TeamGFWK completing Tough Mudder!!

TeamGFWK's first Tough Mudder, we had sooooo much fun! Got plenty of mud in places we didn't think mud could go and we had a right laugh!  It was tough....very tough!  A lot of sweat blood and tears was shed on the day.  But we all finished the course with a smile, head band and a well deserved pint! Bring on the next Tough Mudder!

 

 

Rachel vote Parkrunner of the month June 2015

**CONGRATS** to Rachel who got voted Parkrunner of the month.  She won an amazing pair of running trainers! Check her out having her gait analysis done at Sweatshop and posing in her new kicks!

Since training at GFWK, her times improved from 33.37 to 24.56!!!  Hitting 8 pb's in a row.  There's no stopping her, well done Rachel!

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/widnes/news/2015/07/11/parkrunner-of-the-month-june/

Mike's 26 miles of the glorious London Marathon 2014!!

Having completed many different types of runs in 2013, Mike decided he wanted to take on the most prestigious run of them all. The London Marathon! Running for his chosen charity The Macmillan Cancer Support.

Our story starts in early 2013, where I have been training with Mike and coaching him on his running speed, his running technique and overall endurance, gradually improving and increasing his distance from 5k, to 10k to a half marathon. During this time, I helped him to lose a considerable amount of body fat by helping with his nutrition and diet. With a proper meal plan set out he was seeing great results and huge improvements in his running.

Wanting to run Tough Mudder in 2013, we also trained in agility, mobility and increasing his upper body strength for the high walls and monkey bars. He completed Tough Mudder with flying colours, and is looking to run this event again in 2014, but that is another success story in the making ;)

In 2014, we knew we had to step up the game and train harder than ever for his first marathon including running with him weekly and pushing him to his limits during our training sessions together, I had to get him well prepared for the 26 miles he would be faced with.

12 weeks leading up to the event, we kept pushing and monitoring his progress, we saw great results and he was over the moon with how much he had improved since 2013. Unfortunately a month before the event, Mike went on a snowboarding trip and injured himself this almost jeopardised the entire event as he was close to calling it off, however, we spent the next few weeks helping him recover, gradually building back up the building blocks we had forged. It wasn’t easy I must admit!! But we managed to do it and on the day, he was incredibly happy to have ran and have completed the London Marathon!

Not only was this on Mike’s bucket list of things to do, he ran this for the wonderful Macmillan Cancer support Charity and help raise a whooping £1783.20 (£2,229.00 inc gift aid). Such a fantastic achievement and a huge well done to Mike!!

Mike is looking to run the Chester half marathon this year, Tough Mudder 2014 and the London marathon again in 2015, so keep a look out for him!!

If you are reading this and looking to add to Mike's sponsor money, please click the link below.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=iMShumLondonMarathon2014&pageUrl=2

Jo's Liverpool Half Marathon story...

Jo's first major big event at the Liverpool Half Marathon 2014, in its 21st anniversary.  She is running for Marie Curie Cancer Care and has helped raise over £350! A big thanks for everyone who donated! 

So how has Jo prepared for this event? She has been training very hard over the past few months, increasing her distance from 3-4 miles to 7-8 miles and working on her running technique, pace and stamina.  Jo also has type 1 diabetes so for a long distance run such as this she needs to keep a very close eye on her blood sugar levels. During her training she practiced various scenarios and treatments just incase her blood sugars fell below her normal ranges, sadly during the race only 4 miles in Jo had a hypo (low blood sugar) but thanks to her awareness and experience she was able to treat this with her glucose tablets and powered through. Once we hit the 9 mile mark with the thanks to the Lucozade team sponsoring the event Jo was able to drink some lucozade to keep her sugar levels up and press on to the finish line.

Jo has completed many 5k runs and 10k runs but as far as events go, this is her first major event and her longest time and furthest distance she has ever ran.  Training has been 1-3 runs per week with myself and she has been attending my Afterburn Circuit classes to improve on stamina and cardiovasular output.

On the day she was very nervous and due to it being extremely cold it didn't help with her spirit or anyone elses that morning.  Everyone was running on the spot, performing star jumps and rubbing their hands together to try get some heat generated.  We approached the starting line and with her head held up high and smile on her face, she battled through the 13 miles of Liverpool roads, parks and promenade.  With light rain and fierce winds, this wasn't the easiest of runs but it didn't stop her and she kept fighting through each mile by mile.  With the other runners giving great support and crowds cheering her on she managed to maintain a nice running pace.

After running 9 miles through Liverpool's streets, Princes Park and Sefton Park and her feet completely aching by this point, we hit the Otterspool Promenade which is a fantastic stretch to run along but due to the extremely fierce winds blowing directly into your face it made the last 4 miles extremely tough.  But she knuckled down and kept her pace and managed to finish her 13th mile in 2hours 34mins.  A fantastic time! 

A big thanks to the organisers of the event, they provided many water stations to help runners keep hydrated, not to forget everyone who cheered us along the way and at the final stretch, so a huge thanks who came to support! Also a huge thanks to TEAM GFWK (Claire, Judi, Luke) who also came to show support.   Luke also ran his first half marathon and completed it in an amazing time of 2hours 16mins!  The 2 photo's below showing the last moments Jo and I crossed the line together. 

Well done Jo for battling through 13 miles!!!

A message from Jo herself - "Just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone for sponsoring and supporting me in raising money for Marie Curie. In total we raised £357. Thank you all so much xxxx"