Month: May 2020

Week commencing 1 June 2020

Overall situation : with the latest announcement, it seems we are very close to being able to train again, so long as we stay socially distanced. Meeting for exercise is not in the ‘such as’, and we must wait (hopefully not very long) to see whether England Athletics regards it as being OK to train in groups, but we may be getting close ! Of course by now, many people are preferring to trust their own common sense rather than any government guidelines or policies, but a widely publicised  study in China found that out of over 7000 “outbreak”s of Covid-19, only one could be identified as occurring outdoors. (Though it looks to me like there are a few caveats with this study.)

Training this week : without a statement from England Athletics, I won’t be organising any sessions this week, so if you are still training, on your own or with someone else, keep it going if you can. Try to go out racewalking twice a week in among any other exercise you might be taking. As before, 10k-ish steady or fartlek sessions, with a few top-speed sprints on suitable stretches as advised previously. Of course,  always consider your personal safety.

Continue with home home flexibility and strength and conditioning routines and your aerobic cross-training options.

Tilsley Park remains closed. So is the White Horse Leisure Centre but their website contains a statement about working to reopen in early July.

Feel free to ask me if you need any further advice . . . or just for a chat if you like.

Racing this week  : Andi’s league has now finished, but Helen’s continues. Submit your 2k  time on her posts in the Racewalking Facebook page here by 6 pm on Wednesday – if you’re not on Facebook let me know your time and I’ll submit it for you.

Use Strava or GPS or similar, or a treadmill, to get reasonably accurate times and distances.

Friday RaceWalk Webinars : The National Endurance Centre’s weekly webinars on aspects of race walking, on Fridays at 11 am, continue, and are available to both coaches and athletes. More details, and links for registration, down the page here.For those with access, recordings of past webinars are available on Athletics Hub here.

Week commencing 25 May 2020

Overall situation : we can meet up in pairs for training if we want to, or I can give any ONE person (on their own) a one-to-one coaching session. You must remain 2 metres apart. Do get in touch if you think that would be useful. You can drive somewhere to meet up for training as described above. Tilsley Park and the White Horse Leisure Centre remain closed, with no reopening dates.

Training this week : on your own or with someone else, keep your training going if you can. Try to go out racewalking twice a week in among any other exercise you might be taking. As before, 10k-ish steady or fartlek sessions, with a few top-speed sprints on suitable stretches as advised previously. Of course,  always consider your personal safety.

Continue with home home flexibility and strength and conditioning routines and your aerobic cross-training options.

Feel free to ask me if you need any further advice . . . or just for a chat if you like.

Racing this week  : The two Virtual Race Leagues continue, with a 5k in Andi’s league (submit times here by the end of Tuesday) and a 2k or a 5k in Helen’s (submit times on her posts in the Racewalking Facebook page here by 6 pm on Wednesday – if you’re not on Facebook let me know your time and I’ll submit it for you).

Use Strava or GPS or similar, or a treadmill, to get reasonably accurate times and distances and submit times for this week by midnight on Tuesday.

Friday RaceWalk Webinars : The National Endurance Centre’s a weekly webinars on aspects of race walking, on Fridays at 11 am, continue, and are available to both coaches and athletes. More details, and links for registration, down the page here.For those with access, recordings of past webinars are available on Athletics Hub here.

Week commencing 18 May 2020

Overall situation : England Athletics have issued new advice, to permit (1) one-to-one coaching and (2) two athletes training together, with a number of caveats. Group training is still banned. The caveats are – though two people can meet they must maintain ‘social distancing’. All the standard hygiene measures before and after training. Be self-reliant in terms of hydration and nutrition – have your own water and snacks. Be self-reliant in terms of injury risk – carry your own phone, whoever you are with should not approach within 2 metres if anything happens. No milling around before or after the training – go straight home.  The policy is explained by Head of Coaching and Development Martin Rush above – text of their current policy is here and the specific guidance for athletes is here.

So locally, the big change is that we can now meet up in pairs for training if we want to, or I can give any ONE person (on their own) a one-to-one coaching session. Do get in touch if you think that would be useful. As you know, you can drive somewhere to meet up for training as described above. However, Tilsley Park and the White Horse Leisure Centre remain closed, with no reopening dates.

Training this week : on your own or with someone else, keep your training going if you can. Try to go out racewalking twice a week in among any other exercise you might be taking. As before, 10k-ish steady or fartlek sessions, with a few top-speed sprints on suitable stretches as advised previously. Of course,  always consider your personal safety.

Continue with home home flexibility and strength and conditioning routines and your aerobic cross-training options.

Feel free to ask me if you need any further advice . . . or just for a chat if you like.

Racing this week  : The two Virtual Race Leagues continue, with a 5k in Andi’s league (submit times here by the end of Tuesday) and a 2k or a 5k in Helen’s (submit times on her posts in the Racewalking Facebook page here by 6 pm on Wednesday – if you’re not on FB let me know your time and I’ll submit it for you).

Use Strava or GPS or similar, or a treadmill, to get reasonably accurate times and distances and submit times for this week by midnight on Tuesday.

Friday RaceWalk Webinars : The National Endurance Centre’s a weekly webinars on aspects of race walking, on Fridays at 11 am, continue, and are available to both coaches and athletes. More details, and links for registration, down the page here.For those with access, recordings of past webinars are available on Athletics Hub here.

Week commencing 11 May 2020

Overall situation : Boris’s announcement yesterday, no matter what else you might think of it, doesn’t appear to make any difference to how we can train – unless you were straining at the leash to train twice a day, which you’re now allowed to do outside.  The EA policies of no competition till at least 30 June, no group training and no one-to-one coaching till at least 31 May seem likely to stay in place, or to be further extended – there may be a further  announcement this week. Text of their current policy is here.

Training this week : as before, keep your training going if you can. Try to go out racewalking twice a week in among any other exercise you might be taking. As before, 10k-ish steady or fartlek sessions, with a few top-speed sprints on suitable stretches as advised previously. Of course,  always consider your personal safety.

Continue with home home flexibility and strength and conditioning routines and your aerobic cross-training options.

Feel free to ask me if you need any further advice . . . or just for a chat if you like.

Racing this week  : The two Virtual Race Leagues continue, with a 4k in Andi’s league (submit times here) and a 2k or a 4k in Helen’s (submit times on her posts in the Racewalking Facebook page here – if you’re not on FB let me know your time and I’ll submit it for you).

Use Strava or GPS or similar, or a treadmill, to get reasonably accurate times and distances and submit times for this week by midnight on Tuesday.

Friday RaceWalk Webinars : The National Endurance Centre in Leeds is organising a weekly series of webinars on aspects of race walking, on Fridays at 11 am. More details down the page here. Once they are on the system you’ll be able to book through England Athletics here.

Week commencing 4 May 2020

England Athletics Announcements : the suspension period for competition has been extended, to 30 June. The suspension period for other activities (e.g. group training) currently remains up to 31 May – EA are going to make a further announcement after the updated government lockdown pronouncements due this week. Text of their current statement is here.

Training this week : if you can, keep your training going. Try to go out racewalking twice a week in among any other exercise you might be taking. As before, 10k-ish steady or fartlek sessions, with a few top-speed sprints on suitable stretches as advised previously. Of course,  always consider your personal safety.

Continue with home home flexibility and strength and conditioning routines and your aerobic cross-training options.

Feel free to ask me if you need any further advice . . . or just for a chat if you like.

Racing this week  : The two Virtual Race Leagues continue, with a 4k in Andi’s league (submit times here) and a 2k or a 4k in Helen’s (submit times on her posts in the Racewalking Facebook page here – if you’re not on FB let me know your time and I’ll submit it for you).

Use Strava or GPS or similar to get reasonably accurate times and distances and submit times for this week by midnight on Tuesday.