Blackpool Freedom Runners

As today parkrun celebrates a million parkruns it might be a timely reminder to those who have not designated us as their running group how to do so. It is quite simple:
Log onto your parkrun account
Select Groups
Search Blackpool Freedom Runners
Job Done 👍

24th June we are going "Back To Our Roots" by calling on the runners with Blackpool Freedom Runners to recreate the pre-Covid turnouts that we used to enjoy.
Our Wednesday Session always attracted good numbers and we hope that runners past and present will join us on this day.
This session is our heritage - where we all started. We were all parkrunners and decided to get together on a Wednesday to run the parkrun course again rather than wait the full 7 days for our running fix. 👍

Last weekend saw 67 runners complete a parkrun over 12 different venues. Unsurprisingly Lytham was very well supported as we gave a great send off to Louisa on her awesome challenge. We managed to get representation in 2 different countries (3 if you include Wales)
Well done everyone and I wonder what this weekend will bring - looking for some PB's if possible 🏃‍♀️🏃🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️‍➡️🏃‍➡️🏃‍♂️‍➡️

I don't understand why I'm not getting faster when I run 3 or 4 times per week!? We often hear this and yet our Group Of The Week Tuesday Reps is regularly underused.
Mile/KM reps involves running the set distance slightly faster than your 5k pace and then recovering before repeating. For mile reps there is a 3 minutes recovery and for KM reps there is a 2 minutes recovery. They teach your body that you can run faster than you think or more importantly faster than your brain thinks.
Yes they are harder work than a traditional run but the benefit you get back is huge. Key benefits from this, and other similar sessions are:
It forces your body to utilize oxygen more efficiently, which naturally increases your overall speed.
They train your aerobic system to run longer and faster before you cross the threshold into muscle fatigue and heavy breathing.
This type of training helps increase red blood cells and strengthens both fast- and slow-twitch muscle fibers, meaning you expend less energy at faster speeds.
Breaking your run into manageable, mile-long or KM-long chunks teaches you exactly how your goal race pace feels, helping you avoid going out too fast.
They demand you to get comfortable with physical discomfort. This mental grit pays off massively in the late stages of races like a 5K or a marathon.
Want to be a better or fitter runner, then give this session a go and see the rewards 👍

It's not often that we get the opportunity to follow the adventures of a runner mid-week but this week is one of those weeks. On Saturday 6th June Louise Porter was supported by many BFR runners at Lytham parkrun prior to setting off on a mammoth challenge of cycling nearly 400 miles from Lytham to Risca, South Wales.
Louise is now over half way and is making good progress as she tackles the various challenges each day throws up. Having set an initial target of raising £1000 for Diabetes UK this target was smashed so she reset the target to £2000. Incredibly this target has also been smashed and at the time of writing the fundraising total stands at an amazing £3285.
For those who have yet to support her please visit her website to read about each day's journey and find details of how to support her and her chosen charity. https://www.l2rchallenge.co.uk/
Keep going Louisa you're doing really well!

Blackpool Freedom Runners are much more than runners who run amazing distances or make big steps to achieve an amazing achievement. There are also those members who go out regularly to support others in their exploits.
This week we turn our spotlight on one of those individuals, Mick Arthur. An accomplished runner himself, he frequently turns up at events to create some fantastic memories for other runners. He does this by finding the best place to be for the photo whether that be on the top of a huge hill or out in the rain there is always thought and pride in his photographs. He is also able to do what others find difficult in producing an action shot of runners where the runner actually doesn't appear to be deformed or grimacing. Just a small selection is added to this post.
In recent weeks he has turned up at Warrington Way, The Lap, Run The Wyre and the Lakeland Ultra and has taken action shots of many regular BFR sessions thereby promoting them to others who might be curious or anxious of joining the session.
There are many others who perform similar supporting roles but on this occasion we salute and thank Mick for his continued support and we hope it long may continue.
🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡

Sunday 7th June might have been the day after we celebrate D-Day but for some intrepid Blackpool Freedom Runners this was their own personal D-Day.
Inspired by previous achievements of run leaders Emma and Amanda they set off on their own venture to complete an Ultra Marathon and the training started in earnest. As the weeks passed by their confidence grew until it was finally the day to put it all together.
Hazel Bigley and Fiona Clegg were the BFR runners home with a very impressive time of 8 hours 44 minutes. Then came the first group of the BFR Ultra Crew with Amanda leading home John Jordan, Cindy Wong, Carrie Courtney, Clare Lavin and Aleah Franklin-Williams in an equally impressive time of 11 hours and 2 minutes. Three of our runners weren't feeling at the top of their form on the day but they still managed to achieve and worked together to cross the line in around 13 hours so many congratulations to Hayley Topselvi, Karen Metcalfe and Emma Quinn.
It would be very remiss of me not to also mention the fantastic support of many other BFR runners who gave their time to go out and support our runners as they traversed the Lake District. being in the right place at the right time is no easy feat but they did it.
I'm sure these runners will have many special memories about the day but none so valuable as the lesson anything is possible if you work towards it. One final thank you to Emma and Amanda for showing them this was possible 👍
For anyone reading this and wanting to do what the BFR Ultra Crew have done then look out for our regular THORR runs to gain experience of this type of running (but not quite the distance just yet)

Saturday 6th June saw David, Izabela and Kevin take on the Lake District Ultra Challenge 100k
As if the distance wasn't challenging enough this route had over 2500m of elevation which saw them conquer Hampsfell (Wainwright summit) (722 ft) and Scout Scar (Wainwright summit) (764 ft) among other less significant summits.
Their challenge in a very commendable 17 and a 1/2 hours. Well done to each of you.

Wow! What a fortnight of sessions we have for you!
A brand new session with Carrie to take place during the day. This time it's on a Wednesday from the café in Stanley Park but it will move days and locations so everyone has an opportunity to run on it.
Friday 19th and we have our session that we are invited to by Wesham Runners. This is a limited place session so book early to avoid disappointment.
On top of that we have all our usual session for your to join in with and enjoy.
Happy Running 🏃‍♀️🏃🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️‍➡️🏃‍➡️🏃‍♂️‍➡️

Group of the Week this week is the Sunday Social (and add on).
The Sunday Social consists of a one hour run where we run very easy for 30 minutes and then wherever that finds us we turn around. Occasionally there is also an add on session for those who are training for half marathons or just want to run a little longer which follows the same process of a one hour run.
The reason we do this is by running very easy we train our body to send the red blood cells which carry our oxygen to the parts of the body that need the energy to keep us running and feeling strong. It also trains our body to improve how it deals with lactic build up. So, it is a very important run for all runners if they wish to improve how they feel during their runs.
How easy is very easy? The recommendation from a runner who does parkrun in 19 minutes something is that he only runs 5 miles (8km) in the hour (This isn't me - I wish!) For this session you can run too fast but you cannot run too slowly.
It is a pressure free run - no target of distance or pace, just a casual run for an hour while chatting to those around you