The Great Escrape

9 do gooders hit the streets, took on the task and worked on some running techniques

in search of this weeks light

This week we were headed over to Kori to deal with the railings at the centre’s play area. Thankfully the rain began to stop just before the session started. One by one people arrived at the Tottenham Green Leisure Centre just in time for us to get outside and do our briefing. I was very happy to introduce a new comer. Welcome Chris. Great to have you join us! After a quick warm up we were off into the night in search of this weeks light at Kori. We set off with a quick stop for our regular #BridgePic before taking up the first half of our 4k run.

play like the big kids

On arrival at the Milton Road Estate we noticed there had been some work going on within the children’s play area. It seems there is some updating being done to the children’s equipment in the park. This is great news for local users and residents of the estate. Unfortunately the play area is now closed off which meant we would be unable to do our usual chin ups along with having a little play like the big kids we are. However, I had a running technique session planned for our stop off at the war memorial en route back to HQ and a little something else in mind for the short time it would take to stash the tools come the end of the task, so perhaps it was for the best.

playing the tubular bells

As they say time waits for no man (or woman) so we grabbed the eye protection and tools we’d be using then got stuck in scratching scraping and some even went for a striking approach. To which I asked are you guys playing the tubular bells before demonstrating what I thought was a good way to exercise each arm and remove as much paint as possible. We seem to be so so close to finishing one a pretty big section of the railings. After a quick whip round to get pics for our silly pic competition we continued scratching and scraping for the last 10 minutes of the task then packed everything away. While Myself and Mohammad stashed the tools I prompted the others to do the beep test. Shouts out to Ali for her efforts here.

180 strides per minute

En route back myself and Ali discussed stride rate and the optimal rate of 180 strides per minute - regardless of size or weight. Hard to grasp but the key thing is to take into account a persons stride length which of course will differ depending on the type of running they are doing. Bigger or smaller strides aside you should still aim for 180 strides per minute to be most efficient. At the war memorial we went over some running techniques, which included posture, breathing, running with a forward tilt or falling forward and foot strike. These are all things that if done properly can conserve and lead to a smoother run, which can of course have a huge effect when running - especially longer distances like a half marathon. With this all said and done we were off again.

A sprint finish, warm down and some stretches saw the session draw to a close.

Oh and shouts out to Ollie for the pun – good shout!!

Until next week folks

Stay fit, do good and look out for the light!