Dash for Fitness

Very many congratulations to my client Jane.

Since successfully completing the London Marathon, she has been training with me, and dutifully following the training plan I created for her, to increase her fitness for faster 5ks and 10ks.

In the process, Jane has successfully completed 4 distance and elevation related goals, whilst, this week, getting Strava PBs for both 5k and 10k!

If you’d like to work towards achieving your running goal by getting fitter, or running faster and/or further, then please get in touch to book a professional 1-1 training programme with a UK Athletics Running Coach and England International Runner (me)!

This week was our 488th week of Monday Night Running, and our 331st virtual MNR. And it was great to welcome newbie Molly at our group run at the Ruislip Lido. Talking of the Lido, we're having a social there (at the Waters Edge) next week after our run and, amongst other things, we'll be handing out medals to all the participants of the Metropolitan Line Challenge and to the Dashers that have completed milestone MNRs,

The headline news on those milestones is that Dawn has just become the first Dasher to complete the fabulous feat of finishing 400 MNRs!!!! And In other big news the tip-top-trio of Judith, Julia, and Suzy T have all recently completed a tremendous 300th MNR!!! And, if that’s not enough to motivate you to up your running, how about the news that: Teresa, Maria, and Jane W have now reached the terrific milestone of 200 MNRs!! Very well done to each of you.

If you'd like to start or add to your count of MNRs (which you can do with others at 6.30pm on Monday Nights at the Ruislip Lido, or anywhere in the world between 5pm Sunday and 11am Tuesday), please register at: https://clubspark.englandathletics.org/DashForFitness/Coaching

Very many congratulations to my client, Jaswinder, who, having previously completed a 50k Ultra and 2-day 100k Ultra with me, successfully completed her first ever solo Ultra, by finishing the Race to the Kings Coastal 50k.

If you’d like to work towards achieving a running goal by getting fitter, running faster, and/or further, then please get in touch to book a professional 1-1 training programme with an England International Runner, and UK Athletics Running Coach (me)!

This week was our 483rd week of Monday Night Running, and our 326th virtual MNR, and 19 Dashers took part. Plus 10 Dashers participated in Parkruns (Canons Park was the most popular, whilst Lauren's visit to Southampton won the most travelled award) and 4 Dashers attended this week's Costa Run Club with Dash for Fitness.

The startling news from June's Metropolitan Line challenge is that, despite not starting until Thursday, Jane R, and Ken became the first participants to complete 2k+ run/walks incorporating every one of the 34 stations (from as far afield as Chesham and Aldgate) - and did so in time for breakfast on Sunday!!!

If you'd like to do a virtual MNR, anywhere in the world between 5pm Sunday and 11am Tuesday, please register at: https://clubspark.englandathletics.org/RunTogether/DashForFitness

This week was our 482nd week of Monday Night Running, and our 325th virtual MNR. We had 19 Dashers taking part, with most of them (plus others) also joining the social where much fun was had doing the Metropolitan Line quiz (honestly it really was fun).

At the social, I also handed out medals to Judith and Julia for completing 300 Monday Night Runs🥳; and to Fiona, Jane W, Judith, and Julia for their successful completion of April's 5k Masterclass challenge.

Continuing the Metropolitan Line theme, the participants have already managed to do 2k+ runs/walks involving all 34 stations, and are now working to do the same in their three teams, and as individuals. The Chain Gang, and Suzy T are the current lead travellers, respectively.

Last Sunday (at 9am) saw a successful launch of the Costa Run Club with Dash for Fitness - doing up to five 1k loops (run, run/walk, or walk) from and to Costa Ruislip High St, with a social coffee (and 50% off food) afterwards.

Also on Sunday at noon, Iain was finishing off his participation in Endure 24 - as part of a team of 4 called the HAC Banana Splits - he did eight 8k hilly loops during the event's 24 hours (by contrast, I turned up at 2pm on Saturday did 4 laps and went home 🤣)

If you'd like to join the Costa Run club, come along to Pilates with Suzy on Tuesday at 1.30pm at the Stables, or do a virtual MNR, anywhere in the world between 5pm Sunday and 11am Tuesday, please register at: https://clubspark.englandathletics.org/DashForFitness/Coaching

This week was our 481st week of Monday Night Running, and our 324th virtual MNR. And we had 17 Dashers taking part. There were also 10 Dashers that did a Parkrun, with Karin's run at Levengrove being the furthest afield.

Our latest medal challenge started on Monday. It's called the Metropolitan Line Challenge and requires individuals, teams, and the community of participants to do runs or walks of at least 2k that cover stations on the, you've guessed it, Met Line. Within, 4 days, between them, they've already covered 27 of the 34 stations!

This week we also launched the Costa Run Club with Dash for Fitness, where I'll be coaching beginners to run 5k, and improvers to run a faster 5k. The initial 2-week trial starts on Sunday at 9am - doing 1k loops from and to Costa Ruislip, with a social coffee afterwards.

If you'd like to join the Costa Run club, come along to Pilates with Suzy on Tuesday at 1.30pm at the Stables, or do a virtual MNR, anywhere in the world between 5pm Sunday and 11am Tuesday, please register at: https://clubspark.englandathletics.org/RunTogether/DashForFitness

This week was our 480th week of Monday Night Running, and our 323rd virtual MNR. And, despite the Bank Holiday and extreme weather conditions, we still had a dozen people taking part.

The Dash Parkrun count was 9, across 7 venues, with Susmita's visit to Sizewell being the furthest away. In addition, Rohit and Alex participated in the St Albans Backyard Ultra (do a 6.7k loop every hour on the hour), which included 6 drink tokens to be used sometime between the 10am start and the last person finishing!

If you'd like to do a virtual MNR, anywhere in the world between 5pm Sunday and 11am Tuesday, please register at: https://clubspark.englandathletics.org/RunTogether/DashForFitness

18 months ago, after achieving my goal of earning a Good For Age time for the London Marathon, I set myself a new long-term challenge of one day representing England in a marathon or, as I put it, “getting to wear an England vest”.

To achieve that, I’d need to finish in the top three of competing runners in my age group in one of four qualifying races held each year. My plan was to maintain fitness (by optimizing my exercise, diet, sleep, and stress) whilst hoping others lost theirs.

In the meantime, the plan was to enter some of the qualifying races to see where I was at (there is a minimum qualifying time of 3:40:00) and to measure my progress (if any). To that end, last Bank Holiday Monday, I ran the Milton Keynes Marathon.

The good news is I finished it in 3:28:07 but the truly fantastic news is that, of those competing in my age group, I came 2nd and have just been officially notified that I’ve qualified to represent England at the 2027 International Marathon in Manchester.

I’ll get to wear an England vest!

This week was our 479th week of Monday Night Running, and our 322nd virtual MNR.

As well as those taking part in the regular informal group run/walk at the Lido, we had participants as far afield as Norway and Latvia (and my run included representing HAC in the Southern Counties Vets Track & Field 1500m Event at Battersea Park).

This week's Dash Parkrun count was 9, across 7 venues, with Suzy T's visit to Eastbourne (as part of our trip that also incorporated seeing a "Question of Sport" on tour) was the furthest away from Ruislip, whilst Jane W achieved her highest ever Age Grade 🥳

Oh, and along with Debbie and Graham (and my sons), I also managed to squeeze in a visit to Wembley Stadium for the FA Trophy Final between Southend and Wealdstone (who play their home games in Ruislip).

If you'd like to do a virtual MNR, anywhere in the world between 5pm Sunday and 11am Tuesday, please register at: https://clubspark.englandathletics.org/RunTogether/DashForFitness

This week was our 478th week of Monday Night Running, and our 321st virtual MNR (which was done by 20 Dashers).

Elsewhere, Claire kept up her recent run of events by completing the Thump Trail Half Marathon - such consistency paid off, as she got a new Strava HM PB 🥳 Meanwhile 10 Dashers participated in Parkruns, including 4 trying out the new one at Holywell, whilst Marie's at York took the "furthest away" prize.

If you'd like to do a virtual MNR, anywhere in the world between 5pm Sunday and 11am Tuesday, please register at: https://clubspark.englandathletics.org/RunTogether/DashForFitness/