The Olympics Comes To Petts Wood!

Hello blog lovers.

We can't go through our core sessions without giving tribute to the Olympics out there in Rio.  This evening DiscoRich had planned our own little mini Olympics.  There were 12 of us this evening with DiscoRich being leader, referee and scorer.

As usual we did the obligatory two laps around the rec followed by the warm up drills.  And then it was getting into the Olympic spirit.  DiscoRich had two races planned.  The first one was relay racing.  We were put into teams of four.  Team Yellow, Team Green and Team Red.  I was in red team,  It's not like the the par luffs we do, this is the real deal, DiscoRich even had a 'Hand over' section  where we could hand the baton to our team member.  And there was no running just half way and then handing over the baton, we were to run the entire rec and then hand over to our team member.

DiscoRich had placed us all in our teams, so it was fairly equal, with faster runners down to me, the not so fast runners!  You can feel the eagerness to win for their team mates, in a fun way of course.  The faster runners in each team started off and then after that it was any order after that.  The faster runner in my team was Viral.  All four fastest runners set off, Viral was hanging around in the second position, just biding his time, then with just the last 50 meters or so he kicked up into top gear and just raced past the leader and then handed the baton to me, the slowest runner in the team!

Well at least I had a bit of a head start, but soon the other teams were all chasing me down.  I just tried to stay focused as I followed the white line around the perimeter of the rec, got to the half way point, where we usually hand over the batons to our team members doing the par luffs, but I had to keep going all the way round.  I did it, and handed it over to our third member in the red team, IlustriousLeader.  She continued all the way around the rec running really well, (read faster than me!) and then handed the baton to Michael who had to do the catchup!

The next Olympic discipline was brilliant.  We all took it very seriously, and this time we were teamed up in two!  I was pleased that I was teamed up with Viral (he did just  whizz pass all the others in the relays!)  We were handed our apparatus that was to be used in the race. the course was well marked out earlier by DiscoRich.  Viral was practising using the apparatus, figuring out which is the best tactic to go for, positioning and handling!  And then passing on his findings to me, quiety so as not to let anyone hear!

Then DiscoRich cited the rules, no holding the egg with your thumbs or fingers, no holding your hand under the spoon to catch the egg if it falls off.  If it falls, it falls to the floor!  You may hand the spoon and egg to your partner with both hands once you have reached them.  Yes it was an egg and spoon race!  And no matter how fast Viral was on the cricket field, that had no bearing on how fast he was on the egg and spoon course!  He dropped the egg several times trying to run with it!  No this race was all about how long your legs are, how fast you can walk!  Well that's me out of the game again!  What with my short fat hairy legs.......ok maybe not hairy!  But such good fun!  Me and Viral were eliminated in the first leg.

The finals of the egg and spoon saw two very worthy winners, Carole and Fiona!  Their handling of the spoon and the balancing of the egg were superb! Much deserving of the medals, here, I took a picture!

Fiona and Carole

So just for relaxation, after the competitiveness of the Olympic games we just done, we had the par luffs.  Teams of equal ability were quickly sorted, faster runners together, middle paced runners etc, and then us in the slow lane.

It was a great session today, much fun!  Thanks DiscoRich!

Club Run - Last time In the Woods?

Hello blog lovers.

Club nights! I do love club nights.  It gives me a sense of purpose (when it comes to my running of course).  These club nights have been my 'bread and butter' of running.  It has kept me going, week in and week out, just knowing that people will be waiting for me to lead them out on a run, that has kept me positive.

The route this evening was the same as last week, just because we get to run through the woods just for a few minutes. Our summer time seems to be rapidly coming to an end! Well, when it comes to running through the woods in the evening!  Taking a big group through though, well I just hoped I wouldn't lose any of them!

There were 17 of us in this evenings group as well as a couple of new chap, they hadn't run for a couple of years, and, as one of the chaps said, "need to blow the cobwebs away".  Group 1 is a perfect place to dust off your running shoes, a nice gentle run to get back into it. I told Carole that today, about how this group 1 started out as Group Zero to Hero, for beginners to ease into club life, club members coming back from injury, or even just to have a plod out for some brilliant banter if they don't fancy stretching themselves, but want to keep their legs moving.  But it is just a stop gap!  To get ready for group 2! I feel I will have to encourage really loudly in the next couple of months for them to try group 2 out!

I know it's difficult to get out of your comfort zone, I mean look at me, I am so into my comfort zone I have grown roots!  But today  did push them all just a little bit harder.  It was having the faster group all about me that kept my pace just a little faster that I should have, and I really had to keep an eye on my Garmin and slow down to get the pace right!  I know the overall avg pace will be the normal avg pace for our group, but I do try and keep to a nice steady 12:30 min mile.

I was a tad mean to our group, for the own good of course, and I said that they should all keep a nice faster pace while going up and over all three bridges!  My goodness, don't that hurt the quads!  But it feels good when you stop at the top of each bridge! At least that is what I was telling myself!  It would be good to carry on through the park and finish off running through the woods, but the light would not be good enough, I do need to think about the safety of my group!

So out at Tent Peg Lane and ready to hit the pavements.  Auriol was with us again, she has been off running for a while, so it really was good to have her back in the fold.  Also Illustrious Leader was with us, she was taking up the middle section while Janet and Michael were sweeping.  Auriol, I think was glad that we were going this way, if she needed to peel off and go back home then this route is perfect for her, but I was so pleased to see not to hear from half way along Crescent Drive that she was leaving.  To see her come along Shepperton up to the top, Crofton Lane put a smile on my face!  I know I've said it before but I will say it again, us folk at PWR are made of stern stuff!

With just the nice easy run back along Crofton to Tudor way our run was done!  Some of them did a faster sprint finish to the gate, others just like me, just continued at a nice steady pace and the others came along just a few seconds after!

A great run and all 17 finished together, nobody peeled off and left early.  We finished off with out stretches at the rec.  Geeky stats.

Finding Mojo!

Hello blog lovers.

Look at this, it's Monday and I'm writing up a running blog!  I am seriously looking for my mojo, my solo running mojo, that is.  I know it's somewhere around.  I tried to look for it at parkrun, with hundreds of others, but it wasn't there.  This evening I decided I needed to get out an run, see where my mojo is.  The Old Boy decided to come along with me.  His mojo for exercises has hibernated!  So we are both looking for it.

I had thought I would do about 3 mile or just over, my usual route along the pavements, but with the Old Boy with me we decided to go into the woods instead!  It's always a huge bonus going through the woods, and we still had the light with us.

We took the car to the carpark of Jubilee Park and began our run from there, where we used to run together.  I have a feeling though that this evenings run is going to be a lot slower than when we ran together way back then!

I always struggle with that first mile, my breathing is all over the place, I'm panting like hot

dog!......mmmmm hotdog..........? No, back in the room Old Girl.  I am trying to keep my diet as healthy as I can as well, it's day one!  So far I had breakfast.....2 weetabix, lunch....chicken salad wrap and dinner.........dusted lemon sole with salad.  So food is on my mind!  I like eating, but I like being lighter too, not as heavy as I am now.  That is going to take a lot of hard work, I know that.

This run today, on a Monday, is the start of a new regular routine! Just need to stay focused.  by the time I get to the other side of the park I am thinking "Ok, so far, so good"  It's only half a mile!  I know by the time we get to the bridges it will be a mile and I should be into my stride!  Oh if only it happened that way, because, of course, after the bridges and just along the road, we turn left and we are faced with Goss Hill!  I so hate hills! I really do!  I am trying to kid myself that I hate them that much it is bordering on love!  You know that whole fine line thing?!  Maybe this is the year that I can really 'enjoy' hills!  But not this evening!

I walked some of the hill, it's understandable, but while I was walking that hill I promised myself that I would run up that other hill, the one just before the top of the woods, the one that my group 1 ladies did the other week! I had that in my mind, I kept my running nice and easy going with that in mind.  I really wanted to run that hill and not give up!

The Old Boy seems to be doing really well, considering he hasn't done any cycling for quite some time, but I guess working still keeps him fit.  Hewas encouraging me to go a little faster but I knew what my plan was, it's all about working hard but not going eyeballs out!  That to me is not fun.  I know some people really love to push themselves really hard, but that is not me.  Michael, Carole's hubby, now he pushed himself a couple of weeks ago at Thursday track, and he felt a pain in his calf!  It must be a bloke thing........actually not entire true!  I know of at least three ladies who push themselves to the extreme! Jaz, Kat and Sue!  Ultras, tri-athlons.....Ironman!  Me, I will just push myself just a tad more than I usually do on a Tuesday!  I am happy with that, and hopefully, slowly, slowly my fitness will come back and my weight will fall!

That hill came next.  The Old boy took on the hill (like he did with Goss Hill) with his own pace, his own agenda, his own time.  I looked up to the top, I took a deep breath in and then started to run up.  My pace was not to bad as I started, I kept going, kept telling myself not to stop, my legs were burning, my breathing became all out of whack again as I started to pant.  I wanted to stop but I didn't, I didn't stop until I got to the top, just by the junction of the paths at the top!  I felt satisfied with that, I did it.  I walked along towards the middle path, feeling like I did what I needed to do.  It's all downhill now and I will try and run as much of this as I can.

It felt good running down hill, the Old Boy just slightly in front of me, I was running at my own pace, but maybe just little be quicker as I tried to keep up with.  I didn't want to stop, not on the downhill sections.  We got to the bottom, just by Dog Poo Ally and then turned right to run along the path by the rail lines.  Up and over the three bridges.  I tried to run up each set of stairs!  Blimmin eck it hurt! and then through the back of the woods and into the carpark!  All done!

Geeky stats.

Core Training At The Rec!

Hello blog lovers

My blog is a little late, I know, now lets see if I can drag everything out of my brain cell to lay down on my blog!  It has been three days!

Olivia was leader on Thursday evening, and she is very fit!  She has been doing the 22 Push up challenge for her charity choice, MIND. She can complete 22 push-ups in, I'm sure, less than 22 seconds! And not the easy version like the ones that I do!

So there we were, about 16 of us ready to battle with bulge, at least that is what I am there for!  It was a lovely evening too, after a very pleasant day spent with my grandson, (read previous blog!) We started off  with usual 2 laps of the rec, and after the warm up drills we went into the running exercises.

And this is why I normally write everything down straight away, because I can't remember what was first!  My memory is like Swiss cheese!  Lets just write down what I remember!  There was this running thing, between to lines of cones.  We had to run up to the top cones then run back to the beginning and then do 1 press-up! That was it. Sounds easy right! Well after that we had to run back to the top cones and then come back and do 2 press-ups, and then 3...... We had to continue this until Olivia said it was half way and then we had to work down, from where ever it was we got to, whether it was 10 press-ups or 5.  It was a great work out! And then we did it again, but it was squats instead of press-ups!

We continued with the core work outs but without the running. We just gathered into a circle and we did crunches, and bicycle crunches and planks!  All for a minute!  It was great fun!  Can you see what I'm writing here, I really enjoy trying to conquer my fitness and fatness issues!  When I'm doing it!  I just got go get back to doing more often!

We finished with the relays of course, I do love relays, and I was so pleased that I was in a group of non speedsters!  I noticed that Carole and Michael were in with the speedsters and they were still gaining breath when the baton was thrust back into their hands!

Yeah, it was a good work out.  Love the summer evening get together!

parkrun

So, all of the workout, I wonder how I would do on a parkrun!  Answer to that is.....not particularly well!  It's doing parkruns that you notice your fitness level and how it can change over the course of the weeks, months years.  Whether it is getting faster as you train real hard or, as in my case, getting slower!  

I know m head hasn't really been entirely focused on my running, and I just feel so glad that I have a club to go to, having a commitment to be somewhere, is what is keeping me running right now.  I know that if I didn't have my club to run with then my running really would just slide into oblivion!

I almost turned over and went back to sleep! If it wasn't for Naggy Neighbour sending me a text I probably would have done.  This is what I am talking about, running just for me, that's what I got to get back into my head.  But I was up, into my running gear and out of the door.  

We arrived at the park and then made our way to the other side for the start line, it's back to summer time route, so twice round the park and then run to the funnel!  We started out at the back, when the 'off' was given we started running.  Naggy started to pull away before we even got to the first corner!  I was going to try my best to just keep going.  Trying not to think about how far it was, trying to ignore my sore feet, legs and full stomach and chatting as I ran along chatting to Carole.  It helped. But then my legs started to feel heavy, and the ankles and feet complained!  I seriously need to get some good solo running done!  Get my mojo back to where it should be!

I ran/walked my way around the course, telling myself off.  It was like back in the beginning where I 'beat myself up' and I know that is not the way that I work well!  'It is what it is' is what I should be thinking, and then just working a little harder each time from there.

My parkrun time was under 40 mins.....just....39:17 official time!  Not my fastest, not my best....but I was glad I got out and run!  So much better than just laying in bed wishing I had done it!

Geeky stats.

<iframe src='https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/1301234403' title='parkrun Bromley' width='465' height='500' frameborder='0'></iframe>

Wanted! For being the Best At Hide And Seek

Hello biog lovers!

So this morning the dude turned up at my house this morning so his mum can go to work.  We headed for the rec to see if there were any other kids who were going to be there this morning.  But alas, it was just me and dudie!, my grandson!  Obviously not enough to do team games with so, as like last week, I was forced to run again!  This week though I was prepared!  Had my tea and breakfast early!

We said our cheerios to all the Thursday runners and we headed out for the woods.  Just as we came out of the gate and just a little way along Crossways the dude said "My legs are tired!"  I think we had been running for about 2 minutes!  This is going to be the longs 1.5 miles I've done in a while!

And so the walking with a tiny bit of running begins.  We had a great time in the woods, and of course I had my camera out, and before I knew it, a little story unfolded!  Here it is!

It was a warm morning and Nanny decided to take dudie to the woods for a nice walk.  Here he is, look how happy he is!

What a sweet boy

Doesn't he look like a good little boy. They walked on up through the middle of the woods and Dude spotted a great tree to climb, here this is him atop of the tree.....ok just to the first branch! Nanny got the first picture and Dude disappeared. Can you see him?

I can climb trees

Dude called out to Nanny "Nanny, look, I can see you!"

I'm hiding

Nanny had a job to spot him, can you?

I'm getting good at this nanny

Nanny and Dude continued on the run.......oops sorry, their walk up to the top of the path, they turned right and walked and ran just a little, along the top.  Nanny told Dude to look out for a clearing in the woods and a stone with a sun dial on it.  Guess what, he found it!

What's the time nanny?

When Nanny checked the lovely picture she took of him she looked up to show it to Dude but he had disappeared again.

Can you spot him?

Hi Nanny, I'm here

They continued on there rather surprisingly pleasant walk even though there was just the tiniest of showers falling through the clearing.  Dude took his Nanny's hand as he chatted away about all sorts of things, his foot ball skills, what he wanted for lunch, how fast he can run (he may run fast for 30 seconds, but then his legs get tired!).  "Oh look, a fallen tree" he said and ran off towards it.

Can you spot him?

I walked along here!

They were going down hill now, back the way they came, they said hello to so many friendly dogs, big ones small ones, senior dogs and puppy dogs.  It really was a young boys dream walk.  Full of trees to climb, sundials to look at and logs to walk along, what more can a small boy possible want. Ferns, that's what! "Nanny, nanny, can you see me? I'm hiding!"

Can you spot him?

They make great arrows!

He decided that he could have another little run and was doing well, until they came across a fallen tree, with the roots upended! "I can climb this big tree" And with that he disappeared again!

Can you spot him?

It must have been a big
wind to take this down

They were nearly at the ally way again, "My legs are tired, are we nearly out of the woods nanny" Dudie asked, "Yes we are" she said, "look there is the entrance to the ally"
"Oh good" he said. And then he disappeared again.

Can you spot him?

Just what I needed!

"I only had a little lay day" he said with a cheeky smile on his face. He held his Nanny's hand as they went through the tunnel, and near the end he ran off again, "Just one last time" he said giggling

Can you spot him?

just the last time!

What a fun morning run.........walk they had through the woods.

Nanny even had her Garmin running, here look at the route they took.

Club Run - Three Bridges

Hello blog lovers

I really didn't know if I was going to make it running this evening, not after trying to self diagnose my illness!  Google is a wonderful thing, but for goodness sake do not ever look up your own symptoms.  By the time I had looked at everything I really shouldn't be here!  Anyway, the doc put me right, and she diagnosed a......sore throat.......  sometimes that is all it is!  But what with me feeling just a little under the weather physically, emotionally and everything-else-ally it all just got to me I think.

So with reassurance from the doctor that I don't have strep throat, tonsillitis or impeding tropical hippy festival/camping type disease I left for running with a happy heart!  This is going to be good.....tough..... but good.  I am not one for breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, so I know my sore throat is going to complain!  Just as well I had my paracetamol earlier!  "It's a cold, Old Girl, stop acting like a guy and get on with it!"  That's what is going on in my head at the moment as I am writing this!  It is just a cold, fortunately it's all above the neck, not on my chest, perfectly ok to run in my opinion!  (but then again, in my opinion I did have some tropical festival super bug!)

Anyway, enough of my wallowing in self pity, back to the run.  I had decided that going through the woods for the entire run is not possible now, but I do like going into the woods, and so does everyone else.  My route today was going to be just going along through Dog Poo Ally and then left along by the rail lines to the bridges!  Yup that's right, i was taking them over three of them!  I 'accidently' told them two, but that was my brain shorting out (due to this tropical hippy flu!) and forgetting Little Thrift that we had to cross over to get to Jubilee Park.

We were only just touching on the park this evening as I led them out again through Tent Peg Lane to do the rest of our run on the pavements.  We were all keeping together really well, all 11 of us so my pacing is not too bad.  We are running as fast as group 2 do, but we have more walking stops.  Our group is the run/walk method, no pressure and of course it is a shorter distance.

We ran along Crescent Drive and all the way round to Shepperton Road.  We took another breather there and walked a bit before running all the way to the top.  We were still well grouped together, with just a little bit of a gap for one with our lovely sweepers, J.J. and LittleJ.  But we didn't have far to go now, just along to Tudor Way and then the Sprint Finish to the rec.

I stopped the watch and walked into the rec with the rest of group one!  I was just a bit annoyed with myself for not running in to make it 3 miles exact!  My Garmin read 2.95 miles! Next time I will look before I switch it off!

Geeky stats.

<iframe src='https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/1296454977' title='Group 1 Run' width='465' height='500' frameborder='0'></iframe>

Oh and just one thing.  I should have written a blog about Thursdays activities!  So a quick summary.  On Thursdays mornings, as you know, I take the kids for games and races and stuff, but last Thursday there was only 1 child!  Little Miss M.  Now she is a sporty girl anyway, loves her football, so instead of her mum taking her back and her missing the morning run with the gang I still offered to look after her, and me and little Miss M will go for a couple of miles run instead.  After all she has done park run in something ridiculously fast for someone her age (I think!) anyway her pb is faster than my pb!

The thing was, I wasn't actually prepared to run, I had only just finished my morning cuppa, I usually brought it with me to finish in the rec, so my tea was sloshing about when we were running!  So to keep this 'short as the proverbial'  she was running ahead the whole time and I was saying 'ok lets take a walking break"  Just a couple of miles but boy it felt like 10k!

Here's our geeky stats for that day.

<iframe src='https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/1296454655' title='Thursday Morning [kids]' width='465' height='500' frameborder='0'></iframe>

And that evening I also went to core and speed training as well.  I made up for my 'unreadiness' earlier in the day and I tried my hardest to keep running as hard as I can (without doing injury to my self Michael.B.!) but just enough to know that I worked hard!

So although I haven't blog for a while, I have been doing something.  And now that I know my tropical hippy super bug is just .....a sore throat....... I will get right back to where I need to be, training my ass off! Literally!  It's huge! It needs to go!

Club Run - Out And Back

Hello blog lovers.

After a fantastic weekend with Kirsty, my friend J.J.'s daughter, I am back to running!  The weekend we had was at WOMAD, my first festival and camping trip (although I am told that it was 'glamping')  I can only guess that sleeping on a sun lounger is more luxurious than on on the floor of a tent!  But still, sleeping was difficult, the first night hardly any sleep at all!  But the subsequent nights I did manage to sleep.  You will probably notice that I say 'I didn't sleep' or 'I managed to sleep'  it's because Kirsty had actually been giving a hospital bed!  All the young adults that cam along with St. Christopher's to Festival Spirit had hospital beds, and all the nurses and carers and I had these camp beds!  Here, this is Kirsty in her bed with mine next to her.  She did find this most amusing!

Kirsty comfy on her
bed.  Mine is that one
on the right!

Our stripy tent!

Anyway, we had a great weekend, music, food, beer and making some lovely friends!  But that all took it's toll on my body, and I am not even going to go into the 'potty' times! (or lack of!)  Those that came along this evening did get all the graphic details!  It's the sort of thing we talk about!.......or I talk about!  So I was feeling rather bloated (although there was some relief finally this afternoon!)  I turned up at the rec after popping in to see Kirsty and J.J. and Little.J.  and then the three of us said goodbye to Kirsty and we walked to the rec.

All the leaders said their bit, routes, times etc and then we all gathered at our posts, literally these days, with the numbered posts.  And then we were off.  J.J. suggested running through Jubilee Park as it had been raining today.  I knew there were a couple of people returning to running after being out for a while, so going through the woods wasn't a good idea.  You really need to concentrate.  And also it's getting darker in the evening!  I cant believe it!  where has that time gone!

So out and back to Blackbrook Lane.  At least we are still going through a park, away from traffic mostly! This does include one bridge to get over!  A little bit of a challenge!  Run up it and then walk down the other side.!  Our pace was a pretty steady pace, I kept a close eye on my Garmin to make sure that I didn't actually go over the advertised pace, which is 12 m/mi+ (what ever the slowest runner is)  We don't stand on ceremony, but I do encourage them to push just a little harder when it needs it!

We were all pretty tight, however, even though on the odd occasion i checked my Garmin and we were running at Group 2's fastest advertised pace!  I slowed it down a bit, and even took some stopping breaks.  I sent those that wanted to run a little fast up ahead of me once we got near Bickley Manor Hotel.  Then we caught them up after just a couple of minutes later.

On the way back we were all warmed up, it seemed that it was quicker on the way back.  Even getting up over the bridge seemed easier.  That 'Ouchy burning' feeling in the thighs didn't seem to happen this time.  We got back still as a nice tight unit.  Running down hill on Great thrift and Hazlemere road we picked up the pace again, running at group 2's advertised pace!  Woo hoo!  We could so keep up with them these days!  That must to twice in too weeks we have ran a good pace!

It was all too quick today.  so quick, I felt like I had another mile or so left in me,  but I guess it's not good to push group 1 to do another mile......not yet anyway!

Geeky stats for you!