WFC Runners

Sunday, 21 July 2019

WFC Runners - Hill Training a recap.

With me (Coach James) being on holiday I thought we would recap some of the training advice written about in the very early blogs. This week, everyones favourite, HILLS!!

Hill Training

Nothing builds running strength better than hills. Benefits include:

Development of power and muscle elasticity
Improvement of stride frequency and length
Development of co-ordination – encouraging the proper use of arm action during the driving phase and feet in the support phase
Development of control and stabilisation as well as improved speed (downhill running)
Promotion of strength endurance
Development of maximum speed and strength (short hills)
Improvement of lactate tolerance (mixed hills)

Despite the benefits, many newcomers (and old-timers, too) avoid hills – after all, defying gravity can be tough, both physically and mentally. But simple form adjustments and a gradual approach can reduce the challenges and boost your fitness.

Add hill work to your training by following these four steps.

Start Easy

For your first hill workout, jog for 10 minutes to warm up, then walk for two minutes. From the bottom of a gentle incline, run up at an easy pace for five seconds, then walk back to the starting point. Run up again for seven seconds. Walk down. Run for 10 seconds, then walk down. If you’re feeling strong, repeat. Cool down with a 15-minute jog.

Progress Slowly

Do your initial workout several times, then ramp it up. Perform two lots of 10 seconds: run up the hill for 10 seconds, then walk down and repeat. Then do two lots of 15 seconds, followed by two lots of 20. On your next hill workout, repeat this sequence twice before rounding the session off with a 30-second run.

Stick With It

Schedule a hill run every seven to 14 days. As you get stronger, add time to your segments and/or add an extra rep until you’re running a total of 10 inclines. If you’re training for a hilly race, try to mimic in your workouts the types of hills you’ll encounter in your race. If your motivation dries up, run hills with a friend and take turns leading the upward charge.

Maintain Good Form

As you ascend, shorten your stride and keep your feet low to the ground. Try to keep your head, chest and hips perpendicular to an imaginary horizontal line. On descents, take short, quick, light steps, and keep your centre of gravity over your legs.

Top Tips

Once you are used to running hills here are some points to help you get the most from your sessions:

Be prepared to attack the hill before you reach it, so you’ve picked up pace as you reach the bottom.
As you run up the hill pump your arms and shorten the length of your strides, but take faster strides to keep up the pace.
At the end of your hill running workout, you should feel like you’ve worked hard, but you could manage one more hill if you had to.
Get plenty of practice, it’s the only way to get better at hill running and improve your technique.

Monday, 15 July 2019

WFC Runners - PPP Winchester, Mountain Ultra, parkrun and hills hills hills!

News

This week we had a number of runners competing in the Winchester Pedal, Paddle Pace. Starting in waves outside the Guildhall (inconveniently for any events going on inside) the triathlon (with a difference) consists of the following:

Pedal 20km through Hampshire Country Lanes

Paddle 2km up the Itchen Navigation Canal, kayaks provided

Pace 5km along the newly-restored Hockley Viaduct

The event can either be done as a solo entrant or as a 3 person team with each person doing one leg each.

Alf, Sarah H, Lynn, Alice, Graeme, Simon Hm, Jenny and Katie all participated. Well done to everyone involved! Definitely one for next year!

Running club founding member and all round amazing chap, Adam ran a 102km mountain Ultra with 4,000m of elevation this weekend. Despite three huge thunder storms and all those mountains he finished in an amazing 15h15m and came 22nd. What an absolute legend! Congratulations Adam!

parkrun News 13th July

This week we had 15 Fit Clubbers running at 3 different parkrun venues. We had 13 at Winchester, James at Valentines and Glenna at Brooklands.

Despite it being another scorching hot morning there was one PB...Anne at Winchester with a cracking 29:04! This was later attributed to a lack of people to chat to and therefore having to actually run! Great work Anne!

Here is a link to the consolidated club report: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-07-13

Thursday Session 11th July - Blue Ball and St Giles Hills

This week the team met up at Abbey Gardens with 20 eager runners keen to take on another hill session. After a warm-up we headed off to Blue Ball hill for the first set of reps.

Once at Blue ball we did a hard effort from bottom to the cross roads at the top, with jog recovery back down. This was repeated 4 times.

We then headed up to St Giles hill via Alresford Rd. We stopped at the bottom of the footpath that leads into the park. This is another hill of roughly 100m length and fairly steep, so good for another set of hill sprints. As with Blue Ball we ran from Bottom to Top as a hard effort with jog recovery back down. This was repeated 4 times.

We then headed into the North West corner of the park. Here we did shuttle runs up the length of the hill to the top of the park. The first section was roughly 20m long, then 40m and then 80m. We put in a hard effort up the hill and jog recovery back to the start, before immediately turning and going off hard again until all three distances had been completed. This was repeated twice through.

Lastly we did 2 reps up the same hill to the lamppost and back. After this was completed we headed back down to Abbey Gardens for our cooldown and stretch.

We had arranged to head to the Willow Tree for drinks following the session and a large group came along. It was an excellent social drink and a great way to spend a summer’s evening, we will do the same again before the summer is up!

Next week we are meeting at Garnier Rd at 7pm.

Race Reports

New Forest 10 by Catherine Westoby

I booked the new forest 10 after doing a 14km trail run one Sunday with Anna H, 1R and Rachel, followed by a 9km run the next day with more fit clubbers. It was the furthest I had run since I gained an injury last October and I felt great. I bragged ’not even a niggle’ when I came home buzzing from the run. I liked the sound of the new forest 10 as it was trail and amongst the ponies in the New Forest. I had never done a trail race but since moving to Kings Worthy my default run is trail and I feel at my happiest amongst nature.

A week or so after signing up I ran 10km back at the riverbank at my home. I felt the old niggle quite soon into the run but rather than stopping I STUPIDLY kept going….and was back to making involuntary yelps going up stairs and was gutted. I remembered how sad I was last year dropping out of Gosport half so made the decision that no matter how much it hurt I was going to keep running and try to do the race, albeit at a slower pace.

The week before the race I was nervous and couldn’t decide if I was being really stupid but reckoned coping with disappointment of dropping out would be worse than hobbling a bit! Race morning arrived and I arrived ridiculously early for me (>1.5 hours!!) collected my race number and then just chilled out. It was quite a late race – starting at 11.15am but thankfully the weather wasn’t as warm as the previous day and even a few drops of rain were falling before the start of the race which was very welcome.

The race started in a bit of an over-grown field in New Park Brockenhurst but it wasn’t long until it turned into a gravel path. The 10mile was a loop running through the New Forest with lots of ponies on either side to distract me. I broke my watch strap the week before the race so had to use Allen’s old TomTom. I didn’t really know how to work it and it didn’t have a pace per minute so in a way it helped as I couldn’t feel disappointed by my pace and had to just go with what my body was able for.

I met a nice lady whom I ran with for the bones of the first 11km. After that point my injury started to bother me/I was hungry and had no gel as it was about 12.30…..my usual lunch time – schoolboy error! The miles went very slowly after †hat point but I told myself that it was only a parkrun to go and even if I walked a bit I would comfortably make my target time of 1hr 45mins. It felt like every person in the race passed me in the last 2km…..even the man that made the ‘last breath of life’ kind of noise whilst running passed me.

I was super chuffed to see the finish line and a cheering Allen at the end and tried to sprint, unsuccessfully! I must have looked rough crossing the line as the paramedic asked me if I was ok and then the next person gave me a beer as a ‘spot prize’. The Medal was absolutely hench but no ribbon sadly to hang it around my neck.

After I had caught my breathI went to the lovely ladies doing voluntary massages in aid of a local hospice. I wasn’t expecting much but she was excellent and got straight to work on my injury. I think this really helped as I recovered fairly well post run.

Overall I would say, injury aside it was my favourite race. I absolutely loved being off road and the ponies and lovely forest completely distracted me from the run. There were loads of marshals and support every step of the way. Everything was signposted well and there were 3 very welcome water breaks on a fairly hot day. Allen tells me the bacon sandwiches were lovely but there was a lack of cake. The free beer made up for it however. I would definitely recommend it as a race & plan to do it again next year with more company hopefully.

General Announcements

WFC Running Club Calendar

- 18th July - Garnier Road

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

Monday, 8 July 2019

WFC Runners - New Forest 10, parkrun, Park and Ride sprints

News

This weekend the only racing we had was Catherine at the New Forest 10. Despite some ongoing injury issues Catherine posted an excellent time of around 1:30 on the all trail route. Definitely one for next year!

parkrun roundup 6th July

This week we had 21 Fit Clubbers running at 4 different parkrun venues. We had 17 at Winchester, James at Blandford, Jenny at The Eden Project and Shelley and Ben at Southsea.

Despite the heat there was one PB...Wendy Holman at Winchester with a cracking 30:30! Well done Wendy!

Here is a link to the consolidated club report: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-07-06

Thursday Training Session - Park and Ride sprints - 4th July

This Thursday the group headed to the South Winchester park and ride for more sprints...this time slightly longer efforts. We welcomed Shiela to her first Thursday session having previously been to other Fit Club sessions.

After a warm-up we headed to our normal starting point. Here we started with an exercise we've done a few times. 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 3^rd and jog down the 4^th, sprint up the 5^th and jog down the 6^th, sprint up the 7^th and jog down the 8^th. The runners then had to sprint as hard as they could back to the start (roughly 200m). This was repeated twice through. However for the first rep I had the sprints sprint the ups and the downs! Sorry!

We then did 4 reps corner to corner along the main straight. This was a hard 5km pace for roughly 1 minute. We had a short break between reps before smashing out the next.
After this we some alternating efforts around a half km loop. This consisted of roughly 100m hard, 100m easy 50m hard, 100m easy, 100m hard, 50m easy. This was repeated twice. The aim was to ensure that the efforts were done at a hard pace and that there was a distinct difference between the hard and easy paces.

Next we paired up into pairs of roughly the same ability. Then, round a half km loop one runs one way and the other the opposite way. When they meet at the far end the tag each other and turn and run back the way they came. The aim is to beat their partner back to the start. We played two rounds of this.

Lastly we played a game of "Chase the rabbit". The same pairs of runners lined up in two lines. One line faced down the road towards a set of cones about 50m away. The second line turned, took a large step forward and faced in the opposite direction. When the whistle blew the front line legged it off towards the cones, whilst the second line had to turn and sprint after them. The aim was to catch their partner (The Rabbit). The aim was for the front runner to reach the cones before being caught. Everyone then jogged back to the start, and the partners swapped roles with one running and one chasing.

Next week's session we will be meeting at Abbey Gardens and going for beer and pizza afterwards at the Willow tree.

Race Reports

Isabel Trail parkrun by Coach James

A couple of weeks ago Sarah and I visited some friends in Stoke and so I had the opportunity to tick off yet another new parkrun. This time at Isabel Trail, a relatively new parkrun in Stafford. This was a special one for me as I was finally able to get an "I" for my parkrun alphabet (leaving just J, V and Z to go).

It was a baking hot morning and as ever I was accompanied by my two little partners in crime, Elsie and Bertie. We got there at around 8:30 and headed over to the start and for the first timer's briefing. The course was explained as a very simple route...a straight out and back along a path, slightly uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back.

All new venues I visit I tend to start near the back with the buggy, but this was a mistake here. The path is fairly narrow with limited overtaking opportunities and so I found myself going fairly slowly to start with, and then, because it is an out and back course, found it even harder to overtake as runners started coming back the other way. I didn't help myself by not fixing the front wheel correctly and having to stop to fix it. That said it did start thinning out and I was able to push on a little more and was in full flow by the time I hit the turnaround point.

It was as advertised and the second half was really quick. It would be a great course to have a crack at my PB at one day. We flew round the second half and crossed the line in 26:13 and position 84. I was a hot and sweaty mess but considerably better off than the two runners who had taken a tumble whilst running at pace!

We were unable to hang around at the end as the kids were being little monkeys, including Elsie locking herself in the car with the keys, but it is definitely a course that I would like to revisit.

General Announcements

WFC Running Club Calendar

- 11th July - Abbey Gardens
- 18th July - Garnier Road

WFC parkrun Club

WFC Runners WhatsApp Group

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

Monday, 1 July 2019

WFC Runners - Questars, parkrun milestones, Whitchurch and Cheriton race reports

News

This week the only racing was the Questars adventure challenge in Berkshire. As ever Mike and Anna were there but this time they were joined by Shelley and Ben. The adventure race series is a three skill orienteering challenge consisting of kayaking, mountain biking and running over a 6 hour period.

Mike and Anna finished 7th in their category and Ben and Shelley in their category. Considering the heat both teams did superbly well! Congratulations!

parkrun roundup 29th June

This week we had 21 Fit Clubbers running at 3 different parkrun venues. We had 18 at Winchester, Stefan at Birkenhead and Graeme and Kathy at Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Due to the searing heat there were no PBs this week however there were some notable runs at Winchester...

Jenny L ran her 50th parkrun! She ran her first parkrun on the 4th August last year in 31:16 and her current PB is 22:19. She has only missed one Saturday since starting. She’s completed 45 runs at Winchester, 3 at Eastleigh, 1 at Andover and 1 at Moors Valley. Next week Jenny will be running at the Eden Project!

We also had coach James running his 250th parkrun. James started parkrunning on the 15th of June 2013 in a time of 23:31 and despite a slow start soon picked up to the point where he has only missed one Saturday since running his 100th parkrun. His PB now stands at 20:58. James has also been a prolific tourist visiting 108 different locations including two in Italy.

Here is a link to the consolidated club report: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-06-29

Thursday Training Session Blue Ball, North Walls, Blue Ball - 27th June

This week we met at Abbey Gardens for a mixed bag session. We welcomed Rosy and Andy into the group for their first sessions with us and 23 others joined a poorly Coach James for the weekly session.

This week was, as previously stated, a mixed bag session consisting of some hills, some mixed length sprints and some more hills. After the warm up we headed to our first location of Blue Ball Hill. Here we did two hard efforts up to the cross roads with jog recovery back down. This really got the legs and lungs working.

Next we headed over to North Walls Rec where we did 4 roughly 100m sprints with a short recovery in between. We then split into 5 teams of 5 of roughly equal ability for some classic sprint relays. Each member had to run roughly 25m, turn and run back before handing over to the next team member until all had run. We did three sets of this (just to annoy Elise). We then did 4 by 15sec sprints with jog recovery in between. Lastly we headed back to Blue Ball hill for two more reps up to the cross roads and back down.

After this we headed back to Abbey Gardens for cool down, stretch and chat.

This Thursday we are at the South Winchester park and ride for more efforts!

Race Reports

The Inaugural Cheriton Trail run – 11 miles – By Sarah G (with assistance from Caroline T)

I booked onto this race having completed the Houghton 11km Trail as I enjoyed Houghton so much and this sounded similar. Of course, I wasn’t really thinking that 11K isn’t the same as 11miles.

Cheriton is a beautiful village and the atmosphere when you arrive is buzzing and welcoming. We registered in the church hall and soon after we were given an informal ‘briefing’. Of course, WADAC were out in full force, colour coordinated and showing off their warm up moves on village green - they even managed to squeeze in a quick lap of the village before the race had started. Everyone seemed to have one of those back packs that feed you water, provide sun cream, sun visors, sun glasses etc. I was horrified to discover how much they cost and wondered if they have anything similar in the centre isle at Aldi? I think we all felt a little underdressed and possibly a little intimidated!

It was great to see other the Fit Clubbers. We saw Alex before the race - having done Endure 24 the week before, his main aim was to get to the finish line before the Flower Pot Beer stand closed. I met Glenna along the way and CT met Al at one of the water stations.
The run was really well organised, very beautiful, hilly and varied. There was just one tiny bit of road, otherwise the entire run was off-road. There was a lovely mix of open meadow, wheat fields (Theresa May would have loved it!), shady woods and hard track. There were four water stops, all of which were plastic free, and I was relieved to find that the third stop had bananas on offer! There were marshals at every turn and their enthusiasm really helped to get me to the finish line.

This was the furthest I had run in a long time and I absolutely loved it. I was a bit delirious towards the end, but was very happy to see my two boys cheer me over the finish line. CT was there with the camera, but fortunately, she was so excited to see me that she failed to actually take a photo! Glenna came in a few minutes later, looking like she hadn’t even broken a sweat.

After the race, we all enjoyed seeing WADAC re-group for their post-race ‘debrief’ as we indulged in wood fired pizza, which was delicious, and very good cake. The beer was tempting, but I don’t think I would have made it home if I had indulged. It took me until late in the evening to realise that my face wasn’t just red from running, but I was also quite sun burned.

My only regret is that CT and I managed to leave our race t-shirts in the village hall, which was locked up by the time we had finished enjoying pizza and ice-cream. I think we’d all recommend the race for next year – perhaps we could give WADAC a run for their money!

Cheriton 11 Mile Trail Race by Glenna G

I wouldn’t normally enter an 11mile run with lots of hills but as it was a local event I thought it would be good training for my forthcoming first marathon in September.

This was a new run organised by Stubbington Green Runners mainly using bridle and footpaths.

Runners were asked to attend a compulsory briefing at 10:15. After this we headed for the start and I placed myself in approximately the middle of the pack. It was initially narrow and with no chip timing for the start we were all going on the gun time. Within a few metres it became very narrow and not easy to pass so most runners walked for a good few minutes before we all had the chance to get running. I didn’t mind a gentle start as we were going straight uphill, which seemed to go on for some time. The weather was getting hotter so the shade was very welcome when we entered some woods.

Dave was at mile 6 with some water ready for me. I was a lone runner at this stage with plenty of people ahead and a few behind but none in sight. He met me again with more water just before the assent of ‘poppy hill’ then, with just over 3 miles to go, I struggled up this hill and was so pleased to get to the downhill section and into the finish. Sarah passed me just after mile 4 and I was able to keep her in my sights for quite some time until that last big hill.

I had hoped to finish in a slightly quicker time than I managed but in the end was just glad to get to the finish. It was great to catch up with Caroline, Sarah, Alex and Ali for a WFC group photo.

I was very surprised to learn later that I had finished 1st in my age group and I now have a very nice trophy and voucher. On looking at the results later, I discovered I was the only one in the 60 - 69 age group!

The event was very well organised with plenty of marshals who were very encouraging and 3 water stops en route. Following the finish we had a very relaxed afternoon with tea, coffee and Flower Pots beer available along with freshly cooked pizza and a BBQ. Although the day was hot and humid it was a glorious run in some lovely countryside without having to travel very far.

Whitchurch 10km – by Alice Smith

The Whitchurch 10k is a multi-terrain run at Testbourne Community School.
I was taking part with my sister Fleur, with my husband and daughter spectating and cheering us on.

On arriving, I was having flashbacks of dreaded cross country PE lessons as you enter a school hall to register and then congregate on the school field. There were a lot of club runners which added to the nerves – and then I remembered I’m technically a club runner too – woohoo! It was fairly basic with nothing but a first aid tent and the start line, but lots of space for families to picnic.

The first 1km is round the school field and then out into the village and into woodland. The trail is then a mixture of crop fields and single paths, and a lot of hills! It was a 2 lap course, and thankfully the route was stunning, so it didn’t get boring at all.

The terrain meant it wouldn’t be a PB course, so I tried my best to enjoy it. My second lap felt a lot slower and I found myself alone for the majority of it. Luckily it was well sign posted, but it did feel rather lonely at times!

I’m so proud of my sister who was the first female (embarrassingly being twins meant people were also congratulating me on winning) and I came in, in a respectable time of 53.12.

I would highly recommend this run for anyone wanting a no frills, cheap, 10k with beautiful scenery. The other runners were incredibly encouraging and it had a lovely community feel to it. I will definitely be there next year!

General Announcements

WFC Running Club Calendar

- 4th July - South Winchester Park and Ride
- 11th July - Abbey Gardens
- 18th July - Garnier Road

WFC parkrun Club

WFC Runners WhatsApp Group

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