A morning with Essex Boot Camp...

Half Day Essex Boot Camp 

 As you know if you read my blog, still find it odd that people do, last November I spent 24 hours running up and down the hill at Great Notley Country Park. Well today I was back on 'my hill'!

I train twice a week with Essex Boot Camp and love it, I have been a member for over 5 years and apart from a few months last summer have always gone regularly. It really helps with the running, having a strong core, upper body and also the mindset you need to get through sessions.

After my 24 hour challenge Wez and James from EBC said they would put on a half day boot camp for members and ask them to donate to Moorfields Eye Charity.

So this morning myself and 69 other boot campers arrived at Great Notley Country Park to be put through our paces. It was a brilliant, muddy, tough morning. Having been struck with a cold on Friday it would have been all too easy to ditch training plans this weekend but so glad I didn't as a good tough workout and I am feeling a lot better!

The warm up involved lots of running up and down the hill with some press ups, squats and burpees thrown in!

Warming up!

We were then split into four teams and had four sessions to complete during the morning. Our 

first one was with Wez and we were exercising with tyres and doing hill runs, the hill never gets any easier to run up, not even after 265 reps last November!

Next was onto James and some team log carries, my cold was making breathing trickier than normal, but with great encouragement form the instructors and members I was able to keep going. 

We then moved onto Glynn, more hill running with bodyweight exercises and some team trye pulls up the hill. The hill seemed to get muddier as the morning went on and staying upright was becoming tough.

Our final session was stretcher runs with Aaron, one person on a stretcher the other four carrying, we took it in turns and had to complete 5 burpees, 10 press ups and 15 sit ups at various points around the course. It was a tough one to finish on but we got it done. The whole morning went really quickly and was great fun.

Training with Essex Boot Camp is always tough but good fun. The instructors will push you to your limits and get the best out of you. They also encourage that positive mindset that is so crucial in all of my running challenges. It is true that spending your time with positive, like minded people  is so important not just in fitness/running training but in all parts of life and EBC motivates and encourages everyone no matter what their fitness level, goals and ambitions!

If you are inspired to get involved have a look at their web site, there are sessions all over Essex.   www.essexbootcamp.co.uk

Finally a massive thank you to all the instructors for this morning and to everyone who came out, trained hard, got muddy and donated to Moorfields Eye Charity, we raised over £400 which is awesome and will really help the charity with their research into cures and treatments for many eye diseases. Thank you all.

Have a good week and happy running/training xx

Essex Boot Camp and more running...

Another week of training is done, bringing me to 606.95 miles for the year. The last four weeks have been tough and I seem to have been constantly going out for the next session on tired legs. The good thing is that I still haven't missed a session, I can usually stick to the suggested pace and get the mileage in, so this has given me confidence that after two weeks of tapering I will be refreshed and ready to get that new PB at Halstead Marathon.

On Saturday I managed a new PB at Colchester Castle Parkrun thanks to being paced round by Lindley. 

     Colchester castle Parkrun (photo by Neil Wray)

Sunday was a 10 mile marathon paced run, really enjoyed it, felt good and tried some new gels (TorQ) which tasted great and didn't upset my stomach, so last week was a really good, happy training week!

As well as running lots of miles I also train twice a week with Essex Boot Camp, I have been doing this for nearly four years (I never stuck to the gym for more than a few months!). I still enjoy every session and it really compliments my running, helping to improve strength and mental toughness. Sessions are an hour long, outside, whatever the weather and no two sessions are the same, which is why I still look forward to going. I know I will be pushed by the instructors so even as I get fitter it doesn't ever get easier!!  

    6am workout with Essex Boot Camp 

So the next two weeks will involve slightly less running and some boot camp as I taper ready for Halstead. 

     Train Hard No Excuses 

Have a good week and happy running xx