Winter short club run: March 2020

With the change in location of the club monthly socials to the Forester’s on Leighton Road in 2019, a new winter short club run was devised to start and finish in that area. This route had the additional advantages that:

·        It did not go along the north circular and so short club runners were less exposed to pollution from the cars

·        Long club runners did their extra distance in the middle of the route and so both short and long club runners were running along the same route for the second half of the route which made the training more sociable

The committee has therefore decided to establish this route – starting and finishing at Ealing Green and avoiding the north circular road by going along Northfields Avenue instead – as the winter short club run route for March and April 2020. The route can be seen in the mapometer extract below or in this link here

The winter long club run route will remain the same as faster runners (who are more likely to use this route on a regular basis) have expressed a preference for the wider pavements alongside the north circular rather than the narrower pavements on Elderberry Road / Ascott Avenue.

Both long and short club run follow the same route for the first stretch

·        From Ealing Green down St Mary’s Road

·        Cross St Mary’s Road at the pedestrian crossing outside University of West London and go immediately into Warwick Road

Difference between short and long club run

·        At the first cross-roads , short club runners turn right into Ascott Avenue which becomes Elderberry Road  – please take care on the uneven and narrow pavements along this stretch – and then turn right on Popes Lane

·        Meanwhile, long club runners stay on Warwick Road as it goes through Ealing Common – again, please take care on the uneven pavements – and then turn right on the north circular road and then right again at the petrol station onto Popes Lane

Then both short and long club run follow the same route for the rest of the run

·        Cross South Ealing Road at the traffic lights and go onto Little Ealing Lane and then onto Northfields Avenue

·        Stay on Northfields Avenue until pass the Forester and then the allotments on the right

·        Turn right after the allotments (if you get to Uxbridge Road, you’ve gone too far) to go onto Mattock Lane

·        At the road junction by St John’s church, stay on Mattock Lane (again, please take care on the narrow and uneven pavements)

·        After the park (and Pitzhanger Manor), Mattock Lane opens out onto Ealing Green.

Street-O is coming your way!

This month’s Social (Wednesday 4th March) will be preceded by some FUN and FREE Street Orienteering from the Forester. 

You can do the activity either as an individual or in small teams (eg up to 4)

You are allowed 1 hour, and you can start at any time between 6.30 and 7.30, but please don’t all turn up at 7.25!

Here’s how it will work:

We’ll give you a street map of the local area, with the Forester marked on it (a triangle).  Also on the map will be lots of other locations (circles) which you are encouraged to visit.  At each of these locations there is a very simple question for you to answer, to prove you were there.  Correct answers earn you anything from 10 to 50 points, and you need to score as many as you can!

As there is no set course to follow, you can do as much or as little as you like within the 1 hour allocated.  

You need to be aware of the time, because if you return to the Forester having taken more than an hour, then penalty points will be deducted.   To cover the whole course will mean running more than 10k in an hour.  There are some who will give that a try, but most of you will need to make tactical decisions as to which ones to try for and what’s the best route back to base.

Even if you choose to walk rather than run, you should still be able to get to 6 or 7 locations.

You will need to bring a pen to write your answers down.  Although there are plenty of streetlights, I recommend you bring a torch or a head-torch.   And if you have easy access to a compass, you might as well put it in your pocket, although you shouldn’t really need it.

Whilst it’s fine to record your route on your watch or phone, please don’t use things like Google Maps on the way around – it rather goes against the spirit of the game.  Just the paper map please.

Kind of Questions

To give you an idea of the kind of questions you may be asked, here are some possibles:

Post Box : what time is the last collection?    eg 7pm

What is the Lamp Post Number?   eg  LP 574

Road Sign : How many miles to Hanwell?    eg 2

Type of house alarm at number 35?    eg  Yale

We also had a Facebook discussion back in January, which included a sneak-peek at the map showing the event area.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/ealingeagles/permalink/2687706101306067/

Hope to see you on Wednesday.   

Ralph

Met League Season Results

Ladies Team (by Hayley Kandt)

Congrats to our Ladies Vets XC team on bringing home our very first met league trophy by winning Division 2 getting promoted to Division 1!

Smashing result for our ladies side this year! Ladies A came 2nd in div 2 and have been promoted to Divison 1!! And ladies B came 2nd in div 3 and have moved into Divison 2!!

Mens Team (by Kieren Santry)

The men’s A team finished in 4th place in division 2 which is our highest ever finished.
There were some early season concerns that our B team would get relegated from div 2 but its shows the strengths and depth we now have in the club as we finished in 10th place and comfortably avoided the drop.

Our C team finished the year 7th in Division 3.

The Vets are ever improving with age and ended up 4th in what is a very competitive division 2. Again this was our highest vets position.

A few stats from the Eagles MET league season
Number of Male Runners per fixture
Claybury 20
Welwyn 45
Uxbridge 42
Alexandra Palace 40
Trent Park 28

75 men competed in at least one race with the hardcore 5 of John Foxall, Jose Pabon, Sam Royle, Chris Jones & Andrew Williamson racing all 5 fixtures.

There were 4 different 1st Eagle finishers John Foxall x 2, Jack, George Roberts and Will Adolphy.

Our 6 year MET League History
2015 Division 3 19th
2016 Division 3 7th
2017 Division 3 2nd Promoted

2018 Division 2 7th
2019 Division 2 6th
2020 Division 2 4th
2021 Division 2 ??

A big thank you to all who contributed throughout the season including bringing the flags, tarps, tea and home baking to the fixtures.
Thanks to the club for paying our race entry fees and post race nibbles, big kudos to David Carlin for the use of the bus to get us to Welwyn as this made a huge difference in getting such a strong turnout there. To all those that volunteered especially Stuart and Helen who were outstanding all year.

XC is all about the team and representing your club, really proud of our continuous improvement and more so the increasing number of people now taking part in xc. It’s great to see the camaraderie building in the team and club throughout the xc season.
Congrats again to the ladies on their inspiring performances ye have set the standard for us.
The dream of promotion for the men must live on for another year.
Roll on Claybury on Oct 10th!

Three Parkruns Long Training Run 2020

For the club organised Spring Long Run this year we have decided to go with the Three Parkruns 20 route from 2019 - the run will be on Sunday 8th March starting at 9am from the current Gunnersbury parkrun start area.

The route has been put together as as a Green Belt Relay style map which can be seen here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WdEjxOrdh1ClD3e0O4HFY44yWbevaShi/view?usp=sharing

The full route is 20 miles and starts in Gunnersbury Park and then goes to Osterley Park and Northala Fields before returning to Gunnersbury Park. There are loads of points on the route where you can stop and get a bus home, so lots of options if you don;t want to run the whole 20 miles.

Things to note:
*We have chosen 8th March because it's 4 weeks before Manchester and Paris marathons, 3 weeks before Rome, and 7 weeks before London and it doesn't clash with any of the local popular long training runs like Thames Towpath 20 or Kingston.
*You DO NOT have to be planning to run a marathon to join in!
*The full route is 20 miles but you can start and finish anywhere you like on the route if you want to meet us partway round.
*The route map includes mile markers and notes for the closest Tube or bus stops to each mile marker to make this easier.
*The run will be managed along the same lines as any Sunday club run; bring your own water and fuel, and it will be self led (although we encourage you to organise yourselves into pace groups to be sociable).

You can see who else is planning to run, how far and how fast here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YvXfYoKGJq1fLFvCUeJ7Rc8Y1GfBoHonvYFOnou9LuU/edit?usp=sharing

Lastly, remember each park has loos and a cafe, so there's plenty of opportunity to stop for a comfort break, or stop entirely and eat some cake with your mates if you're done.

Welsh Castles Relay Vets Team Report

Last year we had for the first time entered a vets team in addition to the Open and Ladies teams, meaning 60 runners would tackle the 20 stages over the weekend from Caernarfon to Cardiff.  This required a rewrite of Lisa’s famous spreadsheet, and Abi sorting out the logistics. I was on the early minibus to Wales in a 17 seater behemoth nicknamed the battlecruiser by my co-driver James, in the wet and get wetter. When I made a late navigation call we discovered the breaks required significant forward planning, as we almost didn’t make the turn off the A-road. The bus was running on vapours when we finally stopped for a comfort break, fortunately the treasurer was on hand with card to pay the bill. I took the wheel for the drive through North Wales to Friday night’s accommodation, the rain and mist obscuring the scenery.

After good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast handing out race numbers to the excited vets, and in the process forgetting to make a packed lunch, I was in the early bus to Caernarfon for the captain’s briefing. The rain was beginning to relent, but at the obligatory team photo in front of the castle I discovered I was only one to bring a brolly to Wales. The tension mounted after some stirring words from Kieran, and first of the live feeds, and we were off!

Stage 1 - Caernarfon Castle to Penygroes: James de Vivenot, 9.3 miles, 01:10:16, 40th, 6th Vet

James as the most enthusiastic team member had the honour of leading the vets team out with the procession round the castle and over the bridge before the race finally starts along the coast before cutting inland and a long slow drag up a disused railway line, which affords a couple of places to cheer on the runners. The light rain continued as it would for the first 3 or so stages. A great to start to the first Vets relay.

Stage 2 - Penygroes to Criccieth: Mike Duff, 10.5 miles, 01:11:10, 29th, 3rd Vet

The typically Scottish weather made Mike feel right at home although the wind could have been a bit stronger. He had a long battle with a Wirral AC runner but eventually managed to shake him off on the final uphill at 15 km. A great run to finish in the top half. Being on the cycle path I didn't think I'd see many people but amazing support all the way along the route from the Eagles and a special mention to Chorlton too who gave me big support.

Stage 3 - Criccieth to Maentwrog (Mountain): Andrew Green, 12.1 miles, 01:17:04, 23rd, 2nd Vet

Andrew had asked for a flat stage but given his running pedigree he got to tackle the first mountain stage. Fortunately, he loved the stage and ran an amazing. He described it as ‘pretty uneventful.  14 km of bashing out consistent pace to stay within reach of Tom, only to see him accelerate up the hill with 6 km to go.  Final 2 km descending like a maniac to gain a few places, knowing (but not caring) that if I lost my footing I was f***ed. It was so wet that my shorts started foaming as though I was in a spin cycle.’ Perhaps a rinse cycle was called for. A very impressive run.

Stage 4 - Maentwrog to Harlech Castle: Marek Waszczuk, 9.2 miles, 01:10:21, 44th, 8th Vet

Marek had the infectious enthusiasm of someone who had to work hard to make the team and was overjoyed to make the cut. For a rookie he was surprisingly well equipped for the Welsh weather with his umbrella hat. He ran a great stage coming in 5 minutes ahead of his predicted time. 

Stage 5 - Harlech Castle to Barmouth: Gary Hobbs, 9.4 miles, 01:07:24, 28th, 4th Vet

Stage 5 is billed as one of the flatter stages, but just after you have settled into a rhythm you hit a brutal steep slope, and then the course is undulating at best, before a tricky downhill to the beach at Barmouth. Gary had got himself in to great shape with a series of marathons and delivered an excellent run.

Stage 6 - Barmouth to Dolgellau: Dominic Wallace, 10.5 miles, 01:07:47, 36th, 5th Vet

Dominic had been concentrating on marathons, but managed to post a time to qualify into the team. We risked the 17 seater over the rickety toll bridge, to give Dominic, Yvonne and Bernard those enthusiastic Mexican waves as they came through:

Stage 6 is beautiful, but otherwise a bit of an odd one out in a couple of ways:  it’s completely flat (unless you believe Strava, in which case it involves running up a 60-metre tower and then jumping off, which I like to think I would have noticed), and there is really only one place to support.  Inevitably, Eagles made up half the crowd there, and practically all of the noise, in the form of the world’s most uplifting Mexican wave.  In return for this, our three runners were kind enough to stay close together, just to make the supporters’ lives easy.  As usual I blew up near the end, mainly as a result of trying to keep Yvonne in view for too long (she had a storming race, and by my count was first female vet by nearly five minutes), which meant I finished about a minute down on the time I was aiming for.

Given how much Abi did for us all over the course of the weekend, perhaps best to draw a veil over the incident on the way to the start of six that left White-Tailed flying on one wing…

…and my proudest moment of the weekend was when the last business house runner came home at the end of ten, and Eagles were the one team that had stayed behind to cheer him in.

Stage 7 - Dolgellau to Dinas Mawddwy (Mountain): Kieran Santry, 10.1 miles, 01:09:52, 21st, 1st Vet

You would pick Kieran just for the impact he has on the rest of the team, but he is also the man for the big occasion. The captain of the Open team, he jumped at the chance to tackle a mountain stage. He got a brutal stage with a total elevation of 445 m rising relentlessly over the first 10 km. He produced his best run of the year matching the old stage record and coming home as the first Vet team runner. Amazing run.

Stage 8: Brian Stakelum, 10.5 miles, 01:07:30, 13th, 2nd Vet

Stage 8, a mountain stage in all but name with 275 m of climb needs a strong runner. Brian stepped up to the plate a delivered an amazing run, to ‘geriatric’ the Open team runner and come home as second vet. He describes the course:

The stage starts in the bypassed village and for the first mile and a half is mostly downhill with a steep uphill start out of the village. At about a mile and a half in, the race route encounters a roundabout and turns left. Now the climbing begins.

For the next 5.5 miles the race climbs form the valley floor to the summit of the valley. The route is twisty and is quite narrow at times with good views nearer the top. At 7 miles in you reach the top of the valley and the remaining 3.5 miles are mostly downhill.

It is a hard workout and I was tired for days after completing the stage. Try to work hard for the first 7 miles but keep it disciplined as you would likely want to retain some leg speed for the final 3.5 downhill miles.

Stage 9: Jay Kaye, 8 miles, 56:13, 24th, 4th Vet

Jay was another enthusiastic rookie to WCR, would embraced the team ethos and delivered a run almost 3 minutes ahead of target:

After plenty of welsh rain throughout Saturday, the sun was finally shining by 4:30 pm, ready for stage 9.

Standing in the start line I was asked by the runner from Palestine whether we ran on the side or in the middle of the road. When I replied that she should run to the side to avoid the cars passing, she said that she thought that it was very dangerous. Somehow I didn’t feel it appropriate to point out the irony in this conversation and got ready to start.

After the first 3-400 metres I was wondering why James Linney had gone off so slowly as I was only a few metres behind, before it dawned on me that it was actually me going way too fast. I managed to slow to my own race pace and settled in at a steady pace for the next 8 miles.

It was a pretty enjoyable if uneventful 8 mile run through the rolling welsh countryside after that, except for the nasty hill at the end which thankfully I had been prewarned about. But compared to many of the hills I saw that weekend, certainly nothing to complain about!

Stage 10: Harry Claxton - Llanfair Caereinion to Newtown (Mountain), 12.9 miles, 01:26:38, 24th, 4th Vet

As captain I got to choose my own stage. My training for a sub 3 hour London marathon meant I could justify this mountain stage with perhaps one of the best finishes in Newtown as the runners all come together at the end of stage one. It begins with a brutal hill that starts of steep and gets steeper. I could smell burning clutch oil as a car went past, and my ears popped at the stop. The downhill on the other side steep enough to test your nerves, but I managed to pick up a couple of places. Then it is a case of trying to settle into a rhythm as the course gently undulates before a smaller hill near the end. The legs and lungs were beginning to give out near the end as the course follows the river into Newtown, before crossing over the bridge and ending in a flash in the churchyard. Thanks to Matt for being ready with a pint at the finish.

Saturday Night

Day 1 finished will a communal meal in Newtown, and then we were off in the dusk to three different sets of accommodation. Johnathan reports that ‘Stonecroft was pretty basic but fine even though the Karaoke in the pub next door went on late and there were no curtains to stop the sun shining in at 5.30. There were some man v horse competitors staying which was good to chat to them too.’ The Plasnewydd Bunkhouse I was at was great, which made my inability to get to sleep all the more puzzling.

Stage 11 - Newtown to Llanbadarn Fynydd (Mountain): Simon James, 10.6, 01:09:14, 17th, 2nd Vet

Some road works meant stage 11 had been shortened slightly, but this meant a steeper climb up the 270m hill. While relatively new to running, Simon had been putting in some impressive runs to earn himself a mountain stage. Fortunately he was equally happy with the early morning start to kick us off on day 2:

Glorious weather after the mixed bag of Day 1. Beautiful clear skies, bright sunshine, but no warmer than 10 degrees given the time of day. After a quick run around some suburban roundabouts, we took a sharp left and headed up, up and up. A quiet, narrow country lane cut deep into the hill with a brutal climb for about 2.5k. This completely thinned out the pack and saw quite a few people slip back after their early efforts.

We rejoined the main road and the climb became less severe, but it still continued uphill for another 7k. Long, sweeping bends at this point with little by way of changes in the field, though there were some individual dog-fights (at least one of which I won). The early part of the downhill was where the changes started to take place: you could tell who had over- or under-cooked it on the hills, with one or two runners really picking up the pace at this point and streaming down the hill (I paced myself perfectly of course).

After only a couple of km’s of downhill, my legs were really starting to burn - I was using muscles that I didn't know I had. It was the cheering from the Eagles support vans that kept me going. It was a case of emptying the tank from here and hoping the end came soon. Kieran was on hand to tell me that the finish was just around the corner. Incredible support as I got over the line. In pieces at this point - I could not have given any more - but very pleased with my time. I managed to pass the BBQ exactly at the right time to find Linney standing at the front of the queue, shouting to ask if I wanted a bacon sandwich!

Stage 12 - Llanbadarn Fynydd to Crossgates: Andy MacFarlane, 10.8, 01:25:13, 52nd, 7th Vet

Andy was a late call-up – without subs ready to drop the baby and come at short notice we wouldn’t be able to field a full team. By his own admission he wasn’t in the best shape of his life. However, he put his body on the line in arguably the effort of the weekend, to beat his predicted time by over 6 minutes. Every second of every stage counts, and this is how Andy described his in own inimitable style:

A cool, clear and still morning made for perfect racing conditions at Llanbadarn Fynydd, where only a shortage of bog roll in the gents and the torture of spectators feasting on bacon butties caused runners any discomfort. The field quickly strung out along the route of this mostly downhill stage which, with little jostling for position, feels like a time trial. It's a pleasant enough route - a quiet road bordered by trees and grassy verges - until you hit a sweeping right turn at about halfway where the frontrunners can seem a long, long way ahead.

A couple of lumps just after halfway reduced the pace, though I kept up the effort even as a Palestinian team runner - whose footfall had been tap-tapping from behind all race - kicked on ahead. The hills at the end might feel steeper than they are, after the steady downhill profile, but provide a good base for a fast last mile into Crossgates.

The sight of Santry at an advanced cheering point let me know to wind things up, and a word from the Irishman set me kicking like it was a starting gun. It was full pelt for the final left-hand turn off the roundabout and the short final stretch towards the garage.

Cue comedy finish photo, much gasping and the concern of Colin Overton that I might croak.

Stage 13 - Crossgates to Builth Wells: Jonathan Martin, 10.3, 01:10:08, 18th, 2nd Vet

WCR clashes with the birthdays of Jonathan and his wife, but the lure of a vets team proved enough. The support thins out a bit as supporters push on to the iconic stage 14, but Jonathan describes it as ‘a good one’:

There was a good Eagles send off at the start but special mention to Brain, Arlene and Hannorah who made their own way to the start and also went down the course to offer encouragement.

As for the stage it was pretty straight. There were more hills than EHM but more downhill too. It was a good course to go along at tempo and then pick off runners who had enjoyed the downhill first mile too much or put too much into the early hills. The number of slight hills made that possible on both ups and downs. I think many had not studied the profile and were also not prepared for the two inclines in the last 5k which were probably the steepest on the course. However, after that there was a glorious downhill of over a mile to the finish.

Stage 14 - Builth Wells to Drovers Arms (Mountain): Ralph Dadswell, 10.4, 01:15:21, 29th, 2nd Vet

Stage 14, aka ‘the Beast’ – 10km of undulating course before the most brutal climb of the weekend – an unrelenting 400m of steep ascent. Then a short downhill and a kick of a hill for the finish. There exists a certain type of person who jumps at the chance to tackle these sort of challenges. The sort of person who broke the record for riding from Lands End to John-o-Groats on a tricycle. Like Ralph. He hadn’t been in the best of form coming to Wales, but pulled out an epic run against what would have been the top runners from the other teams to come home one place behind the first vet. Amazing. As he describes it:

I was feeling a bit nervous before the start, as I’ve been struggling with delivering good results recently.  But once you’ve set off there’s no time to worry about that sort of thing.

The first 10k are undulating and so not really possible to run at a steady pace.  We also had a bit of a headwind.  More by luck than judgement I went through 10k at my target pace of “42-something”, and we were soon turned left towards the mountains.

Again, the climb is not really plannable.  I just hoped that I would be able to apply myself to the job and make up as many places as possible.  The first couple of kms were pretty effective, but I began to realise that with another 4 km of hard work I needed to avoid blowing up.  I guess the same thoughts were hitting the other competitors, as I was still (painfully) making progress.

At one point, you can see a long way ahead, including a distant view of where the race goes over a crest.  I had to start thinking only of the tarmac ahead of me, to avoid getting spooked. On three or four occasions, I had the big lift of Eagles cheers.  If ever you’re starting to feel fragile, then hearing wild over-excited screaming is a great pick-up. Eventually I reached the crest, which in my mind meant that I had just 2 km to go.  You can see the finish at that point, but there’s quite a sizeable valley to cross before you get there.

And it turns out that there are more than 2 km to go as well!  I descended as fast as I dared, and was quite dismayed to see the 1 Mile sign just as the road started to go up again. Never mind. After a few minutes of hard work the finish zone was again in sight, and I managed to raise the pace for that last little bit.

I finished just 22s down on my target time, so I felt fairly good (and quite surprised!).

Strangely, I had been expecting the climb to be steeper than it turned out to be.  That’s not to say that I didn’t turn myself inside out, but somehow I expected it to be more of a slog than it was.

Stage 15 - Epynt Visitor Centre to Brecon: Neil Bass, 12.45, 01:31:39, 42nd, 6th Vet

Neil Bass had stage 15 – I remember cheering on sheltering under an umbrella in a pretty sharp downpour. Another great run well inside his predicted time. He even wanted more uphill, even though this is one of the tougher non-mountain stages:

The stage following "The Beast."  Now, I have huge respect for Ralph for running "The Beast" but could they have not added a bit extra to that stage to save us Stage 15 runners the uphill at the start to the Stage 15? One for the race organisers.  After the initial climb it's pretty much downhill from there with a few ups in between. In particular one around mile 10 which did not impress me. Great downhill finish into Brecon town centre.

 Stage 16 - Brecon Canal Basin to Torpantau (Mountain): Gerbrand Alkema, 12.6, 01:30:43, 29th, 3rd Vet

Andy Guy’s unfortunate injury meant a rejig, and someone else to step up to a mountain stage. Gerb had been putting in some blistering training runs on the flat, but could a Dutchman handle the Welsh mountains? The gentle slope he refers to goes on for 10 km and rises 300 m. Kieran made sure he knew what he needed to do for the Monarch’s of the Mountains competition, and Gerb delivered.

Stage 16 is really a gentle slope from kilometre 8 onwards with one nasty climb at the end of about 150 - 200m with the finish right at the end of the road. I thought I saw the finish line a few times earlier, but that was really more motivated by wishful thinking. The steep finish home straight is quite nice to overtake a few last runners. In the last mile I was able to overtake three runners, whom had all bricked getting up the hill.

The race starts on the towpath and still not too sure on what's underfoot as it was more puddle than path. Coming off the towpath it is undulating tarmac till the reservoir after which the fun and climb begin. After the reservoir it is closer to a trail run than a road run, but very much doable on road shoes. There is little support on the route, but luckily there are three water points.

Stage 17 - Torpantau to Merthyr: Frank Doyle, 9, 57:52, 22nd, 2nd Vet

Frank had got himself into the form of his life, and though he had slimmed down, requested a downhill stage. It seemed to suit the big man, as he put in a great run to come home as second vet team runner:

Stage 17 has a ludicrous start, I like running downhill but the first half mile or so is ridiculous. Was a bit congested but got into my running when it levelled off. Few uphills in the first 3 miles, then a great slow descent pretty much all the way to the finish.

Was great to be picking off runners for much of the second half and feeling strong. Didn't dare look back, was expecting Yvette to take me over at some point, this spurred me on too.

When I got to about the 7 mile point, I had a great moment, looked at my watch and realised that I hadn't completely fecked it up for the team and was ahead of schedule, this really gave me a boost.

 There was a lady in front of me and I was slowly reeling her in, entered the park and could see the finish line. Gave a last push and passed her just as I got to the eagle cheer squad, they do a cracking Mexican wave don't you know!

In to the finish over 2 minutes ahead of predicted time. Lovely bit of business.

Just had time to get to the eagles to cheer Yvette in, bang on the hour, brilliant!

Took my legs 4-5 days to fully forgive me, but hope to have the honour of putting them through some similar torture next year. One word for the weekend, Amazing!

Stage 18 - Merthyr to Quaker's Yard: Niall Quinn, 7.2, 01:00:27, 19th, 4th Vet

Naill hadn’t been able to put in the long runs in training, so asked for a short stage, which suited his raw speed. A great effort in the end to come in only a minute after the 1st vet:

Probably the least glamorous start and finish of any stage.  Leisure Centre car park to out of town industrial estate! However the bit in between was not too bad, some meandering along the river Taff and through a few villages.  The race profile had little resemblance to what the stage was actually like so I just kept on running.  More incline than I was expecting, but the downhill section 2 miles from the end was great.  As was the Eagles support at the bottom of the hill.  It helped encourage me to catch the two V's in front!

Stage 19 - Abercynon to Caerphilly Castle: Baljit Dhanda, 7.6, 58:15, 41st, 8th Vet

When Baljit got the call up he already knew that his big sister was going to receive an MBE and was throwing a party that weekend, so it was a tough decision. Really grateful that he chose WCR. Particularly as he was still in recovery and building his stamina after a few injuries carried over from last year. One involving cycling into a lamp post. A great run to come in 2 minutes ahead of the his target time:

After two days of watching the effort and enthusiasm of everyone else I was feeling nervous but ok. I was fully Kieraned and had no issues in that area.

Race start : everyone bombs off and I follow. Then I spotted a Serpie and caught him up. Every time I caught him he speeded up and I was forced to chase him again. On the 4th attempt I overtook him and slowly but surely his presence felt further behind. After that it was spotting my next target and slowly catching them.

It was a fairly flat course with all the undulations in the first three miles followed by a half mile descent. The final 4 miles are a slight climb but the gradient is even and it feels flat.

Great support from the minibuses and the Eagles water station.

Crossed the line and sat down for 5 minutes as I was absolutely shattered. Finally got round to checking my watch and realised I was below target so quite happy. Followed the wrong Eagles and lost my minibus.

Stage 20 - Caerphilly Castle to Cardiff Castle: Rob Willin, 9.8, 01:06:57, 39th, 6th Vet

As the oldest member of the team it seemed fitting for Rob to lead the team home into Cardiff. Oldest, but far from slowest, and he put in an amazing run come home 6 minutes ahead of his target time. The stage ends with lap of the park and the best supported finish of the weekend along a tunnel of noise.

The Les Croups old guy who used to do the timing for all the stages had retired, and issues with results meant they could not all be presented at the end. The club were obviously embarrassed by the slip up, and have upgraded the system to provide more real time results which should add to the excitement as the race progresses next year.

Home

My lack of sleep from Saturday night finally caught up with me after the presentations, though my navigators may also have noticed my mood and patience draining away as I tried to negotiate the narrow lanes of Wales during the afternoon in the battlecruiser. Driving back to Ealing and taking the minibus back seemed an overwhelming task, and I’m forever grateful for Simon to step up and cheerfully agree to do it and let me escape on the early bus. Possibly just as well, as Andy Green’s most relieved feeling of the weekend was Imperial Eagle passing Chiswick roundabout at 9:59 pm a minute before they closed the north circular for roadworks.

A fantastic weekend, made possible by the hard work of Lisa and Abi on the logistics and accommodation. Andy Guy qualified fastest for the Vets, but was unfortunate with a late injury. It didn’t stop him helping out with the organisation and producing some great stage and runner guides in the build up. I’m grateful to the guidance of Kieran and Jen on what to do and how to Captain the team – basically how not to get in the way of the enthusiasm of the team members for this fantastic event. Apart from giving myself an opportunity to return to Wales, I was also motivated to give other older runners who were unlikely to make the increasingly competitive Open Team a chance to experience the magic. As such it was a great success, and we didn’t do too badly against the other Vet Teams, coming 3rd out of 10, and the proudest achievement as a runner – being part the Monarch of the Mountains with some amazing runners:

Overall

Mountain Monarchs

Training Sessions January to April 2020

Ealing Eagles is fortunate that, as a reasonable size mixed ability club, there are plenty of opportunities to train during the week and running buddies to train with. Individual Eagles may be interested in finding out more about the training sessions available each week or guidance towards preparing for a specific race and so this article has been divided in the hope that it will allow you to find more easily the information of interest to you.

Training sessions

A summary of the sessions is set out below but please keep an eye on the list of sessions for the week http://www.ealingeagles.com/this-weeks-training (link also sent to you with email newsletter) for more details and for any changes or updates.
• Mon / Wed 7.30pm club run
o Forester club run on first Wednesday of the month
• Thursday 7.30pm Hills
• Tuesday 7.30pm Track
• Daytime sessions
• Sunday 10miles
• Guest coach sessions

Target races

Alternatively, you might know want to know what provision is available in the club for a particular target race.
• Eagles Mid-pack
• Cross country XC
• Marathon training
• TTImprovers (training for a 10mile race)
• Ealing Eagles 10k
• Improvers
• Run / walk programme
• Club championship races

Training Sessions

Monday and Wednesday 7.30pm club runs

We will be using the winter club run routes, meeting at Ealing Green with a choice of two distances (3.75miles / 5.5k or 4.75miles /7k) but avoiding the parks, until the parks (in particular Gunnersbury Park) open sufficiently late for the 7.30pm club run to go through which will probably be May 2020. Please see the club run route page for the route details.

HOWEVER, please note that the offer of these sessions requires the availability of volunteers to be leaders and tail runners. The coached sessions require input from qualified coaches / leaders or experienced runners but anyone who is willing to help out and run at a gentle pace can tail a run (and make use of the time to have a recovery run, to work on your running form and to get to know other people in the club). If you have made use of the club training sessions, please play your part in making the club training sessions possible. See https://www.ealingeagles.com/helping-the-club for more information about volunteering and the rota to offer to help at https://www.ealingeagles.com/tail-runner-schedule

Forester club run on first Wednesday of the month

On the first Wednesday of the month, the club social will be taking place at the Forester’s and so both club runs will start on the other side of Northfields Ave from the Forester’s at Occupation Road W13, West Ealing with a bag drop at the Forester’s - see club run route page for more information.

The Forester long club run (7.5k / 4.7miles) will be the same as the normal long club run route but meeting and finishing at Occupation Road.
The Forester short club run (5.5k / 3.5miles) will follow the long club run route along Warwick Road but will turn right on Ascott Avenue (so cutting off the section along the north circular), drop down to Popes Lane and then follow the long club run route around to Occupation Road and the Forester’s.

Hill Sessions on Thursdays 7:30pm

Training on hills
· prepare you for the hills in a race;
· build muscle (improve leg strength while still working aerobically – strength = speed); and
· teach your body to run fast when you’re struggling for oxygen (if you did that type of speed work in winter on track – short reps – you would pull a muscle).
All standards are welcome – everyone stays in the same place. Meeting place is West Walk off Hillcroft Crescent

Tuesday Track at 7.30pm

Tuesday 7.30pm sessions will be at Osterley track (120 Wood Lane, Isleworth, TW7 5FF). Steady pace or easy training runs are done at an aerobic pace, i.e. not too out of breath. This builds up the heart, lungs and legs but will not adapt the body fully to run at a faster race pace. Interval training trains up the different energy systems used in racing at different distances. These energy systems range from anaerobic running at mile pace or faster to ½ marathon training run at around threshold pace using the Frank Horwill 5 pace system system (used by Seb Coe etc). To race at any distance you need to do intervals at race pace and faster and slower than race pace sessions. Also most club runners do a variety of distances and need sessions to train for these.

Each week will be a different session lead by a qualified Eagles run leader. Track fee of £3.05 (discount for Eagles so please bring proof of membership – EA card or confirmation email from club) payable at reception before coming on the Track. Concern has been expressed by Osterley that the number of people attending Eagles sessions does not correspond to the number of track fees paid. Please pay the track fee (or show your track pass) each time you attend Osterley. Lockers available for a refundable £1. Bring a bottle of water, a snack for afterwards and enough layers to keep warm when you're not running. All standards are welcome – everyone stays in the same place.

Daytime sessions

Mondays at 10am

The 10am sessions on Mondays are being arranged to accommodate both new Improvers who are currently at the 5k level and more advanced daytime Eagles. Either there will be a choice of sessions at different places or both groups will meet in the same place with a choice of options. The sessions are likely to revolve around Introduction to the Mile (in Lammas Park), intervals (various locations) and hills (in Hanger Hill Park or West Walk).

Thursday mornings Go for a Run

The morning slot on Thursdays will be a run / walk programme for nine weeks starting on 9 January. There have been various discussions about what length run might be offered before or after the 10am session (or indeed at the same time as the run / walk programme if there are more than enough volunteers) so please check arrangements each week. Many volunteers go out at 9.15am so as to be able to volunteer with the beginners’ programme at 10am. Other sessions will be offered before and after the completion of the run / walk programme.

Tuesdays and Fridays at 10am

Tuesdays and Fridays 10k at 10am –self-led runs of 10k / 6.2miles on a route taking in the local parks and the canal - please check the relevant Facebook group for arrangements.

Sunday 10 miles

9am Meet Ealing Green Informal 10 mile (16.1k) self-led run taking the route through the parks to the river, along to Richmond and back via Syon Park. Because of refurbishment works on Richmond Lock Footbridge scheduled until the beginning of December 2019, you will need to cross the river at Twickenham Bridge which is the next bridge along – a diversion of about 0.5mile (0.7k). Please shout up on Facebook if you are planning to do a long run and would like company (or indeed if you would like to do this run at a different time).

GUEST COACH SESSIONS

Ealing Eagles is very fortunate that we can access coaching input from guest coach Olympian Mara Yamauchi to add to the sessions offered by our Eagles coaches. Arrangements for sessions agreed with her will be advertised when they have been confirmed. Watch this space.

Eagles 10k

- Wednesday 22 April at 10am - Training session (reps to familiarise you with features of the Eagles 10k route) led by Mara at Brent Valley Park in preparation for Ealing Eagles 10k
Details to be advised nearer the time. – please join the facebook event page or email coaching@ealingeagles.com by 15 April if you would like to attend

- Thursday 23 April at 7.30pm – Training session (reps to familiarise you with features of the Eagles 10k route) led by Mara at Brent Valley Park in preparation for Ealing Eagles 10k
Details to be advised nearer the time - please join the facebook event page or email coaching@ealingeagles.com by 15 April if you would like to attend

Target Races

Eagles Mid-pack

This works primarily as a facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/751181418555478/for those aiming to break or return to times of or around the following targets:

• 5k Around 25 minutes;

• 10k Around 50 to 55 minutes;

• Half Marathon Around 2 hours;

• Marathon Around 4 hours.

Cross-country XC

The benefits of XC are set out in this article. https://www.startfitness.co.uk/blog/importance-cross-country-running/

The undulating terrain and hills means you are using more muscles than in any other type of running, in turn strengthening the legs. The uneven ground stabilises lower leg muscles and develops them into great ‘shock absorbers’, whilst the changes of pace help improve the cardiovascular capacity of runners. Furthermore, contrary to some suggestions which state cross-country running increases the chance of injury, if done properly it’s arguably less stressful on the leg joints as the impact from the earth tends to be much less than on other surfaces.

In view of the number of XC races in the Eagles calendar http://www.ealingeagles.com/cross-country which are themselves good training for running generally, there are currently no plans to add specific XC training sessions this term though the situation will be kept under review.

Marathon training

Those of you who are training for marathons may find it useful to join the facebook group for marathon training to be able to find training buddies for long runs and also to raise any questions you might have about marathon training for the Eagles marathon hive mind to consider.

In addition, the club is organising a marathon training workshop for everyone including first timers on Monday 13 January at 7.30pm at the Forester’s – more details to follow so SAVE THE DATE (keep a check on the facebook event page)

TT Improvers

TT Improvers are Improvers who are being encouraged to increase their endurance to run the Thames Towpath 10 (which means 10 miles) on Sunday 19 April. 12 week training plans will be starting on Monday 27 January and so we hope to offer a coaches’ corner for you to ask questions on Wednesday 22 January. For more information, please see the article TT Improvers January to April 2020 and check out the facebook group.

Ealing Eagles 10k

Ealing Eagles 10k is a 10k race organised by the club to raise funds for ourselves and also for our club charities. Because Eagles is such a large and supportive club, we are fortunate that members are allowed to run in the race (there are races organised by other clubs where members who are available are expected to volunteer). The 2020 race will be taking place on Saturday 2 May and we are already starting to think about some race specific training sessions.

- some of the Monday 10am and Thursday 9.15am sessions may migrate over to Brent Valley Park from mid-March – details tbc nearer the time

- Saturday 28 March at 10am – 10k recce of the course primarily but not exclusively for Improvers progressing to 10k (if there is sufficient interest, pace groups may be offered nearer the time)

- Wednesday 22 April at 10am - Training session (reps to familiarise you with features of the Eagles 10k route) led by Mara at Brent Valley Park in preparation for Ealing Eagles 10k
Details to be advised nearer the time. – please join the facebook event page or email coaching@ealingeagles.com by 15 April if you would like to attend

- Thursday 23 April at 7.30pm – Training session (reps to familiarise you with features of the Eagles 10k route) led by Mara at Brent Valley Park in preparation for Ealing Eagles 10k
Details to be advised nearer the time - please join the facebook event page or email coaching@ealingeagles.com by 15 April if you would like to attend

- Saturday 25 April at 10am – recce of the route (one lap for new Improvers progressing to their first 10k and more of the route for Eagles with more endurance bearing in mind that it’s the week before race day)

Improvers

Improvers is for people who are able to run 5k and want to continue running, in particular for those wanting to increase their distance to 10k by the end of March ready for Ealing Eagles 10k on Saturday 2 May https://www.ealingeagles.com/10k (see information above) or Osterley 10k probably in mid-June https://osterleypark10k.co.uk/.

10 week training plans to progress to 10k by the end of March will be starting on Monday 20 January and so we hope to offer a coaches’ corner for you to ask questions on Wednesday 22 January. For more information, please see the article The next step after 5k January to April 2020 aka Improvers and check out the facebook group.

Run / Walk programme

The club offers a run / walk programme free to the local community to progress people from not running very much to running 5k or more without walking breaks (so that they can join the evening club runs). The next run / walk programme will be for nine weeks starting Wednesday 8 January at 6.30pm or Thursday 9 January at 10am.

Healing Eagles are very welcome to join for part or all of the run / walk programme if they have been advised to do some run / walking and would like some company. Please email beginners@ealingeagles.com to check the level at which the programme is operating when you are thinking of joining.

The run / walk programme attributes its success (145 people graduated through the run / walk programme in the period October 2018 to July 2019) to the support and encouragement provided by the volunteers. If you are happy to run at a relatively gentle pace (7 to 8min/k or 11 to 13min/miles though some people will be faster and a few may not be so fast) and encourage beginners while doing so, then please think about contributing to the club and the running community in this way. Running at a more gentle pace is also a good way of working on your own running form (running gently does not mean running lazily or sloppily). For more information, please join the volunteers facebook group or email beginners@ealingeagles.com

In January 2020, Eagles will be offering a run / walk programme to University of West London with sessions on Mondays at 5.30pm from Monday 6 January and sessions on Wednesdays at 1pm from Wednesday 29 January. Please contact beginners@ealingeagles.com if you would be interested in volunteering at these times.

Club Championship Races

The aim of Club Championships is to encourage competition between club members at all levels, and to support local running clubs / local events where possible. Events are chosen to provide variety and are suitable for members of all levels within the club and include some non-standard distances as well as a mix of road and trail.

Even for those of us who will not be winning prizes, there is satisfaction in achieving the distinction of completing five races at different qualifying distances in order to qualify for the Club Championships. https://www.ealingeagles.com/club-championships

Apart from the TTImprovers group (for the Thames Towpath 10 race), there is no training being arranged specifically for club champ races in January to April 2020 although the coached sessions will take the distances into account. This is where the club facebook group is useful for organising training runs and discussing training needs.

Totally Ten miles January to April 2020 aka TT Improvers

Have you completed the club Improvers programme or are otherwise able to run 10k?
Want to maintain your running or even to run further and faster?
TT Improvers will aim to progress Eagles from running 10k to running ten miles with a target 10 mile race in April and as a stepping stone to the half marathon distance for those who want to progress further.
It is difficult to write a generic training plan because people will have done different amounts of running and have different availabilities. Here are some useful tips
· Start where you are and increase the amount / intensity of the running gradually.
· Listen to your body - if you are tired or have a niggle, then rest or reduce the amount of running.
· If you have time, it is good to progress to running three times a week with a rest day in between.
· Try to include some strength work - squats, lunges etc - or other cross-training to reduce the risk of injury
· As you are aiming to increase your distance, the most important training run is the "long run"
o The suggested progression for people who have not yet run ten miles is as follows – the first two weeks are build-up weeks so people who are already at the 10k level are welcome to do a 10k / six miles earlier in the progression:
week 1 w/c 27 Jan 4 miles / 6.5k
week 2 w/c 3 Feb 5 miles / 8k
week 3 w/c 10 Feb 6 miles / 10k
week 4 w/c 17 Feb 5 miles / 8k (drop-down week- half-term week)
week 5 w/c 24 Feb 6 miles / 10k
week 6 w/c 2 Mar 7 miles / 11.5k
week 7 w/c 9 Mar 8 miles / 13k
week 8 w/c 16 Mar 9 miles / 14.5k
week 9 w/c 23 Mar 6 miles / 10k (drop-down week)
week 10 w/c 30 Mar 10 miles / 16.1k dress rehearsal
week 11 w/c 5 Apr – 6 miles / 10k (drop-down / taper week)
week 12 w/c 13 Apr - 10 miles / 16.1k RACE DAY TT10 on 19 Apr

o evening runners will note that it will be difficult to accommodate the long run on a midweek evening from the second week of February onwards; options which you may wish to discuss in this group are to plan weekend runs or (if you would otherwise volunteer with beginners) to plan longer runs starting at 6.30pm
o TT Improvers who have already run ten miles may consider adding a couple of miles to the above progression (so that they go over the target distance in training) and / or putting more effort into the speed / hills sessions at the beginning of the programme
· It is also good to do some sort of speed or hills session - shorter distance but higher intensity.
· The third run could be a shorter run of around 5k to 7k (possibly one of the midweek club runs if your long run is at the weekend) - not as long as your long run but possibly run slightly faster – you may want to consider doing “fast finish” runs where you aim to run the final 5 or 10mins faster than the first part of the run.
· "Drop-down" weeks in which you reduce the amount of running are a good idea.
· The list of club training options is precisely that – so don’t try to do everything
o choose from the available list
o or do your own thing, on your own or with other people.
We are hoping to offer a coaches corner on Wednesday 22 January at either 7.30pm or 8.30pm for Eagles to discuss training. The target for both daytime and evening Improvers will Thames Towpath 10 (miles) on Sunday 19 April http://west4harriers.com/ttt/ - please note that this race does sell out.
If you are on facebook and want a forum to discuss topics at a suitable level for you, from training plans to diet, from strategy to the best clothing and also to arrange training runs with others, please join the TT Improvers facebook group

The next step after 5k January to April 2020 aka Improvers

Have you completed the club beginners’ programme or are otherwise able to run 5k?
Want to maintain your running or even to run further and faster?
Improvers will aim to progress Eagles from running 5.5k to running 10k (or to keep running at around 5 to 7k) and to provide an introduction to hills and speed work.
It is difficult to write a generic training plan because people will have done different amounts of running and have different availabilities. Here are some useful tips
· Start where you are and increase the amount / intensity of the running gradually.
· Listen to your body - if you are tired or have a niggle, then rest or reduce the amount of running.
· If you have time, it is good to progress to running three times a week with a rest day in between.
· Try to include some strength work - squats, lunges etc - or other cross-training to reduce the risk of injury – this will be included in the Monday 10am sessions for daytime Improvers while evening Improvers will be offered hill sprints on Wednesdays 12 and 26 February at 7.30pm
· If you are aiming to increase your distance, the most important training run is the "long run"
o evening progression using club runs is 6k, 7.5k and then 10k on a Saturday
o daytime progression using runs around the beginners session on Thursdays at 10am has more flexibility to do a gradual increase
o guidance for progression is to stay at the 5.5k level for January, increase to 7k at the end of February and progress to 10k around 15 March
· It is also good to do some sort of speed or hills session - shorter distance but higher intensity.
· The third run could be parkrun - not as long as your long run but possibly run slightly faster.
· "Drop-down" weeks in which you reduce the amount of running are a good idea.
· The list of club training options is precisely that – so don’t try to do everything
o choose from the available list
o or do your own thing, on your own or with other people.
· Daytime runners can do Mon 10am, Thu morning (exact arrangements depending on whether or not you want to be involved with beginners) and parkrun.
· Evening runners can do Mon 7.30pm, parkrun and ONE of Wed evening (exact arrangements depending on whether or not you want to be involved with beginners) OR Thursday 7.30pm hills (unfortunately, new Improvers are probably not yet ready to run on two consecutive days so Wed 7.30pm run cannot be combined with Tuesday track or Thursday hills)
If you’ve already done a few short club runs or parkruns and are free on Wednesday evenings or Thursday mornings, then the combination of beginners and a club or daytime run can also help to extend your distance.
We are hoping to offer a coaches corner on Wednesday 22 January at either 7.30pm or 8.30pm for Eagles to discuss training.
Daytime Improver sessions will be on Mondays at 10am (apart from Monday 3 February) with a mixture of hills and intervals (exact arrangements may depend on forecast as it can be frosty at 10am). There will also be options to go for a run on Thursdays.
Specific evening Improver sessions will be hill strides on Wednesdays 12 and 26 February at 7.30pm. Because there are so many evening sessions organised for the whole club, there are fewer evening sessions organised specifically for Improvers.
The target for both daytime and evening Improvers will be to achieve 10k by Saturday 28 March so that you are in a good position to run Ealing Eagles 10k on Saturday 2 May http://www.ealingeagles.com/10k/ or Osterley 10k on mid-June https://osterleypark10k.co.uk/
If you are on facebook and want a forum to discuss topics at a suitable level for you, from training plans to diet, from strategy to the best clothing and also to arrange training runs with others, please join the NextStep Improvers facebook group

Advanced warning - Holiday arrangements

W/C 16th December 2019

The main change to the normal Eagles training menu for this week is that we will not be offering coached sessions on Tuesday 17th or Thursday 19th at 7.30pm.

W/C 23rd and 30th December 2019

Club training sessions

Wanting to train over the Christmas / New Year period? With many people being busy these two weeks and others being able to run outside their normal training times, please post on facebook if you'd like some company for a session and please check on facebook to see what is being offered as many sessions will be self-led.

Normal service will resume in the week commencing Monday 6th January and the coaching team is currently working on the training options that will be available to club members for the period January to April 2020.

Track Options

If you would like to go to track, please note that both Osterley and Perivale will be closed for some days over the two weeks and open only for limited hours on other days.

Osterley

https://www.fusion-lifestyle.com/centres/osterley-sports-athletics-centre/news/2019-festive-opening-hours/

Closed   Wed 25 Dec, Thu 26 Dec, Wed 1 Jan

Open     09:00 to 14:00 Tue 24, Fri 27 Dec, Sat 28 Dec, Sun 29 Dec, Mon 30 Dec, Tue 31 Dec

Perivale

https://www.everyoneactive.com/centre/perivale-park-athletics-track/

Closed   Tue 24 Dec, Wed 25 Dec, Thu 26 Dec, Fri 27 Dec, Mon 30 Dec, Tue 31 Dec, Wed 1 Jan

Open     10:30 to 13:30 Sat 28 Dec, Sun 29 Dec

Normal opening hours resume at both Osterley and Perivale on Thursday 2 January 2020

The Authentic Marathon Athens by Gerbrand Alkema

This year marks my decade of running and when my colleague pointed out the Authentic Marathon Athens my target race for the year was set. And I am glad I did as this race has everything that you would want as a runner, in my opinion. Starting in a historic place, running the historic route, finishing in the Panatheatic Stadium with a celebration of athleticism, democracy, peace and Greek culture. Whatever your plans in November make sure to fit them around this magnificent race.

The race organization had laid on 350 busses to ferry about 18,000 runners from Athens to Marathon. We were dropped as the sun came up just on the southside of Marathon in front of a small café with some optimistic owners. 2 Employees to serve the last pre-race food and drink requirements of 18,000 runners. Having misunderstood the coffee menu, I got my hands on a double espresso, not my normal pre-race drink, but remembering Santry’s 2 poo strategy, I figured it couldn’t hurt. The start is from the athletics stadium in Marathon with plenty of photo opportunities, one with the Marathon flame and one with the stone marking the 1896 start of the first Olympic Marathon. And let’s not forget that it was from this place that Pheidippides ran to announce the news that the Athenians had overcome the Persians, while outnumbered 1 to 10 and so preserving the Greek democracy and way of life, perhaps poignant then that this race is held on Remembrance Sunday.

Waiting for the start of course you have to bump into other Eagles. (I have yet to go to a race where someone is not shouting ‘Hey, Ealing Eagle’). Turns out 3 other Eagles represented the flock in Athens; Luke Goodman, Robert Sharpe and Sandro Medda.

After taking the oath of fair competition and some other solemn pledges, we set of for Athens at 9am in a short sharp shower. This caused some accidents as people were trying to put their bin bags back on and crashing into some fences on the side of the road. I was put in block 5 based on my marathon time in Brighton of 3.41 and had planned on a 3.09 finish based on my EHM time. However, this plan was quickly thrown out of the window, as I suspect people in my block may have put their wishful target time in rather than an actual. It took about 5k before the field stretched out enough to run at a steady pace, so I fell back to target B; come in under Brighton time and enjoy the race. 

The first 8k is ever so slightly down-hillish after which the fun starts. There are two sections that are visibly going up and the rest is going up ever so slightly; you don’t really see it, but the legs start to feel it. Years ago, I had a tendonitis and my legs protested to the hills by reintroducing the niggle in aptly my Achilles heel. After 31 kilometres you’re rewarded with a downhill to the finish, but by that time the legs are so tired that they curse the downhill rather than embrace the opportunity to go a little faster. The route itself is perhaps not the most scintillating, a good part goes through the outskirts of Athens, meaning industrial areas and shopping malls, but the Greek know how to organise a party. Music is being played, the sirtaki is being danced (with impromptu sirtaki dance courses on offer to marathon runners) and children are handing out olive branches. While perhaps not as heaving as London or Brighton, as a runner you’re never long without encouragement from the public.

The last 2 kilometres are absolutely brilliant as you come back in the centre of Athens. There is a constant roar from the public, urging you on to the finish line. With 400 metres to go you enter the final home stretch and 200 metres further the last bend reveals the Panatheatic Stadium, time to put in the end sprint and in louder noise than the athlete got on Super Saturday in 2012. A surge of all sorts of emotions meant all the pain melted like snow before the sun and one last effort push to the finish to bring me home in 3:34:57, only one hour 20 minutes behind the winning Kenyan Komen. 

The AMA, though not the biggest marathon in the world, has everything; history, joy, tears, camaraderie, solitary confinement in a pain cave. In my view the best marathon to be run. You don’t want to miss this one.

Southern XC London Championship by Simon James

Parliament Hill, 16th November 2019

“What’s the most iconic thing to do in London?” asked Kieran Santry on Facebook. “If you call yourself a runner and live in London then it’s XC running at Parliament Hill!”

Depends on your definition of “iconic” I suppose - and specifically, whether this includes scraping dried mud from your legs, having ankles that ache for days, and being shouted at by your wife when she’s still finding grass in the shower nearly a week later (just me maybe on this last one).

But Kieran is a persuasive man and together with Hayley Kandt he somehow convinced around 40 Eagles into trekking up to North London on a Saturday afternoon to take part in the Southern XC Championships.

This is a huge event: over 350 women and 500 men were set to take part. And the course is (literally) breathtaking. The first few hundred metres are straight up Parliament Hill itself; once you’re at the top the whole of London is spread out below you - if that is you can spare a second to tear your eyes away from where you’re putting your next foot. Although the weather on the Saturday was reasonably kind, with no rain around unlike the previous Saturday’s Met League fixture in Welwyn, there had been a few steady showers throughout the previous week, and those expecting tough conditions were not going to be disappointed.

The Eagles managed to establish a base camp halfway up the hill, with a good view of the start line. There was the usual pre-race discussion around the tarp about spike length. As a relative newcomer to XC, I sought advice. In summary: those who had 12mms and no 15mms were going to be wearing 12s; those who had 15s and no 12s were going to be wearing 15s. Not exactly definitive. In probably the only sensible decision I took all day, I plumped for the 15s and hoped for the best. 

The women were up first at 1:15, running a 6K course in contrast to the men’s 10K (unlike Met League, no gender equality here…).I wasn’t on the course at this point myself so I’ll have to leave it to those who were to describe it:

“Learnt the definition of ‘mud bath’ today and it was brilliant! My white spikes are no longer white…” (Hannah)

“Second time doing this race and loved it. Although I had forgotten that the start is uphill. Struggled for air once I got up there and then it was mud galore. Happy days!” (Andrea)

“No rain, no wind - perfect! Plenty of glorious mud and hills. Pity it was only 6km… Great team turnout with lots of support from fellow Eagles” (Gráinne)

“Sticky, sticky mud! Loved it… ” (Claudia)

Despite the mud - did we mention in was muddy? - the women put in a fantastic performance. Scoring at the Championships is on the basis of a point per place - 1st place gets 1 point, 2nd place 2 points and so on - and the first four runners from a club score for the team, with the lowest aggregate score determining the place in the final team positions. An absolutely fantastic run by Melissah saw her romp home in 33rd place, with a time of 25:35. The three other scoring Eagles were Alex (72nd place), Sophie (131st) and Hayley (143rd), giving a total team score of 379 points, with the team finishing in an amazing 15th place out of 31 teams. The comparable stats last year for the women’s team were 599 points, and 22nd place out of 27 - showing just how far the club has come in the last 12 months.

At 2:00 it was time for the men. After a brief warm-up, I made my way down to the finish line and inexplicably found my way to somewhere near the front. When the gun went off without warning - no preliminaries or niceties here - I had no option other than to run as quickly as I could, or else I’d be trampled under a few hundred pairs of spikes.

After barely 200m, I was more or less spent after the sharp climb, and there would be no respite for the next 45 minutes. The course was now properly cut-up. I thought I’d experienced cross country conditions at Welwyn last week… in hindsight it turns out that that was basically running over a slightly damp field. Here, there were long stretches of liquid mud with footprint-shaped puddles, stretching wide across the course making any attempt to look for a faster racing line impossible. And when the course wasn’t going uphill - which it somehow seemed to do for about 90% of its distance - it was going down, often sharply. One or two sections of the course went through small clusters of trees, bringing the additional challenge of looking out for tree roots. At one point, I heard someone shout “Root!”, and my feet were so soaking wet that I honestly thought he’d shouted “Boot” to alert me to the fact I’d lost a shoe. I just couldn’t tell anymore. Not that looking at my feet made any difference: everything from the knees down was caked under a good half inch of wet mud.

It soon became easy to work out who had the right length spikes on (not to mention the few brave souls who were running only in trail shoes) and I quickly learned to give other runners a wide berth on some of the downhill corners, when they would slip sideways by up to a foot.

It didn’t take long at all for my ill-advised starting sprint to take its toll. I was probably fourth Eagle to the top of the hill but the rest of the race saw a succession of Eagles stride past me as I slowed further and further - first Jose, then Harry and Colin - as well as the rest of the field. I was being properly schooled in XC race strategy. And I was also finding out that 10K is a long distance in cross country shoes.

I crossed the line to find six other Eagles waiting for me. The leading men had managed to match the women with some equally brilliant performances. First among them was Jack Whitebury, continuing his fantastic form and coming in in 99th place, with a time of 42:35. The three other scoring Eagles were John (126th place), Oliver (128th) and Jose (133rd). This gave a total score of 465, putting the men in 16th place out of 38 teams - again, a real improvement on last year’s figures of 550 points and 19th out of 35,

All that was left now was to compare stories in the pub:

“Loved it! Muddy, hilly, great downhills too!” (Oliver)

“Brutal!” (Jack)

“Either up or down, the only constant is the mud. Totally worth it though” (Gerb)

“Missed XC last winter and today was the first of this… not a bad way to spend a day in London. Must be other ways to earn beer though!” (Matt)

“Iconic course... Great finish” (Harry)

“First race in two months and I chose this…” (Bernard)

“I like mud run and I cannot lie… This is mud run on another level! Great fun!” (Wei)

It was a brilliant day out, and if the comments above don’t convince you that running around in wet mud can be brilliant fun, then nothing will. I shied away from taking the plunge for three whole years - something about my “delicate ankles” if I remember - and since giving it a try last month I haven’t looked back. You really know who your team mates are when they’re still there cheering you on, standing in a cold field covered in mud.

Final thanks must go to Lisa Snell for organising the entries and doing such a great job in managing to get nearly 40 Eagles registered and in the right place at the right time.

And the last word goes to Stuart, demonstrating the real spirit of cross-country:

“DNF - brought cake”.

Women’s results

Womens’ scoring team:

Melissah Gibson (33rd place; 25:35)

Alex Openshaw (72nd)

Sophie Santry (131st)

Hayley Kandt (143rd)

Other finishing Eagles:

Claire Ellison

Malgorzata Kucharska

Katrina Davison

Hannah Smith

Jess Hood

Gráinne Devery

Helen Pugh

Anne Sampson

Andrea Hendy

Una Crotty

Liz Ainsworth

Lisa Snell

Caroline Rush

Fade Solanke-Mitterer

Claudia Avilés

Women’s team result: 15th (out of 31); 379 points

Men’s results

Men’s scoring team:

Jack Whitebury (99th place, 42:35)

John Foxall (126th)

Oliver Gildea (128th)

Jose Manuel Pabon (133rd)

Other finishing Eagles:

Colin Clifford

Harry Claxton

Simon James

Nils Liborg

Gerb Alkema

Ryo Kitahara

Kieran Santry

Matt Powell

Ben Cale

Bernard Sexton

Paul Dodounou

Baljit Dhanda

Wei Sui

Piers Keenleyside

Jerzy Raczynski

Men’s team result: 16th (out of 38); 465 points

Ealing Eagles Charitable Foundation

The Ealing Eagles Charitable Foundation (a charity registered with the Charity Commission in 2018) was set up to promote health and wellbeing in Ealing and the surrounding areas. The foundation aims to ensure that Ealing Eagles Running Club can provide a safe environment for children and adults to take up and keep running, both now and in the long term. 

Nigel Panton is the Chair of the Trustee board, which meets every 6-8 weeks.  We would like to thank James de Vivenot for all his hard work as a trustee, as he has decided to stand down this month. At the same time, we welcome Sarah Dhanda, who became a new trustee this month and is already keeping us on our toes as we develop our strategic priorities.

The charitable foundation is independent of the Eagles, but obviously retains strong links with the club. For example, all of the current trustees are members of the Eagles. This year, the foundation is one of the club’s nominated charities. 

We will aim to feedback on the foundation’s activities several times during the year, as discussed at the Eagle’s AGM. Increasing communication between the charity and the club over time will enable us to update members with feedback from our meetings with the local authority, other community organisations and local clubs.  

By taking a long term view (outside of the Eagles Committee) we aim to ensure the Eagles continues to be the asset to the community it has been for the last 10 years.  Onwards and upwards!

For more information, or if you think you have something to offer the charity,  please contact chair@ealingeaglesescf.org.uk.

Thank you for your support! 

Round Norfolk Relay 2019 by Simon James

For the uninitiated, the Round Norfolk Relay is not in any sense your usual race. The basics first: it’s a 198 mile course, taking in the entire perimeter of Norfolk. Each participating team comprises 17 runners, each running one leg, with the legs divided into unequal distances. From a start at King’s Lynn in the west, the course runs clockwise, all around the Norfolk coast, before cutting back inland after Great Yarmouth, and then runs along the Suffolk border, through the Fens and back to King’s Lynn. It starts on a Saturday morning. And it doesn’t stop until the 17th runner gets back to the start, usually around 24 hours later. 

Done the Green Belt Relay? Finished Welsh Castles, but perhaps looking for something a bit more… extreme? I was sold.

I had dreams of glory. Dreams of a weekend spent in surroundings of strange and eerie beauty. Dreams of finally being treated like the elite athlete that I undoubtedly am.

The day after signing up, I receive an email from Kieran, asking: “For Saturday night, are we going to book a hotel, or should we just sleep in vans?”

Stage 1: King’s Lynn to Hunstanton. 16.9 miles

Greg Fernandes-Lawes

11:00am

It’s coming up to 11:00 in the morning. The sun is shining in one of those clear, wide autumnal skies that this part of the world does so well. It’s already about 18 degrees, and I was secretly thanking my luck that I wouldn’t be running until much later, beyond the heat of day. An expectant, but small crowd has gathered. The Round Norfolk Relay features staggered start times, according to predicted race times, in order for teams to cross the finish line at around the same time. The first teams had started five and a half hours ago. As one of the last few teams to start, the Eagles crowd are joined on a small path next to the Lynnsport and Leisure Park by the only other team starting at 11:00, Ryston Runners, and their first athlete, Jonny. 

Expectations are high. As is the hemline on Greg Fernandes-Lawes’ shorts.

The starting buzzer sounds, and Greg races off like a gazelle, followed by Fiona on support bike. My shout of “Don’t let the club down…” isn’t universally well-received by Ryston Runners, who obviously have a different approach to team motivation.

Greg takes up the story:

“Underway, I started with a runner poor Jonny from Ryston, who had been called in the at the last minute to race me and was profusely told to “Keep with ‘im.” By mile seven, he was out of sight, as I was met with a cheer squad just before entering the Sandringham Estate to give me a bit of a buzz before the stage really got going. I was ahead of target, so unfortunately, the Queen missed me roll through.

“The second half got tougher, shingle everywhere. Even a few hundred metres of soft sand. I had to zigzag to find bits actually runnable against the energy sapping terrain. The scenery on route was stunning, the estate, crossing a pond on a bird reservoir and going the beach.

“As I got back on to tarmac, this coincided with one of the busy times of the day on the beach and I had to weave in and out of every bloody person who decided this was the best time to go for a stroll. Unlike my usual commute down the Oxford Road, I had a hi-viz jacket with the club name and had to be more polite.  Not easy in mile 15.

“With just over a kilometre to go, I looked to my right and realised the finish was all the way up the top of the bloody cliff, zigzagging up another busy path and then steadily up to the lighthouse.

“I have never been so happy to see Harry in his Y-fronts… Shortly after the finish, we learnt I had put a cheeky 14 minutes in to our rival team, who we would eventually beat by just 147 seconds.”

Stage result: 1:58:43. 21st place.

Stage 2: Hunstanton to Burnham Overy. 13.8 miles

Harry Claxton

12:59pm

It’s already time for lunch. 1:00 in the afternoon to be precise, and the café by the lighthouse in Hunstanton is doing brisk business. How they have any ice cream left after Tom Easten’s serving is anyone’s guess. The stage ahead is probably one of the hardest to navigate on the course, with a fiendish mix of dunes, paths and boardwalks. Who better to rise to the challenge other than Harry:

“Perhaps in hindsight Stage 2 wasn't the best stage for someone who couldn't spare a weekend to recce the route. Trying and failing to match the pictures on the sparse route notes to points on the map shortly before leaving only heightened the mounting concern. I didn't want to run holding my watch, and went with my old school method of maps with the distances to all turns written.

“The first 100 metres follows along the side of the car park on a gentle downhill before diving down to the dunes where I almost slipped in to the bushes while trying to make a turn while avoiding beach-goers walking back up. I headed off behind some beach huts, before coming out past the lifeboat hut. The path was still soft sand; my heart rate was pumping before the sand finally gave way to grass. 

“After a short while I could see the path ahead was overgrown. I had a quick word with myself to get my heart rate down – there was a long way to go. There were groups of walkers on the path, and I was perfecting my call of “runner!” at the right distance and urgency to give them time to turn, assess the situation and pick a side. As the path turned inland through the marshland, it was here I picked up Fiona as my bike escort for the road section, mumbling something about the sand and trying to get into a rhythm along the road. It is strangely uplifting have a bike escort, and the Eagles cheer squads popped up unexpectedly with more water. After a quick gel from Fiona washed down with water from a final cheer squad, suddenly I was back on my own on the path at Brancaster.

“Unfortunately, not completely alone. Here the path is mainly a boardwalk of three planks with raised above beds of nettles and brambles, where passing people was like dancing along a tightrope. I ran past a group of a dozen ladies each stepping just enough to the side at the last moment, before a larger lady decided to stand sideways. Did she forget about her large back pack? I threw myself into a 'C' as I skipped past – catching the top of the backpack and teetering on the edge. She didn't seem happy, but I'd stayed out of the undergrowth.

“Finally the finish village comes into sight in the distance across the marsh, but the path turns back on itself and seems to go on forever as it gets harder and harder to keep the pace up, aiming at a windmill on the horizon. I almost crash into the marshal directing me round the sharp right-hander to the handover point where Rebecca is waiting. A slight fumble, but I have enough momentum for a another go, and I'm done.

“After a minute catching my breath lying on the grass in the shade Kieran tells me we need to get going. I was disappointed with my overall pace until I saw the results, which suggested everyone had found the heat and the first stage through the sands dunes sapping.”

Stage result: 1:34:59. 7th place. Eagles now in 12th place overall.

Stage 3: Burnham Overy to Wells. 5.8 miles

Rebecca Jackson

2:34pm

 It’s now 2:30 in the afternoon, and the sun remains high in the sky. There’s a bucket-and-spade feel to this part of the coast, and Rebecca is taking in the scenery as she waits for the baton:

“The start is of Stage 3 is like a snapshot from a Norfolk postcard with a traditional ice cream van, the estuary in the background, boats resting on the shore and the sun shining – although maybe a tad warm for running! This helped to calm the nerves beforehand.

“With a smooth transition carried out, I was off along Burnham Overy Staithe for the first stretch of the stage, dodging dog walkers as I went. I then leapt over the missing panels in the wooden board walk, tackled the sand dune in front of me and bounded down onto the beach – tough on the legs! I could feel my pace dropping as my feet were sinking into the squidgy sand and I weaved around trying to find the firmest parts. My legs were turning to jelly and the headwind wasn't helping either! These two miles felt like 20…

“As I descended into the woods, this next section offered welcome shade and some pleasant undulations. The trail path was busy with tourists so I shouted as I approached; unfortunately one lady heard me wrong and we collided in a fumble of confusion! A mile or so more and I could see my fellow Eagle cheer squad in the distance – thank God! [A cheer squad member writes: Rebecca didn’t have time for water, but at least she did have time to shout “I KNOCKED OVER AN OLD LADY”.] This gave me a little boost for the final stretch along the coastal path, again dodging the general public.

“I saw the hi-viz heroes in the distance and strode towards them before having to navigate through the busy café area of Wells. And just to add the extra sting in the tail, it's up the ramp and round a sharp corner to the finish where the baton and our Eagle, Jon, continue the journey around Norfolk.”

Stage result: 43:14. 13th place (5th lady). Eagles now in 10th place overall.

Stage 4: Wells to Cley. 11.1 miles

Jon Duncanson

3:17pm

If you’re looking for a quiet corner of Norfolk where teammates can gather and calmly reflect on how things are going so far, then Wells-next-the-Sea at 3:15 on a sunny Saturday afternoon in early September, is not it. The changeover takes place by a huge car park next to the beach, situated a mile north of the town, along a sea wall built in the 19th Century that links the town to the coast. Unfortunately the narrow-gauge railway that runs along the wall between the town an the beach doesn’t seem to be working today, and so Jon has no choice other than to start his leg on foot:

“Stage 4 is a cracker. Sadly there were no lights to chase, just dogs to dodge. Coast paths most of the way and a few chances to get lost (Kieran’s constant reminder to know your stage haunting me throughout!). All in all thinking how lucky I was to be running on the Norfolk coast, in the sunshine and only having a few yards of shingle beach to negotiate.”

Jon delivered an outstanding run, equalling the Eagles’ best placement in a stage over the weekend. He had such a flier that he was even too quick for the cheer squads that tried to catch him half way along his route. 

Stage result: 1:10:50. 4th place. Eagles now in 7th place overall.

Stage 5: Cley to Cromer. 10.8 miles

Colin Overton

4:28pm

It’s still mid-afternoon, and it’s hot. The sort of weather we’re you’d like to be on the beach. Unless, that is, your job is to run on that beach, along shingle, up and down dunes, and along the very edge of the shoreline. Colin had been given one of the hardest legs, nearly 11 miles of brutal endurance running in unforgiving terrain.

Whilst Colin made his away along the coast, at the changeover point at the end of the stage in Cromer, the team’s mission control was dealing with two potential crises. The first was apparent when Tom I – poised half-way along the stage on his bike, waiting to pick up Colin when he emerged from the coast – messaged to say that Colin had yet to emerge at the expected time. Had Tom missed him? In which case we’d need to prepare another rider to continue with Simon S at the start of Stage 6. With no way of contacting Colin, it was a question of a nervous wait.

The second crisis was caused by Diane approaching the front of the fish and chip queue, and not having had everyone’s orders. With Colin still not in sight, and no more messages from Tom, the tension was heightening, so much so that Skipper Santry had to temporarily suspend a few people from the “Serious Stuff” WhatsApp group, which could only really support one critical conversation at a time (speaking of which: was there anyone who didn’t want vinegar…?).

As it happens, Colin did manage to hook up with Tom, no reserve cyclist was required, and everyone got their fish and chips, apart from poor old Simon S and me, who by now had other things to focus on.

Stage result: 1:14:20. 8th place. Eagles remain in 7th place overall.

Stage 6: Cromer to Mundesley. 7.9 miles

Simon Stannard

5:43pm

Cromer on a Saturday afternoon was no less busy than Wells. Simon S had a scenic but tricky stage to navigate, with beach huts, the promenade and a lighthouse. Fortunately Simon’s warm-up routine of listening to half an hour solid of Basement Jaxx left him well-prepared, as he ate up the miles and maintained the Eagles’ overall position in the race. 

Stage result: 57:19. 16th place. Eagles remain in 7th place overall.

Stage 7: Mundesley to Lessingham. 9.2 miles

Simon James

6:42pm

It’s now around 6:30 in the evening, and the sun is low in the sky – so much so that it’s impossible to look directly west into the path of the runners finishing Stage 6. The staggered start is beginning to unwind, to the extent that a few other runners are lurking around the start at the same time. Dogs sit waiting to be petted by the support crew.

It’s now my turn. It’s a short-ish, fast leg, with only two directions to remember (turn left at the T-junction, turn left at the crossroads). And I’m as nervous as I’ve ever been before a race, wondering if the various injuries I’ve been ignoring are going to wreak some sort of havoc in the next hour. With no warning, Simon S appears around the corner and in ten seconds I’m off.

It’s the colour of the fading daylight that I remember most. That, and the discomfort in my groin turning from a glow into a grinding pain. I’d only been to Norfolk once in my life before, and oddly enough I’d stayed for a week just a couple of miles inland from this exact stretch of coast. I try to distract myself by clocking off the experiences of a few years before: the windmill where we whiled away half an hour on a rainy day, the beach where I played cricket with my son, the fish and chip shop where we bought supper. It’s a sparse but attractive part of the coast, blighted only by a major industrial plant. Thankfully, I have Harry on the bike for company, providing verbal encouragement as only an engineer can (“Bacton Terminal there… Major processing point for most of the country’s North Sea gas…”).

We pass huge churches, glowing pink and orange in the evening sky. The sun has long since set, and I can barely see, through sweat and the rapidly fading light. We turn a corner into Lessingham, and the team is there, with Yvette primed and ready to go, and then it’s all over.

I’m not happy with my time, but given the pain I’m in, I’ll take it. There’s time for a quick post-match interview on camera with Tom G (who tells me my post-race voice “sounds amazing”), and a short warm-down, before I’m bundled in to the back of the van. On we go.

Stage result: 59:19. 10th place. Eagles remain in 7th place overall.

Stage 8: Lessingham to Horsey. 7.5 miles

Yvette Burton

7:39pm



I remain a grumpy, uncommunicative wreck for the next 55 minutes. Yvette has a much better view of the stage:

“Norfolk was a bit of a blur but for my stage the full moon was amazing and it was such a surreal run. It was a lot darker than I thought it would be as I had forgotten that Norfolk’s country lanes have no street lighting! Therefore when I turned around corners I couldn’t see a thing and I just speeded up and hoped for the best in the sense that nothing was coming my way. Then Diane on her bike and Kieran in the van caught me up and lit up the road ahead. 

 “With one and a half miles to go, Kieran beeped the horn and shouted at Diane and me. It had been so quiet for the previous 40 minutes (Diane and I didn’t say a word) that it literally scared the life out of us and we stopped dead as we were convinced we had somehow gone the wrong way!”

 He did it to me and Harry too, Yvette. Just testing the horn I think.)

 There were no wrong turns – just a fantastically efficient leg. And now, at about 8:30 in the evening, the night was properly on us.

Stage result: 53:33. 15th place (5th lady). Eagles remain in 7th place overall.

Stage 9: Horsey to Belton. 16.6 miles

Tom Green

8:32pm

By this point I was starting to recover from my post-race fog. Which was just as well, as it gave me a ring-side view of one of the most impressive runs of the weekend, by Tom G:

“I knew the closest competition was at least 15 minutes up the road, so unless there was a very significantly slower runner on one of those teams, which was unlikely given we were at the fast end of the pack, I wouldn’t be likely to catch anyone within the 16 and a half miles. But I did know if I could match Ewan Fryatt’s pace from last year (6:13 per mile) I would likely be faster than almost all the other teams – so my job was to eat away as much of their advantage as possible so that Tom E could start with less of a deficit and start taking positions.

“I settled into time trial mode, at a pace around 6:10 per mile which felt comfortable with excellent support from Mark on the bike and Greg cheering me on from the van.

“As predicted, I didn’t see any other teams until I was in the last mile of the stage. At this point, the race doubles back on itself so there’s about a mile overlap where runners on the next stage are coming the other way. Here I passed three runners, who I estimated were between six and ten minutes ahead. This, and the slight downhill finish, meant I pushed on to the line to hand over to Mr Easten, finishing with an average pace of 6:09 and having taken one and a half minutes off my half marathon PB!”

This was another phenomenal run, equalling the Eagles’ best performance in any leg (fourth place). To run a half marathon PB in these conditions was amazing. It was dark, there was some tricky navigation and – most impressively – there was a good miles or so of running through Great Yarmouth town centre on a Saturday night, with the added jeopardy of bumping into someone emerging unexpectedly from a kebab shop… The support bus was in awe, although we also had plenty of time to subject Tom’s unique running style to close observation. As Tom notes:

“It was a bit strange running with so many teammates on my heels, knowing they would be analysing every change of pace or misstep, as well as my unusual gait! I’m reliably informed that when the question went up in the van “If you could run as fast as Tom Green, but would have to look like he does when running, would you do it?”, only one person opted to run at a slower pace but with a less hilarious style…”

Stage result: 1:40:41. 4th place. Eagles now in 6th place overall.

Stage 10: Belton to Earsham. 18.1 miles

Tom Easten

10:13pm

It’s dark now. Not the sort of dark you get in London – it’s blacker than that. As Round Norfolk Relay folklore has it, these are the stages where the race is run and lost. The longer road sections at night, with no scenery to distract the mind. The stages that are only fit for the real elite runners in the team. Stages where your team’s support along the way can provide a much needed boost when reserves are low. Which is a bit unfortunate, as at this point two vans that weren’t escorting the actual run decided to pull in to McDonald’s for what I swear was one of the best meals of my life.

Tom E, unable for the moment to share the joy of a large Quarter Pounder with Cheese Meal, takes up the story:

“This stage was appealing to me for two reasons: it’s a night stage, and nothing’s quite like racing the Round Norfolk Relay in the dark with the orange beacons flashing around you; and it was long – just over 18 miles, pretty much in a straight line. Perfect for a long-distance road enthusiast like me.

“In terms of advice to whoever runs this stage next year, make sure you’re ready for a fair bit of up and down. None of the hills are steep but for the first 13 or 14 miles, you rarely get a mile on the flat. It’s gently up, gently down, up again until (if you’re anything like me) you’re cursing the fact that you can’t get into any kind of rhythm. It certainly doesn’t bear much resemblance to the stage profile published on the website. The good news is that the last four or five miles are flat and fast so, if you’ve got a bit left in the tank (I didn’t), you can really put the hammer down on it then without worrying a surprise incline will pop up to spoil your fun. 

“The other important point to make is that Stage 10 is when the race starts to come together and you can expect to see other teams out on the road. This year, I think I was the first Eagles runner to catch up with teams who’d started ahead of us. The earlier stages can be a lonely experience, more like a time trial than a race (not that they don’t have other things going for them that the night stages don’t, like the support and the scenery) so it’s when you get into the night that the unique magic of the Round Norfolk Relay starts to come into its own. There’s nothing quite like the sight of an orange beacon rotating on the road half a mile in front to fill you with motivation to chase it down and get on to the next one. It’s an experience I’d recommend to everyone and the main reason I hope to be available for selection next year!”

Stage result: 1:55:03. 7th place. Eagles remain in 6th place overall.

Stage 11: Earsham to Scole. 12.5 miles

Kieran Santry

12:08am

It’s now almost exactly midnight. Amazingly, there aren’t may times during the weekend that I doubt my sanity, but contemplating getting on a bike after one of the hardest runs of my life to cycle in support down a dark A-road for 80 minutes is one of them. My nervousness is compounded by the fact that I haven’t been on a bike for years. I ask Harry how the gears work, and he looks at me as if I’ve asked him how legs work when you walk. Despite his careful explanation, I decided it’s too risky to press any buttons and I spend the whole stage stubbornly stuck in the same gear.

Thankfully, Skipper Santry knows exactly what he’s doing, and delivers a dogged captain’s performance, grinding out some hard miles away from the attention and the crowds, and overtaking a couple of runners on the way.

What else is there to say about this stage? The official directions read:

1) Proceed 700m to the T-junction and turn left

2) Follow the A143 for approximately 12 miles

3) At the signpost for Scole Village, turn right.

Reader, there is nothing else to say about this stage.

Stage result: 1:22:50. 11th place. Eagles remain in 6th place overall.

Stage 12: Scole to Thetford. 19.7 miles

Laurence Elliot

1:31am

We were now in a car park somewhere in the middle of East Anglia – I had honestly lost all sense of time and space. Somehow, in the complete darkness I managed to find a van with teammates in it and made my way to the driver’s seat for one final drive before we managed to park up and “get some rest”. 

The next leg is the longest in the race – nearly 20 miles. Thankfully, we had Laurence on the starting line:

“Not much to say about my stage to be honest as it was 1:00am and we all know not much happens at that time of night. Hardest thing about the entire run was working out what to eat; there’s only so many cereal bars someone can eat whilst sat in a minibus. By the time the stage was getting close to starting the body clock had gone to pot and there were no satisfactory evolutions. Yet as an extremely sweaty baton was handed over by Captain Kieran all of that disappeared and all that lay ahead for me and my trusty sidekick Simon S was total darkness and a beacon or 12.

“Off we charged hunting down light after light and my half marathon training showed, as what started as promising for 13 miles turned into agony as every niggle I'd had and many more became apparent. Still this lack of speed meant I was unable to get all the beacons I wanted but left them just in sight for Andy to take the reins.”

Greg notes that driving an automatic car behind Laurence for over two hours engaged new muscles and was probably more tiring than actually running.

Stage result: 2:04:16. 8th place. Eagles remain in 6th place overall.

Stage 13: Thetford to Feltwell. 13.3 miles

Andy Guy

3:35am

By this point, your correspondent was in a van, parked up somewhere by the perimeter fence of RAF Feltwell, failing to get some sleep against the constant background noise outside (“Where are the loos? Is there a portaloo here? Are there any more loos further up? I can’t find the loos”. And on and on and on.)

Andy on the other hand, was awake, and buzzing:

“3:30 in the morning; trying to keep warm and adrenaline starting to fly around the body and bring life. Santry’s doing a Facebook Live which I’m trying to ignore. Get focussed and run harder than you’ve run before for 16 teammates and our hardy support crew.

“Suddenly Laurence appears and I’m off with his kind wishes the last thing I hear. Picked off two teams quickly – more quickly than it took for my support bike and car to find me...!

“As Tom G said now that he’d joined me, it seemed like a long gap and it could be another lonely run. The route, at least, was beautiful with moonlight filtering through the trees and me tapping out as best a rhythm I could on undulating roads.

“Then I’m caught; a shock. The ever-supportive Tom tells me it’s fine but I’m disappointed by my pace and my legs are cold and my hamstrings have some cramp from sitting down for days! The guy who catches me makes me forget all this – now I’m racing. Do I let him go? Ewan’s recent counsel on racing springs to mind – so I try and hold him for a minute. Then another.

“After five minutes I felt good, my legs were getting stronger and I tried to raise the pace.... that went on for a couple of miles but then he stretched out 15 yards. I try to keep the guy in view and focus on what’s ahead. Tom points out that the next couple of miles of road looked like Heathrow’s runway at night – so many orange lights flickering on and off. So many lights to try and pass. 14 in total we think, but the race within a race was eventually lost to the Riverside Runner. The early duel had been more fun than passing the other teams who didn’t put up much of a fight.

 “Suddenly I’m aware of the dazzling lights of the stage finish, adjust the baton to my other hand so as to hand to Hayley’s remaining good arm – I hope I remembered that correctly! – and it’s over. Next thing I know Colin’s trying to keep me steady on my feet. 13 and a half miles at 3:30 in the morning never felt so good!”

Stage result: 1:28:12. 12th place. Eagles remain in 6th place overall.

Stage 14: Feltwell to Wissington. 7.3 miles

Hayley Kandt

5:03am

This stage existed in something like a dream-like state. Harry was driving in support, Michelle and I were navigating, and all of us had been sitting silently in a dark stationary van about half an hour ago. As had Hayley, who somehow was now running through the dark, navigating her way out of the small town and into the Fens. We didn’t quite get the promised mists at this point but we did get a strangely coloured, huge sky.

This was another fantastically efficient stage, made all the more impressive by the fact that Hayley was nursing a fractured elbow. Proper commitment.

Stage result: 53:11. 19th place (5th lady). Eagles now in 8th place overall.

Stage 15: Wissington to Downham Market. 10.6 miles

Tom Irving

5:56am

Nearly 6:00 on a Sunday morning, and whilst it’s not by any means light, it’s not fully dark either. Wissington exists in an eerie calm, punctuated only by the comings and goings of agricultural workers, the odd delivery van, and 59 teams of runners, cyclists and support vehicles grinding along in first gear with glaring orange lights.

Tom reflects on his race strategy:

“It turns out that drinking a cold double espresso kindly bought for you eight hours earlier is actually a great idea. I had a dream of a stage, starting at night and finishing in the day. I even had the worst dressed cycle support* of anyone else in the race (but he made up for it in encouragement). Best race of the year, bar none.”

*Let’s call him Greg. It’s impossible to remember which particular outfit that Tom is referring to, given that over the weekend Greg would undergo more costume changes than Kylie.

This was another brute of a stage, and Tom gave it absolutely everything. As a reward, he found himself picked up by one of our two vans, rather than having to squeeze himself into the car as scheduled. I’d love to be able to say that critical race-related reasons necessitated a last-minute alteration to the plan, but a remorseful Jon reports that it was the prospect of motoring straight on to pick up bacon sandwiches at the start of the next stage that mean the car forgot Tom…

Stage result: 1:08:47. 10th place. Eagles now in 6th place overall.

Stage 16: Downham Market to Stowbridge. 5.5 miles

Michelle Tanner

7:05am



It’s now actually daylight. This stage goes by in a flash – it’s the shortest leg, and by now everyone has their eyes on the final stage and the finish line. It’s flat and quick. Michelle starts by crossing the Great Ouse, eating up the miles efficiently whilst looping round in a slow bend before crossing back over the river again just at the finish, with now less than 12 miles to go before the end of the race.

Stage result: 40:52. 22nd place (10th lady). Eagles now in 8th place overall.

Stage 17: Stowbridge to King’s Lynn. 11.7 miles

Fiona Plain

7:46am

Stowbridge was by now a hive of activity, at the positively social hour of 7:30 in the morning, Those local teams that had managed to send runners home to their own beds for the night were now back out in force, and those that hadn’t, ours included, were queuing at the Heron public house which was doing a roaring trade in the aforementioned bacon sandwiches. It’s an odd start to the stage, with the incoming runner on the previous stage coming over a bridge, only for the outgoing runner to run back over the bridge after the changeover.

Fiona, meanwhile, was not well. We’ve all had those days where for whatever reason, you can’t make it to the start line, and decide the better thing to do is to cut your losses and bail out. Sadly, with sixteen runners on your team having spent the last 21 hours getting the baton to you, this was not a luxury Fiona could afford:

“I experienced the toughest race I’ve had. Being unwell before and during my run left me with nothing much to give. Knowing the team were waiting on me in King’s Lynn kept me moving (just!!). Big thanks to Rebecca for support on my leg and apologies that you had to see me vomit... three times!!”

The team by now had gathered back at the Lynnsport Centre, where both the leg and the whole race finish with a sprint down the venue’s running track. Seeing Fiona make it over the line was genuinely humbling. Giving it everything you’ve got, even though you’re exhausted and in no fit state to race, because everyone else is relying on you getting over the line? That’s team spirit. 

Stage result: 1:30:33. 36th place (12th lady).

Total race time: 22:16:42. Eagles finish in 8th place overall, out of 59 teams.

Conclusion

How to sum it all up? This was more than just a race. The planning was meticulous. Several stages had to be reccied in advance, all had to be studied at home. The team meetings, the organisation of everything from hi-viz to bikes to radios and flashing beacons… It’s no wonder they say that the running is the easiest bit.

Everyone played a part, but the most special mention must go to the most amazing support crew, Mark Fisher, Diane Gill, Olivia Parker-Scott and Paul Thomas, who kept the entire show on the road, both before the weekend with their careful planning, but during the weekend too, with faultless timekeeping, energetic cycling, and enthusiastic good humour. 17 runners carried the baton, but these four carried the whole team.

The final world goes to our Skipper, Kieran:

“Every one of the 17 runners announced on the team in June came to Norfolk. Round Norfolk Relay is not for flakey people! I don’t like flakey people. It’s much more than running your stage.

“My PB days are long gone, so the memories I cherish most are these team events. As I always say, no one other than yourself gives a s***e or remembers your PBs. But everyone remembers weekends like this.”

Roll on next year!

Training Sessions with Ealing Eagles October to December 2019

There will be opportunities over the next few months to do different types of training. With evening sessions on Mondays to Thursdays, sessions during the day midweek, the Sunday ten miler and the occasional Saturday session, hopefully there will be something for all members of the club to join. A summary of the sessions is set out below but please keep an eye on the list of sessions for the week http://www.ealingeagles.com/this-weeks-training (link also sent to you with email newsletter) for more details and for any changes or updates.

• Mon / Wed 7.30pm club run

  • Forester club run on first Wednesday of the month

• Thursday 7.30pm Hills

• Tuesday 7.30pm Track

• Daytime sessions

• Sunday 10miles

• Cross country XC

• Improvers

• Run / walk programme

• Guest coach sessions

** Monday and Wednesday 7.30pm club runs **

The summer club run routes go through the parks which mean that we cannot continue to use them when the parks close earlier with the darker evenings. Therefore, from Monday 2nd September, we will be using the winter club run routes, still meeting at Ealing Green with a choice of two distances (3.75miles / 5.5k or 4.75miles /7k) but avoiding the parks. Please see the club run route page for the route details.

HOWEVER, please note that the offer of these sessions requires the availability of volunteers to be leaders and tail runners. The coached sessions require input from qualified coaches / leaders or experienced runners but anyone who is willing to help out and run at a gentle pace can tail a run (and make use of the time to have a recovery run, to work on your running form and to get to know other people in the club). If you have made use of the club training sessions, please play your part in making the club training sessions possible.

** Forester club run on first Wednesday of the month **

On the first Wednesday of the month, the club social will be taking place at the Forester’s and so both club runs will start on the other side of Northfields Ave from the Forester’s at Occupation Road W13, West Ealing with a bag drop at the Forester’s.

The Forester long club run (7.5k / 4.7miles) will be the same as the normal long club run route but meeting and finishing at Occupation Road. You can see more details of the route here.

The Forester short club run (5.5k / 3.5miles) will follow the long club run route along Warwick Road but will turn right on Ascott Avenue (so cutting off the section along the north circular), drop down to Popes Lane and then follow the long club run route around to Occupation Road and the Forester’s. You can see more details of the route here

** Hill Sessions on Thursdays 7:30pm **

Training on hills

·        prepare you for the hills in a race;

·        build muscle (improve leg strength while still working aerobically – strength = speed); and

·        teach your body to run fast when you’re struggling for oxygen (if you did that type of speed work in winter on track – short reps – you would pull a muscle).

All standards are welcome – everyone stays in the same place.

The main location for Thursday Hills has in recent years been West Walk for which meet West Walk off Hillcroft Crescent However, as the top half section/middle part of West Walk has had no lights for several weeks in September, it is possible that the hill used for this session will be Park View Road on the EHM route for which meet on the corner of Woodville Gardens and Park View Road (at the bottom of the hill) at 7:25 so we can start at 7:30pm sharp. The situation is being kept under review.

** Tuesday Track at 7.30pm**

Tuesday 7.30pm sessions will be at Osterley track (120 Wood Lane, Isleworth, TW7 5FF).

Steady pace or easy training runs are done at an aerobic pace, i.e. not too out of breath. This builds up the heart, lungs and legs but will not adapt the body fully to run at a faster race pace. Interval training trains up the different energy systems used in racing at different distances. These energy systems range from anaerobic running at mile pace or faster to ½ marathon training run at around threshold pace using the Frank Horwill 5 pace system system (used by Seb Coe etc). To race at any distance you need to do intervals at race pace and faster and slower than race pace sessions. Also most club runners do a variety of distances and need sessions to train for these.

Each week will be a different session lead by a qualified Eagles run leader. Track fee of £3.05 (discount for Eagles so please bring proof of membership – EA card or confirmation email from club) payable at reception before coming on the Track. Lockers available for a refundable £1. Bring a bottle of water, a snack for afterwards and enough layers to keep warm when you're not running. All standards are welcome – everyone stays in the same place.

** Daytime sessions **

Mondays at 10am

The 10am sessions on Mondays are being arranged to accommodate both new Improvers who are currently at the 5k level and more advanced daytime Eagles. Either there will be a choice of sessions at different places or both groups will meet in the same place with a choice of options. The sessions are likely to revolve around Introduction to the Mile (in Lammas Park), intervals (various locations) and hills (in Hanger Hill Park or West Walk).

Thursday mornings Go for a Run

The 10am slot on Thursdays will be a run / walk programme for nine weeks starting on 10 October. There have been various discussions about what length run might be offered before or after the 10am session (or indeed at the same time as the run / walk programme if there are more than enough volunteers) so please check arrangements each week. Other sessions will be offered before and after the completion of the run / walk programme.

Tuesdays and Fridays at 10am

Tuesdays and Fridays 10k at 10am –self-led runs of 10k / 6.2miles on a route taking in the local parks and the canal - please check the relevant Facebook group for arrangements.

** Sunday 10 miles **

9am Meet Ealing Green Informal 10 mile (16.1k) self-led run taking the route through the parks to the river, along to Richmond and back via Syon Park. Because of refurbishment works on Richmond Lock Footbridge scheduled until the beginning of December 2019, you will need to cross the river at Twickenham Bridge which is the next bridge along – a diversion of about 0.5mile (0.7k). Please shout up on Facebook if you are planning to do a long run and would like company (or indeed if you would like to do this run at a different time).

** Cross-country XC **

The benefits of XC are set out in this article. https://www.startfitness.co.uk/blog/importance-cross-country-running/

The undulating terrain and hills means you are using more muscles than in any other type of running, in turn strengthening the legs. The uneven ground stabilises lower leg muscles and develops them into great ‘shock absorbers’, whilst the changes of pace help improve the cardiovascular capacity of runners. Furthermore, contrary to some suggestions which state cross-country running increases the chance of injury, if done properly it’s arguably less stressful on the leg joints as the impact from the earth tends to be much less than on other surfaces.

In view of the number of XC races in the Eagles calendar http://www.ealingeagles.com/cross-country which are themselves good training for running generally, there are currently no plans to add specific XC training sessions this term though the situation will be kept under review.

** Improvers **

Improver sessions are for people who are able to run 5k and want to continue running, in particular for those wanting to increase their distance to 10k for Osterley 10k on Saturday 7 December https://osterleypark10k.co.uk/.

More details are out in the article Improvers or the next step after 5k and the first sessions will be as follows:

• Mon 30 Sep 10am Introduction to the Mile in Lammas Park and meet for a workshop afterwards probably at FarmW5 to plan your training

• Weds 2 Oct 7.30pm join the Forester club run and meet for a workshop afterwards at the Forester’s to plan your training

Club members in general may like to note that there will be a 10k training run on Saturday 23 November meeting at 10.15am ready to run at 10.30am (timing to allow people to practise fuelling for Osterley 10k). The route is a there and back course along the river so faster runners may have to run the first section at a pace slower than their normal pace (or double back when they get to junctions) but can then run the return section at their own pace.

** Run / Walk programme **

The club offers a run / walk programme free to the local community to progress people from not running very much to running 5k or more without walking breaks (so that they can join the evening club runs). The next run / walk programme will be for nine weeks starting Wednesday 9 October at 6.30pm or Thursday 10 October at 10am.

Healing Eagles are very welcome to join for part or all of the run / walk programme if they have been advised to do some run / walking and would like some company. Please email beginners@ealingeagles.com to check the level at which the programme is operating when you are thinking of joining.

The run / walk programme attributes its success (145 people graduated through the run / walk programme in the period October 2018 to July 2019) to the support and encouragement provided by the volunteers. If you are happy to run at a relatively gentle pace (7 to 8min/k or 11 to 13min/miles though some people will be faster and a few may not be so fast) and encourage beginners while doing so, then please think about contributing to the club and the running community in this way. Running at a more gentle pace is also a good way of working on your own running form (running gently does not mean running lazily or sloppily). For more information, please join the volunteers facebook group or email beginners@ealingeagles.com

GUEST COACH SESSIONS

Ealing Eagles is very fortunate that we can access coaching input from guest coach Olympian Mara Yamauchi to add to the sessions offered by our Eagles coaches. Arrangements for sessions agreed with her will be advertised when they have been confirmed. Watch this space.

** Endurance Q&A with Mara for experienced runners on Wednesday 20 November **

Are you an experienced runner with a question for Mara on increasing endurance and smart marathon training? There are limited spaces for members to join the coaches / run leaders for a Q&A with Mara on increasing endurance and smart marathon training. Please email coaching@ealingeagles.com by 13 November with your question if you would like to attend.
This event is NOT intended to cover marathon training for first timers - we are organising an inhouse workshop suitable for first timers in January 2020

** Mara Long Run for *** 1:30 to 1:45 pace HM runners *** on Sunday 24 November **

Mara has agreed to lead a long run of possibly ten miles or more on Sunday 24 November for Eagles currently able to run a half marathon comfortably in a time in the range of 1:30 to 1:45. The session will target women wanting to compete for places in the women's Welsh Castle Relays team and will also be suitable for others (including men) of a similar pace.

Please note that this Mara long run will be aimed at people in the 1:30 to 1:45 HM range and so have not previously had a proper chance to take part in a Mara long run for sub 1:30 HM runners. Anyone at the faster end of the sub 1:35 HM range (of previous Mara long runs) may not find it so useful as it won't be targeting people of that pace and may be asked to go on a notional waiting list depending on demand. We also want to give precedence to women wanting to compete for places in the women's WCR relay teams.

Please email coaching@ealingeagles.com by Sunday 17 November if you would like to attend so that we can review numbers and work out how the session needs to be organised.

** Mara’s drills ** on Tuesday 3rd December at 7.30pm and Wednesday 4th December at 10am **

Have you ever wondered about the drills that you're often asked to do at the beginning of many track and other coached sessions and wanted to know what to do in your own training?
Mara will be leading sessions at Osterley track focusing on running drills on Tuesday 10 December at 7.30pm and Wednesday 11 December at 10am as your track with Mara events for the end of the year (so the actual running will be limited to warm-up and cool down)
Suitable for mixed abilities as everyone will be staying in the same area. If you would like to come, please join the fb event pages (click on links above) or email coaching@ealingeagles.com by Tuesday 3 December to give us some idea of numbers.

Please also note that there will be no coached session on Tuesday 3 December at 7.30pm (you should be having a rest after Perivale 5 or before Osterley 10k) as available coaches and run leaders will be taking part in a session with Mara focusing on leading and using drills in training sessions.

Improvers or the next step after 5k

• Introduction

• If you want to stay at 5 to 7k level

• If you want to progress to 10k

Introduction

Have you completed the club beginners’ programme or are otherwise able to run 5k?

Want to maintain your running or even to run further and faster?

Improvers aims to progress Eagles from running 5.5k to running 10k (or to keep running at around 5 to 7k) and to provide an introduction to hills and speed work.

The list of club training options is precisely that – so don’t try to do everything

·       choose from the available list

·       or do your own thing, on your own or with other people.

Regular sessions appropriate to people at the 6k level are:

·        Club runs on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7.30pm

·        Thursday Go for a Run – for most of the coming term, this is likely to be self-led with some people arranging runs to accommodate the beginners’ 10am sessions and others doing their own thing

·        Coached / led sessions on Mondays at 10am, Tuesdays (track) and Thursdays (hills) at 7.30pm

Daytime runners can do Mon 10am, Thu morning (exact arrangements depending on whether or not you want to be involved with beginners) and parkrun.

Thursday beginner graduates can also do Mon or Tue 7.30pm, Thu 10am (or thereabouts) and parkrun (new Improvers are probably not yet ready to run on two consecutive days so can’t do both Wed evening and Thu morning)

Evening runners can do Mon 7.30pm, parkrun and ONE of Wed evening (exact arrangements depending on whether or not you want to be involved with beginners) OR Thursday 7.30pm (new Improvers are probably not yet ready to run on two consecutive days so Wed 7.30pm run cannot be combined with Tuesday track or Thursday hills)

Wednesday 7.30pm sessions specifically aimed at Improvers will be offered on 16 October (hill strides), 30 October (hill strides) and 13 November (hills). We will also encourage Improvers to go together to a 7.30pm track session on Tuesday 5 November (if you have not already tried track) so that you can keep each other company.

Coached / led sessions on Mondays at 10am have always been aimed at Improvers though they are now designed to be suitable for mixed abilities and will incorporate a variety of speed work and hills.

If you want to stay at 5 to 7k level

Do try to go out once or twice a week, perhaps to parkrun or the Mon / Wed 7.30pm club runs or go for a run on Thursday mornings.

Any of the coached sessions staying in one place (hills or intervals / speed work / track) would also be good experience though do continue to have a rest day in between sessions.

You might also like to try

Ealing Mile in Lammas Park 12.30pm on the first Friday of the month – 4 October, 1 November, 6 December - You know you can run 5k and more at a conversational pace, so perhaps you can run one mile a bit faster (the Monday 10am sessions on the Monday before each Friday Ealing Mile will focus on the mile)

If you want to progress to 10k

Training basics

·       Start where you are and increase the amount / intensity of the running gradually.

·       Listen to your body - if you are tired or have a niggle, then rest or reduce the amount of running

·       Rest days are as important as running days to allow your body to recover from the stress of the training days and so heal stronger to increase your fitness

·       Long run *** at conversational pace *** to build up endurance

o   evening progression using club runs is 6k, 7.5k and then, perhaps 5miles and then 10k at the weekend (a more gradual progression is possible if you live within 1k or so of Ealing Green and can run there or back)

o   daytime progression using runs around the beginners session on Thursdays at 10am has more flexibility to do a gradual increase

o   progressions are also possible making use of parkrun on Saturdays and running before or after

·       Hills or intervals – the club will be offering sessions on Monday mornings and  Tuesday and Thursday evenings

·       If time, another continuous run, normally shorter than long run, at a slightly faster pace – perhaps parkrun

·       Other runs and / or cross-training as appropriate - try to include some strength work - squats, lunges etc  - or other cross-training to reduce the risk of injury – this will be included in the Monday 10am sessions for daytime Improvers

·       "Drop-down" weeks in which you reduce the amount of running are a good idea.

·       If you are following a training plan, always do your sessions at a pace / intensity ** so that you can do the next session ** - there is no point in running your long run so fast that you are too tired to do the other sessions in the week

·       If you’ve already done a few short club runs or parkruns and are free on Wednesday evenings or Thursday mornings, then the combination of beginners and a club or daytime run can also help to extend your distance

Osterley 10k on Saturday 7 December

Training will start in October with workshops on

·       Wednesday 2 October at 8.30pm after club run and

·       Monday 30 September at 11am after a session at 10am.

Both workshops will help you to choose training sessions offered by the club so that you can progress to 10k by 7 December.

In particular, we are planning to offer a 10k training run on Saturday 23 November 2019 at 10.30am to enable evening Improvers to try out the distance and everyone to work out fueling for a 10.30am race.

If you are training for the race, please remember to enter

Perivale 5 (ie 5miles or 8.05k) on Sunday 1 December

This race is good race preparation for Osterley 10k the following week. In addition, it’s also a good stand-alone local race in which many Eagles will take part. If you want to train for this race, please follow the advice for Osterley 10k above.

The link to enter the race is here

Club champs 2019-20 still has races at distances 5k, 5mile, 10k and cross country if you want to go to races with other Eagles without going over 10k .

If you are on facebook and want a forum to discuss topics at a suitable level for you, from training plans to diet, from strategy to the best clothing and also to arrange training runs with others, please join the Improvers facebook group

Club Training Sessions in September 2019

The darker evenings and consequential closure of the park gates at 8pm has triggered the swap of the park-based training sessions to the winter arrangements.

PLEASE NOTE Some of the sessions will be meeting in the same place each week but the meeting points for the Tuesday 7.30pm sessions and the EHM recce runs (Thursday mornings) in particular will be moving around from week to week to accommodate the range of training. Please keep an eye on the list of sessions for the week (link also sent to you with email newsletter).

• Mon / Wed 7.30pm club run

  • Forester club run and social on Wed 4th September

  • Runandtalk on Wed 25th September

• Thursday 7.30pm Hills

• Tuesday 7.30pm

• Daytime sessions

• Sunday 10miles (or longer)

• Ealing Half Marathon

• Preparation for cross-country

• Improvers

• CPD for run / walk volunteers

** Monday and Wednesday 7.30pm club runs **

The summer club run routes go through the parks which mean that we cannot continue to use them when the parks close earlier with the darker evenings. Therefore, from Monday 2nd September, we will be switching over to the winter club run routes, still meeting at Ealing Green with a choice of two distances (3.75miles / 5.5k or 4.75miles /7k) but avoiding the parks. Please see the club run route page for the route details.

HOWEVER, please note that the offer of these sessions requires the availability of volunteers to be leaders and tail runners. The coached sessions require input from qualified coaches / leaders or experienced runners but anyone who is willing to help out and run at a gentle pace can tail a run (and make use of the time to have a recovery run, to work on your running form and to get to know other people in the club). If you have made use of the club training sessions, please play your part in making the club training sessions possible.

** Forester club run on Wednesday 4th September **

On the first Wednesday of the month, the club social will be taking place at the Forester’s and so both club runs will start on the other side of Northfields Ave from the Forester’s at Occupation Road W13, West Ealing with a bag drop at the Forester’s.

The Forester long club run (7.5k / 4.7miles) will be the same as the normal long club run route but meeting and finishing at Occupation Road. You can see more details of the route here.

The Forester short club run (5.5k / 3.5miles) will follow the long club run route along Warwick Road but will turn right on Ascott Avenue (so cutting off the section along the north circular), drop down to Popes Lane and then follow the long club run route around to Occupation Road and the Forester’s. You can see more details of the route here

** Runandtalk on Wednesday 25th September **

As part of 7.30pm club run, an opportunity to #runandtalk meeting at Ealing Green - have a chat with friends, family, colleagues or other runners; a chance for people to talk about mental wellbeing, share experiences and help break down the stigma surrounding mental health - followed by a social in the Kings Arms focusing on Men and Mental Health. More information on the facebook event page.

** Hill Sessions on Thursdays 7:30pm West Walk **

Training on hills

·        prepare you for the hills in a race;

·        build muscle (improve leg strength while still working aerobically – strength = speed); and

·        teach your body to run fast when you’re struggling for oxygen (if you did that type of speed work in winter on track – short reps – you would pull a muscle).

All standards are welcome – everyone stays in the same place. Meeting place is West Walk off Hillcroft Crescent

** Tuesday options at 7.30pm**

UPDATE It has been decided to offer a track session also on Tuesday 10th September.

7.30pm sessions on Tuesdays 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th September will be at Osterley track (120 Wood Lane, Isleworth, TW7 5FF). Steady pace or easy training runs are done at an aerobic pace, i.e. not too out of breath. This builds up the heart, lungs and legs but will not adapt the body fully to run at a faster race pace. Interval training trains up the different energy systems used in racing at different distances. These energy systems range from anaerobic running at mile pace or faster to ½ marathon training run at around threshold pace using the Frank Horwill 5 pace system system (used by Seb Coe etc). To race at any distance you need to do intervals at race pace and faster and slower than race pace sessions. Also most club runners do a variety of distances and need sessions to train for these.

Each week will be a different session lead by a qualified Eagles run leader. Track fee of £3.05 (discount for Eagles so please bring proof of membership – EA card or confirmation email from club) payable at reception before coming on the Track. Lockers available for a refundable £1. Bring a bottle of water, a snack for afterwards and enough layers to keep warm when you're not running. All standards are welcome – everyone stays in the same place.

** Daytime sessions **

Mondays at 10am

UPDATE Mondays 9th, 16th and 23rd September 10am will be intervals session in Lammas Park near the Clovelly Road entrance. (Monday 2nd will be self-led and Monday 30th will be after EHM)

Go for a run on Thursday morning

Long runs for Eagles available during the working day and advertised on the club website are often arranged on Thursday mornings

In 2019, there may be three groups of daytime Eagles wanting to train for EHM

·        Beginner graduates or others at the 5 to 6k level (5k to HM)

·        Those who regularly run 5k and have done several 10k runs (regular 5k to HM)

·        Those who have run at least one HM and are currently close to 10miles endurance (Intermediate)

In addition, beginner graduates or others who want to stay at the 5 to 6k level but don’t want to run more than 10k may want to train on Thursdays

Wei Hei will aim to propose a week in advance a route for each distance so that Eagles can easily arrange to meet up – those taking part in runs at different distances will need to decide on a start time. All runs will be self-led (unless you happen to be running at the same pace as Wei Hei)

Tuesdays and Fridays at 10am

Tuesdays and Fridays 10k at 10am –self-led runs - please check the relevant Facebook group for arrangements.

** Sunday 10 miles **

Meet Ealing Green Informal 10 mile (16.1k) self-led run taking the route through the parks to the river, along to Richmond and back via Syon Park. Because of refurbishment works on Richmond Lock Footbridge scheduled until the beginning of December 2019, you will need to cross the river at Twickenham Bridge which is the next bridge along – a diversion of about 0.5mile (0.7k). Alternatively, with EHM approaching, some Eagles are thinking of doing long runs on the EHM route. Please shout up on Facebook if you are planning to do a long run and would like company.

** Ealing Half Marathon **

The final recce run offered to the general public will be on:

·        Sunday 15 September (8.45am meet in Lammas Park by the drinking fountain for 9am start) – full 13.1miles

If you know the route, please wear an Eagles vest so that people know to be able to follow you (and email coaching@ealingeagles.com with your expected pace unless you have already advised on fb). If you don’t know the route, please wear something other than an Eagles vest as there may be non-Eagles around looking for someone to follow.

The route of the self-led Sunday ten mile run seems to swap over to sections of the Ealing Half Marathon route as race day approaches. Please keep an eye on Facebook for arrangements.

Day time sessions on Thursdays will focus on EHM

Thursday morning Go for a Run in September –(see above)

** Preparation for Cross-country XC **

The benefits of XC are set out in this article. https://www.startfitness.co.uk/blog/importance-cross-country-running/

The undulating terrain and hills means you are using more muscles than in any other type of running, in turn strengthening the legs. The uneven ground stabilises lower leg muscles and develops them into great ‘shock absorbers’, whilst the changes of pace help improve the cardiovascular capacity of runners. Furthermore, contrary to some suggestions which state cross-country running increases the chance of injury, if done properly it’s arguably less stressful on the leg joints as the impact from the earth tends to be much less than on other surfaces.

There are plenty of XC races in the Eagles calendar http://www.ealingeagles.com/cross-country

In preparation for XC, the following events have been organised

·        Wed 18th Sept 8.30pm (after club run) XC and wine gathering meeting at Crispins (opposite Ealing Green) - Everything you've always wanted to know about cross country! Why every runner should do XC, the leagues (and extra races) we compete in, the gear you will need, and of course what pubs we will end up in after every fixture.
Runners of all speed and experience levels are welcome! Many of our experienced XC runners will be on hand with spikes in tow to share their own experiences.
Hosted by your captains Kieran Santry and Hayley Kandt, this event is open to EVERY eagle and we encourage everyone to come and learn what this amazing field of running is all about!

Sat 21st Sept 10am (90mins session) Preparation for XC with Mara meeting at the car park right next to Horsenden Farm, which is at the end of a short road off Horsenden Lane North, just north of the canal. Where you turn off Horsenden Lane North into the small road, there is a sign which says Horsenden Hill Visitor Centre. There are toilets and a children's playground near this car park, but no cafe. If you would like to attend, please join the facebook event page or email coaching@ealingeagles.com by 18th September

** Improvers **

Improver sessions are for people who are able to run 5k and want to continue running, in particular for those wanting to increase their distance to 10k for Osterley 10k on Saturday 7 December https://osterleypark10k.co.uk/.

More details to follow – the first sessions will be as follows:

·        Mon 30 Sep 10am Introduction to the Mile in Lammas Park and meet for a workshop afterwards to plan your training – details tbc

Weds 2 Oct 7.30pm join the club run and meet for a workshop afterwards to plan your training – details tbc

** Run / Walk programme  - CPD with Mara on Wednesday 18 September**

The club offers a run / walk programme free to the local community to progress people from not running very much to running 5k or more without walking breaks (so that they can join the evening club runs). The run / walk programme attributes its success (145 people graduated through the run / walk programme in the period October 2018 to July 2019) to the support and encouragement provided by the volunteers. If you are happy to run at a relatively gentle pace (7 to 8min/k or 11 to 13min/miles though some people will be faster and a few may not be so fast) and encourage beginners while doing so, then please think about contributing to the club and the running community in this way. Running at a more gentle pace is also a good way of working on your own running form (running gently does not mean running lazily or sloppily). For more information, please join the volunteers facebook group or email beginners@ealingeagles.com

The next run / walk programme will be for nine weeks starting Wednesday 9 October at 6.30pm or Thursday 10 October at 10am. If you would like to volunteer over the next year, there will be a CPD session with Mara on Wednesday 18 September at 6.30pm meeting in Lammas Park. If you would like to attend, please join the facebook event page (in the volunteers group) or email beginners@ealingeagles.com by 15th September

Healing Eagles are very welcome to join for part or all of the run / walk programme if they have been advised to do some run / walking and would like some company. Please email beginners@ealingeagles.com to check the level at which the programme is operating when you are thinking of joining.

Lakeland 50 by Jenny Bushell

Well, the dust has settled on the weekend, and I’m just about over my post-Lakeland blues. I thought I’d try to see how much of the race I could actually remember, and also document my enormous gratitude to Lily, Alex, Ian and Nelson, who came up to the Lakes to support me. First up, this is hands down the most amazing race I’ve ever been involved with. I didn’t think I’d be saying that so soon after Boston, but even if it’s a bit like comparing apples with pears, Lakeland is incredible. I’ll apologise now for the length of this race report – I can’t help recounting it all in ridiculous detail. 

Race weekend proper started at kit check on Friday morning when I erroneously drove into the camping field to register. It transpired that there wasn’t really a way back out, and I was wondering if I’d just have to beg a spot in a tent, but a very kind and totally unflappable marshal let me park up while I went to get checked. Even though this was only ultra number two, I felt so much better about my kit than at Lakeland Trails last year (55k, my first ultra) – I didn’t realise then that I didn’t need to actually pack all my kit into my vest for kit check, so took an age pulling it all out and stuffing it back in, and I totally didn’t appreciate the importance of packing light. This time, with the aid of a washing up bowl borrowed from my AirBnB (thanks, Brenda!) and a much more considered approach to kit choices (no full-on orange bivvy bag for me this time!) I made it through easily, and proceeded on to get multiple different wristbands, trackers and tags attached. The photo below caused more than one person to think that I’d DNF-d and was in the hospital with a cannula. Sorry for the false alarm, folks. 

I then spent Friday doing as much sitting down as possible, and so took the crew on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway and on the steamer up to Bowness. Highly recommended as a soothing pre-race activity – I managed at times to distract myself from the nerves, and hopefully I didn’t drive everyone bonkers overthinking everything six million times.  My worries showed most in the number of times I asked someone to go over the compulsory kit list with me again to check that I really did have everything.   We did all get much enjoyment from the dry humour evident throughout Lakeland’s list. I particularly enjoy the requirement for my foil blanket to be bigger than that which would roast a small mouse.  I have to confess that at this point I was starting to feel a bit of a muppet. I really didn’t know whether I’d bitten off far more than I could chew in entering one of the most prestigious ultras in the UK, and one in which I knew I’d be covering some reasonably technical descent (not my strength, more on that to come!) and spending several hours in the dark. I was scared that I’d hold everyone up, get lost, panic in the dark, and generally be a nuisance to all of the ‘real’ ultra runners. Here’s me pretending I’m fine. 

On Saturday morning, Alex drove me to Coniston for a very relaxed feeling time of 8am, and I headed into briefing, having chosen to do this on Saturday morning rather than Friday night.  I wasn’t expecting the stand-up comedy that ensued (although of course with a very serious race safety section included!) and it did a lot to make me feel more relaxed. I particularly liked the North vs South shout-off, and was happy to discover that when the question is put, despite fifteen years now in Oxford and London, I still proudly identify as a Northerner!

We then jumped on a fleet of coaches, and set off for Dalemain. I should explain, for those not familiar with the race, that the Lakeland 100 is a full loop race starting and ending in Coniston (it had set off at 6pm the previous evening), and so the 50 runners are driven to the north end of the course to complete approximately the latter half of it. On arrival, I found myself in an extremely long (even by normal race standards) portaloo queue with a group of very cheerful ladies. We collectively looked around at the large number of men relieving themselves into trees, bushes, long grass and assorted agricultural machinery, and decided en masse to go and squat behind the row of loos. I love what a bonding experience a collective wee can be! Wishing good luck to my new wee friends, I headed off to find my support crew by the start.

Ian was later complimented by a marshal on being the best-dressed spectator he’d seen all day.

With superb Lake District timing, the heavens (which had been threatening to descend all morning) finally opened pretty much simultaneously with the start.  I’d optimistically put my waterproof away just before going into the start pen, so it was annoyingly anticlimactic to have to stop 400m in to the race to take my vest off to get it out.  The whole of the first 4 miles was quite underwhelming – the course takes a loop around the Dalemain estate to make up the distance to the full 50 miles, and as someone else described it, felt like ‘a bit of a crap, crowded parkrun’.  When we finally left the estate and set off towards Pooley Bridge, things started to spread out, and I felt like I’d finally started the race.

My main aim for the first section was not to get over-excited and go off like a rocket – I knew that the first few miles would be either flattish or on good surface, and didn’t want to waste a load of energy.  Most of the first few kms started with a 6, so I was happy with that.  Although Pooley Bridge isn’t an actual check point, it was the first time I saw my support crew again, and was also packed with other supporters.  You can see I’m pretty happy to see them all! 

I ran past thinking how strange it was that I wouldn’t see them again until 8 or 9pm that evening, as the next point they were allowed to spectate was Ambleside.

We then headed up onto the Ullswater way to Howtown, the first check point.  I was confident on this section – I’d covered it twice in recce, and knew that there were no nasty surprises in terrain or navigation.  I always prefer to keep running on gentler slopes, as I find it easier on my legs than walking, and so I overtook quite a lot of people on the small ascent onto the fell.  Once up there I found to my delight that I was happier on the rough, rocky surface than ever before.  Fear of falling has been my biggest demon in fell running, and I really enjoyed the race adrenaline helping me to cover the terrain much more confidently than in the past, including as we started to descend into the check point at the Bobbin Mill.  I did keep in the back of my mind that there would be much, much trickier ground to cover later in the race, and so tried not to get over-confident.  The checkpoint was pretty crowded, and I hadn’t used much of the water from my flasks, so I just had a couple of speed cups and took a packet of crisps for the climb up Fusedale.

By this point, I’d already begun my metronomic fuelling strategy, which is to take on roughly 100 calories every half hour.  It’s difficult to remember, but I think I’d started with a couple of quarters of peanut butter and jelly bagel, which I wrap individually in tin foil.  The crisps were calling to me, so I took that as a sign I could do with a tad more salt – I find that what my body wants is usually a good indicator of what I need, and this hasn’t seen me wrong yet.  I took it steady on the climb, which is the longest of the whole course.  It’s also deceptive – the first time I recce’d it I only got half way up before I had to sprint back down to catch a lake steamer, and I had no idea that there was a similar elevation still to come!  This was the first point that I was really grateful to my past self for having been diligent in my recce runs – the route up to the top of the fell and across down towards Haweswater is not obvious, and although the runners were still very close together at this stage, knowing that I was following the correct route rather than just the person in front felt really good.

I was nervous again as we came off the top of High and Low Kop – on my recce I had made the mistake of thinking that the path along Haweswater to the Mardale Head checkpoint would be a nice, easy lakeshore stroll.  In fact, it’s a rocky, muddy, off-camber single track along the fellside.  By the time we reached the initial descent, the still-falling rain and the volume of runners already through had turned the path into a mud-based slip’n’slide.  This would normally be my worst nightmare (fear of slipping, fear of falling), but I was still flying high on adrenaline and my newly-improved descending skills, and just went skidding down.  This gained me a bit of space on the trickier lake path, and it was quite a way before I heard runners coming up behind me, and called back to ask if they’d like to pass.  We were also passing plenty of 100 runners by this stage – it was inspiring seeing them moving so well, given that they’d been running since 6pm the previous evening.  At briefing, we had been asked to ‘adopt a 100 runner’ (complete with schmaltzy soundtrack in the manner of a donkey sanctuary advert!) and so the majority of 50 competitors tried to call encouragement to the 100s as we passed.  Reading some of their write ups later, I’m not certain how welcome this was, but I’m not sure where my head would be after nearly 24 hours of running, either!

Finally the tricky section was over, and I reached Mardale checkpoint.  A slightly longer stop here, as my flasks needed refilling, which entails a bit of annoying fiddling with my vest.  I’m getting quicker at doing this, and the volunteers were also really helpful in taking and filling everyone’s bottles.  No more than five minutes, and I was on my way, this time with a peanut butter sandwich to keep me company up the next climb.  I knew that the next section to Kentmere wouldn’t be too bad, although I would need to keep my newfound nerve to tackle the stony descents.  On the climb, I fell into step with a chap who was on his fifth 100, a feat I can’t quite imagine.  You get a special award for doing this, and Lakeland send out an email in advance listing everyone who is up for it, so he was feeling extra pressure this year to finish.  We happily passed the climb (frankly) bitching about our shared dislike of too much attention before and during races, and between that and the sandwich, I barely noticed the metres mounting up.

I didn’t tackle the descent to Kentmere as well as I would have liked – it’s a bit steeper than those which go before, and I reverted to a bit of anxious braking, which I knew would hammer my quads, rather than going down confidently.  A lot of runners sailed past me at this point, which is always disheartening, but I had tried to prepare myself mentally for this by reminding myself that we all have different strengths – I make up a lot of time by having higher flat speed.  I also remembered the ‘low mood – eat food’ mantra, and at the couple of times I started to feel a bit weepy, made sure to get some more calories in, even if it wasn’t a ‘scheduled’ feed time.  I was also feeling very soggy – the rain had carried on falling, and I’d managed to let some in at the neck of my waterproof, which meant it was running down both my arms in an uncomfortable trickly way. It all generally amounted to suddenly feeling quite unsure as to whether I could go all the way.

Despite this, coming into Kentmere I had already decided to have another really short stop – I needed a portaloo trip, and wanted to grab a bit of food (and, of course, to ‘dib’ in, which you have to do at each checkpoint to make sure the race team knows where everyone is.  Failure to dib in would mean a DQ), but wanted to press on to Ambleside where I could have a longer stop.  The Kentmere checkpoint is small, and was as crowded as I’d expected, so I was happy with this decision as I hiked off up the next hill.

The Kentmere to Ambleside leg was probably my lowest point of the whole race.  It’s more or less the mid-point, so excitement and adrenaline is fading, and awareness of how far there is to go is mounting.  I knew though that if I could get to Ambleside, I would be two thirds done, and from there I could even walk to the finish if I needed to.  As it got later in the day, the temperature started to drop, and I started to feel chilled and shivery.  I was worried that if I couldn’t get warm, or if the rain (which had temporarily stopped!) started up again, I’d be in trouble.  I got through it by focusing on my total time to Ambleside, which was only fifteen minutes longer than my Pooley Bridge to Ambleside recce, despite being six miles longer on the day.  I was also massively helped by falling in with a little pack as I came down into Troutbeck, in particular a lovely Sale Harrier called Timothy.  We walked together up the hill to the Post Office, and on over towards Ambleside, and again the chat helped distract me from the climb, the weather and the temperature.  It was also somewhere around here that I chatted for a while to a lovely lady from inov8’s social media team.  She was cursing her (inov8!) waterproof for letting the rain in, and I was (slightly shamefacedly!) cheered that it wasn’t just my cheap Decathlon apparel that was struggling.

Once I came out onto the road above Ambleside and could see the distinctive roof of Hayes garden centre, I started for the first time to feel confident that I could actually complete the course.  I trotted down the hill, and tried to really soak in all of the cheers and encouragement from the wonderful people standing outside in the rain.  I was also trying in my mind to go over my checkpoint plan (dib, wee, hot drink, cold drink, change clothes, food, get more food out of my vest into the outside pockets), when I suddenly saw my support crew shouting like loons on the corner by Zeffirellis.  It’s really hard to describe the feeling you get when you see a supporter in a race, but it was multiplied up many times!  I just felt so overwhelmingly grateful for friends who will spend hours standing outside in the rain just to give you a quick cheer, and once again you can see my happiness in the photo!

Ambleside parish hall was like paradise!  Warm, cosy, full of helpful people, and most importantly with a toasty hot ladies’ bathroom which was doubling up as a changing room.  I tipped my vest out onto the floor and started sorting out a fresh set of kit, making the decision to go from shorts into full length tights plus my waterproof trousers.  I knew I might get warm, but reasoned that I could always slow down, whereas if I got the tights wet and then got cold, I didn’t have any more clothes.  With half a cup of sugary coffee inside me, I felt like a new woman, and trotted back out to find that I’d spent so long in the checkpoint that my crew thought they’d missed me.  We said goodbye again, but knowing that I’d see them very soon for the final time at Skelwith Bridge.

I was on such a high at having made it this far that I hardly noticed the climb out of Ambleside again, and before I knew it was on the road down towards Skelwith.  I had my only food-based error at this point – I felt like I needed a bit of a kick of energy, so had some gel (I use Gu gels from their big-serve pouches in a reusable Hydrapak flask), but it hit my stomach really hard, and I had to spend a mile or so thinking I was going to vom before it settled.  It was a little bit emotional seeing Lily and co for the final time, as we all knew that when they saw me again it would be at the finish line, and I would have covered a good 3-4 hours in full darkness.

The Langdale section of the course was completely magical for me.  It’s an area I know really well, and who could not love the nice wide, flat section of the Cumbria Way that takes you through from Skelwith to Elterwater?  The time of day, with the sun just thinking about setting, made it all the more wonderful, and I set a gentle pace, enjoying the opportunity to look around me and take everything in while the ground underfoot was safe enough that I could take my eyes off it!  I even managed to rescue a pair who had missed the footpath off to Chapel Stile in the growing darkness, and saved them from a bonus few hundred metres.

I just about got to Chapel Stile without needing to dig out my headtorch, and somewhat staggered into my favourite checkpoint so far.  It had passed me by up until this point that all the checkpoints had themes (with many apologies to the wonderful volunteers who had made a lot of effort with costumes!), but you couldn’t miss the Chapel Stile International Airport.  They had a landing strip which guided you in to the dibber, passport control, baggage reclaim, arrivals and departures, and cheery volunteers kitted out in flight suits and Biggles goggles.  This was also the first point that I fully realised just how helpful they were being in asking each runner what they needed/wanted, and then going off to fill up bottles, put soup in mugs, fetch snacks, all while we were able just to sit and rest.  I tried not to spend too long, as I didn’t want to build up any fear over the next section.

I managed to set off on the leg to Tilberthwaite as part of a small group of runners.  It was now gone 10pm, fully dark, I had my headtorch on, and I knew I was setting off on what for me would be the most difficult section.  Full disclosure, my mostly meticulous race preparation had fallen down in one rather key area.  I had not, as instructed, practised running in the dark, or with my headtorch.  So while I knew that it worked, I had no idea whether it would sit comfortably while running, or whether its batteries would last, or how bright the light would be.  In hindsight, this was bloody stupid!  I was lucky, in that it worked perfectly and was more than comfortable, but I quickly found that I couldn’t run anything except the smoothest and flattest surfaces in the dark.  I’m sure I’ll get better at this, but for this race I’d mentally prepared myself to be mainly walking the night legs, and that was how it turned out.  I’d also prepared for the fact that I might panic if left alone, but fortunately this didn’t materialise.  Every time I found myself a little adrift of a group, it was barely any time before another runner came along to reassure me that I was on the right track.  I dug out the ‘foldie’ for the first time, which is a waterproof copy of the route instructions, just to check that at the various turnings and stiles I was still on the correct route.

It seemed a very long way to Tilberthwaite!  In particular, Blea Moss is a notably unpleasant combination of single track rocky trail, mud, slippy rocks to clamber over and (as the name suggests) peaty, soggy ground.  We knew that we had to make our way to an ‘unmanned’ dibber, placed as we came out onto the road, in order to ensure that we hadn’t cut the corner off the route.  It was the most enormous relief to come off the nasty section of rocks to discover that some kind soul had placed little sticks with white, sparkly ribbon attached to them, along the last few hundred metres towards the dibber.  This didn’t help everyone – one man I was with insisted that these had nothing to do with the race, and headed off at a right angle to the course!  I couldn’t persuade him otherwise, but decided myself to follow the ribbon.  This decision was borne out when I emerged onto the road exactly opposite the dibber, to find it not unmanned at all.  An elderly chap with an enormous rain coat and a tiny dog was guiding everyone in, chatting to the runners, and generally lifting spirits.  I discovered later that very little is known about this man beyond that his name is Tony.  He’s been turning up to man the dibber for a few years now, but isn’t connected to the race officially, and nobody knows who he is!  The next few miles were sprinkled with more examples of this – kindly local runners who had committed themselves to spending the night in a remote field, usually with a dog and a headtorch, just to make sure that the runners didn’t miss any vital turnings.  I got quite emotional about these people, as I just couldn’t get my head around the selflessness required to do this – to my mind far more taxing than actually running the race!

The final few hundred metres to the Tilberthwaite checkpoint are on tarmac, so I jogged in, keeping to my ultra rule of ‘run whenever you can’.  Again I only made a short stop here – I knew I only had three miles to the finish in Ambleside, but also that they are a tricky few miles which would probably take me more than another hour to complete.  This was the section I was most grateful to have recce’d.  My sister and I walked it way back last summer, in daylight.  I knew, therefore, that some of the scarier route instructions which suggested that one might fall into a quarry if insufficiently careful, really only applied to people straying metres from the route.  I also was prepared for the hands-on-rock scramble over a little waterfall, and knew the exact location and appearance of the ‘single tree’ at which we had to cross a river.  It didn’t really feel very long before we were beginning the descent into Coppermines.  I had somehow found myself back in a group with Timothy the Sale Harrier, a 100 runner whose name I never learned, and a couple of others.  I was in the lead, picking my way down the steep and rocky path.  I’d been trying not to think about this section (it’s Hole Rake, for those familiar with the area), as I knew it would be tough at this stage, in the dark and with very grumpy quads.  In some ways, I actually enjoyed it!  The group was lovely and chatty, and reassured me that they were all happy to proceed at my pace.  I asked several times if anyone wanted to pass, as I really didn’t want to be holding anyone up at this stage!  They were all very happy to stick together, though, and eventually we made it down.  I loved the final jog down the track and then the road into Coniston – I kept welling up at the realisation that I would actually be crossing the finish line and had made it all the way! 

Lily and Nelson were at the finish to meet me, and spirited me off into the car (which Nelson had somehow parked directly opposite the finish line) and back to the cottage. I was greeted by balloons, champagne and a massive cheese scone, although to my shame it took me quite a long time to notice these as I was so preoccupied with getting out of my clothes and into the shower.

To conclude, I’m so happy to have completed the race of my life to date. I feel like I faced down my fears of the terrain, the navigation and the dark, and did it in style. I finished in 14 hours 27 minutes, in the top half of the field and well inside the top 100 women. To say that’s beyond what I thought I could do is the understatement of the year. Finally, another mahoosive thank you to Lily, Alex, Ian and Nelson for coming on this mad adventure with me, and thank you to the Lakeland team for a magical race.

Regents Park Summer League by Melissah Gibson

SUMMER LEAGUE– CLOSER THAN EVER!! UPDATED 😲

We continued to shine at Regents Park last weekend! We were less than 1 percent in front of Queens Park (17 points) going into it, and knew they would bring their finest to battle it out at Regents Park!

Queens Park are 4 points ahead!! Eagles 18,718 : Queens Park 18,722 Every point matters as we go into the Grand Finale at Battersea 11th August!

Senior Results

Laurence Elliot is in sensational form, crossing the line in a fantastic 7th position in 36m3s. Right now, he is in 3rd position in the seniors competition – an incredible achievement given the exceptional standard of the men this year! We were delighted to see Will Adolphy return to the league, home next in 36:53, followed by Sam Royle in an incredible 37:12. Both men have only done 2 races this year, so a strong run in Battersea could see them make the Top 5 in the seniors competition. Big kudos to Jose who is currently in 5th position overall, after clocking a solid 22nd position last week in 37:49! He is just 1 point ahead of Oliver (6th senior male overall), after Oliver took Regents Park more gently in sub 40 (slightly easier than his previous ‘Top 15’ form)! I forgave him after a stellar run in the men’s relays – but we all have high expectations for Oliver at Battersea, especially after today’s PB!! It’s going to be close, rapid Raf was only 10 seconds behind Jose with an epic 37:59, and is currently in 7th position overall (just one point behind Oliver!). Congratulations to Andrew Green, who was home a few seconds later, with a fantastic 38:02 for his first Summer League fixture of 2019.

I was home next in 38:07 with a PB (beating QP by 22 seconds – and she was wearing the fancy green nike shoes!). It will be a close competition with just 1 point separating us as we go into the final fixture. To beat Jen (QP), I need to win Battersea – and I need another speedy lady between us. Have I left my run too late? I suspect so!! But I only really care about our overall result – so will be fighting for that point!!

Nils was home just 9 seconds later in 38:16, with another solid performance after a string of great summer races. We were delighted that Alex Smith made it to one more before moving, clocking a speedy 38:32. Next eagle in was our heroic Harry Claxton, once again triumphant in the V45 category! Looks like it’s in the bag this year – well done Harry!

Shortly after was Neil Johnson and Oliver, tying in 39:49! Special mention to Joshua Brain who has had a great first summer league season, clocking consistently great times at each fixture. He just scraped a sub 40 with 39:57, pipping Ralph Dadswell at the post by 1 second! Ouch Ralph – there goes a club champs point! Not to worry though, Ralph is sitting very comfortably in 2nd position in the V50 category, having been first home this week (but like my case, probably too late to cause an upset!). Dominic Wallace is 4th overall by 1 point. Hope you can make Battersea Dom!

Well done to Kieran Santry who clocked a quick 40:22. He is currently in 3rd position overall in the M40 category! Would be brilliant to see our summer league regular to go home with the bronze! Shout out to Henry Dadswell who clocked a very decent 42:22 for 1st M20, just 10 secs ahead of our awesome speedster Ben Cale!

In the ladies race, we had very similar scores to Queens Park. It was fabulous to see fast Fiona Plain home in 41:20 for 4th female (with Queens Park sneaking 2 in between us). Fiona has had a great SL debut, currently leading the Senior category. Results can shift in the final races, as more people qualify with 3 races or improve on previous scores. One such threat is our speedy Hayley Kandt, who could push from 2nd to gold with a top 21 finish at Battersea! Can she do it?! Or will it be their relay buddy Kat Revill who would need to come 16th? Or Emily Cook with an 11th? Lets see how it plays out – but it’s amazing to have welcomed so many talented ladies in this category this year!

Claire Morris is back running strong, winning the V40 race at Regents Park. She was one of our top scorers with a great 44:25, and could disrupt the rankings if she performs well at Battersea in her 3rd fixture next fortnight!! Next home was our amazing Yvonne Linney, just beating Queens Park and being 2nd overall in the V45 competition. Awesome to see Louise Winstanley currently in 4th position overall in the category! Next across the line for us was the awesome Gosia who is consistently right up there! Gosia was 4th V40 on the day (currently in 4th position overall but very close to 3rd!), beating Claire Ellison by around 30 seconds (5th V40). We are all in suspense - Claire Ellison has had a fantastic first season (currently in 2nd position overall). Between the Claires and Gosia – it’s going to be a fantastic race to the finish line!!

Ian Wimsett was his usual fantastic self, making top 5 M60 (at Regents Park and overall), just pipping Simon James who was in 7 seconds later! Shouldn’t have done that long run before Simon!! Well done to Robert Kipling 7th overall for his category. There was a great battle between Nora Mixova (our fabulous club champion in 2011 and 2012 who has just returned to Ealing!) and John Kenny who was home 1 second later in 47:29.

Sophie Santry has had a particularly strong Summer League season, with Regents Park no exception. This week she clocked 48:24, which may be her fastest 10k in 4.5 years! With Battersea that little bit flatter and Sophie stronger by the day, she could edge closer to her PB in the final race of the season!

Stuart Mitchell is also performing well, finishing in a speedy 48:29 for 7th M55 (4th overall). Michelle Tanner is clearly benefiting from her Ride London cross-training, home in 48:42 - beating our awesome V55s Marek Waszcuk (by 2 secs) and Sue Park (by 3)! Oooh very close!! Kudos to Nick Davies who celebrates a sub 49 min! And our amazing Lorraine Hill ran a strong 49:16 (4th V50). She is currently in 4th position, but could sneak into bronze with a storming run at Battersea.

Shout out to our sprint finisher Vicky Chan, who is currently in a top 5 position in the V35 competition (49:20 clocked on Sunday), just 4 seconds ahead of Nicola Phelan (5th F45 on the day) and Pinja Haikka who ran a rapid 49:44. Dave Powlson was our quickest Dave of the day, just beating Mr Bone by 1 second – both having strong sub 50 min runs!

Speedy Suha is currently in 4th position overall in the F35 category (50:19). It was a tight club champs race, with Suha proving dominant over her sister Magdalene (well into her Chester Marathon training!) and our epic Charlotte Wade (who went on to show her strength in the women’s relays – helping our team to almost get the win!). Home a few seconds later was Zak Dadswell, who is dominating the M17 category, having sped up dramatically over the past year (not quite enough to catch these speedy ladies, but he did show his Dad up in the mixed relays!).

We were delighted to have our Bald Eagle Godfrey Rust join us, still in great form with a 54:44! Dick Overton continues to impress, with a fast 55:06 in the M70 category for 2nd, just 48 secs off the winner. Next in was Janet Wimsett (55:20) who is doing so well in the F60 competition (70% age grading and 2nd place!) Rachel Hearson also ran an impressive 55:37 in the F55 category, whilst Dineke shone in the F65 competition with a fantastic 58:22. Celia Roberts was a joy to cheer home, having run a fantastic 1:04 for a 70% age grading in the F70 competition, and smiling ear to ear! She had clearly had a lovely race, being part of a great flock with Stuart and Helen Pugh, Elizabeth Adams, Laura Cann and Tanja Williams. Love these mini-flocks!

Our women’s relay team almost won this week, it was closer than ever! The 280m was way too short for me, my heavy legs just couldn’t get going after the 10k. I did however collide with the 2nd Queens Park runner in handover, giving our already fantastically fast Fiona a flying start!! It was brilliant to see Charlotte Wade storm round, she is a force on the short stuff and has an epic sprint finish. And of course, Natasha Bennett was brilliant as ever, almost catching Queens Park with a breath-taking run! So proud!

The men did great, with Nils, Oliver, Ben and Ricardo smashing out some brilliant legs to get 3rd place in a super competitive mens race. It is always incredible to watch – in awe!! I believe we can also expect the awesome Jordan Jowett and Colin Clifford to be racing at Battersea again too!! Worth coming just to witness those 4 breath-taking minutes of athleticism!!

HUGE thank you to everyone who came to battle it out! With the points so very close, we need everyone to come and RACE hard at Battersea!! Every SINGLE point will matter.

Big kudos also to the newer runners to the club who are determined to qualify for club champs and who have embraced the fun of summer league! Who PBed? Will you be back for more? These are just my highlights – do let us know what yours were!!

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Junior Results

The juniors continue to inspire! Many also starred in our mixed relays, and showed such determination against their adult competitors!! Some were doing SL followed by Middlesex Relays!!! It was fantastic that they could make it, a huge thank you to the parents who made it happen.

Super proud of Henry Jones, who is the most determined 10 year old I’ve ever met! He had already raced the mile Friday night (well under sub 5:50), and then in a desperate attempt to break all the records before he turned 11 (this Monday!), he raced parkrun (finishing in just over 20 mins, almost a PB!). Then on Sunday he did the double, racing at Junior Parkrun and equalling his PB (he is just 7 seconds off the record!), before a mad rush to make it to Summer League to race over the mile and the relays! Henry then stormed around in 5:50 for first M10. He was 3rd overall, with the M13 and M14 beating him by just 12-15 secs despite being a foot taller. My hero! And thank you to Jen and Evan for making it possible!

Natasha Bennett was 2nd F10 and 3rd female overall. She shows a resilience and maturity beyond her years, being a core part of our women’s relay team this season too!! She’s had a fantastic season, and is currently leading the F10 category, having shone at both SL and at her track events. It could be very close in the end!! Fingers crossed!!

Nathan Powlson was next in for 2nd M10, and also had a fantastic relay run, giving a Serpie man a real run for his money!! Minna Williams was first F9! If she can make the final race at Battersea, she should make top 3 in her age category – perhaps even win it! Well done to Joe Burges who blitzed the M8 category in 6:42! He is currently in 2nd position overall for the series!

The mighty Jack Jones was our next eagle in in 7:05! He was first M6, and had also done the double, running Junior Parkrun earlier (8 secs off a PB). Jack has consistently won his age category and will definitely be a force in the coming years! It was a close race for the youngster, with him having 2 M7s on his tail! James Green was in next for first M7 (7:11), just pipping Conrad Acorn by 1 sec (2nd M7)! Conrad will be impossible to catch this late in the season, but it will be interesting to see who gets 2nd and 3rd with Ryan Johnson, Aiden Quinn and James Green all being top contenders!

2 seconds later was our fabulous Noah Liborg! Noah was just 9 seconds off first M6, and is in a comfortable 2nd place for the season! He did well to hold off Daniel Burges, in 8 seconds later! Daniel has had a great first season, and should hopefully walk away with a bronze medal in a very strong category!

Next in was our speedy Sofia Bennett, who ran a super fast 7:24 for first F7!! She’s guaranteed of the gold trophy this year!! Well done to Lauren Green who was in 4 seconds later for 2nd F9, a great result just beating her Chaser F9 competitor by 2 seconds!

Now we are all used to this Machnik / Liborg competitiveness. The Dads race constantly, and early on in the season we saw young Emily Machnik F6 try to take on Sarah Liborg F9! Well the battle continues, with a sprint finish between Sarah Liborg and Jeremi Machnik! Machnik won this battle, with Jeremi 2nd M8 in 7:57! Huge kudos to Sarah, 2nd F9 in one second later! A great result for the little athlete, who then went on to compete at the Middlesex Athletics meet! With both runners now away for the summer, our fingers are crossed that Jeremi can hold on to his bronze position overall. Sarah should also walk away with another medal – colour to be determined!!

Beth Powlson was our next eagle in, in an amazing 8:28 – more than 90 seconds faster than the year prior! Fantastic to see such a huge improvement, with Beth really racing towards the finish line! She is currently in the silver position in the F6 category!

9 seconds later, we saw an exciting tie!! Keana Acorn flew in as 4th F10 (with one more race needed to get her back in the top 3 overall!). Keji Lagu was next for 2nd F12, currently in the bronze position for her category! It was great to have Leo Johnson in 20 seconds later, for 6th M6 in his first real SL race! Well done Leo!!

Next in was Emily Machnik who has had an amazing season! She came 3rd F6 for the Regents Park race, despite suffering a stitch. With Emily unable to make the final race, she finishes the season in 4th position by 1 point. It’s been an incredibly competitive F6 category, and with that Machnik spirit, I have no doubt that she will hit the podium in 2020! Inspiring debut Emily! Love having you in our team!

We then had Thomas Powlson in, as 2nd M11. He is winning the M11 category!! With Finn Elliot in 2nd place and Cohen Murphy in 4th, it would be great to get these boys to Battersea to fight for a place on the podium!!

Huge kudos to Zereda Lagu who was 7th F9, and is currently 6th overall. Zereda regularly runs in our mixed relays too, and has shown great improvement over the season!

We also had lots of lovely pint-sized runners in the fun run! Special mention to Kaitlyn Mitchell and Alva, who are getting quicker by the day! Great to have you all with us!!

Remember – Every point matters!! Let’s bring our shield home!! 11th August at Battersea Park!! Fight to the end!!

Training with Ealing Eagles Running Club July to Sept 2019

There will be opportunities over the next few months to do different types of training. With evening sessions on Mondays to Thursdays, sessions during the day midweek, and various training runs at the weekend, hopefully there will be something for all members of the club to join. There has been more of a focus on training for shorter distance racing over the summer but now some Eagles may also want to start training for Ealing Half Marathon on 29 September as 12 week training plans will start 8 July. A summary of the sessions is set out below but please keep an eye on the list of sessions for the week (link also sent to you with email newsletter) for more details and for any changes or updates. In particular, arrangements for the evening sessions may change in September as the parks close earlier.

The club aims to cater for all abilities – if you are interested in the run / walk programme (as a volunteer or returning from injury) or in increasing your endurance from 5k to 10k, please scroll down this article for information of specific interest to you.

GUEST COACH SESSIONS

Ealing Eagles is very fortunate that we can access coaching input from guest coach Olympian Mara Yamauchi.

** Mara's Hills ** on Tuesday 30 July at 7.30pm

Meet Hanger Hill Park W5 2JL (at the entrance on Hillcrest Road near the children’s play area)

An opportunity to train on hills in the company of our guest coach Mara Yamauchi. We hope to make use of Park View Road on the EHM route but the current refuse collection arrangements means that there can be a lot of wheelie bins on the pavements on Tuesday evening. A decision will be made on the day - the alternative is a hills session in Hanger Hill Park itself.
If you would like to come, please join the facebook event page or email coaching@ealingeagles.com by 28 July to give us some idea of numbers.

** Mara’s XC preparation ** on Saturday 21 September at 10am

Meet car park right next to Horsenden Farm, which is at the end of a short road off Horsenden Lane North, just north of the canal. 90mins of preparation for cross-country (XC) with Mara.
Sets (probably four) of different intervals, with a short recovery jog in between. Suitable for mixed abilities as runners of different abilities can do different numbers, or even lengths of intervals but the whole group can stay together for each set. There are some sections of tarmac and quite hard gravel paths, so Mara thinks trainers, trail shoes or racing flats would be preferable to spikes. She will do her best to avoid these hard sections but may not be able to avoid them altogether.
If you would like to come, please join the facebook event page or email coaching@ealingeagles.com by 18 September to give us some idea of numbers.

** CPD for coaches / run leaders and beginners’ volunteers **

Mara will also be offering CPD sessions for coaches / run leaders on Tuesday 23 July at 7.30pm and for beginners volunteers on Wednesday 18 September at 6.30pm. If you would like more information about these sessions, please check the relevant facebook group or email coaching@ealingeagles.com

NEW TRAINING SESSIONS

** Summer Stretch and Strengthen **

Session with Jesal Thakker packed with strengthening and stretching routines that you can do without any equipment. Special focus on stretching and strengthening legs, hip openers, abdominal strength, shoulder flexibility and posture.

Dates: Mon 12th August, Wed 28th August

UPDATE The first session on Mon 15th July has had to be cancelled.

Location: Ealing Common by the Grange pub

Time: 7.30pm 

Duration: 45 to 60 minutes

Please bring along a mat if you prefer using one and a yoga strap / belt / towel if possible.

CLUB TRAINING SESSIONS

** Monday and Wednesday 7.30pm club runs **

Over the summer period, we will be using the summer club run routes meeting at Ealing Green with a choice of two distances (3.8miles / 6.1k or 4.9miles / 7.8k) taking in Walpole, Lammas, the park across the road from South Ealing tube and Gunnersbury Parks. The short club run route will be the same as 2018. I have decided that, this year, we can risk going around the bottom of Gunnersbury Park for the long club run route (which is more or less the same as the route we used before the works started in Gunnersbury). Please see the club run route page for the route details. The routes will need to be changed in September when the parks close earlier.

HOWEVER, please note that the offer of these sessions requires the availability of volunteers to be leaders and tail runners. The coached sessions require input from qualified coaches / leaders or experienced runners but anyone who is willing to help out and run at a gentle pace can tail a run (and make use of the time to have a recovery run, to work on your running form and to get to know other people in the club). If you have made use of the club training sessions, please play your part in making the club training sessions possible.

If you would like to lead club runs on a regular basis and you are not already on the leaders email group list, please email coaching@ealingeagles.com

For the first Wednesday of the month in the summer, the plans are currently:

·        August (no official club run) – parkrun handicap

·        September (no official club run) - club champs 5k time trial

In addition, there is expected to be no official club run on Monday 22 July because many Eagles will be attending the Sri Chimnoy 3x1mile relays in Battersea Park.

** Interval Sessions on Thursdays 7:30pm Lammas Park **

Varied paced interval sessions ranging from 1 mile to tempo (half marathon) pace

Steady pace or easy training runs are done at an aerobic pace, i.e. not too out of breath. This builds up the heart, lungs and legs but will not adapt the body fully to run at a faster race pace. Interval training trains up the different energy systems used in racing at different distances. These energy systems range from anaerobic running at mile pace or faster to ½ marathon training run at around threshold pace using the Frank Horwill 5 pace system system (used by Seb Coe etc).

To race at any distance you need to do intervals at race pace and faster and slower than race pace sessions. Also most club runners do a variety of distances and need sessions to train for these. With sessions done by time, any ability of runner is catered for from beginner to park runner to seasoned runners chasing faster times. The best part is everyone gets to rest at the same time

Watercooler fact:  an interval is actually the recovery part of the session not the fast bit!

The location of Thursday 7.30pm sessions is expected to change sometime in September as the parks close earlier.

** Tuesdays at 7.30pm **

After the short distance excitement of May and June, July is a little more varied as follows:

·       9th July – no official club session – Blondin Relays

·       16th July – Osterley track (120 Wood Lane, Isleworth, TW7 5FF) Track fee of £3.05 (discount for Eagles so please bring proof of membership – EA card or confirmation email from club) payable at reception before coming on the Track. Lockers available for a refundable £1. Bring a bottle of water, a snack for afterwards and enough layers to keep warm when you're not running. All standards are welcome – everyone stays in the same place.

·       23rd July – no official club session – coaching development for coaches / run leaders with Mara

·       30th July – Hills with Mara (see above)

Tuesday 7.30pm sessions in August and September will be a mixture of track (details as above) or hills to prepare for EHM. More details will be available in facebook or on the list of training sessions for each week.

** Daytime sessions **

The 10am sessions on Mondays continue to be arranged to accommodate both new Improvers who are currently at the 5k level and more advanced daytime Eagles now preparing for Ealing Half Marathon. The sessions will revolve around Introduction to the Mile (in Lammas Park on the Monday before the first Friday in the month) and hills (mainly in Hanger Hill Park).

Tuesdays and Fridays 10k at 10am –self-led runs - please check the relevant Facebook group for arrangements.

Go for a run on Thursday morning

Long runs for Eagles available during the working day and advertised on the club website are often arranged on Thursday mornings

In 2019, there may be three groups of daytime Eagles wanting to train for EHM

·        Beginner graduates or others at the 5 to 6k level (5k to HM)

·        Those who regularly run 5k and have done several 10k runs (regular 5k to HM)

·        Those who have run at least one HM and are currently close to 10miles endurance (Intermediate)

In addition, beginner graduates or others who want to stay at the 5 to 6k level but don’t want to run more than 10k may want to train on Thursdays

Wei Hei will aim to propose a week in advance a route for each distance so that Eagles can easily arrange to meet up – those taking part in runs at different distances will need to decide on a start time. All runs will be self-led (unless you happen to be running at the same pace as Wei Hei)

** Weekend long runs **

The route of the self-led Sunday ten mile run is normally through the parks to the river, along to Richmond Lock and back via Syon Park. Sunday morning options often change to include part or all of the Ealing Half Marathon route as race day approaches. Please shout up on Facebook if you are planning to do this and would like company.

** Ealing Half Marathon **

12 week training plans for Ealing Half Marathon on Sunday 29 September will start on Monday 8 July. More details of Eagles training for this award-winning race are set out on this article.

** Improvers **

Improvers is for people who are able to run 5k and want to continue running, in particular for those wanting to increase their distance above 5k and possibly to 10k. Possible targets for Improvers, depending on your current level of endurance are:

·       Regents Park summer league (10k) on Sunday 21 July

·       Wedding Day 7k on Friday 26 July (evening race) – sold out

·       Battersea summer league (10k) on Sunday 4 August

Training plans for people wanting to target Osterley 10k on Saturday 7 December will start at the end of September.

For more information, please see the article Improvers or the next step after 5k

** Run / Walk programme **

The club offers a run / walk programme free to the local community to progress people from not running very much to running 5k or more without walking breaks (so that they can join the evening club runs). However, to allow beginners volunteers to train for Ealing Half Marathon, there will be no run / walk programme over the 12 weeks of EHM. It is likely that the next run / walk programme will start in October 2019.

Improvers or the next step after 5k

Have you completed the club beginners’ programme or are otherwise able to run 5k?

Want to maintain your running or even to run further and faster?

Improvers aims to progress Eagles from running 5.5k to running 10k (or to keep running at around 5 to 7k) and to provide an introduction to hills and speed work.

The list of club training options is precisely that – so don’t try to do everything

·       choose from the available list

·       or do your own thing, on your own or with other people.

Regular sessions appropriate to people at the 5k level are:

·        Club runs on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7.30pm

·        Some of the Thursday morning continuous runs – though there some of these may be self-led (depending on what you and everyone else wants to do)

·        Coached sessions on Mondays at 10am, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm

In addition, the club will be offering two one-off sessions on Wednesdays at ** 6.30pm **

·        10 July – Lammas Park (meeting by the gate on Culmington Road opposite from Beaconsfield Road (by the lodge, the circular flower bed and the drinking fountain)) Introduction to the mile including warm-up, drills / strength and conditioning and the opportunity to run a mile faster than you have previously run

·        17 July – Lammas Park (meeting by the Clovelly Road gate) Introduction to Intervals including warm-up, drills / strength and conditioning and a session of 8x1mins (at a bit faster than conversational pace) with 1min recovery

If you want to stay at 5 to 6k level

Do try to go out once or twice a week, perhaps to parkrun or the Mon / Wed 7.30pm club runs or go for a run on Thursday mornings.

Any of the coached sessions staying in one place (hills or intervals) would also be good experience though do continue to have a rest day in between sessions.

You might also like to try

Ealing Mile in Lammas Park 12.30pm Fri 5 July; 7.30pm Fri 5, 12, 19, 26 July

You know you can run 5k and more at a conversational pace, so perhaps you can run one mile a bit faster (the taster session on Wed 10 July will focus on the mile)

Parkrun handicap on Wed 7 Aug; club champs 5k on Wed 4 Sep

If you want to progress to 10k

Training basics

·       Start where you are and increase the amount / intensity of the running gradually.

·       Listen to your body - if you are tired or have a niggle, then rest or reduce the amount of running

·       Rest days are as important as running days to allow your body to recover from the stress of the training days and so heal stronger to increase your fitness

·       Long run *** at conversational pace *** to build up endurance

·       Hills or intervals – the club will be offering sessions on Monday mornings and  Tuesday and Thursday evenings

·       If time, another continuous run, normally shorter than long run, at a slightly faster pace – perhaps parkrun

·       Other runs and / or cross-training as appropriate - try to include some strength work - squats, lunges etc  - or other cross-training to reduce the risk of injury – this will be included in the Monday 10am sessions for daytime Improvers

·       "Drop-down" weeks in which you reduce the amount of running are a good idea.

·       If you are following a training plan, always do your sessions at a pace / intensity ** so that you can do the next session ** - there is no point in running your long run so fast that you are too tired to do the other sessions in the week

Battersea 10k (summer league) on Sunday 11 August

- for those of you who are already confident about running 6k

Osterley 10k on Saturday 7 December

- training will start in October with workshops on

·       UPDATE Wednesday 2 October at 8.30pm after club run and

·       Monday 30 September at 11am after a session at 10am.

Both workshops will help you to choose training sessions offered by the club so that you can progress to 10k by 7 December.

Club champs has races at distances one mile, 5k, 5mile, 10k and cross country so you could get your five qualifying distances without going over 10k.

If you are on facebook and want a forum to discuss topics at a suitable level for you, from training plans to diet, from strategy to the best clothing and also to arrange training runs with others, please join the Improvers facebook group