The LOOP
Friday afternoon Sheddies, how is your week shaping up so far? What have you got lined up for this weekend?
I was talking with Adam (Wallace) after swimming last Friday and he asked me how I came up with stuff to write about. My answer is and was – I never know until I finish work, grab a cuppa and sit down in front of the computer! ( You’re probably thinking…’yeah it shows!’).
Well my week has been punctuated with all things run-related…so that’s what I’m going to share with you.Old rooky runner Keith (!) has always extolled the virtues of off road trail or fell running to me. And as such, we have run in, through and over some varied terrain during our years running together!
For a while now we’d been promising fellow Sheddie, Kevin, an off road trail run. Togged up in the old stuff, we drove to Bucknell Woods on Wednesday and unleashed ourselves, with gay abandon into the wilderness! Think thick, wet, churned up mud…water, brambles, mud, knee deep mud. Getting the picture? Leading the way through the first bog, I demonstrated to Kevin how to lose your shoes in the first minute! Chivalrously, he retrieved them from the centre of the sinking-mud (Tarzan has sinking sand…we had sinking mud). From then on, this was a regular occurrence that punctuated our obstacle course mud run! People pay to do events like this!
Laughing our way round, we ended our jolly jape by wading into the pond by the car park to clean up before heading home in the car! Exhilarating!
Fessing up now, I used to resist the offer of joining my husband on one of these kinda ‘runs’. My run training was about clocking up the road miles…yawn…boring…! I just couldn’t see how hot footing it through the highlands and lowlands was gunna help my run technique. Many trail runs later I confess that adding a run or two in like this to your training has heaps of hidden benefits.
When the conditions are drier under foot, it teaches you to be light on your feet. It sorts out your balance and core as you deal with all the irregularities, twists and turns. You become very mentally alert, running in the moment, aware of your surroundings, no time to let your mind wander. It’s fun and unpredictable and there’s no worry of cars cutting you up. When you return to a road run, the dividends are you feel stronger, lighter and more bouncy.
Try it! If you are not convinced yet, let me encourage you to read and follow, fellow Sheddie, Nick Pauley’s blog www.ironmarketer.net ‘A beginner triathlete’s guide to running in the woods’. It’s a fabulous blog to follow and a priceless post.
Rounding up my run-related week, I read a great post by www.nomeatathlete.com that resonated with me and is worthy of absorption… ‘4 running mistakes that keep you stuck and frustrated’.
So if you want to spice up your run training and throw some trails into the mix, I can whole heartedly recommend a quick visit to see our dear super running chum, Judith Meeton, at her shop The Running Shop, Northampton www.therunningshop.org.uk . Her extensive run-knowledge will see you laced up in the correct footwear!
There. Done.
Swimming later on this evening 8-9 pm @ Wolverton pool. Great to see so many new faces still coming week on week. I love Fridays with you all!
Tally ho for now…and remember
Start by doing what is necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you’re doing the impossible – Saint Francis of Assisi
Jane x
