Hello runners! This week Lynn took part in the Salisbury 10, running a fantastic time of 1:23:52. In addition Allen took part in the Southampton Fast Twitch Sprint triathlon...see his write-up below.
In addition a number of regular Fit Clubber's kids ran at Winchester Junior parkrun. It was great to see the next generation of runners starting their running careers...next stop 2028 olympics in Los Angeles! This week the Runners' Thursday session was a fartlek session, basically mixed speed and length intervals. The weather was fantastic, as was the turn out. Read more about it here: http://wfcrunners.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/wfc-runners-training-session-thursday.html
In addition to Allen's write-up Mike Hastie has written an article on what he listens to on his runs. It's a great read and I have already started downloading and listening to some on my daily commute! If you have an interesting running related article you would like to include, please email me, details below.
Southampton Fast Twitch Sprint triathlon - by Allen Westoby
A couple of years ago, a friend
convinced me to sign up for Winchester’s May Day Triathlon. I did so
without owning a road bike and having never competed in a running event other
than parkrun. Luckily I’ve been a swimmer since the age of 5 so was
comfortable with 1/3 disciplines before tackling all 3 at once! Being over
eager and probably too confident, I managed to injure myself over-training
trying to compensate for lack of experience and spent almost 10 months
suffering from sciatica as a result… lesson learned. I competed my second
triathlon in Swanage last year so this weekend was third time lucky. All the
events I’ve attended have been Sprint triathlons, roughly half the distance of
an Olympic distance triathlon that you see the Brownlee brothers competing in.
The Southampton Fast Twitch Sprint
triathlon near Beaulieu includes a 400 metre swim, 20km cycle and a 5km run to
finish. It’s a good event for novices, which was telling as 6 people
in my wave were first time triathletes. Due to the number of
competitors and often limited swimming space there are usually waves of 15-20
people starting at the same time staggered over a couple of hours. This can
lead to a fair bit of waiting around once your bike has been placed in
transition so there’s plenty of time to worry and overthink every part of the
race before it starts!
Like many triathlons of this distance
the swim was in a pool (no wetsuit to contend with) which suited me… I still
find it strange swimming with a tri-suit on, watch on one wrist, competitor
wristband on the other and bulky timing chip strapped to my leg! After a quick
swim and slippery steps from the pool to transition it was a short run to my
bike and off for 20km around the New Forest. As well as trying to
chase down other competitors there were horses to dodge, deer to avoid hitting
and the occasional dangerous driver to be very conscious of! I felt
awful on the run with jelly legs and no energy but somehow managed to keep up a
good pace. I’ll definitely be putting more focus on in-race
nutrition for future events to help tackle fatigue.
Overall I’m happy with how the race went
and know exactly what I need to focus on to improve for the next event in
July... Olympic Distance. I finished 6 mins faster than I expected this
time round, which was mainly because the New Forest is so flat! Plenty of
training to do in the coming months, which I’m looking, forward to.
10
Listening Recommendations for your next run - by Mike Hastie
Let’s be honest – as enjoyable as running is, there are days
where we don’t want to get out of the front door. We’ve all been there, usually
when it's cold, raining or when you’ve been up too late the night before. Running
with others tends to be the best way to overcome this, whether WFC Thursday
sessions, a parkrun, or (my personal favourite) a conversational-pace run with
a good friend or two.
However, when running regularly, and especially when
training for a race, solo runs are unavoidable. Whilst many are happy running
to silence, or tried and tested playlists, a lot of runners (including myself)
need a distraction for those longer runs. On these days, a good podcast can make
all the difference.
So below are my top 10 recommendations for your next run. Having
run two marathons last year, I can vouch that these got me through a lot of
long Sunday runs! Please try some of them out, and let me know your thoughts:
1. Serial
(Series 1). A true-life crime / investigative journalism podcast, narrated
over 12 episodes. Absolutely riveting, you’ll find yourself binge-listening to
this between runs too!
2. Desert
Island Discs – simply the best interview format ever invented; with guests invited
to choose eight songs they would take if castaway on a desert island. Comes
with a vast back-catalogue (2000+ interviews), so chances are your favourite
will be in there.
3. S-Town –
produced by the same team as Serial, another perfect example of long-form
storytelling told over 7 episodes. A compelling listen – I remember ‘extending’
one run to get to the end of an episode and arriving far too late for work!
4. Quickly
Kevin Will He Score? Best described as ‘niche’, pod from Josh Widdicombe
and friends starts off revelling in the nostalgia of 90s football, and ends up
as a tribute to all to 1990’s. Particularly enjoyable if like me you grew up
spending Saturday afternoon’s at The Dell.
5. Radiolab –
widely acclaimed podcast from America, with over 1.5m weekly listeners. Each
episode focuses on a different philosophical or scientific topic, but in a very
accessible way. Also has the best production and audio effects of anything I’ve
listened to. Again, possesses a big archive of episodes back to 2002, so great
news if you do enjoy it. Would recommend checking out “Galapagos” or “Colors”
as a good ‘taster’ episode
6. Guardian
Running Podcast – think of these as having a portable Coach James in your
ear! Offer training courses over a series of runs, from beginner through to
advanced levels, if for any reason you can’t make it to a Thursday night
session or are a glutton for more punishment. Particularly useful are the timed
sections that allow you to do fairly complex sessions (hills, intervals, etc)
without ever having to look at a watch.
7. BBC Radio
4 Comedy – a whole range of content here, the topical Friday Night Comedy
shows (The Now Show/News Quiz) the best in my opinion!
8. The Bugle
– staying with comedy, this excellent satirical take on weekly events from the extremely
funny Andy Zaltzman. Would suggest dipping into the back catalogue on this one
too – the early series co-presented with John Oliver are the best episodes
9. Totally
Football Show – Twice weekly round-up of all things football, presented by
the masterful and pun-tastic James Richardson. Essential listening for any
football fan
10. Spotify
Running – okay, so not strictly a podcast, but well worth trying out.
Depending on your type of phone, Spotify will measure the cadence (steps per
minute) or your run, and create a playlist for you with a beats per minute that
exactly matches your speed. Surprisingly effective and a good way of finding
some new tunes too!
So that’s my current top 10, would be great to hear
suggestions from other runners!
Finally, three quick tips to improve your next running
listening experience even more:
- Podcasts (a bit like running) are definitely going through a popularity boom, with new ones being created each week, so keep trying if you don’t find one that is absorbing straight away.
- Most podcast apps allow you to ‘queue’ several podcasts in a row, so that the next one starts automatically after finishing the previous one. This is invaluable on longer runs - I didn’t realise this for an embarrassingly long time, which meant a lot of interrupted runs!
- If you run a lot, it's worth finding a good solution for carrying your phone, as well as headphones that ‘stay in’. I persevered far too long with the skinny headphones that came with my phone, and which fell out of my ear every ¼ of a mile! There are lots of options on the market, but I’d suggest a Flipbelt for holding phone & keys, and headphones that are designed not to fall out – I have a pair of Pioneer ones which haven’t fallen out once in over a year of running
Dates for your diary
Wed 11th April, 8pm, at Winnal Primary School - Yoga session for runners with Gill - £1
Mon 7th May, 7pm, Bar End running track - Monday Madness track session - £4
The General – April 14th
Gauntlet Games 5km and 10km - 12th May
https://www.naomihouse.org.uk/events/322-gauntlet-games-2018
Mon 7th May, 7pm, Bar End running track - Monday Madness track session - £4
Race Calendar
Here is an updated race calendar. If you have any others that you wish to add, please let me know!
The General – April 14th
Brighton Marathon – 15th April
Southampton Marathon, Half and 10km – 22nd April
London Marathon – 22nd April
Fleet Half – April 29th
Harewood Forest 10km and 5km – 7th May (Bank Holiday Monday)
Gauntlet Games 5km and 10km - 12th May
https://www.naomihouse.org.uk/events/322-gauntlet-games-2018
Alton 10 mile – 13th May
Liverpool Rock and Roll marathon, half marathon, 5km and 1 mile – 19th and 20th May
Hackney Half – 20th May – SOLD OUT
Vitality 10000 – 28th May
Race for Life – Winchester – 3rd June
Eastleigh 10km – 17th June
Arlesford 10km – 17th June
Baccus Marathon and Half – 9th September
The Lake Run, Andover 10km and 5km – 16th Septembver
Winchester Half Marathon – 23rd September
Clarendon Marathon, Half and relay – 7th October
http://www.clarendon-marathon.co.uk/
Great South Run - 21st October
http://www.greatrun.org/great-south-run
As ever, if you have any submissions for the next blog then please send them through to WFCrunners@gmail.com
Happy running everyone!!
Coach James
Great South Run - 21st October
http://www.greatrun.org/great-south-run
As ever, if you have any submissions for the next blog then please send them through to WFCrunners@gmail.com
Happy running everyone!!
Coach James
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