I met Claire Spreadbury the previous week to discuss her health and fitness goals, ahead of the London Winter 10K run at the end of January. We broke down her goals into manageable chunks to establish how she can pick up more speed. I often find this is the first thing that people over look and run straight into their training without planning and looking at the bigger picture. I also feel that when you commit pen to paper and share your goals with others, you have more chance of achieving them.
I was delighted that Claire was able to get the support of
like-minded colleagues at the Press Association where they can support each other towards the 10K run. With this in mind I met the group for a fitness session along a sunny Mall taking in, not only Buckingham palace as a backdrop, but testing our speed alongside David Cameron, who was also out for a run.
I prepared the group by taking them through a pre-race warm up which involved dynamic movements that increased in pace and tempo to leave them slightly out of breath. My top 5 Deep Heat warm ups were leg swings, forwards & backwards as well as side to side, lunges with rotation, heel flicks, upper body rotations, high knees followed by exaggerated skips into a sprint. They were all based upon my experience as an athlete from my days as an Olympic rower and now GB age group triathlete. I explained the importance of warming up to avoid injury, plus the use of the new Deep Heat Muscle Roll on in areas like the side of the thigh along the IT band which is a troubled area for many runners along with the calf muscle. I then tested the groups top end speed by doing 6 x 45 sec. sprint intervals. This is a great session for time poor people and with limited space to run in. It not only focuses on increasing leg strength and speed but also burns a maximum amount of calories in a short space of time.
The railings along the Mall provided a useful stretching tool to incorporate some of my cool down passive stretches for the hamstring, quadriceps, hip flexor and calf’s. I look forward to seeing the group again soon for their 5K test run and further Deep Heat warm up and cool down tips.
Toby Garbett