Sorry for the cryptic title! It's me trying to look good instead of lazy! The double is because it's a double blog! I have only just written up my blog for Saturdays beginners! Tut Tut, I know, see, it's me being lazy! So, let me begin!
Beginners Course Saturday 17 September 2016
It was our second course of the year, and so far our biggest turn out! Well over 80 people wanted to go from 0 to 5k! It was totally awesome seeing them all there. And totally overwhelming considering I was first up as leader! The whole format of what we were supposed to do went completely out of my head as I stood in front of nearly a hundred people! There were at least a dozen or so PWR's to mingle and interact with them too! Sherry was there, she will be leading next week, DiscoRich and Illustrious leader, J.J. Janet, Auriol, Wendimoo and loads of others including Michael and Carole who were at the first beginners course of the year! They were so blown away with what they had achieved by doing the course they couldn't wait to come along and share their experience and encourage the September group!
So as I said, I was overwhelmed, and totally forgetful (old age!!) of what we should have been doing. I started doing the drills first before the warm up lap! But that's fine! I think I got away with it! I got them all skipping like school kids and kicking butt towards the already laid out cones. And then we got them walking around the perimeter of the rec......after I gave them all a shock first.......I said they had to run all the way round!! So far so good.....I still think I got away with it!
So next it was the actually run/walk. One minute of running and five minutes of walking. I sounds so easy doesn't it. Well it is if you write it out quickly, and even if you say it, but come to actually do it and that's a different matter, for both the beginners and the ones that have been running for ages. "How comes?" I hear you say. Well let me tell you. When you have never run before you are just not used to it. Your lungs are not quite sure of what you are asking them to do! "Hey, you there, what do you think you're doing?" is what your lungs would be saying if they could talk, and the rest of your body would be saying "Well, I'm running......so come on stoke up I need some air!" And it does take time for your lungs to get into a rhythm to keep their oxygen flowing to all your muscles!
"Well that explains the beginners Old Girl" I hear you saying "Why is it had for all the runners among you" Well of course I will explain that to you. You see when you have become a regular runner you will notice that you can run for a minute and not even notice it, in fact you can run for quite a few minutes an not notice it. As Michael said to me this evening (at Club run) "I didn't want to stop running when we got to a minute, it seemed quite strange to stop" And it's true. In fact it's so true when we were running for that first one minute I was talking to one of the beginners and actually forgot to blow the whistle! One minute and twenty two seconds was the first rep! And that was only after Sherry and some others were calling out to me to look at my watch! Still.........I think I got away with it! Although Michael did call out "Not that old chestnut again Old Girl"
After that I did keep a very close eye on my watch, and made sure that I wasn't actually chatting to anyone when I was getting close to blowing the whistle! We did another 4 reps of the run/walk and then cooled down with a walk around the rec, and during that the free hydration arrived for them, perfectly timed, just as everyone was getting warm. It fell from the sky ever so softly, like a fine mist, landing on us as so gently, as if we were running through tiny spiders webs. We some stretches to ease our muscles our first session was done I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I am sure I saw nothing but happy faces on everyone! I know next time I lead I shall not be so nervous......I mean overwhelmed!
Club Run - Tuesday
Well that is definitely it for the woods. It is just so dark now. It's not even slightly bright out any more! I can't wait for summer! But, look on the bright side, running this time of year is a lot cooler! My lovely niece Beanie wanted to come back to running. She really enjoyed it when she came along with her mum, Bims, 2 years ago. But then Bims did something silly, she got a job that has her working on Tuesday Evenings! So Beanie couldn't come either. But now she is all grown up with a car of her own and she can make her own way here! Fantastic. So the two of us went to the rec together.
J.J. wasn't going to be there today, she is off topping up her tan! Lucky mare......or hang on.......where am I next week.....woo hooo! Anyway I digress, no J.J. but LittleJ, Wendimoo and Auriol were there to help with group 1 today, a whopping 15 of us! That's not bad.
I had the route planned, it was the first route we did when Group 0 first amalgamated with groups 1 and 7 or how ever many groups it was back then! But when we first started running at 8 o'clock instead of 7. And I wasn't going to make them do the little hill more than once this evening either, as I wanted to make sure that the whole route was 3 miles with Little Thrift included. Little.J. will be taking the lead next week, and I needed to have the mileage of two routes for her to chose one to lead.
We set off for our run. The cooler air being very welcomed. I did wonder if I should have bought along a jacket, but I knew, once we got running we would soon warm up! Even Beanie had a vest top on, and she doesn't have half the 'insulation' that I have. With the announcements done we went to our poles and grouped up. The rec soon started to empty as the each group ran off. We were the second to last group to leave. Our first hill will be hitting us real soon.
Out of the rec, turn left and then turn right once at the bottom! And there is our first hill, it's Birchwood! It's best really not to think of it as a hill, just a slight undulation, yeah, we don't like the 'H' word! Now I am not sure about the others, and maybe it's me, but that 'undulation' wasn't as bad as it sometimes has been. Sometimes rest is just as essential for your fitness as is the exercise it self. It gives your muscles a chance to 'knit' back together after each exercise. So while I have been getting ready to go see my Daughter in Chicago I have decided to less exercise too. Or is that just me being lazy!? Hmmm.
But anyway, everyone was doing brilliantly, did brilliantly! Up that hill! I think we were running at the faster end of our advertised pace too...uphill as well! So proud of my group 1's. We had a break at the top for a little bit and then had a brisk walk to get past the first tree and then we started running again.
We crossed over the road and then down the turning, all the way to Tillingbourne green.. We were not going to be running around there, I might chose that for the week I am back! I know I shall be needing to shed a few pounds by then! We ran up the little hill, the one where I usually make......no encourage them to go back down and do it again.......fast.........and then again.......and again......! But they do it, it's fantastic once they start 'nurturing' that running bug, they just don't want to lose it!
Once up the hill we had the long straight, all the way to the Petts Wood memorial hall. It's a steady down hill and then a little undulation Pett's Wood. This is where Steve left us, he was going to the Train station to go home, the rest of us were going back to the rec, the long way round, long and slight undulations! But a great challenge. Mind you once of our group did say what a great route it was, no traffic to speak off! Perfect!
Once the undulations of Woodside, Great Thrift and Hazelmeer were done, including the little dip into Little Thrift we ran back to the rec. Just a perfect run, and I felt really good. So what if it's the only run I've done this week, it don't matter. A rest is as good a a good workout!
So geeky stats for this evenings Group 1 Run
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