This week saw the Hastie's taking on the latest in the Questars adventure racing series. This time the race was based in the Chilterns. The format consists of trail running (self navigated), mountain biking and kayaking. After 6 hours they came home in 4th (out of 18) in their category. This all comes less than a week after Anna completed the Southampton marathon!! An astonishing achievement.
If you are interested in this then check out the website at: https://www.questars.co.uk/adventure-races/
The next race is in Berkshire on June 29th.
parkrun update 11th May
This week we had 15 Fit Clubbers running at 4 different parkrun venues. There were 11 at Winchester, Isabel at Greenwich, Lucy and Stefan at Eden Project, and Alice at Colby!
Thursday 9th May training session - St Catherines and Viaduct intervals
This week the runners met at Garnier Road car park. There were 24 eager runners joining me for more intervals, this time on the flat alongside the river. After a warm up the gang headed down the river side path to the old railway bridge about three quarters of a mile down. This is where we were to stay for the first 8 reps.
The session was fairly simple:
4 reps of 30 second with jog recovery back to the start
4 reps of 1 minute with jog recovery back to the start
After this we headed up onto the viaduct for 2 more reps out and back along the entire length of the viaduct.
Following this we jogged back to Garnier Road where we stretched and cooled down. It was here that I realised I had left my jacket up on the viaduct, so I ended the session with a panic jog the two miles there and back again!
Next week we will meet at Abbey Gardens at 7pm.
Race Reports
Southampton 10km by Alice
We spent the next half hour playing with the Macmillan banger sticks outside the Guildhall with my daughter, before joining a very long queue to the start line. Annoyingly we had left it too late and found ourselves quite far back with the 70 minute pacers, so we had a bit of making up to do in the first km.
Southampton Half by Karen Parker
It was just over a year ago that I joined Win Fit runners and this really helped me with the Southampton 1/2.
Matthew dropped me off at the race village whilst he went to park the car. On my way to join the inevitable loo queue feeling nervous, I met the wonderful Hasties. It cheered me up, and reminded me how great it was to belong to Win Fit.
Houghton 11km by Caroline Tyree and Sarah Geddis
Glenna, Trish, Fran, Sarah G and I were flying the Fit Club flag last Sunday at the Houghton 11k; a low-key, friendly trail run that Sarah and I had run a few years previously. You know you’re in for a good run when you arrive and you’re asked to park in field of knee-high grass, there are dogs everywhere and there’s a promise of homemade cake at the finish. Houghton 11k is my kind of run and I enjoy it all the more because people seem to take part, not to beat a PB, but for the simple pleasure of running through beautiful countryside with other runners. The views are stunning and at times it’s tempting to stop for a moment, just to -take it all in - lemon-yellow fields of rape, woodland streams, new-born calves; nature at it’s best.
General Announcements
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
This week we had 15 Fit Clubbers running at 4 different parkrun venues. There were 11 at Winchester, Isabel at Greenwich, Lucy and Stefan at Eden Project, and Alice at Colby!
There were more superb runs and yet again more PBs:
Simon H - (26:49) - Winchester
Isabel - (28:32) - Greenwich
Olivia - (29:22) - Winchester (course PB)
Isabel - (28:32) - Greenwich
Olivia - (29:22) - Winchester (course PB)
Here is a link to the consolidated club report:
Thursday 9th May training session - St Catherines and Viaduct intervals
This week the runners met at Garnier Road car park. There were 24 eager runners joining me for more intervals, this time on the flat alongside the river. After a warm up the gang headed down the river side path to the old railway bridge about three quarters of a mile down. This is where we were to stay for the first 8 reps.
The session was fairly simple:
4 reps of 30 second with jog recovery back to the start
4 reps of 1 minute with jog recovery back to the start
After this we headed up onto the viaduct for 2 more reps out and back along the entire length of the viaduct.
Following this we jogged back to Garnier Road where we stretched and cooled down. It was here that I realised I had left my jacket up on the viaduct, so I ended the session with a panic jog the two miles there and back again!
Next week we will meet at Abbey Gardens at 7pm.
Race Reports
Southampton 10km by Alice
I’ve gone along to the Southampton runs for the last few years with work, but never had the opportunity to take part. I was so excited to get to run this year, and was determined to break 55 minutes – something I knew was possible from gradually improving over recent months. I was planning on running with my husband Chris, who did the Winchester 10k in around 52 minutes, so I was in good company!
We arrived just in time to see the marathon and half marathon begin, and managed a quick shout out of good luck to Anna!
The first 3km are relatively flat, through the high street and into the park, before you reach the Itchen bridge. Every Southampton run I’ve attended, I’ve heard runners complain about how awful this bridge is, so I was expecting the worse. Despite it being like an optical illusion (the peak of it seemed to keep moving away the further you ran), there was very little wind, so we got lucky!
I felt good over the next few km, but the 7-9km became quite tough. I was trying so hard to stay on pace at this point, and was just about managing it. I was grateful to have Chris there as a distraction!
It was slightly gutting to run towards the football stadium at that point and then be directed away, as running through it wasn’t included on the 10km route, but at least it meant the end was near!
The last km was really enjoyable as there were so many spectators. It was great to finish with so much noise, and the support along the whole route had been amazing. I will definitely be taking part again!
I finished in a time of 51.21, which I’m over the moon about. Next stop, sub 50…?
Southampton Half by Karen Parker
It was just over a year ago that I joined Win Fit runners and this really helped me with the Southampton 1/2.
Last year I did the Southampton 10K and I found it hard work and very boring, so I was a bit worried about doing the 1/2.
Matthew dropped me off at the race village whilst he went to park the car. On my way to join the inevitable loo queue feeling nervous, I met the wonderful Hasties. It cheered me up, and reminded me how great it was to belong to Win Fit.
Off to meet my colleagues who were also running the 1/2. One was running with her husband, and aiming for sub two hours, and the others thought they would be about two and a half hours. I decide to run on my own, so went off feeling small and alone! Whilst I was trying to warm up I got a text from our fab coach giving me advice and encouragement. I felt so much better.
It took me 5 mins to cross the start line, and I thought of you wonderful VLM runners taking almost an hour to get to the start. As I started I remembered James’s advice to start steady, so I didn’t rush off too fast like I did last year. It didn’t seem long before I was at the Itchen bridge. Last year it seemed so hard, and I was very tempted to walk, but this time , thanks to all the hill sessions , the Itchen bridge wasn’t a problem, rather I enjoyed the view! Thank you Win Fit!
The route then went along the Itchen, and was totally beautiful, then through the football stadium. As we came out of the stadium I saw a footbridge. My heart sank a bit as I initially thought that we had to run up it, however we went to one side of it. It occurred to me though, that our St Catherine’s hill run would’ve helped.
The route took us back up the Itchen bridge, where I saw people taking selfies whilst running.That is well out of my skill set! My next highlight was running along a river in Bitterne Park. More people taking selfies. At this point I was within sight of the 2 hr 5 min marker, so it wasn’t tail Enders taking photos. I could see people running on the bridge over the river. Being reasonably intelligent I realised that I would have to make the height up quite quickly implying a steep slope. It wasn’t too bad, ( thanks to Win Fit training!) and soon I was on the bridge looking back on all the runners behind me. It was a lovely sight and I wished I could run and take photos, but I was aiming for sub 2 hours 10 and I needed to keep going.
As I ran through Portswood I realised I was catching the 2.05 pacers up. I decided to keep just behind them with a plan to overtake them near to the finish. I felt that I was going strong and I was enjoying the run. All was good. The crowds were entertaining and encouraging. Then I realised my lace was undone. I ran to one side and quickly did it up. As I started off again I felt so light headed I staggered like a drunkard and almost fell over. I was worried that any medic around would stop me running so I slowed right down to almost a walk until I felt better. It took what seemed like ages to get my pace back. I decided to forget about being a vegetarian and take any jelly babies offered. Five jelly babies later I felt able to resume a reasonable pace, but by then I had lost the 2.05 pacers. I hadn’t seen the 2.10 ones pass me so I assumed they were still behind me.
I was still on track. I was able to enjoy the last bit, particularly the park and I still gave young children high fives.
As I saw the finish line I still had energy for a final push. I was really pleased to see I was around the 2.09 mark. Comfortably inside the 2.10 I had set as my target. As I waited for my medal and t shirt I reflected how much I appreciated Win Fit , for the training and encouragement. Thank you for all your congratulations on WhatsApp. You are all fab and make a difference one year on.
Houghton 11km by Caroline Tyree and Sarah Geddis
Glenna, Trish, Fran, Sarah G and I were flying the Fit Club flag last Sunday at the Houghton 11k; a low-key, friendly trail run that Sarah and I had run a few years previously. You know you’re in for a good run when you arrive and you’re asked to park in field of knee-high grass, there are dogs everywhere and there’s a promise of homemade cake at the finish. Houghton 11k is my kind of run and I enjoy it all the more because people seem to take part, not to beat a PB, but for the simple pleasure of running through beautiful countryside with other runners. The views are stunning and at times it’s tempting to stop for a moment, just to -take it all in - lemon-yellow fields of rape, woodland streams, new-born calves; nature at it’s best.
I think we all loved the race, though in retrospect I wish I hadn’t felt the need to push myself to keep up with a group of faster runners! They urged me on though, especially towards the finish, and the post-run tea and cake well earned. Even better, in April I signed up to ‘Running Down Dementia’ to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK and Houghton took me to the 110km mark. 90km to go!
Sarah G here! It is a lovely run as it is so varied. It has a very old fashioned ‘village fete’ feel to it and everyone very friendly. It was great to bump into the other Fit Club runners. Caroline and I walked an extra few km as we wondered off in the wrong direction looking for the car park. I will definitely try to do it every year. We also met a couple in the queue for cake who were starting up the Winterslow 10k on September 15 to raise money for their local primary school. That should be another beautiful run if anyone is interested.
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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