Vale Royal AC - Senior Section

A very happy new year to everyone at Vale Royal AC.

Let's keep up the good work and make 2012 one to remember.

Keep fit, enjoy everything you do and most of all Be Happy.

Alan

Big thanks to Gemma, Hainsey, Goffy, Toddy, Clutty, Glynn and anyone I missed for putting on a brilliant and entertaining Christmas 'do'.  What a great year of performances, achievements and fun!  Great to round off a fantastic North Staffs XC series earlier in the day with another great turnout and team and individual trophies aplenty.  Let's target more team events next year.

Good luck to the team in the North Staffs last race this weekend. Team VRACers unite!!!

Afterwards, I hope you all have a great time at the Adult Xmas Party. Sorry I can't be there this time.

For anyone else running in the XC races proudly wearing the Vale Royal AC shirt - Good luck - we are One CLub, Vale Royal AC. A proud family of runners and athletes.

And to those competing in the indoor competitions - thank you and good luck - Team Vale Royal AC - the one and only club for Cheshire.

Alan Parsons

Chairman

Harry Edgar

We are the team in yellow and blue

We are VALE ROYAL and this is what we do

We run laps of the the track ,we run there and back

Cut us some slack we've got the knack.

and

We are the team in yellow and blue

We are VALE ROYAL and this is what we do

We run,jump,throw,skip and hop

If we do all this we'll reach the top.

A sweet prize will be awarded to each next Tuesday at St Nicks

One Club, Vale Royal AC

All VRACers have a great run this weekend.

Especially Stu Doyle up in Glasgow representing England - Go Stu Go!

If you are a jogger like me, enjoy yourself, take it steady, look for that extra second that tells you that you are winning.

Train hard as always but most importantly love to run.

Send me a comment or tweet me @ValeRoyalAC or facebook me on http://www.facebook.com/ValeRoyalAC

Your chairman and jogger

Alan Parsons

For those of you not used to seeing your chairman out in running gear well keep your eyes peeled this evening as I am taking my first double digit run since damaging both my back and left achilles....

A clue to my location is the fact that I am dropping off the 12 and 14 year old children ....

If you are suffering from injuries please share it - let's help you get back on the running road to fitness.

Alan

One Club, Vale Royal AC

It is fantastic to see so many of you competing together in the leagues and racing efforts in different parts of the country. Please encourage every member to get involved. Vale Royal AC is our passion.

A special mention to Stu Doyle is in order.

Stu has been selected to run for England Vets. For someone who is trying to keep out of the spotlight Stu you are doing a marvellous job at single-handedly making a name for yourself and our Club. You are a special type of sportsman and one who should be proud with everything that you do and achieve. You are a true ambassador of the One Club, Vale Royal AC! Good luck at the weekend Stu from me and all our members!

Alan (Parsons)

Chairman

Massive thanks to Tom and Tony for getting me up and running in record time!!

P.S. Check out my Chairman's Message setting out my Vision for our wonderful Club and the Senior's Development section where we need your help to grow and move the Club forwards.

Soon to come......Alan Parson's blog:

This is a new section of the website where we hope to add some comment from the chairman.......please come back to see what's new.....

Hi Gang

Thought I would post a quick note to all the marathoners....

Anything between about 12 and 18 weeks of training is in the bank (depending on how long a build up you chose), the hard work is done...possibly the most over used phrase of the moment "the hays in the barn".  But its true.  There's nothing any of us can do now to get any fitter by April 25th (or sooner for Rob and anyone else doing one this weekend!), all we can do now is maintain what we have built and rest up so we get to the line fresh on race day.  Rest and recovery is what will get us the times now (im not saying dont get out of the door for the next 10 days, but take it easy and go shorter!)

Its a nice feeling knowing the training is done, and my miles drop radically now.  This week will be about 50% of my highest mileage week in the build up.  Aside from having more time on my hands to get things sorted for my trip home its was nice to feel good through my whole session this morning (and not be out there for hours!).  And this sunday I will only be out for 60mins...a long way short of the 2:30 that had almost become the norm!  I'm making the most of it, conserving for the big effort on the 25th.

Good luck to anyone racing this weekend, I'll be looking out for results on the website.  Gutted for Tommy in Blackpool, the marathon takes no prisoners, but all that training is in the bank for a good summer of racing once the hammy is recovered I'm sure.

So take it easy and I'll see you marathoners in the big city (at the V tree post race hopefully if not before)!! 

Nic

Hi All!

So I figured that it has been way too long since I last updated my blog…for those of you on facebook you are probably pretty much up to date, but for those of you who don’t then here it is…

The indoor season was pretty short-lived for me, starting with a couple of low key races here in Albuquerque in January to show me how out of shape I was after my foot surgery in December, followed by a 5k in Seattle in February to show I was making some progress and finishing up with the Conference Championships to score points for the team. 

The end of indoors made way for a decent block of training…racking up the miles and bashing out the sessions to finally feel in decent shape going in to the start of the outdoor season this past weekend.  The Stanford Invite is a HUGE meet over here for distance runners.  The 5 and 10ks are always stacked and with near perfect conditions in the late evening when these are run it makes for some super fast times.  Last year I somehow managed to get stuck in no mans land, and that combined with a couple of tears in my shin muscle lead to a 34.32 clocking.  This year I was going home with nothing over 34 minutes, it just wasn’t an option.  So 33.32 was a relief in a way!  A big PB and a ticket booked to Regionals (unless a freak event has 48 other runners in the West running under that time…which would have been top 10 in the NCAA lastyear from what I’m told!).  So it was pretty much job done.  10k was a breeze after the accumulation of miles and big sessions that I’ve put my body through over the past few weeks!!!

Now the focus is back on London (it never really waivered, but Stanford temporarily took my mind of it!).  There is just 2 big weeks of training left before I head into the taper…this week will be particularly savage after starting with the last 20miler this morning and by Sunday the week milometer will read somewhere around the 120 mark. Phew.

I only have one more race between now and London…a 5k at the Mt Sac Relays on 16th April, just 9 days out from London. At first I was adamant this was going to be too close, but now coming round to the idea that it could actually be a good addition to the final preparations.  As long as there are no problems going into the race, and I make sure I’m listening VERY carefully to my body and do all the good stuff to recover well post race then it’ll be a good way of making the pace at London feel slow!!!  Mt Sac is another huge distance running event in California, second only to Stanford…so I’m looking forward to the chance to do some serious damage to my 5k PB!

I’m looking forward to seeing all the marathoners in London,and catching up with the rest of the gang while I’m home for the week after the race.  Hope everyone’s preparation is going well…not long to go now so its all about staying healthy!!!

See you soon!