womensrunninguk.co.uk MARCH 2017 47
SMALL CHANGES“I have been running for years, covering
distances ranging from three miles to a
marathon, but always at the same ‘plodding’
pace and obviously not seeing any
improvements. In March 2016, I attended a
training camp in Portugal with Full Potential
(fullpotential.co.uk) and then plucked up
the courage to join a local Jog England
“I STARTED RUNNING WITH OTHERS
AND VARYING MY TRAINING SESSIONS”
“I LOST TWO
STONE AND
KNOCKED 20
MINUTES OFF MY
10 MILE RUNNING
TIME”
Charity worker Mandy Fenemer, 48, from Chesterfield, used to run alone and never felt
comfortable about joining a running club or going on a running holiday. She put her fears aside
and it has paid off.Chantelle Thompson, 31, a Head of
Year teacher from Weston-super-Mare,
found that losing weight made her a much
stronger runner.
group called Mansfield Pootlers. I’ve since
achieved personal bests at the age of 48 –
my parkrun 5K time was 26mins and is now
24mins 12secs, my 10K time has come down
from 55mins to 51mins 59secs and my half-
marathon time has come down from 2hrs
3secs to 1hr 54mins.
“I never thought a training camp and
running group were for me – in my mind
they were for ‘proper runners’. I’m now
running better than ever. By attending the
training camp, I learned much more about
the different types of running sessions,
including recovery, tempo and intervals. I
ran many junk miles previously. Most runs
now have a purpose.
“Before I joined the running group, I ran
what I thought were interval sessions but,
in hindsight, they were not. All the sessions
with my group are varied intervals, someweeks on the flat, some on a hill – no two
weeks are the same. I work very hard during
intervals. We also do a social run once a
month which finishes at a pub!”Why it worked
If you always do the same run or pace,
how can you expect a different result? Over
time, your body will have adapted to it and
will grow to find it easy. To improve, you
need to create a further stimulus, to enable
your body to adapt further. This means
making some sessions harder. Getting
used to running at a pace where you feel
‘comfortably uncomfortable’, will mean
your body will adapt. “Going out and doing
more miles at your threshold pace or doing
more interval-based training will help you
get quicker,” says running coach George
Anderson (runningbygeorge.com).“I weighed 10 stone 13lb when I first started
running and I now weigh 8 stone 7lb.
Running with extra weight was very hard. I
had many recurring injuries and was slow
and sluggish. When I was heavier, I battled
through races. I was a lot slower than I am
now and didn’t enjoy it one bit. I hated every
single mile.
“I had horrific shin splints. At one stage,
I couldn’t even kneel down or get up the
stairs. My first five-mile run when I was
heavier was 48mins. My most recent five-
mile run was 38mins. I have also completed
three half-marathons and knocked 20
minutes off my 10-mile run time. I feel so
much quicker and much more like a runner. I
have also noticed that the muscles in my legs
are much more defined.”Why it worked
“Simple physics suggests that a lower
body-weight-to-power ratio will help you
to run faster,” says physiotherapist Mark
Buckingham from Witty Pask & Buckingham
(wpbphysio.co.uk). “When you run, around
three times your body weight is absorbed
through the legs, so the heavier the runner,
the higher the force and thus the greater
risk of tissue damage. The lighter you are,
the more power you have in the muscles to
convert that into force going forwards.”