Most sport and fitness clubs and groups wouldn't be able to function without volunteers like these. Their get-up-and-go helps others stay healthy, make friends, enter competitions and more. Read on to find out what inspires them to make it happen for others.

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Tuesday Oct 21, 2008

How to recover

The day after my 10k in May, I went to Ragdale Hall in Leicestershire as a recovery plan.  Though the journey up wasn't the most comfortable of my life, as I sat in the car with aching thighs and calves, after a massage and an hour or so in the thermal spa I began to feel better.

In the intervening four months, I've still been running, but my feet, ankles, calves, knees and hips are suffering still.  Getting orthotics apparently takes a ridiculous amount of time, and you need special ones to run long-distance, which means even more expenditure.  In a strange way, I'm really looking forward to the day I get the phone call to say the orthotics are in, though; running without aches and pains will be an entirely new experience!

I've got the first sponsorship monies in for the half-marathon now - and there's still five months to go.

Posted by Carrie ( 10:51 PM )
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Saturday Sep 27, 2008

Run, Carrie, run - the re-run

I cannot believe I'm doing this.  Really. 

I got a sense of exhilaration simply from filling in the online form and paying the entry fee, but now the realisation is creeping up on me - in six months' time, I am going to run 13.1 miles. 

A half-marathon.

Seriously.

As you know if you've read any of my blog before, I've run two 5ks and a 10k, so a half-marathon is the logical step.  I say "logical", it's not logical at all.  The 10k was a dreadful, dreadful experience; admittedly mostly because it was bucketing with rain and I was horrifyingly cold and miserable the entire way round. 

So I guess the thing to do is to keep my fingers crossed for sunshine on March 29th.  And to keep training.  Wish me luck.

Posted by Carrie ( 10:15 PM )
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Sunday Sep 07, 2008

A personal best!

It seems a bit ludicrous to say that I've run a personal best when I've only ever run two 5ks, but I have!

I thought it was going to rain again today, and my friends and family were understandably cautious about coming to stand in a downpour after their drenching on Bank Holiday Monday, so I was planning to go alone to Hyde Park.  Then I realised that the instruction booklet for the course tells you not to bring bags with you, but leave everything with your supporters - or better still, leave it at home. How was I supposed to run 5k with a bag containing my change of clothes, my keys and my travelcard?  In the end, I decided to take my chances with the rain, run in my fleece, put my travelcard in my iPod armband, and hook my keys onto my stopwatch cord.

And then it didn't rain, so I was sweltering in my fleece.

And then the tannoy announcement indicated that bags could indeed be stored in changing areas.

I was a little annoyed, to say the least - especially since I'd been invited into the VIP area but wasn't sent my wristband to access to the tent, didn't have my mobile with me to ring the PR people. and really didn't think the likes of Goldie Sayers, Christine Ohuruogu, Liz Yelling and Heather Fell would want to meet me post-race all sweaty and without a change of clothes.

Anyway, the course itself was surprisingly easy.  I'm not sure if it's because I've run 10k since last year, or just because I've run that course before, but it didn't seem to be as gruelling (even though it's a source of constant torment that it's not being out of breath that forces me to slow down, it's the agony in my calves and ankles).  I finished the race two minutes 19 seconds faster than I did last year, which is a good slice, so I'm quite pleased, even if I would like to be nearer to 30 minutes than 35. 

Maybe next year.

Posted by Carrie ( 8:00 PM )
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Wednesday Sep 03, 2008

What time is it?

The thing about doing a 5k again is that I desperately, desperately want to run faster than I did in my last one.  This is mostly because I have a dangerously competitive streak.

I did a practice 5k tonight, and wasn't running flat out at any point, and came in about 45 seconds per km slower than I ran this time last year, which I guess is a good sign.  Now I'm putting together a playlist of good, fast music for my iPod ready for Sunday's adidas Women's Challenge.  If anyone's got any suggestions of appropriate songs, do let me know!

Posted by Carrie ( 9:27 PM )
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Monday Aug 04, 2008

Ready to run

Well, it's a month to go until this year's Women's 5k Challenge.  And yes, I'm running it.  For those of you ladies who've written to me about running, why not sign up for a 5k run near you?  Because it's female-only, it attracts a huge age range (last year I started off next to a woman pushing her baby in a buggy the whole way round) and nobody really cares about times (except for the scary elite athletes).

Anyway, adidas are the event's main sponsors this year, and they've asked me to tell you that sign-up closes on Friday, so get a move on!

Officially the biggest women’s-only 5km race in the UK, the adidas Women’s 5K Challenge is open to women of all ages and running abilities and set to take place simultaneously in London’s Hyde Park, Birmingham City Centre and Liverpool’s Sefton Park on Sunday 7th September. Here are adidas's recommended five training tips -

1. Sign up. Obviously.

2. Get kitted out. The 5k's preferred charity is Breakthrough Breast Cancer, and the adidas Pink Ribbon collection is available at adidas Sport Performance stores nationwide and online at JJB. My own advice - don't skimp on buying a decent sports bra and good trainers.

3. Plan your 5k route.  adidas have drawn up some potential training tracks.  My own advice - don't overtrain, though!

4. Get tips from the top.  Liz Yelling says: If you haven’t done any exercise for a while – don’t panic. Spend the first 4 to 6 weeks of your new regime regularly walking and build up until you feel confident and competent enough to break into short periods of jogging with regular walk breaks. Gradually lengthen the time you spend jogging and shorten the time you spend walking until you can keep going without stopping for 30 minutes on 3 to 5 days a week."

5. Do the race. Obviously.

Get on over to the sign-up site now! 

Posted by Carrie ( 2:10 PM )
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Wednesday May 28, 2008

A 10k run

I love London. I always have. That's why I moved here for university and never left. I love the architecture, I love the public transport, I love the parks – just everything. So when I got an email inviting me to run the inaugural Bupa London 10,000, I signed up immediately. A May Bank Holiday Monday running the future Olympic course, starting in Green Park, down the Embankment, up to the Tower and back again – what could be nicer?

Well, opening the curtains on Monday morning and not seeing torrential rain would be a start.  My phone beeped at 7.30am with a text from a friend fretting about the weather.  It was all right for him, he was only going to cheer me on.  I was the one who'd be donning a running vest and lashings of Lycra to cover seven miles of London road terrain.

I arrived at Green Park at 8.45am, and the weather hadn't improved.  I was wrapped up in a fleece and rain jacket but was still cold, and the grass was disintegrating underfoot.  I took shelter under a tree – not brilliant, but better than nothing – and soon I could delay the moment no longer.  I went into the changing tent, removed my lovely warming layers, and trudged out to the start line.

Bizarrely, my family managed to find me straight away, and my sister began to complain about her hat getting wet, seemingly missing the fact that I was in short sleeves and leggings and had no hat whatsoever.  As I chatted to them, I continued my warm-up, and I began to realise I was already soaked to the skin.

The race start was organised in waves, and I was in the final batch to go, crossing the start line at around 10.15am.  As I ran up towards Westminster, I had the sounds of Blondie booming into my ears, with my trusty iPod strapped to my arm.  Slightly uphill, but fine, as you'd expect that early on.

Down to the Embankment, and that's a long, long stretch of road, especially when you're facing the wind and the rain head on.  It doesn't help when you're beginning to really feel the searing pain in your calf muscles after 2.5k – and the elite athletes are running towards the finish on the other side of the road, having already completed the course.

To Blackfriars, then up into the City.  This was a really odd moment – deserted tube stations, empty offices, and a random drum group in the shopping arcade near Fenchurch Street (a lovely idea, but really eerie in the deserted City – and I had to be really careful at this point what with the cobbled road and my tendency to fall over when faced with uneven ground).  It was at this point I had to stop and re-lace my right trainer, because my sock was so wet and my toes so cold under my ankle strapping that my big toe had begun to go numb.  My fingers were surprisingly dextrous bearing in mind how cold I was, and I was delayed for less than a minute.

As I headed out of the City and back towards the centre of town, I started to feel surprisingly good.  I don't know if it was endorphins kicking in, or simply the fact that I couldn't get any wetter or colder so I was bound to warm up and stop suffering, but it was easy to sprint on past Mansion House and towards St Paul's.  I usually love standing around marvelling at that cathedral – not today.  By this time the music in my ears had moved on to Girls Aloud, and I was racing on, back down to the Embankment, which this time seemed far shorter and far more manageable.

Tiredness set in as I reached Whitehall, but I knew I'd have friends and family waiting for me in the home straight, who'd give me the incentive to pick my tired legs up and kick on.  Sure enough, 300m to go, and my friends were waving madly at me from the right, and my family were on the left – all taking pictures and cheering.  I found the energy for a final sprint, and I crossed the line utterly exhausted, but in a time quicker than I expected.  

I've never claimed to be good at running, either in terms of talent or technique.  I find it really difficult, actually – I'm not a naturally sporty person and my inherent clumsiness means I incur dozens of injuries on a regular basis.  However, raising money for the Alzheimer's Society gives me the impetus I need to get to the gym and get round the course – no matter how long it takes or how much it hurts.

And it does hurt.  I wish I could say I breezed through it thanks to my terrific training schedule, but I didn't – it's now 50-odd hours since I crossed the line and my thighs still ache a bit.  Weirdly, the most painful injury was one I didn't anticipate at all.  When I went to the very lovely Ragdale Hall spa yesterday to recuperate, one of the therapists was appalled to notice what seemed to be a large weeping burn on my left arm, and needed to be reassured that I hadn't been attacked with an iron, but rather it was the friction from my iPod armband combined with incessant rain that had left the mark.

Anyway, that's it from me for now.  I've entered the online ballot for London Marathon places next year, though I'm not hopeful about getting a place.  If I do, you can bet I'll be blogging here again.

Posted by Carrie ( 6:36 PM )
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Friday May 16, 2008

Tips for running

Youthnet asked me to put together some tips for novice runners, so I thought I'd post them here with some explanation!

I'm a sports journalist by trade.  That means I love watching sport, and know a fair bit about a lot of things, but I've certainly never claimed to be an expert on running technique.

Then I began running.  And though I still have no idea about technique, if I'm honest, I know a lot about how to make training and racing a heck of a lot easier for yourself.  Here are my top three tips on how to train for a distance run.  (Incidentally, if you want technical advice rather than the trial-by-error words of wisdom from a total amateur, the brilliant Hayley Yelling gave me some recommendations before I ran my first 5k. )

First, I can't stress this bit highly enough – get some good running shoes.  That doesn't mean the most expensive or the nicest-looking ones.  Go to a specialist shop, get gait analysis, and take the advice of the professionals.  You might have pronating or supinating feet (when your feet roll in or roll out as you walk or run), which means you need shoes that correct that.  Otherwise you'll end up with ankle, knee, and hip pain.  Trust me, I speak from experience. 

Second, do the right training.  That doesn't mean just running and running and running.  You need to build up to the distance you're racing over, otherwise you'll peak too early.  I get bored easily when I'm running in the gym, so I intersperse stints of running with other cardio activity, such as cycling and rowing and cross-training, and I never step onto a machine without my iPod.  Or a lot of water.  It's thirsty work.  Don't judge yourself against the other people in the gym, particularly those scary muscle-bound ones who seem to be able to exercise for hours without breaking a sweat.  You need to set your own targets and gauge your progress against them.  And STOP if it hurts.  You're not doing yourself any favours by carrying on.   

Third, keep your goal in mind.  After your training, you should have some kind of idea of how long it should take you to complete the course, so break that down.  How long should it take you to get to the 1k mark?  The 5k mark?  The halfway point?  It'll keep you going when you're thinking that your legs are tired and you can't carry on any further.  You can, and you will.  Get your friends and family to come and cheer you on.  When I ran the HydroActive Women's Challenge last September, seeing my parents, my sister, my brother-in-law and my boyfriend shouting encouragement and waving a banner at the 4.5k mark gave me extra impetus to kick on and sprint the final stretch.  And of course remember that once you've finished the course, you'll have raised loads of money for a really good cause!

 

Posted by Carrie ( 1:22 PM )
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Tuesday Apr 15, 2008

The school holidays

Club has been incredibly quiet for the past couple of weeks due to a lot of children taking a break with parents/ carers over the Easter Break.

For us volunteers it has been quite nice as we have have been able to focus on the newer recruits to the club. It is a real joy to watch confidences growing, friendships being built and a pride in being part of a team.

At the official Easter break we had been able to have the inflatable and all the children had received an easter egg each. Unfortunately we have not been able to do anything out of the ordinary with the children this time round.

I am still continuing with my small group of girls. They are consistently trying to swim less with me but know that I am generally fair. One little girl this week got out early. She had felt sick and had taken a rest, she then said she felt better and wanted to get back in the water. As she continued swimming I could see her turning green around the gills. (No pun intended). I then advised her to get out, she was a little apprehensive at first, which she did. She then went on to tell me that she had been out all day and had attended a sleepover the night before. Resulting in her going to sleep at 3am. The poor girl was knackered!!!

What was nice though is when the rest of the group noticed her leaving they asked her if she was okay. I hope I will see her this week as she brings a real team spirit together for the girls. Also a great motivator!! She is technically not a great swimmer but has a willingness to try anything.

Quick Update

I had said previously the club were struggling to recruit. Amazingly a slot came up at my sons school for local sports clubs to promote themselves. I told the founders of the club and they managed to get some flyers together and a table in the school hall. The flyers left over were distributed out with some of the mums and were being delivered to other local schools. Fingers crossed we will get some new recruits!

Posted by Louise ( 8:42 AM )
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Thursday Mar 06, 2008

Badge night - the results.

Hi Guys, I said I would try and get back to you with news on my son and brother- here goes.....

My brother, well, what can I say, he made my mother proud and joined her and dad in Rochdale for mothers day weekend!

My son- made me proud! He swam 28 lengths and to achieve certificate needed 24 lengths. In the evening a further six children managed to gain certificates.

I was really pleased with all of the children's achievements. We have previously had presentation evenings which have worked really well. In those we ask for parents/ carers to provide food- not to different from kids parties in school. It has worked as a real morale booster...

Unfortunately that same Friday I was given the news that the clubs funds are becoming an issue and the children may need to pay more. For me that is not an issue as I only have one child. For families of 2+ children there is no discount for the amount of children you pay for. The founders of the club are very disappointed as they always have put the children first.

The question that is going round in my head is....

How can the club promote themselves to increase the amount of children that use it?

Answers on a postcard please! (just joking, but on a serious note if anyone is reading the blog and has similar experiences please get in contact).

Will see what this Friday brings, some good news I hope and maybe my sons certificate. xx

Posted by Louise ( 1:56 PM )
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Monday Feb 25, 2008

The distances some can swim

Last week I had not attended the swimming club I volunteer at. When I caught up with others and asked how things had been I had been told it was tight in numbers. This meaning that there had been very few volunteers. With that in the forefront of my mind I had made sure that my sons swimming gear was packed the night before all ready for Friday!

We had arrived dead on 6pm and I had ushered my son into the changing rooms. All while trying to get him signed in and my shoes and socks off to go poolside. Fortunately I recognised some regular faces and proceeded up to the deep end to take a lane.

I was allocated a small group of five girls. (Between the ages of 8- 12).They had been asked to swim 8 lengths of front crawl. I had joined them when they were halfway through. The group were not too keen to be swimming front crawl and were trying to persuade me to let them change stroke. (No, it was not changed, just the amount cut down).

The group then cut in two after two of the girls approached the next lane to see what was going on. (There was just one boy in this lane and it appeard that he was going to be some diving work). They had joined the next lane and had started to swim back to the deep end. The other girls with me then asked what they were meant to be doing. At this point I was approached by one of the club founders to ask me if I would consider counting the lengths of my group to see what distance badges they could collect.

Awesome work!

I was given two girls in the end. One has been with the club 2+ years and was due to be swimming 32 lengths. The other girl had joined the club last October and had never been asked what sort of distances she could swim. (We have a badge night approx once every 6months). Both of the girls swam 32 lengths in approx 40 minutes. At the end of it they appeared as cool as cucumbers, not even a flush to the cheeks!!

The girls will hopefully collect their badge and certificate within the next two weeks.

More to come....

Next week my son will be attempting 24 lengths and my brother...100!!!! I am hoping that both will succeed. It would be an amazing feat.

Hope to bring you news of how it all went. xx

Posted by Louise ( 9:40 AM )
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Wednesday Feb 13, 2008

New year, new challenges

At the local swimming club I volunteer at there has been a loss. A loss of boys who have been at the club for 10+ years. For these boys it is a gain. A gain of independence- a move into the big wide world without family/ carers asking "where are you going, what are you doing?" Sound familiar to any of you?

The Challenge- These boys played a crucial part within the club, showing skills to other members when they were younger. Diving, life saving techniques, showing correct legwork for swim strokes. Taking their own small groups as they got older and their confidence increased.

The most crucial part of the club has however been held by two women who have both been recognised locally for their services. They are the founders and have been volunteering for the past 25+ years. These are the women who taught these boys to swim and gain confidence in the water.

We now at the club need to be able to recruit and retain swimming members and volunteers. Like everywhere else the rent has gone up but amazingly prices appear to have stayed the same for those who are club members. We even managed to have the inflatable island and give out a large bar of choc over the xmas period!!!! (No extra cost)

Will be waiting with anticipation to see how things pan out. For now it is still a blessing in disguise for my son and me. We certainly wouldn't be without it and I was really pleased when in the new year a group of children from my sons school joined.

That's it for now, lots of love, Louise xxx

Posted by Louise ( 1:09 PM )
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My birthday

 

I've been very lax about updating my blog recently.  Thankfully I've been less lax about training - I'm stepping up the cardio I'm doing, and am aiming to be doing around two hours, three times a week, by the end of April.  I think the fastest I can hope to do the 10k is around 90 minutes, but have a horrible suspicion it'll be significantly slower!

It's my birthday on Friday, and being a proper aged grown-up of almost 28, I've asked people not to bother with presents, but if they'd like to make an additional donation to my run, it would be greatly appreciated.

Posted by Carrie ( 11:13 AM )
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Saturday Nov 17, 2007

Interro-gait

If you've been following this blog at all, you'll know that I've been suffering a bit with my dodgy ankles.  Seeing as I've got a fair amount of time to prepare for the 10k, I thought I'd take matters into my own hands (feet?) and get some gait analysis, to work out just what's gone wrong with my lower legs and if anything can be done to fix it.

I went down to USA Pro, on Broadwick Street (near Carnaby Street - London's trendy West End), for my appointment with Winston, who's the store's expert and personal trainer.  In general, I find personal trainers as a species quite terrifying, so I was naturally apprehensive.  After taking down some notes about my medical history, he observed the position of my feet and ankles when standing, tested my flexibility, and then put me on a treadmill barefoot to see how I walk with no support from shoes.

The upshot is - I have supernating feet!  This all sounds very exciting, but basically it means that my toes point outwards when I step, and it's worse on my right side (the weakest ankle) than on my left.  So it's no wonder my ankles, calves and knees have been giving me hassle when I've been running. 

I was appalled to learn that this potential problem should have been picked up years ago - when I first started spraining my ankles - and I should have been given exercises to do rather than being told, "Well, you've torn the ligaments, so they'll always be weak now."  Thankfully, there are shoes and trainers that will offer me support and be able to correct this problem, and Winston also recommended that I see a podiatrist to get some orthotics. 

That'll be the next stage of training, then.  In the meantime, I'm persisting with the usual cardio workout - at least 45 minutes, at least three times a week, and swimming when I can manage it.  I'm going to try to get to a yoga class this week too, as Winston suggested that I try something along those lines to improve my flexibility.

Posted by Carrie ( 4:02 PM )
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Saturday Nov 03, 2007

The challenge continues

When I finished the Hydro Active Women's Challenge 5k, I swore I'd never do anything like that again.

It was a great experience, I raised a lot of money, but running really isn't me.  My training programme and gym attendance has definitely increased my fitness, and my stamina has greatly improved, but I'm just not a person who is built to run.

Then I got an email on the 9th October inviting me to enter the Bupa London 10,000 in May 2008.

I emailed my dad, my boyfriend and two of my best friends to ask them if they thought I'd be absolutely insane to enter.  The feedback was overwhelmingly swift - "it's a great idea", "yes, you'd be insane.  Do it!" - and by the time my dad answered my email, I'd already sent off the form and the fee.

I'll be raising money for the Alzheimer's Society again, and though it'll be an immense challenge, I want to raise at least as much as I did for the 5k run.

At the moment, I'm struggling to shake off a lingering flu bug, which has limited my gym-going activities, but as soon as I'm fit again, the training will begin in earnest - and once again, I'll be blogging here.

Posted by Carrie ( 5:22 PM )
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Tuesday Oct 09, 2007

Diving buddies

This Friday as well as taking my son swimming I also took along a school friend of his. Had introduced her to one of the main people and had shown her the groups in the big pool. I had then gone and taken my own group. Unfortunately when I looked up my sons friend had been placed in the baby pool. Not cool when you are 9 years of age!! She had been very good about it and will be returning next Friday.

In my own group I only had two boys who are the complete opposite of each other. This is a shame as it pulls on the motivation of the keen swimmer. In the group next to me was a group of about eight girls and one boy. The boy was continually not listening and had started spitting water at the other girls. I had stepped in and called time out for the boy. His instructor had then spoken to him one to one. We are not against the children having fun but would like them to show respect to each other.

We eventually linked the two groups together after they had their semi serious swimming of lengths. They had a mini competition of diving into the pool and seeing how far they could go under water on their front and back. This was something they really seemed to enjoy and even the more shy children became involved. Once official play time came about the group still stayed together which waas quite nice to see. These are children who are making friendships purely from attending the swimming club.

At the end of the club two girls had remained in the water after the whistle had been blown. I asked them what they were doing. They had replied that they were staying on for the next club. That is what I call dedication!

Posted by Louise ( 9:20 AM )
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