Coaching at the RMR Retreat 2015

Last weekend I faced my biggest coaching challenge to date. I journeyed up to Cranage Hall in Holmes Chapel to join 80 women for the Run Mummy Run Retreat only this year, instead this time I was there as part of RunFitUK and responsible for helping to deliver some quality sessions alongside Cassie, RunFitUK founder.

Me, Cassie and Jo

During the weekend we lead these wonderful, enthusiastic women through an example RunFitUK session on Saturday morning including warm ups, technique drills, strength and balance sessions, games and intervals. We also hosted the very first RunFitUK challenge on Saturday afternoon and a less energetic technique session on Sunday morning, to give everyone some "take home" tips, regardless of hangovers or aching legs.

It had been anticipated that we would have three coaches for the weekend but a change of circumstances meant it was just myself and Cassie, ably assisted by the wonderful Jo, who organised us superbly. So the ladies were split into two groups of 40, the largest group I'd ever dealt with! I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a few nerves but everyone wanted to be there and get involved any concerns melted away. The balance games were a source of much hilarity for all involved!

After a fabulous lunch it was time for the challenge! We were split into teams of six and pitted against each other in a version of a relay race, with a team member peeling off after each lap. The amount of encouragement the women gave each other was truly amazing and there were some real game faces on show! It ended up being the sort of event when anything could happen and quite often did. There were some astounding sprint finishes, plenty of strategic discussions and at least one 1 km PB. Although captain of the white team, I wasn't due to run until a member of another team had to pull out, so I was seconded and got to play my part of one race. Unfortunately my involvement didn't get us through to the final but the white team went on to win!

My moment

Congratulating my team

All efforts were celebrated

Even though all of our sessions are geared towards the individual working to their own ability the "morning after" technique session made even more allowance for delicate heads by limiting the amount of running and focusing on posture and arm swing, giving some key points to take away and the opportunity to ask any questions. The collective groan at the start of the walking lunges was priceless though!

I felt a bit lost once I got home on Sunday afternoon so decided to take myself out for a run, as I'd actually done very little over the weekend, trying to put my own coaching tips into practice.

There's been a lot of lovely feedback about the sessions so far on twitter and social media including a message from one lady saying that the buzz words had helped her to shave a minute off of her pace on a run already!

Memento of the weekend

RunFitUK are in five locations at present and much as we'd like to grow, we're limited by lack of willing and qualified coaches so if you'd like to get involved please look at the website and get in touch. There are a lot of ladies on the retreat who want sessions local to them!

If we're already local to you and you'd like to try a session, you can book a "wildcard" online. We're not a ladies only group and cater for all abilities. Hope to hear reports of newcomers soon.

On July 26th we are hosting a free event in Bracknell specifically for ladies new to or apprehensive about running. You can find all the details on the events page.

Thanks to Tim Escott for being our photographer all weekend. All water marked photos credited to him.

What is a "Weekend"?

I spent last weekend at the University of East London, specifically it's Sports Dock, taking part in the workshop for my Exercise Referral course. Three full days in a place designed for sports and study? Bliss! I've been to UEL previously for my Kettlebells course and it was a joy to be back there. I find it a pretty inspiring place and there's always something going on. Thanks to good flow of traffic I arrived an hour early on Friday and spent some of that time watching Basketball practice. Other days featured badminton, volleyball and the cricket team hovering around. There was even a gospel choir about the place on Sunday.

Two of the days were fairly book heavy, (re)learning about numerous medical conditions and the benefits of exercise for both prevention and as part treatment as well as the considerations for designing exercise or activity programmes. It could have been really dry but my tutor was engaging, enthused and entertaining so it was fun. Apart from the fact he got so carried away we didn't always get a break mid morning or afternoon. Cue low blood sugar levels! The third day was mostly spent in the studio, designing and delivering circuits designed with different groups in mind. I got a bit dizzy from walking around in circles as part of the warm up but again, it was a good group and we had a bit of a giggle in the process.

As such I had precious little time for my own training. I've had to cut short or skip one or two sessions so in the last seven days I have only managed one swim, one strength session, 5 miles running and 24 miles on the bike. Gosh I can't remember the last time I only run 5 miles in a week! I've yet to run my session today and I'm running both days this weekend too so next week's numbers will be much higher. Sometimes life just happens.

Speaking of which I get to actually experience a weekend this week (yay!). I'm being all sociable tonight, seeing family for dinner tomorrow and taking my godson to the cinema on Sunday. Loverly.

RunFit Bracknell was extra special this week as we got a visit from HQ. Cassie had only ever seen our location in photos and knew my group only via Facebook so it was lovely to show her how we do things. Apparently I've got a bit of a reputation for the use of themes and foodstuffs in my sessions so she was a bit disappointed to have missed pancake week but it was suggested that she comes back for St Patrick's Day or Easter. We also got to have a bit of a chat about things like RunFit's involvement in the forthcoming RMR retreat (very excited about that) and other developments. I'm really proud of my group and it's a joy to be involved in RunFit so it was big thumbs up and enthusiasm all round.

Aside from RunFit, training and the day job, the next couple of weeks are going to feature a fair bit of writing. In four weeks time I'm back at UEL for my assessment so I'll be working on my portfolio for that in the next week or two while it's all still fresh in my mind. In addition I'm writing a couple of articles and trying to get ahead on session plans. Although all this keeps me busy it doesn't really feel like work, which is wonderful.

Is there anything you do that should feel like work but doesn't? When did you last go "back to school"?

RunFitUK : A New Type of Running Club

The last time I attended my local running club I got left behind on an 8 mile run. It was winter, dark, bit miserable and unfortunately not the first time I'd felt that sort of exclusion. I never went back and haven't joined a traditional running club since. It's a pity because I enjoyed the social side of the club and the difference it made to my fitness. Far easier to motivate yourself to do track and hill sessions as part of a group.

But there are other I ways to achieve these things without being part of a traditional club. For the social side I have twitter and Facebook. Now hang on, I hear you say, those aren't the same as real-life social connections. No, not on the face of it, but I have developed a bigger set of real-life running friends via these platforms than I ever did at the club. RMR has been a big part of that.

(c) RunFitUK

I can go out with my real-life-friends-from-twitter and run miles whenever I choose and for running fitness there is RunFitUK. For those not in the know, RunFitUK is a club that focuses specifically on elements of running fitness such as technique, speed, strength, balance and agility. It compliments any existing club training you do but crucially involves no distance running. Sessions are held outside, in all weathers, and use the creativity of the coach (along with a few small bit of kit like resistance bands and running parachutes) to put you through an excellent work out.

(c) RunFitUK

(c) RunFitUK

Earlier this week I attended the evening session at "The Cage" in Weybridge where coach and co-founder Cassie put just three of us through our paces with drills, strength exercises and most importantly games! Being such a small group we got loads of personal attention and encouragement, got to chat a little (when we could catch our breath) and left with that slightly wobbly feeling that comes from having worked hard. My favourite part was the reverse-tag game we played at the end. Joined to someone else with a velcro strap your aim is either to break the link or prevent your partner doing so by sticking as close as possible. Hard work but masses of fun, The DOMS I'm feeling today though are almost certainly due to the box stepping and bear crawls we did with resistance bands around our ankles and wrists respectively.

The Cage (c) RunFitUK

RunFitUK currently have active clubs at Welwyn Garden City and Weybridge with another soon to start in Colchester. In addition to those I'm delighted to announce that I will be starting a club in Bracknell in the very near future! I'm really excited to be a part of RunFitUK and would love to see you there if you're at all local to Bracknell. Booking will be via the RunFitUK website and announced on twitter and Facebook in due course. Many more clubs are in the pipeline for locations across the UK so keep an eye out for one more local to you, or alternatively consider joining the team to start one near you. 

RMR Retreat

I'm running behind a golf buggy with around 40 other women. In my head I hear the Benny Hill music I pull myself over a series of small hills on legs that haven't really woken up yet. It's Sunday morning at The Belfry Golf course and we're all on running retreat organised by Run Mummy Run group.

You're probably thinking "I didn't know she had kids". I don't. That would have been a helluva secret to have kept from you all! But you don't have to be a mum to be a part of this incredibly supportive group, just a female who enjoys running. The vast majority of members are mums but there are at least 3 or 4  of us out of the 70 or so who have descended on The Belfry for the annual retreat who are childless. Last year I attended the social in London and it's wonderful to see many familiar faces as well as getting to make new friends. Striking up conversation with others on the retreat proves remarkably easy as we all have at least one thing in common, and none of us would be here if we didn't, on some level, want to meet people. Name tags with our home town on might have been a nice touch as it's remarkably difficult to remember 70 names!

The weekend, for me, starts in a Travelodge near Tamworth where I share a room with two of the younger members of the group, Hayley and Bryony. There are 6 of us staying the night so that we can take part in a nearby parkrun on Saturday morning. We find a lovely independent Italian restaurant in Tamworth for dinner... well half of us do... the other half get a bit lost and turn up half an hour later. Dinner is well deserved and well received by then and we roll out the door feeling stuffed but happy.

Gathering at parkrun (credit @Red_Runner_Tam)

The RMR group has nigh on taken over Kingsbury Water parkrun on Saturday morning. I'm sorry I don't live closer because it's a beautiful one-lap course around two lakes and I would love to do it more often. The line up is a sea of pink and black RMR tops and a more supportive environment I've yet to encounter. I try to save some energy for what I know is in store later in the day but my enthusiasm gets the better of me. Not a PB but a run I'm very happy with.

Arriving at the rather plush Belfry, I've never felt more aware of the fact I've just run a very hot and sweaty 5km. We can't check into our rooms until after lunch so I do some damage limitation with a clean top and a few deoderant wipes. Shortly Leanne and Cassie welcome us to the weekend proper and ensure we know what's in store. First up - Intervals! We're split into two teams, Bolt and Farah. I'm in group Bolt and as such am the first to tackle the session that Cassie, founder of RunFitUK, has designed. It's actually brilliant fun; she does a fantastic job of designing something that every one can do regardless of ability whilst somehow giving us opportunity to natter. We're encouraged to work hard without feeling as though we're being beasted and after some partner assisted stretching we feel we've really earned our lunch!

Whilst team Farah have their turn the rest of us find some lunch and explore the grounds. There's a lot to explore as it's a fair rabbit warren of a hotel. I actually get lost on my way back from our very comfortable room but do manage to find the spa on site which quite a few of us use over the course of the weekend.

We've been given exclusive use of a function room for the weekend which is where all the talks, workshops and dining takes place starting with a stretching workshop run by Cassie. Again it's got something for everyone, from beginners to fledgling PTs and demonstrates her great depth of knowledge. Sweatshop talk to us about the importance of shoes and bras and give us lots of individual advice after - invaluable stuff! Our last speaker is Sarah from InspireUni. She talks about the importance of positive stories, attitudes and strategies in being successful in all walks of life. It's interesting stuff but as we're sitting on the floor, mostly still in running kit, a slightly shorter talk might have been received even better.

Stretching workshop (credit @RunFitUK)

Now we get into the proper girly part of the weekend.... shopping, drinks, frocks and dancing! Sharpened elbows at the ready, the intervals session has put us in good stead for rushing to the front of the queue to buy RMR clothing including the famous socks and foam rollers. Finally I get to shower and put on a nice dress ready for dinner. Everyone has made a real effort. It's clear we don't get many opportunities to get dressed up these days and it's noticable how little of the conversation touches on the subject of children. Dinner is a buffet affair and I will confess to having a "healthy" second helping (I skip dessert though). In the background, photos that Technology Titan Tim, Cassie's hubby, has taken of us throughout the day circulate on a screen. We know there's also footage of the intervals sessions taken with a heli-cam but we don't get to see that yet. Dinner and drinks are of course to be followed by dancing but with the good intentions of the Sunday morning run in my mind and a quickly tiring body I skip the Bel Air night club (I hope they played Will Smith) and am soundly asleep by 11pm.

A fun frock

The Fresh Prince was not in residence

And I do make it to the morning run. In order we can run on the course we have to be up early and escorted by the health and fitness manager who's driving the golf buggy with a go-pro camera attached to the back. Four miles later we've surprised a few elderly golfers and earned a slap up breakfast. It's a shame that this marks the end of the weekend. We check out, say out goodbyes, get a lovely goody bag to take away but I'm home by lunchtime. I miss it the instant I close the front door even though I'm overwhelmed with positivity, the feeling I could do anything and pride at having been a part of it all.

As a direct result of the weekend I've connected with half a dozen people on various forms of social media and signed up for my Leadership in Running Fitness course with Run England. There are meeting dates in the diary and lots of interest in microadventures... I may have a new crew! I get the chance to go to another social event I will jump at the chance. I'd even be happy to get involved in some organisation to help one happen. Maybe I'll see you there.

Wow what a year!

This really has been the most amazing year. It’s not been a straightforward one. There have been sad, difficult and painful times but a lot of joy, fun, surprises and flat out incredible moments. I’m not exactly where I thought I’d be, I reckon I overshot the mark there and I certainly achieved more than I thought possible, in so many ways.

I find it useful to take stock at the end of each year, to think about the events, what I’m thankful for and to get a feel for the coming 12 months and this year I’d like to say a few things publicly.

Thanks

Firstly, a few thank you's. Thank you to all of you for reading my blog, for interacting here, on facebook or twitter and stopping me from just typing into the void. You guys make this a whole lot more fun.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored me early in the year and helped me to support the Scleroderma Society. Together we made a huge difference to a small charity.

Me and my Aunt, who inspired my charity choice

Thank you to all of my friends who have stuck by me. You’ve helped me through house moves, crazy training and race schedules, put up with me talking incessantly about said crazy training and race schedules and even encouraged me and pushed me to achieve some of the amazing things I’ve done this year. Without Anita-the-Crazy I certainly wouldn’t have done Tough Mudder, for instance.

Most of all thank you to my family, in particular my mum, dad, aunt and godparents. You mean the world to me and have done SO much for me this year.

Dad-hug post-marathon

Gratitude

I’m grateful for the opportunities this blog and the health and fitness community have afforded me. I wouldn’t have met @amerbob for some of the most fun runs I’ve done this year, I wouldn’t have gone to the Run MummyRun social and made new friends there, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to write for The Protein Works or go to the Write This Run conference and I wouldn’t have been able to write blogs or articles for other sites either.

@amerbob, Anna and me - who knew marathon running could be so fun

I’m grateful for the life change in February that meant I threw myself into my training as a coping mechanism. Silver linings…

I’m grateful for my health, especially now I’m not 100%, and for the fact I managed to get through the year injury-free.

Achievements

This year I’ve taken part in 21 races: 2 marathons, 3 half marathons, 7 x 10k’s, 2 x 5ks, 3 triathlons, an open water swim and 5 others that don’t fall into a category. I’ve gotten through 2 pairs of trainers, logged 634 running miles on the Garmin, swum 10,200 meters and cycled around 143 miles. I’ve set 8 new PBs in the process. I also had my first microadventure, started my Advanced Diploma in Personal Training and became a qualified Gym Instructor.

Plans

I have lots of exciting plans for next year. I aim to be a qualified Personal Trainer by the end of June and will hopefully finish the entire qualification by the end of the year. I would love to start working as a PT and to continue writing for and working with the brands I’ve connected with this year. My studies are going to take quite a bit of time so I won’t be racing as much but I do want to work on my speed and hope to set new PBs of sub-25 for 5k, sub 55 for 10k and sub 2 hour half marathon. I am registered for the following races already:

10 miles Carnival Du Nice

Dorney Lake 10k

Surrey Half Marathon

Electric Run

Bacchus Half Marathon

And I intend to do my first ultra and/or 24 hour event (as part of a team). I’m considering these other events:

Glow in the Park

Royal Berkshire 10k

Samaritans 10k

Equinox24

Gatliff 50k

It would be great to know if you’re taking part in any of them too. Perhaps we can say hi to each other. I’d love to hear about your plans for next year and how you feel about 2013. Did you have goals? Did you meet them? Did you surprise yourself? Feel free to write a few words or pop a link to your blog post in the comments below.

In any case, I hope this point in the year finds you happy and healthy and that 2014 is full of adventures for you.

Segway, Sweat and Socialising

What adventures have been had in the last seven days? Well last Saturday morning I took my friends 13 year old son  to Dinton Pastures for an off road segway experience as a belated birthday present. The weather forecast had not been favourable and no sooner did we step onto the segways than the rain started and just got heavier over the course of the hour. There were just six of us in the group so we got plenty of help if we needed it. Kiddo took to it like a duck to water (though thankfully didn't drive the thing INTO the water... there path was largely on the banks of the lake) and despite the cold and the rain he had a whale of a time so it was all worthwhile. He ended up at the front of the group right behind the instructor who seemed to take a shine to him and answer all his questions. We may go back in the summer and try it again.

Sunday was ice hockey night again! I could see myself becoming a bit of a regular at the Bracknell Bees games. This time I went with my fella and sat upstairs which meant we could hear the commentator more clearly but I didn't feel quite so close to the action. Although we didn't win the shirt-off-their-back raffle nor the duck/puck game the Bees did win so that's what matters.

My certificates came through for my Gym Instructor qualification and I've and booked my PT module up. It's a long module and by starting in March I'm looking at a June 2014 finish. At that point I'll still have a few modules to complete for the diploma but I will be REPs level 3 PT qualified so I could start taking clients, which is really exciting.

I managed to force myself through a gym session on Monday, doing my intervals and strength routine and seeing small steps towards improvements there, and I've got my PT session tonight for more of the same... My PT runs a circuits class twice a week so I tried it out on Tuesday and followed it up with Body Balance. The circuit was ok, the squat thrusts followed by burpees were killer, but I did pretty well. I'm not sure if I'll make it a regular thing. Staying to do Body Balance afterwards was well worth doing though. I've not been out for a run for ages and I'm missing it a bit so maybe I'll make the effort to get out on Sunday (giving myself a day to recover from PT).

I'm missing parkrun tomorrow as I'm heading up to London for the very first Run Mummy Run social. I know I'm not a mum but they're very inclusive. There'll be speakers and lunch and a chance to just have a natter to other like-minded women. Can't go wrong with that now can you? Continuing with the social theme I met up with Anita for dinner at her gym last night. It's pretty swanky and I got momentary envy but honestly couldn't justify spending that sort of money on a membership. The food was great though and I even had a glass of wine. At the gym!

What have you been up to this week? Lamenting not having achieved something you intended to or celebrating having done something new and exciting?