WFC Runners

Monday, 10 September 2018

WFC Runners - Races galore, PBs, parkrun and different types of run

News

This week was a busy one for Fit Clubbers! We had Anne running the Baccus Half, Sharon (One R) running the New Forest Half, Rachel and me running the Stockbridge 10km and Will running the Stockbridge 2km. Read more about these below. We also had a great turnout at parkrun with loads of PBs and some fantastic running from the whole team.

This blog also describes the various types of training run that runners commonly utilise in their training! See the main article below.

As mentioned above Anne was running the Baccus half marathon. Their website describe the race as follows:

The Surrey Bacchus Half Marathon - your chance to enjoy England’s premier Wine Marathon with five tasting stations (serving six different wines) over the Half Marathon.

Half of the route is inside the beautiful Denbies Wine Estate and the other half through National Trust Countryside and woodland along the Pilgrims Way and North Downs Way. It's a demanding route, but you'll have suitable respite at each of the sampling stations, then at the finish you can carry on the party spirit of the event at the post-race Hog Roast.

There is also a full marathon option which has 10 wine stations and a 5 mile race which offers just the one wine station. The race is traditionally run in fancy dress and so Anne ran it dressed as a bottle of wine. From everything I have heard is an amazing experience.

We also had Sharon "One R" Smith running the New Forest Half. This is described as:

A stunning multi-terrain course running through the heart of the New Forest. A blend of forest enclosures, open roads, far reaching views and of course, famous New Forest Ponies. Fast and flat.

Congratulations One R and Anne!!

I took part in the Stockbridge 10km. With a growing family attending races is not always going to be easy for me, so when I saw that the Stockbridge 10km allowed buggy entries I thought it was the perfect chance for some Daddy daughter fun with Elsie in the running buggy. I was joined on the morning by Rachel Mills whilst Will ran the kids 2km race and Simon supported superbly from the sidelines

It was a mix terrain course that I had been warned was hilly in places. I ran it in a credible 52:30 (a buggy running 10km PB) despite needing to take some strategic walk breaks on the steeper parts and taking a bit of a tumble in the final kilometre. Rachel ran a cracking new 10km PB of 54:29 and will ran the 2km race in 12:06 to place 27th in the kids race. Superb running from the super speedy mum and son duo!

Read all about our experiences at these races in more detail in next week's edition!

This week saw a large number of Fit Clubbers attending parkrun. The bulk of the club were at Winchester, but we had Jake representing us at Linford Wood and Glenna doing the same at Queen Elizabeth.

Queen Elizabeth is a tough, hill, cross country course with a whopping 380ft+ of elevation gain across the 5km (making it the 11th hilliest parkrun in the UK). This didn't stop Glenna posting a super speedy course PB (32:23), bettering the time she set back in 2015. Cracking running.

We had a great turn out at Winchester with (by my reckoning) 15 Fit Clubbers taking part (12 registered). We had PBs for Will (30:41) and Simon Mills (29:52), Anna Hastie (24:12) and Jennifer (28:17). We also had a course PB for Shelley (27:09) and a post-cancer PB for Tina (30:54). Mike Hastie also ran his fastest time (20:37) since he set his PB in September 2017!! What an inspiration you all are.

I started near the back and slowly worked my way through chatting to you wonderful Fit Clubbers en route which made for a lovely, sociable run.

This week's Thursday session saw a record breaking 35 runners taking on a tough sprint session on the viaduct. The session was 4 sets, each consisting of 2 short sprints and one long. In total this equated to 8 lengths of the viaduct!

There was some amazing running by the fantastic runners in a session that will improve both speed and endurance.

Read all about it here: http://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2018/09/wfc-runners-6th-september-viaduct.html

Next week is the WFC Running Club's 1st birthday. To celebrate we will be holding our normal 7pm session on Thursday but following it up with drinks at Number 5 on the Bridge to celebrate an amazing year. Please try and make it...even if you can't make the session, please join us for drinks!

Run Types

There are eight basic types of runs that are practiced by runners of all levels everywhere. These evolved through a global trial-and-error process over many decades. They survived because they work. If you want to get the most out of the time you devote to training, you will need to learn and practice them, too. You can add all kinds of wrinkles to these formats — for example by combining two of them within a single session — but even in their most basic form, the workouts described below will help you become a better runner.

Recovery Run

A recovery run is a relatively short run performed at an easy pace. Recovery runs serve to add a little mileage to a runner’s training without taking away from performance in the harder, more important workouts that precede and follow them. Recovery runs are best done as the next run after a hard workout such as an interval run. Do your recovery runs as slowly as necessary to feel relatively comfortable despite lingering fatigue from your previous run.

Example: 4 miles easy

Base Run

A base run is a relatively short to moderate-length run undertaken at a runner’s natural pace. While individual base runs are not meant to be challenging, they are meant to be done frequently, and in the aggregate they stimulate big improvements in aerobic capacity, endurance, and running economy. Base runs will make up a bulk of your weekly training mileage.

Example: 6 miles at natural pace

Long Run

Generally, a long run is a base run that lasts long enough to leave a runner moderately to severely fatigued. The function of a long run is to increase raw endurance. The distance or duration required to achieve this effect depends, of course, on your current level of endurance. As a general rule, your longest run should be long enough to give you confidence that raw endurance will not limit you in races. There are many spins you can put on a long run, such as progressing the pace from start to finish or mixing intervals (described on the last page) into the run.

Example: 10-15 miles at natural pace

Progression run

A progression run is a run that begins at a runner’s natural pace and ends with a faster segment at anywhere from marathon down to 10K pace. These runs are generally intended to be moderately challenging—harder than base runs but easier than most threshold and interval runs. Because they’re a medium-effort workout, the recovery time is less than more intense sessions.

Example: 5 miles at natural pace + 1 mile at marathon pace + 1 mile at half-marathon pace

Fartlek Run

A fartlek workout is a base run that mixes in intervals of varying duration or distance. It’s a good way to begin the process of developing efficiency and fatigue resistance at faster speeds in the early phases of the training cycle, or to get a moderate dose of fast running later in the training cycle in addition to the larger doses provided by tempo/threshold and interval workouts. They can also serve as a less-structured alternative to a traditional interval session such as a track workout.

Hill Repeats

Hill repeats are repeated short segments of hard uphill running. They increase aerobic power, high-intensity fatigue resistance, pain tolerance, and run-specific strength. The ideal hill on which to run hill repeats features a steady, moderate gradient of 4 to 6 percent. Hill repetitions are typically done at the end of the base-building period as a relatively safe way to introduce harder high-intensity training into the program.

Example: 2 miles of easy jogging (warmup) + 10 x 45-second hill repeats at a hard effort with 2-minute jogging recovery between reps + 2 miles easy jogging (cooldown)

Tempo Run

A tempo run is a sustained effort at lactate threshold intensity, which is the fastest pace that can be sustained for one hour in highly fit runners and the fastest pace that can be sustained for 20 minutes in less fit runners. Tempo or threshold runs serve to increase the speed you can sustain for a prolonged period of time and to increase the time you can sustain that relatively fast pace.

Example: 1 mile of easy jogging (warmup) + 4 miles at a hard effort pace + 1 mile of easy jogging (cooldown)

There is a specific type of tempo run that is known as a marathon-pace run. A prolonged run at marathon pace is a good workout to perform at a very challenging level in the final weeks of preparation for a marathon, after you’ve established adequate raw endurance with long runs and longer progression runs featuring smaller amounts of marathon-pace running.

Example: 2 miles at natural pace + 13.1 miles at marathon pace

Intervals

Interval workouts consist of repeated shorter segments of fast running separated by slow jogging or standing recoveries. This format enables a runner to pack more fast running into a single workout than he or she could with a single prolonged fast effort to exhaustion.

Interval workouts are typically subcategorized as short intervals and long intervals, and are often performed on the track. Long intervals are 600 to 1,200-meter segments run in the range of 5K race pace with easy jogging recoveries between them. They’re an excellent means of progressively developing efficiency and fatigue resistance at fast running speeds.

Example: 1 mile of easy jogging (warmup) + 5 x 1K at 5K race pace with 400m jogging recoveries + 1 mile of easy jogging (cooldown)

Short intervals are 100 to 400m segments run at a hard sprint. They boost speed, running economy, fatigue resistance at fast speeds and pain tolerance. Distance runners typically use shorter, faster intervals earlier in the training cycle to increase their pure speed and then move to slightly longer, endurance-based intervals to improve fatigue resistance.

Example: 1 mile of easy jogging (warmup) + 10 x 300m at 1 mile race pace with 200m jogging recoveries + 1 mile of easy jogging (cooldown)

General Announcements

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/

Winchester Half Marathon - Volunteers needed!

Some of you may have seen the post by Lynn on the WhatsApp group about the Winchester Half Marathon needing volunteers for this year's race. The race is on Sunday 23rd September and needs over 300 volunteers to be successful.

By volunteering you get free entry into next year's race.

If you are interested please follow this link: http://winchesterhalf.co.uk/get-involved/win-city-marshal/

Race Calendar

Here is an updated race calendar. If you have any others that you wish to add, please let me know!

Meon Valley Express 5km, 10km and Half - 16th September
https://www.eventrac.co.uk/listed-races/meon-valley-express

Hursley 10km - 16th September
https://www.hursley10k.co.uk

The Lake Run, Andover 10km and 5km – 16^th Septembver

https://www.andover10klakerun.co.uk/

Winchester Half Marathon – 23^rd September

http://winchesterhalf.co.uk/

Solent Half - 23rd September 2018
http://www.hardleyrunners.co.uk/SolentHalf.html

Blenheim Palace Half - 30th September
https://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/events/runs/blenheim-palace-half-marathon-10k-and-family-fun-run

Ageas Bowl 10km - 30th September
https://www.fullonsport.com/event/the-ageas-bowl-10k/profile

Salisbury Half - 7th October
http://www.salisburyhalf.com

Clarendon Marathon, Half and relay – 7^th October

http://www.clarendon-marathon.co.uk/

Cardiff Half – 7^th October

http://www.cardiffhalfmarathon.co.uk

Goodwood Running Festival 10km and Half - 14th October
http://www.ukrunevents.co.uk/the-running-festival-at-goodwood/

Greenham Common 10km, 5km and Mile - 14th October
http://www.stepup4good.co.uk/?page_id=42

Great South Run - 21st October

http://www.greatrun.org/great-south-run

Hayling 10- 4th November 2018

http://www.havantac.co.uk/hayling-10/

Gosport Half - 18th November

http://www.gosporthalf.org

Victory 5 - 2nd December 2018

http://www.athleticevents.co.uk/page2.html

Stubbington 10km - 13th January 2019

http://stubbingtongreenrunners.net/index.php/10k

Ryde 10 - 3rd February 2019

Fleet Half - 17th March 2019

Eastleigh 10K - 17th March 2019

London Landmarks - 24th March 2019

https://www.llhm.co.uk

Salisbury 10 - 14th April 2019 Alton 10 - 12th May 2019 Netley 10K - 19th May 2019 Hook 10K - 19th May 2019 Alresford 10K - 16th June 2019

Endure 24 - 14th-16th June 2019

http://www.endure24.co.uk

Lordshill 10K - 23rd or 30th June 2019

As ever, if you have any submissions for the next blog then please send them through to WFCrunners@gmail.com

Happy Running!

Coach James

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Kit pictures and prices

Thursday, 6 September 2018

WFC Runners - 6th September - Viaduct sprints

With the light quickly fading in the evenings we went for one last session on the viaduct. Meeting at Garnier Road, a record 35 runners joined me for another interval session. It would've been 37 but unfortunately Emily got called out and had to leave and Anna got injured in her warm-up so headed home!

We were also joined for the first time by Felix, Emma and Laura. Welcome to the group (there isn't cake every week)!

After warming up we took a leisurely jog down to the viaduct where we would do the bulk of the session.

I had set a tough session. It consisted of 4 sets. Each set was made up 2 short sprints and 1 long. Starting at one end of the Viaduct we sprinted to the middle(ish). Here we had a short rest before sprinting the second half of the viaduct. After another short break we did the long sprint back along the whole length of the viaduct. we then took a slightly longer rest and then repeated the whole thing 3 more times!

On the cool down run back to Garnier road we lost the light really quickly and ended up doing the cool down in the dark!

To celebrate Simon H's birthday he had brought the group a lovely chocolate cake (made by his mum), so we sang him happy birthday and all had a lovely slice!

What a session!! I am always left in awe of the effort you put in to every session and the fun and enjoyment you all seem to get from them. Thank you for making it such a great place to be each Thursday!!

Next week will be the runner's first birthday! We will be meeting at Abbey Gardens, doing a normal session and then heading to Number 5 on the Bridge for a celebratory drink! Please try and join us!

Sunday, 2 September 2018

WFC Runners - Alice hits 50, Adventure racing, parkrun, pbs and sleep

News

This week we had 14 Fit clubbers parkrunning at 3 different venues (Winchester, Kingston and Exmouth). Glenna was at Kingston with her son and granddaughter for a leisurely run along The Thames!

Rachel, Simon and Will were down at Exmouth parkrun. It was a good day for the Mills clan with Rachel and Will both breaking their PBs. Congratulations!!

The rest were all at Winchester with Matthew Parker being the only PB on the day.

In addition this week saw Alice run her 50th parkrun. This is the first of the parkrun milestones and she can now claim her celebratory red 50-tee. Alice has run 36 of her runs at Winchester, 11 at Salisbury, 2 at Bushy park (the home of parkrun) and one at Wolverhampton. Alice also has an impressive PB of 25:49. Congratulations Alice...next step 100!

Here is the consolidated parkrun club report:

http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2018-09-01

Mike, Anna and Sarah all took part in an adventure race on the South Downs. This was a mountain bike ride followed by a kayak and a hilly run.
The race is completely time based with teams deciding how much time they spend on each of the legs. They all completed the race and Mike and Anna managed to get 2nd in their category. Please see Sarah's write-up below!

This week's Thursday session saw the runners focussing on short sprints. In the park at Oram's Arbour the team smashed out 14 x 30 second sprints (7 uphill, 7 downhill). 20 Fit Clubbers were there with 4 new faces!

Read all about it here: http://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2018/08/wfc-runners-30th-august-session.html

Questars Adventure Challenge - South Downs - 1st Sept - By Sarah Horton

Today, (Saturday 1st September) I took part in the Questars adventure challenge series. I had been persuaded to take part in one a few months ago by Mike and Anna and loved it. So it was my turn to pile on the peer pressure and I managed to convince my friend Katie to join me.

Feeling excited, we set off and arrived at 9am. We had decided to hire mountain bikes which I would thoroughly recommend - no faffing trying to fix the bikes to the car - just a quick and easy pick up! Once we had sorted out our kit, we collected our race pack and began planning our routes on the map.

The race began with a 40 minute cycle to the river for kayaking. Annoyingly, some of the checkpoints that we had planned to visit turned out to be dummies! We got off to a slowish start, as we struggled initially to find the checkpoints, but soon we were into the swing of things. After a few comedy moments on the kayak, and a near capsize, we then returned to our bikes and headed back to the transition area collecting some more checkpoints along the way.

The final part of the race was the run. Everything was going smoothly until we were stopped by about 50 cows walking down the road in front of us. Consequently we had a bit of a delay! Finally, we were moving again on footpaths and trail routes which suited us well. As we returned back to the finish, we debated (for about a second) whether to push for one more checkpoint up the very steep hill. We decided it was better to make it back in time!

With smiles on our faces, we crossed the finish and rewarded ourselves with plenty of food! Our team name was: No pain, no champagne. And we certainly deserved the champagne by the end!

Sleep in relation to exercise

With Bertie and Elsie my sleep has been a little all over the place in the past few weeks. I have found that in training runs I am feeling very leggy and it hard work! I therefore have been looking at why sleep is important. I found the following article on "The Running Bug" which I thought laid it all out fairly well! Enjoy!

Why is sleep so important?

On average people sleep for 6.5 - 7 hours a night. But for most people, around 8 hours is the right amount. Progressively we’ve been getting less sleep as a society. The burden is only just starting to be realised.

All mammals sleep to some degree and it is ubiquitous across all species. In the past, sleep was considered to be for wimps, but it is an essential part of our physiology. We don’t fully understand what sleep is but we know that it is essential for health and wellbeing.

From a medical perspective sleep has an enormous knock-on effect on one’s life and wellbeing. Sleep deprivation can lead to diabetes and heart trouble, problems at work and poor performance. It can also cause depression and social problems. Road traffic accidents are often linked to tiredness.

How important is exercise with regards to sleep?

We recommend exercise as it improves the quality and onset of sleep. However, the timing is important. If you do vigorous exercise late in the day, then it can disrupt your cycle. The cues that tell you when to sleep are your body temperature, as your cortisol levels will be high, so you have to be mindful of exercising just before bedtime.

How important is sleep for recovery?

For recovery – there hasn’t been a huge amount of research and it is quite a topical research area now for elite athletes and how it affects performance. Based on a US study, if you take a number of moderately good athletes, it affects their performance hugely.

If you extend sleep up to 10 hours, it significantly improves performance. Looking at college basketball players, if you increase their sleep, it increases their accuracy by 10-15 per cent. The same study with swimmers, they increased their times, just by increasing their sleep time.

What is slow wave sleep?

Slow wave sleep is the deepest portion, and it is essential for recovery from exercise. If you take someone who has just run a marathon, they have much more slow wave sleep after the marathon. It is essential for recovery, as the growth hormone is released during this time.

If you don’t sleep properly, you get something similar to overtraining syndrome, including a decrease in performance. If you continue to sleep badly you reach ever decreasing performance, as you are not resting and restoring and getting deep sleep.

What is the correct amount of sleep?

There is no right answer on the correct amount to sleep; it is very individual and specific to each person. The thing to take into consideration is an individual’s chronotype. We all have a circadian cycle which is specific to oneself. Built into your body circadian clock is when you should be going to sleep or waking up.

What are the links between nutrition and sleep?

When you are sleep deprived, it affects your metabolism and so you crave sugary foods and carbohydrates. You then become reliant on sugar and caffeine to get you going in the morning and you get stuck in a cycle of overeating. People are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if they have poor sleep; it’s a vicious cycle.

Craving sugar is a problem, as is caffeine which is hidden in a number of things such as tea, chocolate and energy drinks. People that struggle sleeping, I tell them not to have caffeine until after midday. The level of caffeine in your blood will halve every five hours. If you are topping that up then it will have an impact on your sleep.

Why do we wake up in the night?

People wake up due to their sleep hygiene. Perhaps they need a wee, their phone goes off, or their partner is snoring. There are certain things you can do to adjust your environment. It is best to go back to your relaxation technique and the state where you can drop off to sleep.

Try doing something quiet for 15 minutes until you are tired and sleepy and ready to fall back off to sleep again. For most people it shouldn’t be a regular issue, but if it is then something needs to be addressed.

What is sleep debt?

There is a concept of accumulating sleep debt that you have to repay at some stage. If you have been working to a deadline, it is a very real phenomenon to get your catch up on the weekend. It is not a helpful way, you will be chronically sleep deprived for 5 days out of 7. It is not good for you in the long term.

Do power naps work?

If you have insomnia, it is the wrong thing to do. But for people that have had a disruptive night sleep, a nap has been shown to improve all sorts of things. Similarly, with athletes if you have a race or event in the evening, having a nap will then get you ready. If you’ve woken from slow wave deep sleep, you can feel groggy and terrible. Short naps are refreshing! Check out our tips to help you power nap your way to running success.

Try these sleep tips:

- Sleep hygiene is important, so make sure you are the right temperature and have the right mattress.

- Make sure you are not exposing yourself to blue light, which comes from smart phones.

- Have half an hour before sleep, and have a warm shower, before a drop in temperature which makes your body release melatonin.

- Read a book, something calm and quiet.

- Get out of bed if you’re not asleep within 15-20 minutes. Only go back to the bedroom when you are ready.

- Use the bedroom only for resting and restorative sleep. These techniques are far better than sleeping tablets.

- Try meditation. Even 10 minutes just concentrating on your breathing can really help. Insomnia is a persistent state with multiple awakens, with the inability to fall back asleep. Addressing that is important for people’s quality of life.

General Announcements

WFC parkrun Club