Junior Park Run

On this cold chilly morning 3 GG members got out of their warm beds to carry out various volunteering roles at Junior Park Run 🏃🏻‍♂️

Wayne, Alys, & James were at the park to help, cheer and support the runners around the 2k course.

Wayne & Alys were marshals around the course while James was supporting the runners through the final tunnel 😀

In total this morning 92 young runners braved the cold with the fastest time being a fantastic 07:41 👏 There were also 23 PB's great running by everyone.

There was not a Good Gym task scheduled for us to participate in today. James decided tonight was the perfect opportunity to run an interval training session for us to participate in instead.

Unfortunately, the majority of Woking Good Gym were unable to attend the session for a variety of reasons and we hope our team mates who are unwell feel much better very soon!

Nadia and Kirsty overcame the temptation to remain at home and joined the interval training session held at Woking Park. After carefully listening to Nadia's personal goal of achieving a 30-minute parkrun James expertly and quickly calculated the correct running pace and distance both girls needed to complete during the interval training session to prepare them towards being able to achieve a 30-minute parkrun.

The session started with an easy pace jog covering a 2km distance to warm up (a Junior parkrun 2 laps of Woking Park). Nadia and Kirsty both listened intently to James as he explained the science behind the training.

Now completely warmed up, the intrepid threesome began the interval session. The intervals consisted of running 30 repetitions of 150m at a 5 minute km pace with a 10-second period of recovery in between each interval. Nadia and Kirsty quickly became suspicious about whether the 10-second brief respite breaks given were actually 10-seconds, it seems they were but to the girls who were adjusting to running at a faster pace than usual it didn't feel like it!

Nadia quickly regretted wearing her waterproof jacket and knitted headband while Kirsty regretted encouraging Nadia to set herself the challenge of achieving a 30-minute park run as this formed the basis for the training James had planned for the session!

Nadia's stamina and mental strength impressed the group as she managed to complete all 30 of the intervals without extending any of the 10-second rest breaks.

When Nadia first joined Good Gym Woking she declared she was not a runner, well, as so often happens at Good Gym Woking, she most definitely is now!

Kirsty completed 26 repetitions having decided to extend several of her 10-second respite breaks.

James proved a very entertaining and informative run leader as he shared his knowledge of 'the science' behind the session he had planned.

This was nicely distracting and interesting for his rapt audience; James also instructed them in guided breathing techniques and insisted on seeing them run with high knees to maximise both their performance and endurance.

'We don't pant at Good Gym!'. He was incredibly supportive and encouraging throughout the session and when the session was complete the endorphins were flooding everyone's systems.

Both girls expressed their gratitude to James for giving up his time tonight to plan and lead a session designed to help them improve their fitness and confidence and felt surprised and proud of their runs which totalled approximately 8 km covered in less than 50 minutes.

At the end of the session, James who has a running shoe collection Imelda Marcus would envy encouraged the girls to purchase some new running shoes to set them up for hitting sub-30 minute parkruns at Battersea park run on the 7th of December.

He has shared his discount code with Good Gym Woking so be sure to check his top pick out!

Upcoming Good Gym opportunities for members to sign up to include a gardening task at the Church of St John the Baptist on Saturday, Junior parkrun volunteering on Sunday morning (and every Sunday morning), All Aboard Club for SEN children also on Sunday.

Leaflet dropping for Sam Beare Hospice on Wednesday 20 November.

Thank you to all the members of this community-led Good Gym for promoting and organising so many events in support of local causes.

Don't forget to sign up for the 'Run up to Christmas' campaign to raise funds for mental health charities.

Please be aware this campaign has a cost of £17 per entry, but you will have the choice of receiving a participant medal or donating the contribution to the charity. Be sure to check the session page frequently as it is constantly being updated thanks to so many people's efforts.