Archive for November 2009
This Will Be The Week This Will
30/11/2009 by Dick.
Sue Ashton makes history as the last Chepstow Harriers Coach of the Month* giving you the choice of the Danes Loop or a new speed session on Tuesday.
As you probably know the Danes Loop gives the double benefit of uphill leg strength work combined with the leg speed bonus that comes with downhill running. Choose 4, 5 or 6 loops to suit your schedule and aims.
Sue has given the Link Road session an interesting slant this Tuesday with an 800 metre downhill burst followed by two 400 metre uphill dashes. You repeat these 2 or 3 times to give you either 4.8 or 6.4 kilometres of speedwork. Try these at your 5k race pace. Get together with four or five runners of about your pace to keep you company, but remember that you get maximum benefit from a training session if you run with control and style.
Thursday’s run is our Sedbury route. Follow it on the Training & Coaching Page.
Let’s hope this Sunday’s Gwent League at Taunton isn’t put off by the weather as last Sunday’s LCL XC at Pontypool was. I believe this is the first time that this venue has been used and it’ll be interesting to try out what’s described as a challenging course. Taunton sounds like a long trek but it’s only a few junctions down the M5. http://www.gwent-league.org.uk/2009/fix093.htm You’ll see that Snr Women start at 12 and Men at 12.40, so no hanging around between races.
AA Travel advises 1hr 10min (60 miles), so we’re planning to be off at 10 to allow time for parking up and pitching our trusty tent. The Bulletin Board announces that it’s Joseph Matthews’ first birthday so look out for a party atmosphere!
*If you’ve got this far and are wondering why no more Coach of the Month, that’s because from Jan 2010 we’re going to have Triple Coaches of the Quarter. This fits in with our periodisation strategy of peaking every three months for an important race. So the formidable trio of Geoff Bayliss, Lou Summers and Ivan Teed will be devising and managing next Jan, Feb & March, and will be nurturing us along for a triumphant assault on the FOD Half Marathon on 28 March. Wow!
Chepstow Champions on the Fells
28/11/2009 by Dick.
The Stott clan, Sue Ashton, Liz Francis and James Blore came away from the 2009 Welsh Championships presentations today after the Blorenge race with plenty of trophies and vouchers.
Gill S walked off with both the Welsh and South Wales series first prizes in her age group, with Sue close behind in both. Liz was third in her category in the S Wales. Andy S picked up the M50 2nd prize for S Wales, while Matt S and James were first and second in the U23 category.
In this afternoon’s Winter Hill Race up the Blorenge, Paul Murrin and Matt were 4th and 5th, with (as far as I know) Sue first in her age group.
AGM Highlights
27/11/2009 by Dick.
A packed AGM on Thursday approved Sue Ashton’s Club Championship scoring proposal, drew the three Club London Marathon entries and voted in the new Committee.
Sue and Vanessa are the 2010 Club Champs co-ordinators and announced that the first three events will be the Riverbank Rollick over in Thornbury on 17 January; the LCL cross-country in Chepstow’s Piercefield Park on 21 February; and the Forest Of Dean Half Marathon on 28 March. The scoring system details can be viewed in the AGM notice sent to all members three weeks ago.
Drawn out of Syd’s hat were Andy George, Phil Conridge and Steve Harriers. If for any reason any of these three are unable to run the London Marathon, they must pass their entry on to a reserve. These were drawn as Colin Parry, Roberta Havers and Phil Scrivens in that order.
The new Committee is:
Chair – Andy Ost. Treasurer – Bram Fischer. Secretary – Dick Finch. Women’s Team Captain - Lou Summers. Men’s Team Captain – Mark Harvey. Club Coach – Dick Finch. Communications Coordinator – Gerry Ashton. Membership Secretary – Bram Fischer. Webmaster – Ivan Teed. Welfare Officer – Chris Rees. Events Officer – Jan Morris. Newsletter Editor – Matt Leathard. Sponsorship Officer – Bill Bewg. New Members Officer – Geoff Bayliss. Championships Coordinators – Vanessa Lawson & Sue Ashton. Press Officer – Lou Summers. Club Kit – John Wright. Entries Secretary – Stuart Penny. Life President - Syd Wheeler.
The meeting showed its appreciation to those standing down - Sian Griffiths, Jane Bayliss, Andy Creber and Gareth Jenkins.
Although the Treasurer’s report showed a significant spend in the last 12 months, Bram explained that this was down to a number of exceptional items that were not expected to recur. Accordingly there was no support for a suggestion that the membership fee be increased.
Although the proposal to introduce a voucher system to encourage and reward race volunteers was not adopted, there was a constructive debate producing some good ideas for consideration by the committee.
LCL XC Postponed
25/11/2009 by Dick.
Fairwater Runners have told us that recent rain has made Pontypool Park unsafe for a cross-country race on Sunday.
A new date will be arranged and publicised as soon as agreed. It’s unlikely to be before the year end.
We’re still planning a run on Sunday, and all are invited to meet at the top car park of our Leis Ctre at 9.45 for a run in Piercefield Park. This’ll be a great opportunity for newer runners to have a go at cross-country in a non-competitive atmosphere. Juniors are especially invited to join in.
LCL XC - Pontypool Park - Sun 29th Nov
25/11/2009 by Ivan.
Race route (revised) map for the pontypool park XC this weekend can be found on our website
http://www.chepstowharriers.org.uk/xc.htm
Or direct link to the pdf file : http://www.chepstowharriers.org.uk/pdf/LCL-XC-29Nov-Fairwater-PontypoolParkXCCourse.pdf
NOTE : Due to the route change it is now 4laps for the men, 3laps for the Ladies (not yet had chance to amend the note on the website)
The Busy Week Ahead
24/11/2009 by Dick.
Lots of good things on this week, dear Reader, starting with a nice choice of training on Tuesday.
You can opt for 12X400 metres down the Link Road with 90 secs recovery between each burst. This one’s designed to boost your speed endurance, with the bonus of doing wonders for your leg speed and stride on the downhill sections especially. As you know, speed is what you need to improve your race PBs, and speed is the product of leg pace and stride length.
Two other elements of successful running are cardiovascular fitness (heart/blood vessels/lungs/muscle fibres) and strength. You can get both of those from the alternative session on School Hill. We’ve split this into three sets of four, so you’ve got a nice break after four and then eight bursts up the hill. This will enable you to attack each rep with fresher legs and thus get more benefit from a higher knee lift and a stronger stride.
If you’re torn by this choice and feel you should do both, then why not save the hill session for another day in the week? A weekly hill session is strongly recommended and many runners find that they can fit one in in an odd half-hour and still train hard the next day.
A special evening on Thursday …. it’s our AGM. Here’s your chance to influence what goes on at the Club, to hear about what’s being planned for our future, and to vote for committee members. The Tour of the Town run will start early at 6.30, with the meeting starting at 8 down in the Community room, where a tasty buffet will be ready at 7.30. A special feature will be the draw for our three Club London Marathon places. If you haven’t given Syd your name for this then do so by Tuesday eve.
On Saturday at Llanfoist Village Hall near Abergavenny the notorious Blorenge Winter Fell Race starts at 2pm. Entry on the day is all of £2.50. Only a couple of miles in total with just the one hill, it’s a pussycat really. Last year our Coachy found it too short and easy and added a couple more miles just to get his money’s worth. Anyone who dares to suggest that he got seriously lost will be hearing from his solicitors Thrett, Grabb & Fleecem.
More importantly Sunday is the next LCL XC with a welcome return to Pontypool Park that oldtimers will remember with fondness from the early years of the League. Meet at our LC readyto leave at 9.45 (note change), or be at Ponty in time to start running at 11. DON’T FORGET YOUR NUMBER!
Prizes, Dam Prizes and Trophies
21/11/2009 by Dick.
The Chepstow invasion to wet mid-Wales today had lots of members leaving the Valley 10 with great Elan.
Marianne took first prize in the race itself, the gold for first E Wales on the day and the trophy for first in the 2009 E Wales Champs. Wow!
Lou took third place and first vet prize in the race and the gold for E Wales on the day.
Sue and Brenda were first in age cats and also E Wales golds, while Brenda was also E Wales series Champion.
Laurie was first 50 in the race, and E Wales gold medallist on the day.
Skippy Mark couldn’t make the race but took the E Wales series Champs by virtue of his performances in the first three races.
E Wales medals on the day also went to Niki, Dave Andrews, Dick and James (sorry I left James off the original blog).
And finally, Chepstow Harriers were Club Champions for the whole series.
Hope I got this all correct.
Many thanks to our Eric and Andrew Taylor of Caerleon for organising the E Wales Championships and travelling to all the races to work out the results and give out the prizes.
The Forthcoming Week 16 Nov
16/11/2009 by Dick.
Decision time on Tuesday. One choice is the Thornwell Loop - which is about 1200 metres - either 3, 4 or 5 times with 90 secs recovery between each loop and including a 1200 effort down the Link Road. So you jog to the top of the Link Road with your small group of similar-speed clubmates, do 400 mtrs of warm-up drills, and then push the remaining 1200 mtrs as the first of your 3, 4 or 5 speed efforts at your 5k race pace. You might like to record your times for each of these speed surges as we’re planning to repeat the session every two months so that people can measure their progress as time goes by.
The other choice is 4, 5 or 6 spells of 800 mtrs on the Link Rd also with 90 secs recovery and at 5k pace. Here again if you can keep a record of your times, we’ll be repeating this session regularly.
On Thursday it’s time for the monthly 5k Time Trial on the Severn Bridge. This will be an excellent sharpener for the big race on Saturday…..
….. the final race in the E Wales 2009 Championship series: the Elan Valley 10. If you haven’t already entered, the link on our Fixtures page gives contact details for late entries. This is a very scenic road race based at the Elan Valley Visitor Centre just down the road from Rhayader in mid Wales. Start time is 1pm so plenty of time to get yourself there.
Finally two fun things to round off the week - on Friday evening we have our next Club Quiz Night. Only £2 per entrant with a finger buffet at half-time. Get yourselves into teams of up to six to enjoy a wide variety of questions set by Steve ‘Excuses’ Harris. As Steve says on the Bulletin Board, “The questions are easy. It’s just the answers are hard!”
And on Sunday Sue and Gerry Ashton bring the Fell Series to a close. Sue says “We hope you all can make it to the Presentation in Monmouth on Sunday 22nd November. Meet at Monmouth leisure centre at 10:30 for a choice of training runs: flat along the river, or a recce of the Kymin Winter Fell Race route. For a fee you can shower at the leisure centre then back to the Ashton house (Prospect House, Prospect Road) for a bit of food and the prize-giving. All welcome, but try to let us know if you are coming.”
Tom Gibbs - World Champion!
15/11/2009 by Dick.
News has just arrived that Chepstow Harriers’ Tom Gibbs navigated the Helly Hansen Prunesco Team to victory in the 2009 World Adventure Racing Championships in Portugal last week.
This is the most demanding multi-disciplinary race and requires teams of four to kayak, trek, mountain bike, swim etc etc 900k over 5 days. See the website for more: http://www.sleepmonsters.co.uk/racereport.php?page_action=rep&race_id=7511&article_id=6232
Congrats Tom and your team. Can we have a personal report when you’re back and you’ve caught up with your sleep?
London Marathon Club Places
13/11/2009 by Dick.
Reminder - all claims from those who failed to get a place in the 2010 London Marathon should be made to Syd by Tues 24 November.
You must have been a member for at least 12 months and should tell Syd which Club events (at least two) you helped at in the last year
