I have three blogs I need to write up for this weekend. and they are all going to be done, honest. But for now I really want to get this one done, its all about Saturday!
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| Our spring Beginners |
Saturday morning saw the start of the spring beginners course! I do love these sessions. ZippySherry and I will be leading around 60 or so beginners from couch to a 5k parkrun in over 9 weeks. I was first to lead. It's all so very exciting and also very nerve wrecking to see all those eyes on you, but I really do love it!
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| DiscoRich doing the introductions |
DiscoRich was there, he did the introductions and then handed straight over to me and Sherry! We were not by ourselves though, there were at least 25 other PWR's that had come out to lend a hand, to encourage all the beginners, to run, answer questions and anything that they needed to know.
There were an enormous amount of new comers and also a few from previous courses, but all of them were there with an enthusiasm to do well, and I guess there was a little apprehension in there too! But there was no need, we are renowned for our friendliness at Petts Wood Runners. So with all the introductions done it was time to start them on their road to the running community!
As usual we start of really gently, we don't want to scare them off! So a nice brisk walk twice around the rec, get the heart rate pumping just a little bit harder than a normal walk would. Then it's our drills, just to make sure their muscles are prepared for whats about to come. I thought I would keep it a little bit easy for the first one, no really silly drills, I didn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable doing some of our silly walks, but as the time progresses we will introduce some more drills into the mix.
Then it was time for the running. I was so nervous about forgetting to check my garmin, I literally had my arm almost jammed into my face so I wouldn't miss how long we had been running for. For the first week we only run for 1 minute and then walk for 5 minutes! We do that five times! And there's the other thing, I get so excited about our beginners I sometimes forget how many times we have done the running bits! Was it 3 or was it 4? But I know that someone will tell me!
Watching them all run around for that first minute is really very inspiring! They are all trying their hardest to keep a good pace on them, or just to not stop running for that first minute and then when I blew the whistle they all looked a bit stunned! It went just so quickly. The next five minutes were spent walking briskly around the rec, with the beginners all talking about that first minute, how they found it, how they thought the minute was up so quickly, how it took for ever to blow the whistle! But they all did it, which is exactly what we wanted them to do, another 4 times we repeated that, each time I think all of them managed to keep on running in the running bit!
I blew the whistle for the last time for our 5 minutes walking around the rec. The banter changed then. Yes look at you all, you have completed the first of 9 sessions to get to a 5k non stop park run! Of course there is the stretches afterwards, to gently stretch out the muscles so as they don't ache and complain too much! And voila! It's done! A fantastic first session, everyone really enjoyed it, including our own PWR's!
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| Stretches |
I just gave out the homework instructions and some leaflets for them to take home and that was it for week one Spring 2017 beginners course! I can't wait till next week! Just a couple more photos for you all!
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| There me, trying to keep them all calm and relaxed! |
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| Some of our PWR's lending a hand |
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