‘A big thank you’ - great feedback for Get Started

There have been three Get Started courses at Striders since 2011, and at different points the Blog has heard from those taking part. But when the course comes to an end, what do people find they have got from it? After the last Get Started course participants were asked for their feedback. The results have shown the course’s value and effect: 

• Providing the motivation to keep running - ‘I never thought I’d still be running and would enjoy it so much but do, and this is not only because of the Get Started sessions but due to how welcoming and supportive Striders have been.’
• Demystifying track sessions - ‘To an inexperienced runner they are now less scary and understand that they are structured so that all levels can get something out of the sessions’
• Understanding more about the variety of training options - ‘I had never done hill reps – they were hard but now I know that, and it’s not daunting’ 
• Introducing Striders - ‘It provided me with the discipline to do something active and was the way into the club – without Get Started I wouldn't have joined’ 
• Getting to grips with being a club member - ‘The essentials session at the end of the course was really good and inspired you to keep going’

Everyone who responded said they would carry on running. Ruth, who joined in September 2012, told us more about her Get Started experience and her running plans for 2013: 

‘I really enjoyed the Get Started course, and thought it was a great and non-daunting environment for new starters to be included in the club, and make some acquaintances. 

'I started running 21 months ago to run the London marathon, which I managed in 5:30 in 2012. It was a bit slower than I hoped, because of a three week break with shin splints. 

Ruth, finishing VLM 2012 

'I joined Get Started hoping to help push my speed training. I wanted to join to improve my running technique and get training tips, and encouragement that I couldn't do by myself. I really love the track sessions - they are hard, but push me much harder than I push myself. 

'I liked not having to walk into a big club by myself and not know anyone or anything, a group intro was much better. 

'I’m running the London marathon again this year and I really want to get somewhere near 5 hours this time. I am doing the Silverstone half marathon in February. I did it last year, as well as being a great warm up for London its lots of fun to run on the race track!' 

So, a big 'Thank you' to everyone involved in helping with Get Started and in the Thursday night runs since then. Your support is really appreciated. More info about helping with the Thursday night run rotas can be found on the Facebook page and the Forum. 

That elusive 3 miles? Smashed!

So somehow, I've survived and managed to make it to week 3 of the ‘Get Started’ course. AKA  – half way. How has that happened? How am I actually managing to run these distances? I’m actually getting better?! Well apparently so – and in such a short space of time as well.

I’m going to backtrack to last week when I went on my first solo run without the Striders and the flatmate (yes – week one I was naughty and couldn’t quite bring myself to leave the house whilst it was heaving down with torrential rain. I hadn’t formed my runner’s guilt back then). Bearing in mind, I’d complained all around the Thursday session, and was a little saddened I hadn’t quite hit 3 miles, I was a determined little soul, slogging my way around Green Wood Park in Park Street. And believe it or not, that Sunday morning I actually wanted to get out of bed and run. There was no runner’s guilt here – I actually ‘fancied going for a run’. (For those who know me well, this is an oddity. Again, I must remind you of my history of sport. It’s not great…) So, iPod in, Nike GPS set, my 80s Casio special on my wrist to time intervals (a rather fetching gold colour) and off I went.  

I must have looked a sight. Sweaty, out of breath, but still managing to sing along (quite loudly) to my running playlist that I had created; the dog walkers and people taking their children to burn off some energy did give me rather a wide berth. However, I did it. 3.24 miles to be exact. I was beyond smug! I’m sorry to everyone I bored rigid that day with details of my run. It is official: I have become a running bore.

So back to the course. Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday. Not much to report here I’m afraid as I was in a poisonous mood and didn’t want to speak to anyone. I’d already stropped at my work colleagues for 8 hours, and couldn’t bear to put the Striders through the same ordeal. So I stayed at home. And felt horribly guilty. My flatmate reported back it was a particularly hard session with lots of hill work – but I was slumped in the bath at that time so can’t really comment. Sorry!

However, I was back in fighting form on Thursday. Abby was apparently poorly (get well soon!) so Julie led our run. More mean streets of St Albans running, more growling, more 'Simon Says' (love that game!) and another 5k smashed. Can I hear a ‘HURRAH’?! 

I was chatting to another Striders member around the course - Cazza - who was full of encouraging advice and helped me block out the pain of running when I was truly knackered. Getting hints and tips is invaluable from experienced runners, and definitely helps me stay focused when the going gets tough. We’re also getting up to 7 minute runs in our intervals. 5 minutes now seem a piece of cake (!) and it shocks me again how quickly I’m progressing. I know, I know, I sound like a broken record – however if I hadn’t joined the ‘Get Started’ course, I’d still be faffing around at 2 minute runs or such like. Or maybe even given up trying to run.

Finally, I’ve just come back from another solo run (with the flatmate this time) and we’ve clocked just less than 4 miles running around the village. I’m not quite sure how we did it, but we did. (Granted, with intervals but there was only a total of 6 minutes walking. The remaining 35 minutes was running.)  So now I’m pushing myself to get to that elusive 4 mile mark. Maybe next week, huh?

Also for next week - I’m still waiting to be taught on how to ‘Spit like a runner’ which was promised last week… all ladylike decorum and poise goes out the window apparently. I can’t wait!

Jemma Western

Puddle! Post! Pedestrian!

So, second week in and, apart from a pulled muscle in my collar bone (yes, I know you don’t need to say anything, only I could injure myself in such an obscure way), I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

This week the Green group saw themselves having to leave the relative safety of the park and run on the mean streets of St Albans. Across roads and everything - yes, it IS as scary as it sounds. Although I did feel for the Amber group who apparently had to do hill training on the Tuesday. Sorry guys, rather you than me.

Tuesday, we met the lovely Julie who will be our run leader for the Tuesday sessions going forward. As an ex ‘Get Started’ member herself, she detailed exactly what we would be doing in our session and instilled the group with confidence. More intervals – running for up to 5 minutes in total with one minute walks around Prospect Road, Cottonmill Lane, Holywell Hill, the Abbey and of course the obligatory lake circuit. The group found itself inadvertently playing a game of ‘Simon Says’ as we ran – bellowing all obstacles that would cross our paths. Starting with Julie, it would then echo its way down the group much to my amusement (they don’t call me Foghorn Leghorn for nothing). What the residents of St Albans would have made of us I don’t know, but definitely kept my mind off the fact I was running for 5 minutes straight. Mileage for that session was 2.65 miles.

Thursday was particularly tough for me. The flatmate was suffering from a nasty cold and had decided she wasn’t going to join me on the session so she wouldn’t exacerbate it. Along with the freezing, drizzly weather I must admit I was very tempted to ‘Bunk off’, stay in my nice warm house and watch rubbish television with her. But apparently you get runner’s guilt very quickly so I soon found myself shivering by the running track at 7pm with calls of ‘Blogger, you’re back’ from the other Striders. 

Abby was our run leader again, and apparently was still as evil as the week before, in the nicest possible way! This time, she got us up to a 6 minute run and up a very steep hill. Although I MAY have complained all the way throughout this run, Abby was fantastic at keeping us going and congratulating our efforts and hard work. We ran for 2.89 miles (so close to that elusive 3 miles.... maybe next week). I also managed to run my fastest mile, so in effect I can already run for faster and for longer, my recovery is already much better and it’s only my second week. Thank you so much Abby & Julie!

I can’t believe what I have achieved already and how quickly my stamina and endurance has built up with running. Of course, having a group of like-minded individuals helps, and the camaraderie is great. Whether you’re growling at each other over a particularly vicious hill (when I say growling, I mean the sound a dog would make rather than being horrible to each other), or encouraging other members who might be struggling that they CAN do this, having this kind of support is not something I would have expected would actually help so much. And what is really great is that there is no competitiveness. We’re all in this together.

The homework for this week is 5 min and 6 min runs with a hill. I think I’ve got my course mapped out and am planning on doing it Saturday morning with the flatmate. And if I think I won’t? That old runner’s guilt is there to chivvy me on. 

Jemma Western

'All the gear & no idea'

Hi there! So I’m the new girl who will be taking over the Get Started blog from Kate and will be chronicling my new venture into running over the next six weeks. Before I begin though, a little about me…

My name is Jemma; I’m 28 years old and have always been what you could call 'remedial' at any sort of sport. I was the child who got her pony tail stuck in the cargo net mid-obstacle race at primary school whilst trying to crawl under it. I was the teenager who used to hide from the teachers mid cross country run. I was the older teenager who would feign an ankle injury to get out of 100m sprints. And I am now the adult who has signed up to run a half marathon in October and have absolutely no running ability what so ever. A few panicked expletives do cross the mind at this point.

Luckily, I know a few marathon runners who I pumped for information regarding how I can get myself at a level where I can run 13 odd miles without collapsing. The one piece of advice that they all shared with me (bar buying good running shoes of course) is to join a running club. I must admit, I was sceptical. I assumed the Striders would be full of professional runners and had absolutely no intention of joining until I spotted the 'Get Started' course on their website. So I harangued my flatmate into joining with me and dutifully paid my £12.50 in the hope that I will become 'A Runner' within the next six weeks. And here I am – still standing after my first week and feeling absolutely elated!

So, Tuesday evening at 6:45pm, you would have seen me and my flatmate sitting in her car scared stiff and preparing to run away. This was until we realised that neither of us CAN run and that is the whole point of us attending this course. The nerves were bad as we made our way up to the athletics track in Verulamium Park. There were a number of groups standing around the track and we must have looked a little lost. Luckily, some kindly soul pointed us in the right direction (our first taste of just how friendly and encouraging the Striders are) and we found the other 40 'Get Started' runners.

We started the warm up – running in a large circle whilst stretching (at one point I did feel like I was in a Morecambe and Wise sketch with some of the stretches we were asked to emulate) and I was tired. This then made the panic set in – if I can’t handle a five minute warm-up, how was I going to run around a lake for half hour?! However, I did it. We ran for three minutes and walked for one and I kept up the whole way. 

What also surprised me was that we ran a distance of 2.61 miles (Thank you, Nike GPS!) and I can’t tell you just how proud of myself I was. Helen led our group (the Green group – or intermediate beginner in my opinion) and was fantastic, making sure we all kept up and motivating us to carry on.

Cut to the second session on Thursday. A little more confident this time, I tried not to let the Morecambe & Wise warm-up phase me. This time, our little band of merry runners was led by Abby, who was completing a marathon that week. Again, I managed to keep up and chatted with Abby and the rest of the group as we ran around the picturesque lake and thinking just how nice this all is. Until Abby broke the news that she had actually had us running four minutes to every one minute walk. Normally, this sort of white lie in relation to exercise would make me want to instantly give up, however I was actually none the wiser beforehand and my confidence shot through the roof knowing that I could do this. This time, we ran for 2.5 miles; however there was a little more running involved this time.

It is now Sunday, and I’m gearing up for my first lone run. I’m not sure how I’m going to do without the support of the Striders, so wish me luck. And I can’t wait for next Tuesday to see what I will achieve then….

Jemma Western

Final blog: The Get Started Park Run

By Kate Webb

With apologies to Frank Sinatra.......
And now, the end is near, and so I face the final Park Run
The bin, was our start line, and off we ran, into the bright sun
We’ve done Get Started now, we’ve travelled round St Albans’ highways
And now, just look at us, we’ve done a 5K

Blisters? I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention
We did what we had to do, and saw it through, with some exhaustion
Week 1 around the lake, then up some hills, and roads, and by ways
And now, here in the park, we’ve done a 5K!

Yes, there were times, today I saw, that dogs and ducks were running faster,
But through it all, with marshalls’ cheers, I buckled down and faced my fears,
We lapped the lake, ran to the end, and did a 5K.

We’ve jogged, warmed up and stretched, with Becky’s help, and tips from Helen
And now, while warming down, I have hopes for the next park run
To think, six weeks ago, I wouldn’t run, not in a fast way -
But now, in Autumn’s sun, we’ve done a 5K!

Massive thanks to Helen, Becky and all the Striders who’ve made the Get Started course so enjoyable. And for making sure it never rained!

See you Tuesday.
Kate

Week 5: There’s strength in numbers

By Kate Webb

So we are entering the home straight which means I can look back to where I started and reflect on what I now know, such as:

#1 – there are lots of runners in St Albans. Not news to the Striders maybe, but I’ve not really noticed before. Whenever I’ve been out I’ve always seen someone else running.

#2 - you need never do the same route twice. This is especially good if you get bored quickly, which I do.

#3 – I really don’t like running on my own. I’ve tried it and it’s just not as good as running with others.

Heading out at weekends, with my supportive husband for company, has been good. But when I’ve gone out on my own, I’ve found it much more difficult. I really value the chance to run as part of a bigger group on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I’ve found that numbers are helpful in other ways. For instance there’s running time – for the Green Team week 1 meant 5 minutes, while week 5 saw us run over half an hour. We can look at it in terms of miles covered too, though to be honest, here the records are less accurate. Garmins are still on our wish lists. But we are running further, definitely.

Having built up these stats I feel that there's still room to improve, and the end of next week promises more numbers, with an answer to the all important question: ‘What pace you do you run at?’

A few weeks ago when I was asked this, the best answer I could give was a shrug of my shoulders and a bit of a demonstration! Being able to answer confidently will give me something to build on in the future – for me, there’s definitely strength in numbers.

Intervals

By Kate Webb

9 October

Week four and I had to skip a session. I missed running, tea and cake on Tuesday as I had tickets for a play. I made up for it with butterscotch ice cream in the interval.

Intervals can mean different things in different circumstances. For me, until Get Started, the interval only happened at the theatre. It meant queuing for the loo or trying (usually in vain) for mobile reception to get an update on a ‘very important’ football match or something similar.

Over the last few weeks, intervals have been different. There’s been less ice cream for a start. The gentle and considered Green Team intro to running Striders-style has majored on intervals: run, (power) walk, run, (power) walk, repeat, until you’re back at the track for a warm down.

And then, in Thursday’s session, there was no interval.

Now, at the theatre in my experience ‘no interval’ isn’t always a good sign, for at least two reasons. First, there’s no chance to spend too much money on a small tub of ice cream. Second, there has been the odd occasion when I suspected that it was simply a way of stopping me walking out of a bad play.

‘No interval’ at Striders means something else entirely: we keep on running. On paper, given our sessions so far, this was a big step. The intervals were always a chance to catch up and get your breath back.

I suppose I knew this day would come, but the week 1 butterflies made a short reappearance as I wondered through the warm-up whether I’d manage to make it through to the end without stopping.

But to my amazement, ‘no interval’ didn’t leave me in an exhausted heap, and I coped. Okay, so we observed the Green Cross Code all the way round, and from time to time we jogged at a traffic light, but by the time we got back to the track we’d clocked up nearly 32 mins! It’s been years since I managed that and I was very chuffed as I made my way home.

Would it have been right to celebrate with an ice cream? Probably not. I’ll save that for another time, maybe after the 5k in a couple of weeks time.

Halfway Point

By Kate Webb

3 October 

Strictly’s back and we’re getting to the business end of X-Factor, which can only mean one thing: it’s time for the ‘Get Started’ half term report. 

So where have we got to? Six Striders’ sessions completed and three pieces of weekend ‘homework‘ done. New bits of kit have been purchased, more miles have been covered, new routes found, and the pace is slowly but surely building up. 

Progress can be difficult to judge when you are starting from scratch, but the continuing encouragement from Becky, Helen and the other Striders suggests we are getting better at this, and I have noticed that the sessions are slowly but surely getting easier. 

It’s even enjoyable in places, running off the stresses of the day! Although I’ve lost two name badges to the streets of St Albans (and had my car broken into) I get to the end of a session wishing that there was time for another interval or two. 

We've got three weeks to go, and something that began – for me - as a bit of a personal gamble is now a more of a guilty pleasure (not unlike Strictly in our house). As this stage, it is tempting to start looking beyond the twelfth session. I’m trying to work out how I will keep this up, finding time to run at weekends, and looking out for route ideas on walkjogrun and such like. 

This isn’t what usually happens when I exercise, but then firing up the barbeque in balmy October while Brucie introduces another Waltzing celebrity isn’t usual either.

Comfort Zones

By Kate Webb

26 September

So we came back for more. Tuesday night, sun setting, and Green Team assembling by the club house sporting a variety of fluorescent kit. Longer intervals this week, but that wasn’t the main difference. There were other comfort zones to break out of. 

On reflection, having spent week 1 jogging round the lake, I see that the park gives a lovely sense of security. It’s quiet, it’s sheltered, and most of the time it’s flat. But Get Started is about more than running in big circles with only ducks for company, so prompted by earlier sunsets and the descending darkness, week 2 saw the new Striders striding out into wider St Albans. 

It’s now becoming clear that this course is about more than putting one foot in front of the other at a reasonable pace. It’s about running while negotiating the real world in all its glory, and in St Albans this means, in no particular order, cobbles, hills, headwinds, traffic lights, hills, other people, hills, wheelie bins and cars. Oh, and hills. 

And that’s where the real benefit of running in a group starts to pay off, as we shout back and forth about the upcoming hazards, and encourage each other up Abbey Mill Lane and Mount Pleasant. 

Turns out that for all the pain, anguish, heavy breathing caused by running up a slope, there is a tremendous sense of speed (and achievement) to be gained from trotting down Holywell Hill back towards the park. (For now we’ll ignore the teenagers effortlessly going in the other direction.....give us time.) 

No doubt there will be more comfort zones that will be shattered along the way, but so far so good. Wonder where next week will take us?

Getting started

By Kate Webb

19 September

In spite of what the song, says, I’ve always had more trouble with Tuesdays than Mondays. Mondays seem to come with some in-built momentum and energy, whereas Tuesdays simply remind you that there’s an awful lot to get through before the weekend comes around. 


Given this, you’d have got very long odds at the start of the summer on the chances of me standing, on a Tuesday evening in September, neck to ankle in lycra, alongside the athletics track in Verulamium Park. Long odds not just because of my natural antipathy towards Tuesdays, but also because of my chequered history with trying to keep fit. I have, over the years, developed a finely tuned ability to talk myself out of any sustained attempt to exercise. While I’ve been able to see exactly how successful and rewarding gyms or spin classes, running or triathlons could be for friends and family, I’ve never been able to maintain any reasonable effort for myself. It’s always been too expensive, too inconvenient, or offered the unwelcome prospect of embarrassment or discomfort. 


So what changed? 
With the benefit of hindsight, it was a combination of things that led me to dust off the running leggings and check the elastic hadn’t perished. There was a latent sense that I should really do something to combat the commuting and office-based work life that occupies most of my week. 


There was the triple pincer movement of the announcement of the Get Started course – via twitter, email and facebook – so I couldn’t reasonably say I hadn’t seen it. Then there’s the cost - £12.50 for 12 sessions over six weeks and ongoing annual membership of the club which seemed to appeal to my Yorkshirewoman’s need for value for money. What’s more the Striders promised support from friendly coaches, no matter what level, which sounded right up my street and certainly worth a try. 


And then there were the welcoming and supportive emails from the Get Started team at the club who made it all seem very straightforward and easy. 


So there I was, nervously shifting from one foot to the other, as the sun set on one of the better days we’ve had recently alongside 40 other new recruits. 


First step – the warm-up. I have a sneaking suspicion that alongside a plan to get people running confidently there’s also a plan to enter a team in a synchronised formation warm up event (perhaps a spin-off of the 2012 Olympics). If so, there’s still work to be done here, but under Helen’s helpful guidance, and with some willing demonstrators, we soon had our pulse rate up and were feeling nicely warm. 


Then we split into our teams, organised by ability and led by Becky and marshalled by fully fledged Striders. I’d been assigned to the green team (green as in beginners, rather than suggestive of any speed). Fine by me – that’s exactly where I needed to be. And off we went, setting our own pace, with coaching tips as we went – 5 mins running, 2 mins walking – while the sun set and the wildlife on the lake watched on. 


And, much to my surprise, it wasn’t so bad. At times it was verging on enjoyable! So much so that I came back for more two days later, having found myself in a strange place (for me) of looking forward to it while at work during the day. The same pattern of warm-up, running, and warm down, accompanied by talk of day-glo tabards and building up towards doing a 5K (one day). 


Okay, so it’s only the end of week one, and there may be a bit of beginner’s euphoria as I type, but I’ve got a sense that something might have clicked and that in launching Get Started the Striders may have struck on a winning combination of friendly, supportive and practical exercise – at least a combination that can work for me. 


In spite of discovering muscles I never knew I owned, I managed another short run over the weekend (note to self – try without the slight hangover next time), and now I am really looking forward to what might come next. You’d have got even longer odds against that back in July. 


Of course, the danger through all of this is that I start to like Tuesdays and take against Mondays instead, but I’m too focused on getting myself some reflective kit to worry too much about that right now.