple of weeks with very little racing, the main event finally arrived this weekend. It was the Virgin Money London Marathon. We had Alf, Anne and Rachel all running and representing Fit Club in the capital and what a day of contrasting emotions they had. 
Alf was able to get a relatively quick start, only waiting 23 minutes to cross the line, but Rachel and Anne had to wait for nearly an hour! Eventual winner Eluid Kipchoge was already at tower bridge by the time Rachel crossed the start line!! Al three started well, but unfortunately Alf picked up an early hip injury and despite physio treatment couldn't rectify it. This made for a very painful final 18 miles. Being the amazing man he is though he cracked on and got round to collect his medal. What an inspiration!
In one of the more touching moments of the day Rachel caught up with training partner Anne and even grabbed a quick selfie! Both of the ladies performed extremely well in their first marathons finishing in fantastic times. It was also amazing to see Philippa G, Philippa D and Sharon all travelling up to the city to support their club mates. What a team.
It is days like this that make me proud to be a coach. Seeing the pride and determination everyone showed to complete the race and realise their dreams was truly emotional. Also seeing how, as a club, we tracked everyone, supported them, wanted them to be the best they could. It was great. It felt like the club ran every step with them. Thank you all for being awesome.
The final times were as follows:
Rachel - 4:32:52
Anne - 4:50:14
Alf - 4:52:58
Well done to all three marathon superheroes!
All of their pages are still open for donations should you wish to donate towards their chosen charities!
I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Tina a very speedy recovery. Tina was taken ill on the Saturday before the marathon and was unable to run it. All the very best Tina, we are here for you every step of the way.
The marathon fun does not stop there! Next up we have Anna H and Charlotte W running the Southampton Marathon. Best of luck ladies!!
With Coach James having been away for a couple of weeks here is an update from parkrun and the training sessions from the last couple of weeks!
parkrun Update - 20th April
This week we had 24 Fit Clubbers running at 6 different parkrun venues. There were 15 at Winchester, Mike and Anna at Eastleigh, Simon and Rachel at Arrow Valley, Stefan and Lucy at Felixstowe, Anne at The Skipton and Myself and Olivia at Tamar Trails! There were more superb runs and yet again more PBs:
Anna H - (22:30) - Eastleigh
Rachel - (24:07) - Arrow Valley
Karolina - (29:17) - Winchester
And we also had the following course PBs:
Mike H - (20:46) - Eastleigh
Simon M - (26:28) - Arrow Valley
Anne - (30:06) - Skipton
Also special mention to Sarah H who was running her 50th parkrun. Sarah has run 48 times at Winchester and twice at Eastleigh. Sarah also has a PB of 24:10 set in February. Congratulations Sarah!
We should mention that Anna, in addition to setting a new PB, was also 1st lady at Eastleigh parkrun. Congratulations Anna!!
parkrun Update - 27th April
This week we had 19 Fit Clubbers running at 6 different parkrun venues. There were 13 at Winchester, Elise at Swindon, Shelley at Leamington, Trish at Moors Valley, Glenna at Severn Bridge and Myself and Olivia at Higginson, Marlow!
There were more superb runs and yet again more PBs:
Alice - (23:02) - Winchester
Jenny - (23:24) - Winchester
Sarah H - (23:27) - Winchester
Karen - (26:35) - Winchester
And we also had the following course PBs:
Anna - (22:33) - Winchester
This week we had 19 Fit Clubbers running at 6 different parkrun venues. There were 13 at Winchester, Elise at Swindon, Shelley at Leamington, Trish at Moors Valley, Glenna at Severn Bridge and Myself and Olivia at Higginson, Marlow! There were more superb runs and yet again more PBs:
Alice - (23:02) - Winchester
Jenny - (23:24) - Winchester
Sarah H - (23:27) - Winchester
Karen - (26:35) - Winchester
And we also had the following course PBs:
Anna - (22:33) - Winchester
Here is the consolidated parkrun club report:
Thursday 18th April Training Session - North Walls Shuttle Runs
With Coach James on holiday for a couple of weeks the dream team of Anne, Sharon and Rachel took the reigns. They were joined by 14 runners for a shuttle run session at North walls. Catherine M joined us for the first time.
The session was a basic shuttle run sprint session. There were three markers set up at about 10m, 20m, 30m and then a last one at roughly 100m-150m
The aim was to sprint to the 1st marker, touch the ground and sprint back to the start. Then sprint to the 2nd marker, touch the ground and sprint back to the start. Then sprint to the 3rd marker, touch the ground and sprint back to the start. Then it’s a full out hard effort to the final marker. The group then had jog recovery back to the start.
This was repeated 8 times before the group headed back to Abbey Gardens for the cool down.
Huge thank you to Anne, Rachel and Sharon for covering for me and for putting on such a fantastic session.
Next week we will be meeting at Abbey Gardens at 7pm.
Thursday 25th April Training Session - Social run
With coach James still away and the marathon just days away it was agreed to just host a social run, instead of a full session. The session was led by the superb team of One R and Humber (Sharon and Alex).
15 runners joined Sharon and Alex, including new members Matthew and Isobel!
After a warm-up in Abbey Gardens the team headed out along the river, past the Winchester College playing fields, down to Garnier Road car park, along the river ot the back of St Catherine's.
Here the team turned evil and decided to take the group up the St Catherine's steps (all 331 of them), round the top of the hill and back down. They then headed back along the cycle path, into the city and back to Abbey Gardens for the cool down.
Next week's session will start at 7pm and we will be meeting outside River Park leisure centre.
Feature Article
5 New Listening Recommendations for your next run - by Mike Hastie
Whilst running with others is – for most people – one of the best ways
to enjoy running, for those shuffling the streets of Winchester regularly there
are times where solo runs are unavoidable. And for every runner that enjoys the
headspace and ‘thinking time’ offered up by silent runs, there is usually
another glaring at their watch in 0.1 mile increments and in need of some audio
distraction.
I definitely fall into this second category, and have found that a good podcast can make the miles fly by a lot quicker. As a number of you reading this will be building up the training distance for longer races and even marathons this year, I thought I’d share my thoughts on the best way to get through those longer solo runs in particular.
About a year ago I wrote a similar blog post, which had a similar ‘Top 10’ list, as well as some general podcast tips & equipment advice. If you’ve joined WFC in the last year, or if you missed this, I’d suggest reading this one first (about halfway down this link, just below someone wanging on about triathlons):
http://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2018/04/wfc-runners-try-ing-hard-and-running.html
As a bit of a podcast addict, a lot of these are still listened to regularly (especially Desert Island Discs), and if you haven’t already caught Serial then stop reading this, start downloading it and come back when you’ve finished! However, listed below are five of the best new ones I’ve discovered over the last year. Please let me know your thoughts.
The Adam Buxton Podcast– actor/comedian Adam Buxton is one of my favourite interviewers currently; has a very engaging, natural interview style and has now built up a large back catalogue of episodes which is great news if you do enjoy it! If you’re looking for an episode to dip into, the interview with Romesh Ranganathan (complete with impromptu rap battle) is hilarious.
I definitely fall into this second category, and have found that a good podcast can make the miles fly by a lot quicker. As a number of you reading this will be building up the training distance for longer races and even marathons this year, I thought I’d share my thoughts on the best way to get through those longer solo runs in particular.
About a year ago I wrote a similar blog post, which had a similar ‘Top 10’ list, as well as some general podcast tips & equipment advice. If you’ve joined WFC in the last year, or if you missed this, I’d suggest reading this one first (about halfway down this link, just below someone wanging on about triathlons):
http://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2018/04/wfc-runners-try-ing-hard-and-running.html
As a bit of a podcast addict, a lot of these are still listened to regularly (especially Desert Island Discs), and if you haven’t already caught Serial then stop reading this, start downloading it and come back when you’ve finished! However, listed below are five of the best new ones I’ve discovered over the last year. Please let me know your thoughts.
The Adam Buxton Podcast– actor/comedian Adam Buxton is one of my favourite interviewers currently; has a very engaging, natural interview style and has now built up a large back catalogue of episodes which is great news if you do enjoy it! If you’re looking for an episode to dip into, the interview with Romesh Ranganathan (complete with impromptu rap battle) is hilarious.
Off Menu– probably best described as “Desert Island Discs with food”. Hosted by comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble, each week a guest orders their dream meal piece by piece – starter, main course, side, dessert and drink. Was initially drawn to this more by the hosts than the format (have tickets to see both James Acaster and Ed Gamble live this year), and whilst the chemistry between them is excellent, the way food is used to draw out experiences of each guest is very well executed too.
Runners World– bit of a busman’s holiday this one, but I was surprisingly impressed by this monthly offering from RW. Any runners training for a marathon (or considering one in the future) should definitely listen to the Jan2019 episode. The latest one (Feb 2019) also contains a really interesting interview with Jasmin Paris, the vet, mum and all-round superwoman who beat every other man and women to win this year’s Spine Race ultra marathon
The Flight of the Conchords– Another excellent mix of music and comedy, based on the hapless pair that make up - in their own words - “New Zealand’s fourth-most-popular folk duo”. As well as two hilarious albums (available on Spotify and very enjoyable to run to!), a radio show of the Flight of the Conchords struggling to break it in Britain has recently been re-released. Note –this podcast is currently only available on the BBC Sounds app (free to download).
Tailenders –what happens when a Radio 1 presenter, lead singer of the Maccabees and England’s greatest ever fast bowler combine to provide an alternative (and often musical) perspective on cricket. The audience of this podcast is probably split down the middle between cricket ‘fans’ and non-cricket fans, so as someone who has often struggled in the past to convince friends to share my love of the game I was very pleased to find this podcast!
Hope you enjoy some of these suggestions, and let me know if there is anything you’re currently listening to. Remember - if you find yourself involuntarily laughing out loud halfway along the viaduct and getting odd looks from strangers, then you’re doing it right!
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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