Weekend Round Up 11th 12th December

TUFF FITTY’s POWER HOUR

The return of Tuff Fitty’s Power Hour in place of our usual coached swim. Attendees were seeded into teams with the aim of completing as many 50 metre swims in the hour as possible. The first person pushed off and on return to poolside tagged their next team member who swam their leg. The action was fast and furious because no one wanted to let their team down, especially with their teammates encouraging them along. As soon as they had finished it was into recovery mode ready to get back in again. The aim was to complete as many lengths as possible. It was a close contest with Gatland’s Gladiators, (Captain Alice Gatland) just squeezing home by 50m ahead of Towers Inferno (Captain Anthony Towers) – Thanks to everyone who took part and to our coaches who undertook the scores.

MEET THE COACHES

Thank you to everyone who attended the ‘Meet the Coaches’ Session on Saturday. Our illustrious team of coaches have spent a lot of time meeting and planning for 2022. One of the key considerations being taken forward is to have a greater link between individual sessions. With such a full and varied weekly programme Tuff Fitty are keen to take a holistic approach to try and avoid excessive successive training loads. Within this, if one particular person has an aspect to work on, for example in swimming, then this information can be passed on to the next coach (with that persons permission).

Andy Ward, head coach, explained a traffic light system is being adopted to help people understand the RPE – the Rate of Perceived Effort required. Green being at the level where conversation is possible. Ideally this should account for 80% of training. Amber being at tempo, intervals, but manageable & Red being workouts that require hard effort, but with recovery in between. The training plan will be subject to periodisation, meaning sets will work through Base, Build, Peak & Race.

With this in mind the aim is to try and align the Club championship to fit with the Sprint distance first. As we come out of Covid, there is a paucity of local standard distance races. So the dates of two out of three were announced to enable Tuffs to start planning their 2022 season.

Sprint Distance Club Championship = Raw Energy’s Arundel Lido Triathlon 22nd May

Standard Distance Club Championship = To be decided

70.3 Club Championship Tribourne’s Ironbourne 10th July

SIKHS IN THE CITY – DAWN TO DUSK ULTRA

Next up we have a report from Jay McCardle. He participated in the Dawn to Dusk Ultra organised by Sikhs in the City running club who were formed in East London over 10 years ago. He had a great race which started at sunrise, winning by over 2.5 minutes – Jay reports below:-

“I met a Samander Singh from Sikhs in the city when he did our Southend pier Marathon. Samander is the spokesperson for Fajita Singh the 110 year old runner that ran a marathon when he was 90 and was on a Nike commercial. He is the founder of Sikhs in the City running club. One of the main reasons of going to the event was to meet fajita but he was shielding due to Covid”.

“The event itself was around a block in East London and there was a 10k, half marathon, marathon and the Ultra. I opted for the marathon which consisted of 21 laps. As everyone started together I had no idea who was in what event. I was very surprised when I finished to be told I had won. No bad for an oldie and the 2nd and 3rd place were half my age !!!! A top event finished off with a curry, naan and a samosa”.

Jay

SOUTHERN MULISPORT FESTIVE FIVE

Southern Multisports, the event company of our own Jason Rae, has concluded another successful season which included the popular David Lloyd Ultra as well as his series of 5 mile races. There was a Tuff presence at each of Felpham 5, Great Bottom 5, Glatting Beacon 5 & Monarch’s Way 5, with the latter three all starting from Whiteways Lodge. It has taken several Tuffs a while to realise the quality and affordability of these races with bacon rolls at the end. In celebration of a successful season, despite the pandemic, and to clear a stock of medals, Jason organised a free race with the invite also going out to club members.

The route was very scenic along the Monarch’s way up to Bignor Hill, although the scenery was often shrouded in mist and drizzle, which made some of the paths and chalk quite slippy. From Bignor Hill, the route wound back down and previous competitors were looking forward to the firmer paths back down to Whiteways. The warning signs were evident at the start as Jason returned on his mountain bike absolutely plastered in mud from setting out the course. Unfortunately Forestry Commission vehicles had been out and the path was a complete muddy waterlogged bog. With bracken and brambles either side there was no option than to plough straight through. A couple of the lady Tuffs decided to embrace the situation and not only go straight through, but through the deepest, wettest part in an effort to wash some of the mud off. The course could easily be licenced to a Tough Mudder event it was that mucky, but huge fun as everyone crossed the line with grins on their faces. With no formal times, the Tuff contingent are celebrated in alphabetical order :- Susan Douglas (with Cani companion Stig), Kate Evans, Alice Gatland, Clive Harvey, Emma Hinton, Dom Mason (cani companion Puddles), Simon Thistlethwaite, Mark Walford and Clare Worgan. As a free to enter race, collection buckets were out and a total of £259 collected on the morning. This has since swelled to over £430 for cancer United – a fantastic result – well done Jason.

CHICHESTER HARBOUR RUN – WEST WITTERING

There has been Tuff attendance at most UK Running Events over the past couple of months and Emma Hinton was our representative on this out and back coastal run:-

There were only 145 of us running the 15km in UK Running Events’ Chichester Harbour Run at West Wittering. We set off at 9am which means at this time of year you get to run on the beach just after sunrise, which was absolutely lovely. The weather was on our side and the flat, fairly fast route took us along the beach past East Wittering and Bracklesham before heading inland at the RSPBs Medmerry nature reserve for a loop before returning via the beach”.

“Conditions were sufficiently challenging to make it fun, with groynes to leap over, deep soft sand to squelch through, shingle to run up and big muddy puddles to splash in. Two other distances were available – 10km and 5km – which set off after those of us doing the 15km, so it was still a fairly busy event and had a really good, albeit (quite literally) chilled atmosphere. Freebies at UK Running Events are always pretty good – some sports socks, a buff and a fancy cereal bar. Definitely recommend this one!”

Emma

CLUB CAPTAINS

We start this article with a huge vote of thanks to Jon Babbage who has concluded his term of male Club Captain. Jon has made a terrific captain and he proved invaluable during the pandemic, in addition to his organising and encouragement to club members at events and training. Some people may not have seen the very considerable work he put into contacting people during lockdown; thanks Jon you did a terrific job.

We are pleased that Nicole Patterson-Lett is to continue as the female club captain and the male Captain now appointed is Adrian Oliver. Nic organised the successful Captain’s Drinkies at the beginning of the month, and Adrian has already been to the fore in rallying team members for the Cross Country races. Both Nic & Adrian are full of enthusiasm and we know they have already had discussions together, & as we are about to start a New Year wish them both every success.

PARKRUN

At Littlehampton parkrun, Kev Pearson was first Tuff home in 21:12 a PB for parkrun as he returns to his previous rapid running form. Next home was Richard Budd in 21:50 and it is good to hear he states “Shows the Wednesday night sessions are working well”. Alistair Evans was next on his 63rd parkrun.

Across at Worthing parkrun Ed Lay was first Tuff home on his 58th run crossing in 21:59. Les Pearce wasnt far behind – 22:57 on his 138th parkrun. Amanda de Ridder on her 131st in 24:45. Next it was good to see Kate Cooper make her parkrun debut pacing her daughter around in a strong time.

The further good results continued over at Chichester parkrun as Emily Moore crossed in just 20:41 – 1st female and 7th overall.

Well done to all eight.