Dinas Powys: Ladies community running group

I thought I'd let you know about a group new ladies running group that's going to start in Dinas Powys this week. Vickie and David Woodsford are starting this group from scratch, here's their introduction from their running blog:

Welcome to Greenfield Runners. If you know us already then you'll know we are both keen amateur athletes. If you don't know us yet then please come along to our first run and introduce yourself. With the country being gripped by Olympic excitement, what better time to commit to get fit? With this in mind both Dai and I have signed up to a few projects for 2012, but this is definitely our most exciting one. As a relative newbie to this running malarkey I understand well that it is all to easy not to get those trainers on and get out there. It is tricky for ladies in particular to run alone after work both for motivation and safety reasons. So we would like to run with you and get you started.

How will it work? Well, we will meet at our dental practice every Wednesday evening (starting 22/2/12) at 5.30-5.45 pm and we'll go for a run. It really is that simple. We really are committed to helping anyone. There is no-one too slow or too unfit. If you're medically fit to exercise that's the only qualification you need.

There are loads of other benefits too. Every 6 weeks or so we will be having a guest speaker join us after our run. While we have some water and an orange wedge (or more likely a glass of wine and a cake!) an expert in their field will introduce the group to another type of fitness they might like to try. It will be an informal chat and should be a bit of fun that can show our members what facilities are available in our community.

There is no membership fee, no charge for our speakers or refreshments and no formal commitment required. We'd just like you to come along and enjoy yourself. If you'd like to progress onto a goal then we will commit to coming to your first parkrun 5k race and running it with you, if not and you'd just like to come on a Wednesday for a chat and a pootle around Dinas/Penarth then we'd love to see you.

So, if you're from Dinas Powys, Sully or Barry and fancy trying the ladies running group, you can contact them via their website or their blog below:

http://www.greenfielddentalcare.com/

http://greenfieldrunners.blogspot.com/

Learn To Run workshop

We held the first Learn To Run workshop of 2012 this morning in Cardiff's Run & Become running store.

Our Learn To Run workshop is aimed at beginners and improvers, where we teach the principles and drills of improved running technique with the aim of improving efficiency, reducing injuries and making them faster runners.

A beautiful morning greeted todays runners, the eager participants (from Cowbridge, Cardiff, Penarth and Sully) seemed to bring the weather with them as we were bathed in sunshine during our outdoor sessions.

For more information on our workshops, check out www.personal-trainer-cardiff.com/index.php/personal-trainer-cardiff/personal-trainer-cardiff-learn-to-run

Question: what do you do?

So, I had this question today from a member of the public. It was phrased something like, "I know you do sports massage, but what else?".

And this got me thinking, what do we do? If I had to catalogue our services and the locations where our clients come from, could I do it easily? It sounds a strange answer, but I'm not sure. You see, we've grown our services massively over the last few years and our clients come from all over the Vale of Glamorgan and beyond.

So to summarise, our services include:

Sports Massage
Sports Therapy
Nutritional Advice & Products
Running Coaching
Triathlon Coaching
Nordic Walking
Fitness Coaching

With clients from Newport, Cardiff, Penarth, Barry, Bridgend, Cowbridge, Porthcawl and Pontypridd (I'm sure I've missed a few!), including the Ulster rugby team (when they are in Wales playing the Cardiff Blues, the Ospreys or the Newport Gwent Dragons) and Cardiff City Football Club.

I think that about covers it!

Trigger Point Performance Therapy: Starter Kit

So, lately I've been using the Trigger Point Performance Therapy Starter Kit with the aim of reducing areas of tension in the key areas that influence movement quality, especially for running (in the lower limbs, that's mainly the calf (gastrocnemius & soleus) and the glutes (piriformis)). So what does that mean? Basically, it means reducing the length/tension relationship in the muscle, thus making the muscle more pliable or elastic (releasing the tension).

I've found that the Trigger Point Performance Therapy Starter Kit I have is a great kit to start with, it allows you to self massage and manage various aches and pains of the body, particularly for us multi-sport guys who always seem to suffer from aches and pains in the feet, achilles tendon, calf and glutes. For me, my achilles and lower soleus have never felt better!

This kit is definitely worth checking out, I know I'll be looking at their other sets soon, particularly the one which includes the kit for the quads and hamstrings (they call it the quad-baller). Train smart all!

Herbalife 24 is the new range of sports nutrition from Herbalife, now being used by Barcelona FC, LA Galaxy FC, Reading FC and the new Worlds Strongest Man!

For more information or to order, contact Delme at www.completehealthandwealth.co.uk

Learn To Run workshop: 19th Feb 2012

Would you like to run faster, with less effort? Well, with the Learn To Run workshop you’ll learn an effective run technique that allows you to run more efficiently, with no injuries and best of all, faster! With these new running skills you’ll enjoy a more active lifestyle and gain great health benefits whilst enjoying the wonderful sport of running.

Personal trainer John Bruno and running coach Mark Whittle have teamed up with Run and Become to present this amazing workshop. The workshop is primarily aimed at beginners and novices, so fitness levels aren’t important; the goal is to teach you the steps, principles and drills for you to become more successful at running.

The next Learn To Run workshop is:
Sunday February 19th 9.30am - 12.30pm
At Run and Become, Cardiff
Cost: £40
To register, please contact: John Bruno 07976 769390

Delme continues to work with Cardiff City FC

Delme is very pleased to announce that he will be continuing to work with Cardiff City FC in 2012!

Delme has worked with Cardiff City football club for several seasons now in his role as sports massage therapist, providing the Cardiff City players pre and post match sports massage.

For more information about Delme, sports massage (private clinic available in Cowbridge) or Cardiff City, contact Delme direct on 07887 924901.

New for 2012!

2012 is going to be an exciting year for Vale Sports Therapy!

Not only are we going to continue to offer a first class sports massage service and our Learn To Run workshop to the Vale of Glamorgan, we're going to be bringing exciting new services to Cowbridge, Bridgend, Barry, Cardiff and Penarth!

In 2012 we're going to be adding sports coaching and fitness training plans to our repertoire, including running plans (10k, half marathon and marathon), triathlon coaching (including individual Ironman Wales training plans), cycling coaching (including fitness testing to calculate training zones) and core conditioning training.

If you want to boost your 2012 racing season need help with your training, contact Mark on 07947010276 for more information.

Running training plans coming soon!

Do you need help with your running training? Do you have a big race coming up? Need some advice? Well, you've come to the right place.

Mark Whittle will be providing running training plans very soon. Mark will write you a personalised running plan, that fits in with your lifestyle (family, work, hobbies, etc) to help you achieve your goals. Whether it be to complete your first ever 5k or run the London Marathon in a new PB time, Mark can help you!

Mark also offers advice on running technique and general fitness (strengthening, toning, conditioning, etc) as well as race day advice (what pace to run, nutritional strategies, equipment, etc). For more information, contact Mark on 07947010276 or email him at valesportstherapy@yahoo.co.uk.

Nordic Walking: Penarth

Anyone fancy some Nordic Walking in the beautiful Vale of Glamorgan this weekend? This Sunday (6th November) John Bruno will be leading a group from Penarth, starting from the picturesque cliff tops and heading off into the very scenic countryside.

For a great morning out, socialising and exercising at the same time, contact John direct - John Bruno Total Training: 07976769390.

Trigger Point Performance comes to Vale Sports Therapy

Trigger Point Performance Therapy comes to south Wales with Vale Sports Therapy! So what's it all about?

Trigger Point Performance Therapy products allow you to self massage in a safe and effective way, on a daily basis! It's about empowering yourself and using the products to facilitate optimum functioning of soft tissues and help manage aches and pains associated with the muscles that allow the body to move.

The Trigger Point Performance products are specifically designed to support Myofascial Release, which refers to the manual massage technique for stretching the fascia and releasing any "stickiness" between the fascia and the muscles. The goal of which is to provide a more elastic soft tissue that has the capacity to withstand force and generate power.

Whether you're a serious athlete or a weekend warrior, the Trigger Point Therapy products can help to reduce back pain, plantar fasciitis, shin splints, knee pain and more.

The range of Trigger Point Performance kits will be available soon, for information check out the main Trigger Point Therapy website at www.tptherapy.com or our friends at Balance Physiotherapy.

Herbalife 24

Herbalife 24 is the new range of sports nutrition from Herbalife, now being used by Barcelona FC, LA Galaxy FC, Reading FC and the new Worlds Strongest Man!

For more information or to order, contact Delme at www.completehealthandwealth.co.uk

Cardiff half marathon

I had 3 or 4 people running the Cardiff half marathon yesterday and I'm pleased to say they all had a great day! Admittedly they're all novices, so improvements are perhaps expected, but working with novices makes it so exciting. They're all short on time due to work and family commitments but work hard with the limited time they have to train, and it showed today. I'm really proud of all them, very well done guys!

Running workshops in Cardiff

Mark has just finished a series of 4 running workshops in Run and Become in Cardiff in the run up to the Cardiff half marathon. Mark was joined by Personal Trainer John Bruno and Physiotherapist Karen Pearce to provide advice to the half marathon runners on running injuries, run technique, nutrition, mind focus and general run training advice.

The workshops were well received, giving the novice runners a boost before race day. Look out in 2012 for more running workshops in Cardiff, as we'll be supporting the Cardiff half marathon again next year. Have a great race everyone!

European long distance triathlon champs

Well, here it is, the race report from the European Long Distance Triathlon Champs that was held on Sunday in Finland:

We arrived early (we, being the 4 RAF guys who had made the team) and had lots of time to recce the swim, bike and run courses. The swim looked very long, the bike looked pretty flat (and boring) whilst the run looked like the only interesting part of the race, sweeping around the lake through a slightly wooded area with gravel trails. We attended the race registration and race brief and to be honest, the organisation wasn’t great, this definitely wasn’t a WTC event!

Back to the race, morning arrived and we had a quick breakfast in the hotel before heading off to the transition area. The location of this race was actually very good, with an athletics stadium being used for T1/T2 which was only 5 minutes walk from our hotel, with the lake being adjacent to the stadium. After putting all our nutrition onto our bikes we headed down to the start area. The elite men and women went off first, with the age group men going next (us) and the age group women to follow.

We all jumped into the water and after a minute or two, the horn went and we were off. With less than 200 men in our wave start, there wasn’t the usual biff you get at the start of an Ironman race, I quickly found some open space and headed the 300m or so to the first turn buoy. After this turn, we essentially had to swim in a big rectangle finishing down a canal next to the stadium. The out leg seemed to take forever! I managed to find some feet to sit on for a while and settled in to a pace that I thought I could hold for 4k. We eventually got to the far turn bouy (maybe 1.8k into the swim leg), turned, swam another 200-300m and turned again for the return and final leg. We were now swimming into a bit of current and the sun was rising in front of us which made navigation a little difficult.

I was starting to feel a little tired now. The current was sapping my energy and the navigation meant sighting was harder, fortunately someone swam up to me, so I jumped on his feet and trusted he was sighting correctly. It seemed his sighting was spot on as we arrived at the mouth of the canal in fairly quick time, I knew it was another 300m or so to go, so decided to stay with my new friend and let him direct me into the exit point. It got a bit congested here and I got a smack round the head for my troubles, but all in all it was an uneventful swim – just what I was hoping for. I stood up, checked my watch and saw 1:06. I was particularly pleased with this as I was expecting to see 1:10 – 1:15. Good start!

Quickly into transition the wetsuit was off and I was ready to exit T2. As I grabbed my bike Marc P (an RAF team mate) came into T1, I was quite happy about this as I expected Marc to beat me out of the water, but as he is a better biker I knew he would catch me quite soon. Anyway, out on the bike I went, I settled into the aero position and started pushing on, knowing Marc would be chasing me hard! Once I settled down I started thinking about my nutrition, I looked down at my Speedfil bottle (fits on the down tube, with a tube coming up to bike cockpit) and realised it was half empty! It was leaking! Things like this can put you right off your game, but there’s no point in worrying about it. I knew I had plenty of nutrition on me and I could always pick up some more from the aid stations as my cast iron stomach can cope with most types of sports drinks and gels.

The bike was 6 laps of 20k (well, it was a little shorter than 20k as they cut off a little part of the course for safety reasons), and it was a bit boring. We biked out of town, onto some fast roads, then onto a motorway for a mile or so, then climbed up a long shallow climb, back down the motorway and into town again. Coupled with that a few dead-turns (which really slowed you down!) and quite a bit of wind, it was not the most exciting of routes.

Marc came past me at the end of the first lap (as expected), so I estimated he was putting about 1:30 into me on each lap. I was ok with that as I knew my run was strong enough to pull that back later on in the day. The laps ticked away, and apart from some Spanish pro’s and some Finnish age groupers drafting, it was a very clean bike race. I came towards T2 quite glad the bike leg was over, I checked my watch and saw a bike split of about 3:26, I was ok with that. It wasn’t great, but it was ok, and I had my strongest leg to come!

The run was 4 laps of 7.5k, so it would be easy to gauge your pace and spot other age groupers and see where they were in the race compared to you on each lap. I set out on the first lap with the intention of going easy. As I was approaching the first turn point (at 3.75k) I was very surprised that I hadn’t caught anyone! This wasn’t normal. Was everyone else really running that fast? Was I running slow? Too slow? I put this to the back of my mind and continued on.

As it turned out I shouldn’t have worried as I caught 9 people in the next 3.75k (including my team mate Marc). The pace felt easy and I completed the first lap in about 33 minutes. Now it got a little confusing, as there were quite a lot of people on the run course, you didn’t know if they were on their first lap or third lap. It didn’t really matter though, as I continued to run at my own pace, I felt good and people were coming back to me fairly quickly. The laps ticked away and I continued to sip my energy gels whilst taking water and coke from the aid stations, everything was going to plan.

I was now coming towards the end of the third lap and I could feel myself slowing down. It wasn’t quite the Ironman-shuffle, but I was definitely slowing. I started the fourth and final lap knowing that if I ran the last 7.5k in 40 minutes I would break 7 hours for the race. This was now my motivation. I didn’t care who I was passing (I stopping counting after passing 25 people), I just wanted to keep pushing on to break the 7 hour barrier. I got the final turn point and worked out I had 20 minutes to do the last leg in, this would be a tough ask. I was now very tired. I had walked the last 2 aid stations, taking on lots of water and coke, so to get back to the stadium and do a lap of the athletics track and finish in 7 hours was going to be hard, hard work.

I pushed on, I was now hurting. I wasn’t out of breath at all, just tired and my muscles didn’t want to respond to my brain telling them to move – faster! I could now see the stadium and hear the crowds. I guessed I had about another 5 or 6 minutes of pain to endure. Surely I could do that? Could I?

I was pushing again, pain filled my legs and lungs but its amazing how the crowds drive you on. I entered the stadium and saw 2 Finnish athletes in front of me. I had about 350m to go and there was no way I was going to let them beat me! I pushed again, passed the first guy, reached the second guy, he tried to react but he was spent, I was past him and driving on to the finish line. I looked at my watch with about 50m to go, I knew I was under 7 hours, it was instant relief! With the Finns behind me and 7 hours in the bag, I could coast to the finish line savouring the atmosphere.

I’ll blog more later about my post race feelings, my crazy taper strategy and my views on the whole GB representation, but needless to say, I was very pleased with my race. I came 11th in my age group and went sub 7 hours, I’ll take that! Many thanks to my family, friends, coach and sponsors for all your support, I know it’s a cliché, but without all your help I would never have made it to Finland to represent my country. That means a lot to me, so I thank you all.