BRR Blog – 16 December 2024

Some of the BRR Team at the Chingford League race at the Velopark

Ho! Ho! Ho! Road Runners!

Not many sleeps until Christmas. I hope you are prepared. I’m not talking about the presents and food, I’m talking about Christmas Day parkrun! I certainly started to get more in the Christmas spirit after taking part in the Rudolph Run in Southend on Sunday, though its not great being overtaken by numerous santas, snowmen, elves, and reindeer (a bit like being overtaken by a Rhino at the London Marathon). That said, the date for next year has already been announced (14 December) and I will be signing up when entries open!

Christmas/New Year Break

Please note that there will be no track sessions on 24 and 31 December (Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve) and also no Thursday night club runs on 26 December and 2 January, as we expect our base at Castle Green to be closed. Everything will be back to normal week commencing 6 January. Never fear; there will be plenty of other opportunities to run during the Christmas/New Year break (see the diary, below).

Keep On Running

Do you suffer from Rhinorrhoea? No, it’s not a dodgy disease; it’s a runny nose. Especially at this time of year, I find that my nose often runs faster than I do (yes, I know, I’d better try and catch it).

Normally, when we breathe in, our noses warm the air and add moisture to it as it travels down into our lungs. In winter, cold, dry air irritates your nasal lining and, as a result, your nasal glands produce excess mucus to keep the lining moist. Unfortunately, that excess mucus can become a dripping nose.

Luckily, there is a simple solution: wearing something over your nose will warm up the air before you breath it in, reducing the irritation and, hopefully, the dripping. And the perfect thing to wear over your nose? A BRR commemorative buff/snood of course!

Keep Young and Beautiful

Doing these five strength exercises regularly will help you feel younger. Start with 10 of each and build up gradually to 20. Just remember, consistency is more important than intensity i.e. don’t work hard, work regularly.

1.    Squats – maybe the best all-round exercise for strength and stability. Keep a nice straight back and don’t let your strays stray beyond your toes.

2.    Modified crunch – to strengthen your core. Lay down on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor, and hands on your thighs. Engage your tummy muscles then lift your shoulders off the floor, sliding your hands up your thighs until they reach your knees, then lower slowly back down again. The move should be from your shoulders, not your head or neck. 

3.    Reverse lunge – Stand straight with feet hip-width apart. Step backwards on your toes, until your front leg and back leg are bent at right angles. The back knee doesn’t have to touch the floor).

4.    Press-ups – either on your knees or with legs straight and balancing on your toes, engage your core and bend your elbows until your chest is just above the floor. If you haven’t got enough strength, you can begin by doing the exercising standing up and leaning into a wall or the kitchen worktop.

5.    Glute bridge – lay down on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor, core engaged, and arms alongside your body on the floor for stability. Squeezing your glutes (that is, your bum cheeks!) raise your hips off the floor as far as possible. Lower down slower and repeat. To work harder, at the top of each bridge you can raise one foot off the floor and straighten your leg, before lowering again.  

Thanks for the Memory

In case you need more motivation to keep exercising, a study from University College London, reported in the Guardian last week, has shown that 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity and sleeping for at least six hours at night could lead to improved cognitive performance the next day.

The researchers asked 76 adults aged 50-83 years old to wear accelerometers to track their sleep and physical activity for eight days whilst going about their normal activities. Each day, the participants were also asked to complete a simple online cognitive test to probe their attention, memory, and processing speed, among other faculties.

The results revealed that each 30-minute increase in moderate to vigorous physical activity on the previous day corresponded to a 2-5% increase in episodic and working memory scores the next, although only the latter remained once participants’ sleep data was considered.

The team also found each 30-minute increase in sedentary behaviour was associated with a small drop in working memory scores the next day although extra time spent sleeping (rather than sitting in front of the TV) was beneficial.

However, it must be noted that the study involved people who were already fit and healthy. The next step will be for the research to be repeated with participants with cognitive impairments. Although a 2-5% improvement might not sound much, Dr Mikaela Bloomberg, who led the research, said ‘The idea is for people who have mild cognitive impairment, a very minor boost in cognitive performance on a day-to-day basis can make a huge difference.” she said. If as little as half an hour extra activity a day (and a bit more sleep) can improve our cognitive function, and help us remain independent for longer into old age, it’s got to be worth it, hasn’t it?  

Trophy Girl

Well done to Jess who collected her trophy for coming first woman in the BRR Chingford League competition 2023-24.

Jess being awarded her trophy

Running in the News

The cancellation of sporting events due to Storm Darragh over 7-8 December has caused some criticism. In particular, the South of England Inter-Counties and Masters Cross Country Championships at Lloyd Park in Croydon was cancelled on the Saturday morning, even though Lloyd parkrun went ahead as usual.

The cancellation led to a lot of criticism, particularly as the decision was taken very shortly before the event was due to start, meaning many competitors had already travelled all the way there. As usual, the finger of blame has been pointed at health and safety, with old-timers saying the word ‘cancellation’ shouldn’t even have a place in the cross-country runner’s vocabulary.

But perhaps we should have a bit more sympathy for the organisers of big events. David Harris, chair of the SoEAA endurance working group, said: “We deeply regret that it was necessary to cancel the meeting but this was for safety reasons. The extremely strong winds were causing the portable toilets to move and blow over very nearly hitting one of the setting up team. Also, there were a few branches that had blown down in the wooded area of the course.

“We were also not able to put up tents and gazebos at all which were required for athlete registration, officials’ registration etc. as this would have been near impossible in the storm conditions which showed no signs of abating.” 

It was difficult deciding whether Barking parkrun should go ahead during Storm Darragh, and we have none of the infrastructure that the Cross-Country Championships had to worry about (I wouldn’t fancy being in a Portaloo that blew over). Probably better to be moaning about an event being cancelled than lamenting someone being seriously injured or even killed in a storm, which could lead to permission being refused altogether for future events.

Greg’s Race Report

The team from the 7.30pm Chingford League race

Chingford League round 4 for Barking Road Runners this week at the Olympic Park Velodrome for a challenging 5k race.

First Finisher for BRR women was Belinda Riches 24:12 followed by Sian Mansley 27:50, Lizzie-Beth Garraghan 27:57, Clodagh O’Callaghan 30:18 and Dawn Curtis 35:30.

The team from the 8.00pm Chingford League race

First BRR male finisher was Joe Stacey 19:48 followed by Tom Brennan 20:03, Ayoyinka Obisesan 20:16, Daniel Plawiak 20:40, John George 23:28, Jagbir Bassi 24:40, Jason Li 27:20, Dennis Spencer Perkins 29:58, Barry Rowell 30:11, and Rob Courtier 31:48.

The BRR Team at the Rudolph Run

Several BRR members took part in the 5-mile Rudolph Run along the seafront at Southend and Shoeburyness. First finisher for BRR was Martin Page 36:51 who was followed by Ron Vialls 40:14, Lizzie-Beth Garraghan 45:34, Steve Colloff 46:38, Alison Fryatt 53:38, Rachel Sharples 58:55, and Faye Spooner (who was helping a friend)1:04:20.

And Faye Spooner at the Rudolph Run

Cristina Cooper competed in another marathon this time in Malaga finishing in a great time of 3:45:12.

Cristina with her latest marathon medal

Derv Bartlett ran in the Offaly 9k senior Cross-Country race finishing in a good time of 41:43.

Derv leading the pack at the Offaly cross-country

BRR parkrunners 

Barking - Joshua Ezissi 24:00, Colin Jones 24:08, Rosie Fforde 25:15, James Hall 25:32, Stuart Burr 25:59, Sian Mansley 26:59, Jonathan Furlong 27:10, Lizzie Beth Garraghan 27:40, Emma Paisley 28:57, Dennis Spencer Perkins 29:45, Robert Courtier 30:20, Martin Mason 32:00, Les Jay 38:00, Nikki Cranmer 43:05, John Lang 44:58, and Alan Murphy 54:44.

Ingrebourne Hill - Rory Burr 24:04, Belinda Riches 24:44, Mark New 25:36, Stephen Colloff 28:28, Jason Li 28:48, Louise Chappell 31:19 and Dawn Curtis 36:22.

Some of the Ingrebourne Hill parkrun crew

and a couple more BRR members at Ingrebourne Hill parkrun

And more BRR members at Ingrebourne Hill!

Tramore - Tom Shorey 29:57 and Clodagh O’Callaghan 32:41.

Tom at Tramore parkrun. I’m guessing Clodagh was taking the photo

Valentines - Kevin Wotton 24:03.

BRR highest gradings this week were Belinda Riches 70.42% for the women and Colin Jones 65.88% for the men.

BRR Diary – December/January

To see the full diary of BRR events on the TeamUp app. Just download the TeamUp app onto your phone, then enter the calendar key: ks67p21gt8p5gzdo66 when asked. If you don’t want another app on your phone, you can also find it under the ‘events’ tab on the Barking Road Runners website: https://www.barkingroadrunners.org.uk/calendar.

7.00pm, Tuesday 17 December – Speed Session. Jim Peters Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. It’s the Christmas Cracker session! We have several Christmas crackers, each with a different 12-minute block of intervals plus a few with some strength exercises. Which ones will you do? It depends which crackers get pulled.

7.30pm, Thursday 19 December – Club road run. Jo Richardson School/Castle Green Centre, Gale Street, Dagenham. The last Thursday night run of 2024. Why not come along and join in? Nobody gets left behind as faster runners loop back for those of us who aren’t so fast (and get a longer run in, as a result). Usually around 4-5 miles.

9.30am, Sunday 22 December – Royal Parks Run. Starting at Matthew Parker Street, Westminster. Either meet at 8.00am by the Faircross shops or go straight to Westminster (nearest tube is St. James’s Park). It’s a Christmas tradition: the Club’s Xmas run through the Royal Parks, starting in St. James’s Park, then Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens, before wending our way back. We usually have lunch in the St. James’s Park cafe afterwards. A very gentle run of around 10k (more if you want to loop back). Nobody gets left behind.

9.00am – Wednesday 25 December – Christmas Day parkrun. Barking Park. If you don’t fancy running, volunteers will be very welcome for what is usually our busiest parkrun of the year.

10:30am, Thursday 26 December – Witham Boxing Day 5. Witham Rugby Club, Spa Road, Witham, CM8 1UN. A loop round the roads of Witham and surrounding countryside. A more expensive option than the Crown-to-Crown, but it is chip-timed. Boxing Day 5 - 26th December 2024 - Witham Running Club

11.00am, Thursday 26 December – Crown to Crown 5k. Westley Heights Country Park (rear of the Miller & Carter (Crown) Public House), Langdon Hills. A mainly off-road race, but with some tarmac. Trail shoes, not spikes. This is a no-frills race, with no chip timing and a low entry fee as a result. You can enter on the day or sign up in advance at Pitsea RC 5k Crown to Crown - Boxing Day - EntryCentral.

10.30am, Saturday 28 December - Ilford AC 10-miler. The Plain, Chigwell Row, Lambourne Rd (opposite Millers Lane), IG7 6ET. Three laps of an undulating route comprising the tracks and grassland of Hainault Forest. The race is held as a tribute to Kevin Newell, an Ilford AC left with terrible head injuries after a fall from a ladder. A donation will be made to his charity. Entries are £7 or on the day for a tenner. There will be a cut-off time of 2 hours. Runners likely to exceed this time may still complete the course, but it may not be marshalled, and you may not get an official finish time. Prizes to the first three men/women and veteran categories. Enter at https://www.entrycentral.com/IlfordAC-10milesXC

10.00am, Sunday 29 December – Hadleigh (SECCL 03). Hadleigh Country Park, Chapel Lane, Hadleigh. The third race in this year’s South Essex Cross Country League series. If you like a challenge, you can’t miss this race – there will be hills, mud, water – what’s not to like? Don’t forget your trail shoes and tie them on tightly. Entry is £5 but BRR members just pay £3.

9.00am – Wednesday 1 January – New Year’s Day parkrun. Valentines Park. What better way to start the new year than with a parkrun? We usually go to the Great Spoon of Ilford afterwards for brunch.

7.00pm, Tuesday 7 January – Speed Session. Jim Peters Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. We’re back at track and it’s the quarterly timed mile. Let’s see how all the Christmas festivities have affected your mile time!

Cracker Corner

What should you do if you find a gorilla sitting on your sofa? Sit somewhere else.

When I was at school, I was the teacher’s pet. She couldn’t afford a dog.

I went into my local shop and asked if I could buy a mouse trap. The assistant shook her head and said, ‘Have you tried Boots?’ I replied, ‘I want to catch it, not kick it to death.’

Boom! Boom!

Quote of the Week

“I often hear someone say, ‘I’m not a real runner.’ We are all runners. Some just run faster than others. I’ve never met a fake runner.”

Bart Yasso 

And Finally…

Too good to rub onto your legs?

Most of you will know Kieran O’Hara, the speedy para-athlete who often runs (and comes first) at Barking parkrun. I was chatting to his dad on Saturday, and he was telling me how he would prepare to run in the winter, when he was a runner himself back in the sixties. He wore a long sleeve top under his vest, and gloves, but would always wear shorts. To keep his legs warm, he’d rub them with olive oil. Apparently, it was very effective at keeping the cold out. I’d try it myself but, with the price of olive oil these days, I don’t think I could afford it…

Happy running!

Alison

Chair, Barking Road Runners