Category: training

Green Belt Relay Challenge 2020

Green Belt Relay Challenge 2020

claphamrunners
On the weekend that would have been our Green Belt Relay organised by @stragglers_running_club we set out on our own 220 mile challenge.
25 runners, 5 countries and 250 miles later looks what we’ve created.
Fi even managed to fit in most of the glory leg on the official Green Belt Relay Route! And Lizzy visited another stage close to home.

We might have missed getting together and the challenges of coordinating and navigating around the Green Belt but at very short notice letter routes were planned and executed – see our results below!
A great example of how our team can come together and deliver a great team event.
Excellent running by all and great to bring everyone together (virtually) with amazing cheer leading from those who couldn’t run. 
Thanks team – for getting organised and joining in. That was fun what’s next?
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To the official Green Belt route – we’ll see you in 2021
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November & December

November & December

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Winter well and truly hit our Tuesday sessions, we did prevail… possibly one week our smallest ever captured on camera Katy, Jarred & Rob showing full commitment!

Over in Athens temperatures were kind to Anneka getting her sub-4 at Athens Marathon, ft. Super fan helping the motivation at the finish line 🙌🥇

Emma was also back on it with a 10km race in November with friends

Ken travelled further afield to join the Tribe Run for Love team in the Azores, a half marathon up and around a volcano… that’s a new one! Well done.

December brought us the run up to Christmas and still finding time to fit in our training… we even got fed on our final session Jon’s suet soup!

 

Rob hit all the right notes not trading in training for festivities and completed Advent Running, being active everyday through to Christmas 🙌

Rob was also selected in the club London Marathon Ballot so another name to cheer come April!

Towards the end of the month Ken hit 2019 in 2019 to break his 2018 mileage record, what can be achieved in 2020?!

And best of all 2 of our Clapham Runners Abroad team met up for New Year in Sydney. Our Clapham Runners Abroad team continues to grow. Cheers to Rachel & Steph, stay safe downunder!

A very happy new year to everyone.

October round up

October round up

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Ken hitting the 1,500km for 2019 so far keeping him on course for hitting 2,000km for the year 😀. Great work Ken!

…also showing up best dressed to our Thursday track sessions… is a suit shirt going to help your speed…???

A very well done to Kim who is keeping up the running since moving out to Bristol, Pb @ Cardiff half, still representing in the Clapham Runners kit!

October brings us the London Marathon ballot results… the Clapham Runners 2020 team is looking strong with Phoebe, Tom W, Frank, Marikje, Jessica, Damian, Ellie all securing places.  A couple of rejections received, however there is still the opportunity for members to claim a place through the club ballot… watch this space!

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Kieran hit a great milestone of 200 parkruns, the team joined him at Tooting to cheer him round and cover the line to double that 100 and now he can claim his next milestone t-shirt!

We had a huge weekend in the middle of the month of Marathon running, Emma – headed up to York for the Yorkshire Marathon,

George nipped across to Amsterdam

…..and Rob over to sunny Lisbon

Building up the distances for Azores in November Ken completed the Royal Parks Half on a damp and drizzly Sunday in London, a twisty, turny, muddy affair taking in some great landmarks and what an excellent medal!

As a club we love to support our local parkrun events, with members being involved in our local Tooting & Clapham Common parkruns since their conception.  In October we took up our positions and organised a volunteering take-over at Tooting offering our bit back to what this excellent event provides us week in week out, as we are a small club we brought in some friends of Clapham Runners to bulk our numbers for a great morning of cheering and giving our bit back.

October was a month where we’ve had to say a reluctant farewell to one of our longest standing members and most reliable Thursday track attendee… Hannah has now moved on up t’north, we hope you find a lovely club to keep up the running once you are settled in. As her final Thursday act she managed to get the illusive John out to the pub for a drink after the track session 👏

We have also said goodbye for now to Steph, as she heads away on her travelling adventures, keep us posted on your running, another member of the Clapham Runners Abroad club!

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We are always happy to welcome new members to our friendly group, and in October we say hello to Katy & Jessica who have joined our team.

If you were lucky in the London Marathon ballot and want to improve your running, or are just looking for some company and motivation on these darker nights, drop us an e-mail or just turn up and say hello at either of our sessions to see what you think.

Well done everyone on a busy October, now for recovery and jumping head first into November!

September Round up

September Round up

claphamrunners

A very busy September for a number of our Runners, starting on the first Sunday of the month for Rob, running for Kebabs and rolling all the way through to the final Sunday of the month with half marathons for our runners, well it is known as sunday runday! Read more →

July round up

July round up

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A busy July for Clapham Runners near and far, our July round up takes us from local parkrun milestones to international ultras and everything in between.
Marie-Anne completed her 200th parkrun, celebrating this milestone at our local Tooting parkrun complete with Kieran’s famous Guinness cake and Tooting Common parkrun friends.

Read more →

Clapham Runners go international – updated

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Never a dull moment for the Clapham Runners members for the 2015 ‘how far can the t-shirt travel’ competition. Niamh, who competed in the Singapore triathlon last weekend, just pips Rob to the post with 6,740 miles – but both have worn the shirt more than 6,000 miles away!

BREAKING NEWS (3/8/15) – photographic evidence of a new winner of the t-shirt furthest travelled has emerged… there’s no catching Steve now! 11,700 miles is the distance to beat…

Rob at the Inca Trail finish line, July 2015
Lucia and Gilly at the Paris Marathon start, April 2015
French Riviera Relay Marathon, Cannes November 2015
Siobhan at the Boston Half Marathon finish, May 2015
Niamh at the Singapore tri, 25th July 15

Rob ran an amazing marathon up the Inca trail earlier in July. Should we let him off the t-shirt pic for the Inca Trail itself, as the organisers had to keep the finish line in the World Heritage Machu Picchu low key? Although he does lead in the highest ascent the shirt has travelled – 6,438m at the summit of Illimani! Read his blog here. Massive well done from all of us here, he barely acknowledges in the blog, but Rob had a serious injury only 2 months before the race, where he had to get to walking again, before building back up to 60km training runs with a pack – full credit to Jon and John. Talk about determination. If we do prizes at the end of the year, here’s a serious contender.

Back in May, Siobhan sported the Clapham t-shirt at the Boston half-marathon (read her blog here), and Steve set his new half marathon PB in New Zealand in February wearing club colours. A group of four club runners set off for a South of France adventure in November, running the Nice to Cannes French Riviera Relay Marathon. And not forgetting spring marathon season – Lucia and Gilly ran their first marathon in Paris this April, read their blog here, and Emma’s been running in San Fran and Stockholm (blogs encouraged!). T-shirts next time though…

The leaderboard so far (according to www.mapcrow.info):

  • Steve – Wanaka, New Zealand, 11,740 miles, April 2015
  • Niamh – Singapore, 6,740 miles, July 2015
  • Rob – Illimani, Bolivia, 6,210 miles, July 2015 – but at a height of 6,438m!
  • Siobhan – Boston, 3,269 miles, May 2015
  • Joint entry – Amanda, Emma, Niamh and Siobhan – Nice, 638 miles, November 2015

brief digest: optimising your marathon training

claphamrunners

Last Tuesday a few of us went along to hear about how we might optimise our Marathon training, hosted by Balance Physiotherapy. It was a pretty interesting evening, and I think each of us took away at least one new thing to think about when we train, even if we’re not all looking at marathons in 2011. Below I’ve used my (annoyingly incomplete) notes to summarise some of the main points of both lectures. Some will be more interesting/useful/relevant than others, but I hope they have been recorded faithfully and may be one or two of some interest to you. Read more →