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 27th Jan (unfortunately sold-out) this is followed by the Winchester 10km on the 24th 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 3rd and jog down the 4th, sprint up the 5th and jog down the 6th, sprint up the 7th and jog down the 8th. 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!
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
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