Colwick Beginners - Week 4

16 minutes of running today!  16!!  Isn't that fantastic?!  From being able to manage 1 minute of running in week 1 to today's 5 minutes with no stopping.  And you managed that not once, but twice!  Absolutely phenomenal effort from everyone down at Colwick today.  Everyone who was there should feel so proud of what they've achieved.  You built on your hard work from the last few weeks and, I hope, enjoyed the satisfaction of doing such a great job today.  

Week 4 plan

So... onto this week's plan...

Begin with a brisk five-minute walk, then three minutes of running, 90 seconds of walking, five minutes of running, two-and-a-half minutes of walking, three minutes of running, 90 seconds of walking and five minutes of running.

4 blocks of running = 16 mins of running

Do this 3 times during week 4. If you're finding that you're taking a while to recover after today's run, just scale back the runs to 3 minutes each and do a pattern of 3 minutes running, 90 seconds walking and repeat it five times during your run. You'll be doing approximately the same amount of running in total, but not quite putting the same amount of pressure on yourself. However, do try to complete another lot of running for 5 minutes. I know you can do it and hopefully after today's run... *you* know you can do it too!

	Activity	Duration	Total time
	Brisk walk	5 minutes	5 mins
1	Running	3 minutes	8 mins
	Brisk walk	90 seconds	9.5 mins
2	Running	5 minutes	14.5 mins
	Brisk walk	2.5 minutes	17 mins
3	Running	3 minutes	20 mins
	Brisk walk	90 seconds	21.5 mins
4	Running	5 minutes	25.5 mins
	Cool down walk	5 minutes	30.5 mins

Nottingham Light Night

Since you've all proved that you can run for a mile... what about joining us on Friday 6th of November, lighting up a run into the city as part of Light Night?  Full details are here: http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/lightnight#Run - I'll be leading the run from Sneinton with Zoe.  We're happy to run-walk it and pace doesn't matter... looking lit up, glowing and amazing is where it's at!  If you'd like to come along, meet us at the Greenway Centre (NG2 4DF) in Sneinton at 6:30 on Friday and we'll be handing out glow kit ready to run for 7!  The route itself is straightforward and a smidge over 1 mile long.

Stretches and injury prevention

As we're increasing the distance we're running, it's also increasingly important to take care of how you're running and how much you're running to prevent injury.  A few tips for you:

1.  Stretch after your run - http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/how-to-stretch-after-a-run.aspx has some good clear pictures of stretches to add to the ones I sent out a couple of weeks ago.

2.  ... but don't stretch to the point where it really hurts!  You're after stretching the muscle so that you can feel the stretch and possibly feel some discomfort... but if it's hurting... stop!

3.  When you're running, think about your form.  Try to 'run tall' - imagine that you have a piece of string attached to the top of your head and it's pulling you upright.  Think about how your feet hit the floor.  If you're 'heel striking' (hitting the ground with your heel first) it often means that your foot is landing in front of your body - which puts extra strain on your legs / joints.  Try to land more in the mid-foot area and your foot will naturally land more underneath your body, reducing the risk of pains and strains!

4.  If you run listening to music, try it without every so often.  Instead, listen to your feet on the pavement - light and fast feet are better than heavy and slow.  Lots of runners try to run faster by increasing their stride length, but you're better concentrating on shortening your stride slightly and increasing your cadence so that you do more steps per minute.  It's a much more efficient way of running and will put less strain on your body as you get used to it.  Either way, run without music from time to time and concentrate on *how* you're running, how your breathing feels, how you feel.  And enjoy the head space!

5.  Take those rest days!  Once you get bitten by the running bug, the temptation to do more - run further, run more often etc - can rear its head.  Ignore it!  Build up slowly and you're far less likely to end up suffering from things like shin splints which can stop you from running.

6.  Make sure you're wearing decent trainers.  You can get what's called a 'gait analysis' done for free at places like Sweatshop (at the Virgin Active Gym near the railway station in town) and at least understand what sort of shoes you need to buy, with no obligation to buy any!

7.  Get some running socks!  As we up our distance, you might find that you're getting more blisters and rubbing on your feet.  Look for specialist running socks - they're not that expensive, but what you're after is the twin skin sort which will help to prevent blisters and give you happier tootsies!

Facebook and Twitter

If you haven't already joined our Facebook group, you're more than welcome to join us.  You can arrange to meet other runners, find out about runs in your area, chat about all things running (even the embarrassing stuff!) and generally get to know other women runners near you.  Find us at http://www.facebook.com/groups/nottswomenrunners and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nottswomenrun

Medals and t-shirts!

There's still time to order a fabulous Notts Women Runners t-shirt, you just need to email Lisa Foreman on milasmoon@gmail.com with your size (they come in XS, S, M, L and XL - women's fit or men's if you prefer a looser fit) and preference of a vest or a t-shirt - pictures of them on our Facebook page. Once we reach the order cut-off of Feb 24th, Lisa will PayPal invoice you and go from there.

Fancy a medal for running that first 5k and completing our beginners' course?  You can enter our very own 'virtual run', which is happening in March.  You just need to go to http://www.virtualrunneruk.com/enter-nwr-raceand pay your £6 to enter, then either run the 5k distance in March with the group, at parkrun or whenever and wherever suits you... and on completion, you'll get a fabulous medal! 

Tuesday evening informal beginners' run
As with last week, for anyone who would like a running buddy, I am happy to run with you.  If you come to the big Tesco at the bottom of Carlton Hill (NG4 2EB) then we'll be running from there at 7pm, repeating the week 4 run on a route which will be as flat as I can make it in Carlton/Gedling!  You can see the route at http://runkeeper.com/user/sarahhorrigan/route/3619086 and if you can make it on Tuesday, then I'll look forward to seeing you at 7!  If you're coming along, but running late, just text me - you should have my number!

Wow!  That was an epic post today!  I really hope you can join us for Light Night on Friday.  I was so proud of everyone's running at Colwick today, I would love us to show the rest of Nottingham what we're made of at Light Night!

Otherwise, feet up, cuppa cha... you've earned an extra roast spud or two and I'll see you next Sunday (or Tuesday if you fancy a tootle round Carlton / Gedling with me!)