Call me "Coach"!

It has been almost a week since I posted last.  I'm slacking (but I'm sure you're all secretly glad!)

What have I been up to?

Last Wednesday was my last proper run.  I'll explain a bit more in a moment why.  I had Izzy for 24 hours over the weekend and it didnt really leave me much time for anything else, with what I had pencilled in for Sunday.

Right, the Plums Run.  Brutal.  Well I thought it was.

I was suffering. I'd run a nice warm up of 1.5 miles down to the club and I felt raring to go. Ok, maybe a little lacking in energy but not too bad. To be honest, I was really prepared as I'd just assumed that we'd be doing another road run but it turns out we were going off road, over Bostall Heath and Lesness Abbey. I was in my road runners, not a major disaster but would have been better off with trail shoes but I went with the flow. 

Now considering I'd run a "gentle" off road 7.5 on Bank Holiday Monday, to run off road so soon afterwards came as a shock to the system. My HR was all over the shop. Well I felt like it was.  I was ruined by the time we'd got back to Wickham St and I headed straight home, so unlike me.  Ok, with the warm up I'd done 9.5 miles for the night but I felt absolutely spent.  Its so rare for me to feel like that.  I'd run 10 miles with the Plums on Sunday, run again Monday evening then had one day of rest but even so.

So with that in mind, I decided to rest on Thursday and then because I had Izzy on Friday and Saturday, I had three rest days.  It was lovely.

Sunday was an altogether different day for me.

I went to Norman Park in Hayes to attend a Leadership in Running Fitness (LiRF) course, which upon completion, would give me a licence to be able to lead running groups at the Plums.  Given where I have come from in terms of my fitness, I think I'd be a good role model for any beginners signing up.

It was a long 9-5 course but I learnt an awful lot.  The day was made up of interactive classroom lectures and practical sessions on the track.  We were given the skills and then we had to go out and put them into practice by creating warms up, main sessions and cool downs for beginners and the more able runner.

A thoroughly enjoyable day but maybe I felt a little out of my comfort zone as I didnt actually know anything about running technique apart from what I learnt on the course.  At the end of the day, I was never taught how to run.  I just run.  I've never given any thought at all to my technique but today was the day I looked at things just a little differently.

Unfortunately for me, a lot of the drills and sessions organised involved a lot of sprinting and I felt as though I'd pulled my groin in the afternoon session and I'd felt both hamstrings tighten.  However I got through the day and subject to my CRB/DBS check or whatever the authorities call it now, I'm now a licenced Leader in Running Fitness and I'll be able to help out the beginners at Plumstead Runners.