It was a pretty uneventful week right? We had a few drops of rain to deal with and a couple of puddles to hurdle, but that’s all part of being a runner.
I still feel like I’m easing my way into this coaching lark but the past 7 days have been great. The arrival of new members Ben Brett, Anna Baker and Matt Draper have given me a real boost that I’m doing something right.
Sunday was fabulous! I did my best to encourage as many of the team to make the short journey to Beckley, avoiding any discussion of hills, as not to put you off entering.
It was lovely to see Adrian and Ashley modelling the merchandise. There were a few whispers about why I was wearing black and orange, as opposed to black and green. The answer was very innocent, I’d simply left my HR top at home 🙈
I started the warm up drills, mainly for the benefit of Team Orange, but come the end I think half the race had joined in. Perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but it went better than I hoped.
From a personal point of view the race was tough. I’ve not done any 10k specific training for a while and it became apparent after about 2 minutes into the race as we began to climb the first hill.
But I listened to the advice I’d given to some of the team, to focus on effort level, rather than pace. That worked and as the race unfolded I felt like I grew stronger and was very pleased to come in under 45 minutes.
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I was delighted with how the team performed. But what pleased me most was the feedback and just how much you all enjoyed the experience, to the point I actually questioned if I’d taken a wrong turning and done a different, much hillier route.
Male models Ash and Adrian produced their best 10k times in a while. On Monday Ash messaged me and said “Yesterday was great so pleased with the time. Great boost to show me that the training is working.” Andy showed he’s still running to a high level with a strong performance.
There were PBs for Alice and Mark, which let’s be honest, is bonkers on that course. All the Sue’s (I lose count) did great and Debbie described it as her “best race experience in years“.
Marie has been an absolute machine of late and pushed herself to the limits, almost bringing up her Sunday morning breakfast in the process, but she too was delighted with her performance.
Louise did a lot better than she first gave herself credit and has made great progress in recent months with her fitness and weekly mileage.
Last but most certainly not least (I had to say that), Jax found a late surge of energy, gathered from a little jelly friend, that saw her home around the hour mark. A great time given her recent injury and illness concerns.
After a spot of lunch, a trip to Tesco to collect our shopping and a quick cup of tea with the folks, the day was pretty much over as dusk arrived. It was finally time to put my feet up, download the New York Marathon app and check out how Alison was doing.
In truth it was after several refreshes of her Strava page, waiting anxiously for the run to be uploaded, that I downloaded the app. I found her number and almost leapt from my chair when I saw she was 2 miles from home and had less than 4 and a half hours on the clock.
Switching between the route map, following the little blue circle with the initials AA printed in the middle, and the finish line camera, we managed to spot Alison crossing the line. To be honest it wasn’t that difficult as we recognised her gracious gait from a distance and I was gleaming with pride as she completed her goal with her arms aloft.
4 hours and 50 minutes. That’s an amazing time to be running for. 20 minutes quicker than her previous best marathon and 10 minutes under her goal time. As if planned Alison was greeted with an orange blanket alongside her race medal in Central Park, to celebrate what had been 20 weeks of consistent training.
It work’s folks. Trust the process. Enjoy your running and reap the rewards.
Thank you for your continued support. #LetsGo #TeamOrange 🍊
