Hey everyone!
As the end of summer 2019 is in sight now, we thought we'd write a little piece on how the team have been getting on. Its our first summer season, so obviously its our best summer season (lol), but when we first estabilished NewEra Running, we never imagined that the team would be so successful so soon! For a start, our athletes have grabbed 10 PB's in only a few months, with the majority of our team not having raced yet!!
Lets start with Jacqui.
Jacqui came to us in May, with the goal of getting back into running after a long time away from the sport, and wanted to set herself a goal to take her mind off turning 60 next year. She was initially very nervous, self-conscious and hesitant about giving running another go, and to be honest didn't believe she could do it at all. We began very slowly, and initially she could only run for 1 minute and then had to rest; so we set her 1 minute jog / 1 minute walk for a total of 20 minutes. If you'd told Jacqui after this first run that 10 weeks later she'd have completed a 65 minute run without stopping, and ran in 3 parkrun's grabbing 2 PB's, I don't think she'd have believed you! Doing only 1 run per week, she's made huge improvements already and we can't wait to see her grow in confidence as she trains towards her next goals.
Then there's Aimee! Aimee also came to us in May looking to improve on her 5k / 10k times, with the eventual focus on completing half & full marathons. We agreed on a 5k target of 30 minutes, and a 10k target of 66 minutes. In Aimee's first week with us she completed the Lincoln parkrun in 34:10. We set Aimee's training plan, agreed on what sessions she would do and when, gradually increased her steady runs with the focus always being on improving on those times. Within 11 weeks, Aimee achieved 5 PB's and took a humongous 3 minutes 19 seconds off her parkrun time, running 30:51, and also ran 66:20 for 10k. That's the 30 minute and 66 minute targets achieved!! The next step is to go sub-30 over 5k!!
Richard came to us recently, having taken a long break away from running. In his prime, Richard was an international distance runner for Scotland, but fell out of love with the sport after retiring from competitive racing. A family member of Richard joined Team NewEra and suggested he join in with some of the training we set. When we received a message saying that he wouldn't have found the love for running again (and we're pleased to say, some of that competitiveness) without the team, it reinforced to us why NewEra Running was first established.
Jen has had an absolutely fantastic start to joining the team. She came to us looking to improve over 5k, 10k & half marathon distances, whilst also looking to complete a marathon in the near future. Since joining, we've noticed a very impressive improvement to Jen's training, increases in speed of runs, sessions and a build up in total mileage has been demonstrated in Jen going sub-60 over 10k. She is currently in a big training block and putting the miles in the bank. We're super excited to see what results from all of her hard work.
Jon was the very first person to join Team NewEra. He came to us looking for help as he was struggling with a hip injury that had disrupted his training, and he wanted to get back to his best. His 5k PB of 19:13 was set 2 years ago so we knew that Jon was extremely motivated to reach this, and achieve his other goals over various distances. The following targets were set:
- 5k sub-19mins.
- 10k sub-40mins.
- Half Marathon sub-90mins.
We gradually built Jon's training up, due to the hip injury we had to be careful and it took a while for it to be no longer a problem. We set Jon one long run, one interval session, another steady run and then used the parkrun on saturday's as a hard tempo effort. We also set Jon some strength & conditioning training to supplement the running and hopefully make him stronger and less susceptible to injury; this was done after Jon received some exercises from his physio to aid with the recovery of the hip. Week after week, he got stronger, the long run became longer, the intervals became quicker and we're delighted to say so did the parkrun times. In 20 weeks, Jon has gone from a 20:45 parkrun time to smashing his PB, and subsequently achieving his first target, running 18:55 over 5k in last weekend's parkrun. He's done his first race on a running track, running an impressive 5:31 over 1 mile, and also achieved his second target, running 39:44 at the Olympic Park 10k. Just one more target to go!
Jon is the perfect example of what a runner can achieve if they follow a structured and SPECIFIC training plan designed for them. He put his trust in our training, and had no reason to being the first person to sign up to our team, he followed everything down to a tee and we're absolutely delighted for Jon to see him smashing his goals!
With Autumn races soon approaching, and the winter season bringing lots of racing opportunities, you can be sure to see the blue Team NewEra T-shirts all around the country. We have a number of athletes still yet to race since joining us; work commitments have meant that Courtney and Alfie have both struggled to find some consistency, but we're working with them to help provide a plan that's as flexible as possible so they too can achieve their goals. We hope it won't be long until we're posting about them running PB's too! Harvey has had a tough time with injury recently which has unfortunately meant no races just yet. However, he's getting stronger every week with the gym work he goes above and beyond to ensure he completes, the gradual increase in his running and hopefully soon the consistency he needs. He's still so young and definitely has an extremely bright future ahead of him. Kelly too has suffered with a few niggles, but just like Harvey, once the consistency comes back to her training, we know that she can achieve the goals she set herself and so much more.
Jo, Nicole & Kat are all putting the miles in. Whether it be future goals in mind or the fact they've only recently joined the team, they haven't raced just yet but have instead been showing incredible commitment to their training. We can't wait to see what they can achieve in the near future!!
We couldn't have wished for a better start to Team NewEra! The team make us so proud every single day and work extremely hard in their training. We can only hope that our current runners continue to improve and remain happy with us and their running, and that more and more people want to get involved in NewEra Running. We want to create something special in this team. We want to help as many of you as we possibly can achieve your goals and do so with a huge smile on your face.
Discover Your Potential.
Coach Callum
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