Wollaton 10K

Run 2 of 3 in a row now. Last week was the Ramathon and next week is Water Wipeout, but this week is Wollaton 10k. Back to Nottingham after last weeks visit to Derby, all nice local runs meaning minimal travel to the events which is nice.

Last year I set a 10k PB on the course and I haven't got a clue how, it just fell into place. (Wollaton 10k 2014) I then set a new PB this year at Derby 10k so knew I was up against it. Last week in the half marathon I had slowed my pace from around 4 min 30 sec per km to around 4 min 50 / 5 min per km. I knew it would be tricky trying to get the pace back up with only 1 short run mid week to try and get the pace back.

On the morning of the event it was throwing it down! I don't mind running in the rain as I sweat buckets so it helps keep me cool but there are limits. The state I'm usually in post race is how I looked at the start line this time. It was the same course as last year and my first of the 2 5km laps felt ok, I was only about 15 seconds down from my PB time. However I seemed to just hit a wall at 7/8km and my pace just dropped for no reason what so ever! I think the last couple of km were run at about 5min per km, way down on what I needed. I finished in 47 minutes 25 seconds which I was disappointed with. On the plus side I did finish 37th of 262 runners, compared to 52nd of 477 runners last year. This shows how the weather effected the race but the turnout as well.

This years winner was Ian Hunter in 38 minutes 9 seconds, last year he finished 3rd in 35 minutes 57 seconds. So I shouldn't moan too much as the conditions effected everybody in a similar fashion.

I also had a client running the 10k too, it should have been one client but after an accident involving stairs, dog toy and falling over it resulted in a broken metatarsal a week before the run. Another client stepped up and transferred the place and he ran in her place. With minimal training time for the 10k and the shocking weather he managed a respectable 1 hour 7 minutes, down on his PB but a cracking results in the circumstances.

Bring on next year for my third year at the event.

A tad wet post run.

Great work Rob.

Robs work deserves some donations for a great charity. Please visit his JustGiving Page.

Night at the Dogs

Night at the Dogs

On Friday 15th May I organised a night at Nottingham Greyhound Stadium with all the ticket sales money going towards Cancer Research UK.

The evening was part of their "Sporting League Cup" where different sports teams and charities can apply for 100 tickets and the money from sales they keep/donate. We managed to sell about 88 of our 100 tickets raising £440 for Cancer Research UK. This is split between mine and Robs JustGiving pages and helped hit our fundraising target for our London to Brighton Bike ride in September.

My Page - www.justgiving.com/adamfretwellpt

Robs Page - www.justgiving.com/Rob-Marron 

Both of us are raising money for Cancer Research UK and it was a brilliant night helping a great charity.

I will be organising another night out there again later in the year so sign up on my website for the newsletters and you will see when it's organised.

A massive thank you to all that attended and donated. I know a few of you left with some winnings and I wasn't one of them.

Santa Dash

So I thought after Men's Health Challenge I had finished with running events for the year with the posbikity of adding a Santa Dash.

" That's now 12 races down, 0 to go for Cancer Research UK in 2014...... apart from a Santa Dash.

Derby 10k - 45 minutes 11 seconds.
Awsworth 5k - 22 minutes 20 seconds.
Hull 10k - 45 minutes 46 seconds.
Wollaton 10k - 44 minutes 53 seconds.
Twin Peaks Midnight Walk - 8k. - 2 hours 37 minutes.
Leeds 10k - 46 minutes 8 seconds.
York 10k - 46 minutes 31 seconds.
Birmingham Color Run 5k - 45 minutes 38 seconds.
Isle of Wight Challenge 56k - 7 hours 48 minutes 35 seconds.
Wild Warrior 10k - 1 hour 18 minutes 42 seconds.
Robin Hood Half Marathon 21k - 1 hour 49 minutes and 31 seconds.
Men's Health Challenge Nottingham 12k - 1 hour 13 minutes 15 seconds.

If you wish to donate please visit www.justgiving.com/adamfretwellpt "

Well I added a Santa Dash in Nottingham on Sunday 14th December organised by When you wish upon a Star. It was a cold morning but once you had an extra layer (Santa Suit) it wasn't too bad. 

It was a really nice 2.5km route around Forest Recreation Ground that you could walk or run 1 or 2 laps. We had a little group of us and some walked, some ran, either way we had a good time, fresh air and some exercise. Once again I wore the GoPro so I could get some footage of a group of Santa's running around Nottingham. 

It was a really well organised event and I will happily do it again next year. That takes me to 13 events and 172km for 2014 for Charity. I think 2015 will bring some different events as it's good to keep pushing yourself and finding new ways to raise money for charity too. 

Trent Lock - Attenbrough Nature Reserve walk

So at 10am we met at Trent Lock car park, this was after a 6 hour sleep from the Buxton Midnight walk the night before. A few of aching legs this morning due to playing badminton before the walk too. It was a very warm morning with hardly any clouds in the sky. We set off just after 10am with sun cream all over, loads of water in our bags and a few little snacks too. From Trent Lock we walked along the Cranfleet Canal which was built so boats can travel along the River Trent avoiding the weir. Trent Lock is also the home of The Nottingham Yacht Club, we saw a group of rowers warming up on rowing machine next to the Trent which amused a few of us thinking they had forgot their boat.

Cranfleet Canal, Nottinghamshire.

Once past Cranfleet Canal we walked along the Erewash Valley Trail. By about 2km into the walked the temperature increased as the breeze dropped and the Trent looked like a very big swimming pool to cool down in. However the nice chilled water in our bags did the trick as none of us really wanted to jump into the River. Along the Trail there was so much wildlife with hundreds of Common Blue Damselfly along with Swans, Mallards, Canada Geese plus loads more. If you’ve got an I-spy book and a set of binoculars you will be sorted for hours.

River Trent, loving the reflection in the water.

Once we made it to Attenborough Nature Reserve we had a little nature stop at the Visitor Centre. After suffering mindless vandalising a few weeks ago to the bridge we thought it would buy a few snacks to keep us going and to help them out, as it’s such a good facility run by volunteers and by donations. The annoying Canada Geese took a liking to Mathew and his flapjack and one had a little nibble at his finger. It did start a debate about if there should be a cull of them as they are taking over the waterways from native Swans and Geese.

 

From here we walked around the back to Attenborough Church which looked amazing with a perfect blue sky behind it, then past Attenborough Cricket Club which again looked really nice with the sun beating down on it as players warmed up for the match that afternoon. A few minutes later we were back on the trail at the side of the Trent and on the homeward leg of the walk. It gets me every time, the minute your back on the Trent it feels like you will be back at Trent Lock in minutes. From this point it was still another 6km back to the cars. The walk back was far more peaceful than the walk there as we passed far less cyclists than the way out. This meant we could walk as a group rather than single file and with the sun still beating down this led to conversations about holidays and were we all want to go next. Before we knew it Cranfleet Canal was back in view which meant one thing….FOOD! It was time to sit down in the sun out the back of the Trent Lock Pub and enjoy a nice afternoon bite to eat with a beverage to refresh after the walk.


Nice house and boat along the River Trent.

In total it was 14km so in a 24 hours period this walk, Buxton and a dog walk totalled up to about 27km (17 miles). Home, World Cup, afternoon nap and relax! The foam roller was very handy for some self-myofascial release.

Overall in 2014 with the free walks I've organised with clients, friends and family we have clocked up 130km (80 miles). Have a look on the NHS website for benefits of walking.

Bring on the next walk, once I've planned it.

 

Wollaton 10k

Less than a week since the Hull 10k it was time to change the standard running shoes to the trail running trainers for the Wollaton 10k. At School I didn't actually enjoy cross country, I preferred 100m, 200m, 4x100m and triple jump. But things change and I was really looking forward to a bit of cross country around Wollaton Park the home of Batman.

After Derby 10k being a PB at 45min 11sec, then Hull being slightly slower at 45min 46sec. I wasn't expecting a quicker time at Wollaton with it being a combination of grass and gravel paths with a few hills that are nicer to roll down as a child, not run along.

The weather was spot on for running, cooler than the weekend before in Hull with a nice light breeze. a much smaller event with 477 runners on the day rather than Derby and Hulls 5000+. There was still a great atmosphere and it looked as if we were all celebrating Holland's trashing of Spain from the night before in the VERY bright orange running tops we were given.



Tops provided by Sytner Nottingham MINI!

The run is organised by Bluecoat Academy PTA and they did an amazing job. Really well organised parking on arrival, friendly marshals and easy to follow route round Wollaton Park. Great seeing loads of kids there on stalls helping being involved with the run.

 

Once the run started I just tried to find my running rhythm, if I actually have one. I think I'm more Forrest Gump style just keep running. One of my aims for the year is to record my first sub 45 minutes 10k and with Derby I had been so close. I didn't expect this route to be a fast course with the hills and terrain.

- At the end of the first 5k lap I was at 22 minutes 30 seconds, bang on time for a 45 minute 10k.

- By 7km I was 31 minutes 20 seconds.

- Same as in Hull I seemed to hit a little wall around 8km and slowed slightly but I entered the last km with just over 4 minutes to finish to be around a 45 minute 10k.

- As I crossed the line running as fast as my leg could take me I saw the clock at 45 minutes 22seconds.

At first I was gutted to have missed out on a sub 45 minute by a small margin again! Then I realised that was the gun time and having not started the run at the front my chip time was going to be faster.

 

 

It was going to be a long wait to see the results posted online to see if I had managed a sub 45 minute 10k or not. Seeing as it was a nice day I had a walk to look around Ilkeston Carnival then down to watch Nubtrook CC 1st team in action. On about the 40th time pressing refresh on my phone the results were posted. 44 minutes 53 seconds!!! Whoop my first ever sub 45 minute 10k on a course I wasn't expecting to do it on. For the rest of the day I just had a huge smile on my face. The smile only went at 1am Sunday morning as England lost 2-1 to Italy, even then England lost but played very well and hopefully they can win the next two matches and make it out the group stage of the World Cup.

 

Just approaching the 5km point, feeling good so far!

 

Post run, sweating like a beast but that run felt good!

Quick change of top to show the reason for running. Support Cancer Research UK.

For more photos from the weekend visit my Instsgram account or Facebook page.

That's now 4 races down, 8 to go for Cancer Research UK in 2014.

Derby 10k - 45:11
Awsworth 5k - 22:20
Hull 10k - 45:46
Wollaton 10k - 44:53
Twin Peaks Midnight Walk - 8k.
Leeds 10k
York 10k
Birmingham Color Run 5k
Isle of Wight Challenge 56k
Wild Warrior 10k
Robin Hood Half Marathon 21k
Men's Health Challenge Nottingham 12k

If you wish to donate please visit www.justgiving.com/adamfretwellpt

Sports weekend

Not a bad weekend going to the Yonex All England Championship on Saturday 8th March followed by Nottingham Panthers v Fife Flyers on Sunday 9th.

Badminton

The badminton on show was incredible!!! Seeing World No.1 Lee Chong Wei play for the first time was truly inspirational. He lost the first set 14-21 before winning the second 21-19 and third 21-15 without looking like it took any effort at all. It was a near master class at how to make a sport look easy!

One of the other highlights for the day was seeing the Para-badminton. The players were brilliant and the crowd loved it. The wheelchair and short stature players just reminded me of how good the London 2012 Paralympics were. Hopefully Para-badminton can make it into the Paralympics in the near future.

Ice Hockey

Boot Camp Sunday morning was filled with talk of "How many fights will we see later at the Ice Hockey?" haha. A group of 12 of us travelled to Nottingham with 4 people seeing their first Ice Hockey match. It was Panthers v Flyers and the last home game of the season in the league for Panthers. Just like when I saw my first match I could hear people talking about how good are they at skating, how do they not fall over, where's the puck? haha. It's such a fast and brutal sport but 100% family focused with a crowd of all ages enjoying a great sporting event. Panthers came out 5-2 winners making it look very easy in the 3rd period.

Photos from the weekend can be found on my instagram