Here we are again. Another Monday. Another Coach Simon Blog. They come around quickly don’t they? Mondays that is? I’m sure you can’t get enough of my musings.

So what has happened in the past 7 days? Well after a short break to rest my painful foot, 8 days in total, I headed out with Jacqueline to attempt 60 minutes of easy running along the seafront.

I spent the majority of the run waiting for the pain to arrive which possibly spoiled what was a mild and calm December morning. To some degree the discomfort was there, or was my mind playing tricks with me? I finished confident enough that the rest had done some good.

So I rocked up Sunday ready to join the gang and tackle 2 hours. We were greeted with a spectacular sunrise over the Combe Valley which just reminded me of why I love running so much and why I get up early every Sunday.

Again the foot behaved itself but I did take every opportunity to run on the grass verges to reduce the impact. That’s my plan for the week ahead. Track on Tuesday, 60 minutes on the grass (unsure where yet) on Wednesday, efforts on the grass Friday and then hopefully the foot will be fine for the Christmas Eve run with Nigel and the gang.

It’s a strategy which has worked well in the past for me. Once I had 30km for my long run. My foot was hurting on the tarmac so I headed to Westfield playing field. Each lap of the football field is 0.33km. So 90 laps were required to hit my target. I managed 66.

I didn’t actually stop running, I just became bored of running in circles (or rectangles to be precise) and with the foot feeling fine I decided to risk the roads. The pain soon got worse so I turned back for another 10 laps of the field to reach my target.

The result being I was able to keep running and get my mileage in. The foot niggle went away soon after and I was back on the asphalt without missing any sessions.

Enough about me. What about the Team?

Well there have been two recent arrivals. Conal Tracey and George Marshall who are both gunning for Brighton Marathon in April. Both are relatively new to Hastings Runners and very friendly, so I encourage you all to have a chat, both with interesting jobs as well, that I’ll leave for you to discover when the opportunity presents itself.

Fleur, Andy and Adrian all completed their training plans last week and I’m delighted to say all 3 will be back in the New Year.

It’s a funny time of year where the opportunities to test the fitness are limited somewhat and parkrun has rarely provided the calm weather one needs to push for that elusive 5K PB. But all 3 have certainly improved their running since joining the Team and I’m excited to see how they progress in 2024. Fleur and Adrian are both looking to run Marathons of their own.

I do have a new PB to mention from the weekend. Matt Button produced a parkrun personal best of 22:52. Over 30 seconds quicker than his previous fastest time.

My weekend was lifted with the following response from Matt after I congratulated him on his success.

“Thank you! I can not emphasise enough how happy I am with that time. Just about to open some champagne. 🍾”.

Note to the rest of the team, that’s how you celebrate.

As the title suggests the team is close to capacity, which is amazing. I have 2 available spots but am currently speaking to 2 runners about the potential to join, so they might be snapped up soon.

In the new year, depending on the work load and my own availability I may open up a few spaces but that really depends if I’m able to offer you guys the same service going forward. The minute I feel I cannot provide that anymore I will stop taking on more runners. But I know that point is very close already. So don’t panic.

Keep ticking off those sessions, keep smiling, keep leaving that feedback and keep believing in yourselves. When triathlon champion Beth Potter was asked her best piece of advice, she simply replied “Turning Up”.