RACE SUMMARY

I can’t remember a time I’ve awoken for a race more excited that this. I believe it was a combination of my own good form and the fact so many of the Team 🍊 were in action.

The event as a whole was superb. The atmosphere among Hastings Runner was a delight to be part of. To listen to the roar of jubilance when the men’s team were announced as the winners was quite emotional.

Followed by a similar reaction to Martin Noakes landing his age category too. What a legend.

It was a tough day. It was hot. But it was June, so if you’re using that an excuse you need to think of something better to moan about. The wind? That’s better. It was difficult when we turned for home running into a 15 MPH headwind. It caught me out.

How did the team fare? Well I won’t go deep into each individual runner as most of us are training for different goals and this was just part of a bigger plan.

Jacqueline Scott did conclude her 4th training plan and with it a 5 Mile PB. She executed her strategy perfectly and was pretty much spot on her target pace, despite the tricky conditions.

Jax has shown a real improvement in the past 8 weeks as she’s ramped up her training a touch and I’m very excited about Plan number 5.

A special mention for Craig Weeks who has completed his 2nd plan. He’s taking a break from training blocks but it has been a real pleasure working with Craig and seeing his improvement. He ran his first ever half marathon and smashed his 5k PB during his time with the Team. Well done Craig.

I think well executed race plans were the main positive of this race. I talked about not going off too fast and conserving energy for the latter stages of the race.

Many of us have been guilty of tanking races and whilst others were stopping several times into that headwind, I think pretty much everyone on the team dug deep and were very consistent with their splits (except perhaps 1 person, me). So great work team.

The biggest satisfaction for me as a coach right now is the enjoyment ratings I’m seeing on the feedback. I get a real sense that these plans are bringing greater pleasure for the runners.

Yes I want everyone to improve, but it we don’t enjoy our running along the way, then what’s the point?

I learned some more about myself as a coach this weekend and over the next few weeks I’ll be going into more details about warm ups and stretches. Taking on new clients and building this coaching platform at the same time does mean it’s always a work in progress. But like the team and your running, it’s about making small steps in the right direction.

Really proud of the team today and not just the way you ran the race but how you finished strongly and had smiles on your faces.

#LetsGo #TeamOrange