The start of 2021 is proving to be as challenging as 2020 with a national lockdown in England and the possibility of more restrictions to come as Covid 19 cases rise and a major incident is declared for London. However, we are being encouraged to exercise for both our physical and mental health and so the coaches at Ealing Eagles and our mental health champion Dan VandenBurg have put some thought into ways to keep us motivated.
In particular, you may want to make use of some of your allowance of one outdoor exercise session a day to train for a distance, even if there is not yet a real race scheduled for the end of the training period. To help motivate you to do this, we are reinvigorating the various facebook groups so that Eagles can encourage one another virtually to train for the different distances even though we can't meet in person. (see Eagles virtual support for longer distances below)
Social Distancing and Covid 19 Etiquette
There are many important differences between Tier 4 and the new lockdown.
Exercise had already been significantly restricted in Tier 4 so the main difference with lockdown is that:
exercise is limited to once per day, and
you should not travel outside your local area.
You are allowed to exercise with your household (or support bubble) or one other person. We know, from the first lockdown, how important exercise is for managing our mental and physical health, so we hope that you continue to find opportunities to run.
Please stay safe when running
Maintain at least a 2m social distance where possible
Be courteous to other people who may be running, cycling or walking in the same area
Make sure you're wearing high viz in darker hours
Adjust your routes to the weather conditions
If you're running alone, please let someone know where you're going and when you expect to be back
January Bingo Card
Exercise can be a tool to help us manage every day stresses. The sense of achievement gained by setting a goal and seeing it through, along with the physical effects of regular exercise can help to transform our mental health and our approach to managing it. Dan VandenBurg, our mental health champion, has put together a bingo card of 31 suggested activities for you to do in January. The idea is based on a challenge called Red January – as their website says:
‘January seemed like the perfect month for such an initiative, providing an opportunity to kick-start the year in a positive way. It’s a time when many are setting new goals, are low on funds and motivation, with less social occasions to keep us connected. RED was an empowering colour for dark times that could inspire those taking part to ‘get active every day, to beat the blues away.’
The bingo card is not a training plan and the activities can be done in any order and at any level from simply going out for a walk and trying new activities to long runs for marathon training and designing Strava art. The bingo card can be downloaded from here (for some of the ideas, there is a link to a webpage with further information).
Dan hopes to make use of his weekly Wellbeing Wednesday facebook post to encourage us to share ideas and how we are getting on with the January Bingo Card.
Eagles virtual support for Couch to 5k
Even before the Tier 4 restrictions and now lockdown, the run leaders for the beginners programme had decided that we could not offer an in-person beginners programme while social distancing and rule of 6 restrictions applied. However, we are conscious that there are people both inside and outside the club who might benefit from regular input and encouragement to start running again after time away. The beginners run leaders have therefore decided to offer virtual support for people wanting to start running again with a combination of facebook and zoom sessions. The first zoom workshops took place on Tuesday 5 January and there will be a second set of zoom workshops this coming Tuesday 12 January at 11.30am and 7pm. If this would be of interest to you, please email beginners@ealingeagles.com using the title “Virtual support: couch to 5k”
Eagles virtual support for longer distances
With many Eagles starting to think about running in 2021, we have decided to reinvigorate the various facebook groups so that Eagles can encourage one another virtually to train for the different distances even though we can't meet in person (I would suggest that you choose the group for the longest distance for which you will be training up to end of April 2021 as the primary focus of the 5k, 10k and 10miles groups will be endurance rather than pace).
Zoom workshops have been set up over the next few weeks for distances up to and including half marathon - you will be able to find the details in the event pages in the different facebook groups. If you are not on facebook but would like to attend a zoom workshop, please email coaching@ealingeagles.com for more information.
5k to 10k - try Next Step Improvers https://www.facebook.com/groups/EalingEaglesNextStepImprovers Zoom workshops available on Thursday 14 January at 11.30am and 7pm
10k to 10miles - try TT Improvers https://www.facebook.com/groups/EaglesTTImprovers Zoom workshop available on Monday 18 January at 7pm
5k to spring half marathon - may be useful for anyone targeting the Vitality Big Half at the end of April 2021 - try Spring Half Marathon https://www.facebook.com/groups/eagleshalfmarathon Zoom workshops on Thursday 28 January at 11.30am and 8pm
Marathon training - try Marathon training (for members of Ealing Eagles Running Club) https://www.facebook.com/groups/EaglesMarathon
Ultras - try UltraEagles https://www.facebook.com/groups/ultraeagles
Virtual Relays
The Eagles Coaches are playing with the idea of offering another Virtual Relay, possibly in the second half of January or February. More information later this month.