Blisteringly cold, icy, wet or storm force gales? It’s been tough for anyone to get a good run in this week when Mother Nature hasn’t been cooperating. It’s been a case of picking your window of opportunity between the lesser of four evils. Challenging conditions for all, winter has come early and caught us all by surprise!
But hopefully keeping warm at home is the
Latest addition to the GVH Family
Little Cece Love Sophia Ellerby
Congratulations to Lewis and Emma Ellerby on the birth of their beautiful daughter Cece Love Sophia Ellerby. Born on the 12th of November. The new parents are over the moon with joy and have shared their cute photos.
Battling through the storm to take on Hatfield 5
Definitely not keeping warn were our 31 runner that turned out on Sunday for the Hatfield 5 (miles) . Its not usually a popular race distance but our numbers were bolstered of course by it being a club league run this year.
Usually a flat and fast course, storm Bert turned the route into a lottery, depending on which direction the wind was blowing in at any particular moment. In fact, many claim they were running face first into the wind the whole way around. Definitely a tough run! Despite this, the team posted some fantastic results with 9 of the GVH crew smashing their PBs and a further 4 racing a 5 mile distance for the first time.
However it was our veterans that flew fastest in the wind!
Michael Linden was our first man home in 30:30 beating any of our seniors and V40-44 category runners. He claimed a great 6th place in the VM45-49 categories and was followed closely home by Jon Roberts (30:58) who finished a stunning 3rd in the VM50-54 category. Our 3rd male home Gareth Tucker (31:29) finished 7th in the VM45-49.
In similar style Kim Morgan V45-49 led our ladies home in 37:17 to finish 6th in her category. Kim was closely followed by Sam Raffety, who also claimed a 6th place finish (VW40-45). Jenny Stubbefield was our 3rd lady home in 39:23 in the senior group.
Claire MCDonnell who had a terrific run finishing 4th (39:56) in her category and claiming the club record for VM55-59. Well done Claire!
Martin Alexander also stormed to a great 4th place (36:51) in the VM65-69 category.
Full results
Well done to everyone for running in today’s conditions.
Sadly the most painful run of the day came from Angeline who twisted her ankle during an ambitious overtaking move on a grass verge and had to limb to the finish. Wishing you a speedy recovery Angeline! The bruising looks horrid.
Coach’s Corner
Mixing the format of the news letter up a bit this week we have added in a “Coach’s Corner ” where our great hardworking GVH coaches will be asked to contribute some advice and words of wisdom. As many of us are now making plans for spring Half Marathons and Marathons, I asked Robert Bowler for advice on:
Choosing a training plan thats right for you:
His top tips on plans from 5km to marathons are:
1. Be realistic – days
Training plans, even for marathons will come in various shapes and sizes, there are even three-day plans for marathons, and they can be very effective too. So, the first question, is how many days training can do you? If you are running twice a week, a five-day plan might not be something that you, or your personal circumstances, can adjust to. Not meeting your training schedule will be a great source of stress and will probably force you to make up for missed runs, which could well lead to injury through over training.
2. Be realistic – mileage
When you look at the plan and week one and two has a big increase in either the weekly mileage or the long run is much longer than you are used to, be very careful. Injury and or frustration are likely to be just around the corner. It will depend on your starting point, but I would look at your average mileage for the last 6-8 weeks as a starting point. A 10-15% increase in week one might be ok but be careful about big double digit increases over 10–20-week plans. Most coaches will look at increasing mileage by about 10% each week, but we are all different.
3. Mix it up – cross training
Most good plans will mix up the training schedule to include a good variety of sprints, hill work, tempo runs, recovery runs and long runs and hopefully some rest days too.
I mention running, but to avoid injury you will also need some cross training. This could be Pilates or yoga, cycling, swimming, gyming and walking. These events are much less load / weight bearing than running and will either help to build strength or reduce tension and or inflammation in heavily worked muscles.
4. Mix it up – running styles
Running styles refers to the sprints, hill work, tempo runs, recovery runs, and long runs referred to above and one could add in fartlek and 80/20 running too. 80/20 running is a great way to plan your week.
The 80% of your running time is in ‘second gear’ and you can have a reasonable conversation with your buddy…or if you prefer you can sing your favourite song. The good thing about this form is that you should feel reasonably ok at the end….’I could have run more / faster’. The key here is that you are helping your body to adapt, your body is getting used to the pounding the roads, muscles and lungs will start to respond, and you will be able to face the next training session with a fresh mind and body and not exhausted waiting for injury to strike.
The remaining 20% is for fast running in ‘5 th gear’. This could include sprints, fartlek (gentle running with fast sprint sections followed by more gentle running), tempo runs which is usually seen as a pace that you can sustain for 20 – 60 minutes, conversation will be in short sentences or your heart rate will be around 85-90% of your max (220 -age gives your max work out heart rate x 85%). Probably just as easy to stick to the conversation method. I should add that tempo running should start with a gentle 5-10 minute warm up and finish with a cool down.
5. Mirror the event – training is in the mind
My first marathon was the two laps of Abingdon. It might sound odd, but practicing for laps, going passed the start point and going again is a psychological barrier worth testing in training and not on race day. Andy Cook suggested this to me, as I prepared for my first Abingdon…as I ran close to home, after my first circuit, my body had a magnetic drift to my usual ‘final stretch’ I also felt tired. Oddly, as I ran by the ‘start’ I recovered and ran on. Running is in the mind too, so we need to train that too.
n the same way, we need to train running hills, if the race is particularly undulating, and of course in all weathers. Living in England we can’t rely on dry, warmish race days, training in all weathers means that you will be ready for anything come race day.
6. Rest breaks
Effective plans allow for rest breaks, which are really important as muscle develops on rest days as they repair. This repairing process also helps combat inflammation. So, whilst one or two days non running a week can be beneficial, some plans will say that rest day or cross training is ok, I would be very careful with seven-day training. If you are cross training, then make sure that it is gentle swimming or cycling or walking and not a test to make the Olympic team. England Athletics like to see training plans in eight-week blocks, or mesocycles. I have adjusted this with some runners to coincide with Christmas / easter breaks or work trips, so the range could be 6-10 weeks to take into account ‘real life’ but on the rest week, this is the opportunity to recover well and refresh; and it will help avoid injury. Light running or gentle cross training can be ok but watch out for being overly competitive as it will undermine the recovery phase.
7. Trust
Trust in your plan, trust in your coach, if you have one, but do discuss and debate with coaches and running buddies if you feel uncomfortable or if your life circumstances change. Work, family life and injury are constant evolving. Your coach and or plan needs to reflect this.
So, when picking your plan, or your coach provides one, please do make sure that is has what it needs for you…we are all different.