Weekend Round Up 20th 21st November
Despite the arrival of the the winter chill, it has been another strong week of Tuff training sessions with the following to report:-
THORNEY ISLAND TRAIL RUN
Thorney Island is a peninsula jutting out into Chichester harbour, owned by the Ministry of Defence, the public are allowed around the edge on the coast but not across, but this provides ideal scope for a trail run as this weeks banner photo shows. Just a pair of Tuffs attended this year; Trev & Clive Harvey with Clive reporting in:-
Last held early Feb 2020, this race was another deferral for us. This 15k run proved a veritable mud fest last time but this year it was dry. This presented its own problems as the trail paths were left rutted with brick and stones from the old harbour defences. Throw in shingle beaches and sand dunes and the course is a lot tougher than the flat terrain would suggest. However the route is certainly scenic and along the narrow footpaths several stopped to take the obligatory race photos. Just Trev and myself on this one, but as a UK running race all finishers received the usual socks, buff, chewy bar and medal. This has reduced my backlog of races with a coupe of half marathons, a sportive and one triathlon left for 2022 deferred from pre-pandemic. it will be a shock having to start paying for entries again!
Clive
FOXY LADIES CISSBURY MARATHON RELAY
Not strictly a Tuff event, but a very worthy cause supported by Leah Simms & Karly Martin who in their other guise as Foxy Ladies took part in a charity event. Cajoling Paul Martin into helping, a fantastic result as you will read from Leah who has sent in her report:-
“The event was a charity run for a very good cause. Karly Martin and I ran and Paul Martin marshalled in our running clubs ‘Foxy Ladies’ Cissbury Marathon Relay on Sunday. This was an event to raise funds to enable us to buy a defibrillator to be put near Cissbury Ring. One of our club members suddenly lost her partner due to a heart attack, and therefore we ran in his memory. We managed to raise enough funds to purchase two defibrillators one will be put at the bottom of Cissbury and another up on the ring. Over 150 club members ran in 19 teams of 8 with each team covering a marathon distance in relay laps.
Leah
MEET THE COACHES – SATURDAY 11th DECEMBER
Saturday 11th December is the date when our illustrious Tuff coaches present to our membership their training plans for 2022. With each discipline’s specialists working together and periodisation the afternoon will be an excellent chance to find out how we can all gain maximum benefit from our scheduled training sessions. Andy Ward and all our coaches are currently putting the finishing touches to the plan and we hope you will be able to attend, listen to the presentation and put any questions to the panel.
The meeting will be held in one of the upstairs studios at Littlehampton Wave start at 3:50pm. It is envisaged that the session will last for an hour whereupon people can move downstairs to get changed for the Swim special – see below.
TUFF FITTY’S POWER HOUR
We are pleased to announce the return of Tuff Fitty’s Power Hour swim. This is being held on Saturday 11th December in place of our standard swim training from 5pm until 6pm. The attendees, having registered attendance on Spond, will be allocated into equally sized teams with a similar standard of abilities. The first swimmer off for each team has to swim 100 meters… simple! However as that swimmer touches poolside on their return the second one pushes off; so you will see its fast and furious with your team mates encouraging you along as a tally builds. How many successful 100m’s can each team swim? Having pushed to keep your team in contention, whilst cheering on your team mates, you will need to have a drink and recover and be ready to go again as the team will continue to rotate throughout the hour. Don’t forget to bring your drinks bottle
SPECIAL OFFER :- The Event on Spond for both Meet the Coaches and Tuff’s Power Hour will open shortly, but please note. If members attend BOTH Meet the Coaches AND the Power Hour swim, the cost of the afternoon will be….. zilch – free of charge. For those interested in attending JUSTthe Power Hour will be asked to PAY the standard swim fee (either cash or swim card). Unfortunately due to the popularity the afternoon will be reserved for club members only.
TUFF ZWIFT – HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Back in the second lockdown we were grateful to our coaches for staging different things and Richard Hobbs suggested, why not start club Zwift rides and so it was that in November 2020 Tuesday evening rides commenced. Hobbsie put a lot of work into setting everything up and the first group ride commenced on Tuesday 17th November. The UK came out of lockdown two and was plunged into lockdown 3 but quietly pedalling away ‘Tuff Tuesdays’ were steadily building momentum. The end of lockdown and even a heatwave did not deter the Zwifters and Tuesday group rides have now amassed 50 consecutive rides 23 Thursday/Friday evening rides, and a recent run of Thursday morning rides. Equally important was that these rides were the catalyst for resuming post Covid outdoor rides.
It is accepted that Zwift is a niche trainer and will not be applicable for all (other on-line trainers are available), but Zwift is mentioned here as the first anniversary of club rides has been reached and the initial goals set by Hobbsie have been well and truly exceeded. One of the regular riders has reported these rides alone have seen them clock up 1,200 miles of Hobbsie’s sets and there are currently just short of 50 club members who subscribe & have participated at some point over the past year.
The anniversary is a chance to say thanks to Hobbsie for all his work and his leadership style in running the sessions. Another reason for a Zwift article this week is the recent cold snap will make many think twice before venturing out on the roads. Sixteen riders dialled in this week – have you thought of signing up to Zwift but are bewildered by what is entailed?
What has been so pleasing is how inclusive the club rides are, where every week you can see our super quick riders riding side by side with those not quite as quick. This is because the set rides just show Tuff riders on screen, and whilst the power output is accurate for each rider, Zwift holds everyone together in a band so every ride really is open to all abilities – no one is left behind. Zwift has a monthly subscription fee (which can be suspended, such as during the summer) but if you own a basic turbo trainer there are accessories you can add to make a rideable package. Please feel able to talk to Hobbsie, other coaches or any of the existing Zwifters for advice. Finally all riders are strongly encouraged to download the free voice channel ‘Discord’. This enables riders to hear Hobbsie’s leadership instructions. Many join in with the chat, jokes and banter smoothing out the miles, but if there is a reluctance to join in the chat, simply stay on mute so you hear the instructions when to sprint etc, so it is really worth adding on this medium. – As the saying goes…… winter miles… summer smiles.
TUFF FITTY SUBSCRIPTIONS
Thank you to all the members who have renewed their subscriptions for 2022 for the year November through to the end of October. Please remember that the existing member loyalty scheme enables existing members to renew at the reduced price of £35, provided they renew before 31st December. Thereafter subscription renewal reverts to £40 for existing members.
CAPTAIN’S CHRISTMAS DRINKIES
Saturday 4th December at 6:30pm; Captain Nicole Patterson-Lett has set an event for Christmas Drinkies at The Beach opposite The wave. The time scheduled is excellent for 6:30pm so you can come along to the Saturday Swim, have a shower and toddle over the road to kick start our festive merriment. If the swim gives you an appetite then The Beach does serve a range of food as well as drinks, or coffees for the drivers. Nic asks if you could click on the Spond event if you intend to come along – all welcome.
PARKRUN
Jay McCardle is normally seen running long, but this week he was at Littlehampton parkrun and he crossed as first Tuff home in his first Littlehampton run notching up his 46th in total. Jay was 10th overall in 20:45 and right behind in 11th and just 9 seconds behind in 20:54 was Emily Moore – second female overall. Kev Pearson wasn’t far behind either crossing in 22:01. Chris Evans rounded off the Tuff runners, and thanks go to Bob Thomas on the organising team. A special mention goes to Richard Budd on his 153rd parkrun. Rich came along to our running track sessions at the end of October, kept returning and is now our latest member. His 22:43 is his best since the pandemic as he looks to get back to previous best achieved at Worthing parkrun of 19:44, clearly a worthy addition to our run squad.
At Worthing parkrun Ed Lay ran home in 21:54 to be first Tuff home. James Oram was next and Les Pearce clocked up his 136th parkrun. Juliette Reader paced her dad around to get him a PB. Amanda de Ridder was in action for her 129th PR.
Ian Moore was on the Horsham parkrun organising team this week
It was a good week for Tuff volunteers as Elaine Rousseau was on the organising team at Lancing parkrun and also performed the sweeper role. Well done to all parkrunners this week.
