Beginners Intro

Details

Category: Courses and Plans

Harpenden Arrows Beginners Course Sep 2020

Introduction

Welcome to the start of the delayed Arrows Start Running Course. Thank you for your patience.  We will run the course along the same lines as we’ve done previously but obviously, we’ll be making certain changes to reflect the current circumstances. You will be briefed at the sessions but none of the special measures should be unfamiliar to you.

1. Do NOT attend if you are unwell, have been unwell recently, if you have been told to isolate or if you think you may have come into contact with somebody who has COVID-19
2. If you become ill with COVID or suspected COVID after attending a session you MUST let us know so that we can contact trace everyone else who was there.
3. Maintain 2m social distancing at all times from other course members, the leaders and other members of the public. During the session do not touch anybody else or their belongings. Do not snort or spit. No ‘high fives’ or congratulatory handshakes or hugs.
4. As we are meeting in outdoor locations there are no facilities for changing, or toilets. Come ready to run and bring your own hand sanitiser if you need it. You will not be required to wear a mask.
5. Arrive and depart promptly. Do not try to join any other groups.

On the 10 week course we will gradually be progressing from a very easy start involving lots of walking and very small amount of running all the way through to running a 5k.

Even with the reduced size of group we are working with, everyone is different and we appreciate that some people may find this easier than others. It’s really important that everyone works to their own capabilities. Although by its nature we will be asking runners to put in a little more effort each session we don’t want anyone to feel way out of their comfort zone and end up getting injured or feeling they have to drop out because they are not quick enough. There is no such thing as too slow. People will also feel good on some days and not so good on others. That’s the nature of it. If you have a bad day, things will probably be better next time!

Remember also that you are asking your body to do things that perhaps it hasn’t done before – or maybe it hasn’t done for quite a while so you probably will get some muscle pain either the day after a session or often the day after that. This is normal but we want people to learn to distinguish between ‘normal’ aches and pains and ‘something is wrong’ type pains.

Every led session will be led by two instructors and will be structured approximately as follows:

1. Signing in and wellness checks. We will do an electronic register (contact free) each led session to check that you are well and there is nothing preventing you from taking part. Do please tell the instructor if – say – you have a tight muscle or something so that if necessary, we can adapt the session for you or ask you not to participate in a particular part of it.
2. Mobilisation. Before we start to do anything at all strenuous, we will all do some simple mobilisation exercises. These will concentrate on making sure your joints – ankles, knees and hips particularly – are moving.
3. Warm up exercises. These are dynamic exercises designed to raise your heart rate a little and get your body ready for the main part of the session. This might be vigorous walking, skipping, side steps etc or in later weeks some ‘easy’ running. There might also be some games etc
4. The primary content part. This is the main meat of the session when you will be working the hardest and will involve running and walking, or later running hard and running easy. This will be increasing in effort as the course progresses. The instructors will explain at the start of the primary part what we are going to do. Remember that this will be harder for some people, easier for other. Often this will involve a period of running over a time or distance repeated several times so if there are, say, 6 repetitions and you are completely ‘pooped’ after 5 that’s really not an issue. You will get warm in this part!
5. Cool down. We encourage people never to ‘just stop’ but instead at the end of the primary content, it is far better to continue to exercise very gently whilst your body cools a little and your heart rate falls back closer to its normal rate. Often this means just walking!
6. Stretches. The final part of the session is stretching. The objective here is to return your muscles to the length they were before the exercise. We are not aiming to stretch anything to more than it was in the first place.  We will do a range of exercises together designed to work on the muscles you’ve just been working hard.

We are happy to take questions from all the course members throughout the course, but we may not always be able to answer them properly during the session. Please give the instructor who is leading the session your full attention and try not to interrupt them by asking the other leader questions at the same time.

What to bring and wear

Please come to the course wearing the clothes that you are comfortable exercising in. You will warm up so layers you can take off and replace at the end are good. Please wear trainers that are comfortable to run in – or walk in if you’ve not done any running. Typically, trainers for running need to be a little larger than you would normally wear – maybe one size up.

If you must bring your phone, please put it on silent and ideally don’t bring it with you on the session. In the current circumstances, phones, keys and wallets etc will have to be carried by you throughout the sessions so please bring the minimum amount of things with you.

Diet and Fluids

You don’t need to make any massive changes to your diet to complete the course.

Some people can tolerate food before they run, some cant and end up with all sorts of problems during the run. Its probably best to try to eat something light before the session – but give your body the chance to digest it for at least an hour before the course starts. 

During the course you wont need any gels or food but you would be wise to bring a drink. Water is fine – energy drinks will probably contain more sugar than you will burn off in the session. Drink sparingly during the course unless its super hot! Even then one 500 ml bottle would probably be ample for the duration of the session. Drinking too much before or during the session may make you feel very uncomfortable or give you a stitch.

There is a huge temptation to over compensate for the exercise you’ve done by eating more than you normally would. Its fine to reward yourself with a little treat but please don’t go overboard. 

Exercise and Recovery Sequences (E.A.R.S?)

Exercise is really important but so is recovery. Each week we will lead you through a set of exercises but in order to be successful you will need to repeat the session two more times on your own (or with others on the course) two more time in the week. We call these your ‘own sessions’ or ‘homework.’ Unless stated your homework is two more repeats of the session you’ve just been led through.

However, you need to let your body repair itself between sessions so we recommend that you always have a ‘rest’ day between session. So the possible sequences might look like one of these..

As you can see Friday and Wed are always rest days! Enjoy them but when we say 'rest' feel free to do some other activities like swimming or cycling perhaps?

Course Outline

Each week after the session the final details of the content will be published online so you will be able to refer to them for your ‘homework’. The content may vary slightly from this on the day due to unforeseen circumstances. We may need to vary the start location of the sessions from one week to the next, but we will always let you know where to meet. We’ll also speak to you about what changes we might need to make as we gradually lose the light in the evenings.

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