February 2018
With the shortest month in the calendar now behind us, and the surprise of some glorious sunshine over the last week or so to help defeat those winter blues, it has been a fantastic opportunity to get outside and keep on track with goals set earlier in the year.
This month's blogs have taken on a theme of regeneration - whether that is top tips designed around the scientific understanding of our anatomy in the anti-ageing process, or how our mental wellbeing can affect recovery. Training isn't just about reps, or weight or how many miles we can run - it is intrinsically linked to our own unique make-up and all of the influences on our progress.
As we look towards March, the onset of spring and a whole host of fitness events in the calendar, I am looking forward to assisting all of the FFA clients in reaching their potential.
On Sunday 3rd March I took part in the Winter Nuts Challenge 2019 (my 3rd in a row) to see if I could qualify again for the OCR World Championships. Despite glorious weather in the week leading up to the event - a difference of about 17 degrees from the previous year, the British weather was not on our side as temperatures dropped and wind and rain came in. These conditions made the course tougher as it is tough to get a grip on wet, cold and muddy ground, surfaces and obstacles, fatigue will set in quicker.
Despite set back injuries to my knees and shoulder hampering (mainly running) training over the winter months, I was content to complete the Nuts Challenge 2 laps with my bib intact which gets removed if you can't complete a mandatory obstacle. One lap is just over 7km and takes the average participant about 2 hours to complete. There are a wide variety of testing obstacles which includes wading through lots of water, crossing a lake 5ft deep, tyre drag and carry, rope pulls, cargo netting crawls and ladder climbs, slides down poles and slides into mud baths, monkey bar activities, bouldering and above all lots of trotting through thick mud. The lack of running conditioning probably cost me around 5 minutes of time during the second lap, simply not fully fit to run competitively yet. At least a further 8 minutes were lost due to the Stairway to Heaven obstacle on the second lap. It was due to the now even muddier, slippery conditions, on the stairs my grip went in the muck at the very top so I fell off into the water. Anyway, besides this my hands were so cold, several fingers had turned white (slight Reynaud's), which doesn't help blood flow and therefore grip. I decided to skip the optional re-try on this obstacle and took the penalty loop which consisted of 5 extra obstacles. The rest of the course went reasonably OK and felt I was decent on most obstacles and even somewhat cool doing my somersaults on the A-frame cargo netting but with jogging speed of the essence, I was not sure it was quick enough to qualify.
Well, I came 3rd in my age group and have qualified for The OCR World Championships this year. Bring it on!
The Hampton Court Palace half marathon takes place on Sunday 17th March and is a great event for first-timers. One of the main reasons for this is that the grounds around and inside the palace are relatively flat - so no horror hills to put you off your stride. There is still time to book your slot...
https://www.palacehalf.com/
Good luck to FFA clients delivering the agreed set goals, training hard and taking part in events in March and throughout 2019.
As ever, I look forward to continuing to work with you to keep you on track to achieve your goals.
You can be(come) Fit For Anything!
Roel