Newsletter 16/12/21

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View this email in your browser Welcome to this week's newsletter!  With only a short 9 days until Christmas, and 15 days left of 2021 - we want to shout out all of our amazing community for smashing this year! It hasn't been easy, but we have made it through and are so excited to bring in the new year together. For the remainder of the year, our Run clubs will be online so we can connect from wherever in the world we may be! If you have anything you want to chat to us about, please drop us an email or message on Instagram - and we will get back to you!  Why should you go for a swim?  Swimming is the perfect way to train your body, both cardiovascular and strength training, whilst reducing the impact on your joints. Swimming can be used as endurance or anaerobic (sprint) based, and is an amazing way to improve lung capacity. By adding swimming into your training routine, your cardio health will see huge improvements over time and notice that this will positively impact your workouts outside of the pool.  Cross training in the form of swimming, running, strength, etc., is crucial to keep your body firing at its best and helping to reduce the risk of injury. Swimming keeps your heart rate up but takes some of the impact stress off your body, allowing you to build tone and muscle if you are either injured or trying or wanting to mix up your running training. Be sure to check out our weekly swim programming, and if you want to see more - let us know! We always to love to receive feedback.  Community Corner - Meet superstar duo Helen and Vicky! We are so excited to chat with Vicky and Helen this week and learn a little bit more about them!  How did you first get involved with FVR? We knew Tee from Barry’s having done the occasional class with her and we knew her runs were legendary! In fact just before lockdown Vicky had smashed Tee’s 8 minute mile challenge in class! Neither of us were fans of running at all, but we both felt we were getting somewhere - we were both managing to run a little longer in rounds, or a little faster, or on a good day both faster and longer! So when lockdown happened we both panicked - all that hard work on the treadmill, all that building up speed and endurance and confidence was gonna disappear! So we went for a run outside. I say run - we pootled round Dulwich Park.. Then we got a message from Tee - she was working on some run programming, she would do a ‘live' run where we’d sign in on our phone like it was a meeting, all that was needed was somewhere to run and a pair of headphones. And would we like to give it a go? Tee sent us the link to some run she’d named the lightning bolt or something..? And that, our dear FVR friends, was our very first Force Velocity run! Baptism of Fire with the Lightning Bolt! We were sold! What’s your most memorable running/training memory so far? For Vicky - For a long time I’ve had an on and off relationship with exercising, but over the last few years it’s come to be a part of my everyday life. The thing I’ve always loved is lifting heavy! I always remember one particular fully packed Barry's class where I was using 17.5kg dumbbells - the instructor called out to the men in the room and told them (in that very Barrys-esque style) if they had anything less than 17.5kg weights to go and get a heavier set because I was lifting more than all of them! Of course I realise that individual ability is variable, that what’s light/heavy for me is different to the next person, that some may prefer lighter weights and more reps, basically that there are so many different reasons why no one in that class had heavier than that, but it does still make me laugh thinking back to that class! For Helen - my most memorable running memories are the FVR ones, I haven’t done a 5k or 10k or any kind of course! And there’s a few that stick out in my mind. Autumn last year and in the run up to Christmas I’d hit a realisation, that running wasn’t really so much about my physical ability, but about my belief and confidence, I’d come to realise it’s really more of a mental game. Lorna I’m sure will remember this one. We’d done the Lightning Bolt and I think it had been a small crew that evening, and as people were signing off we’re having a little debrief chat at the end of the run with Tee and I burst into tears! Full on hiccup style snotty blubbering. Vic comes running through, Tee’s concerned I’ve hurt myself, Lorna’s thinking wtf.. I’d smashed the run - but like proper smashed it! I’d gone for speeds I’d never reached before and not bailed early on any the rounds. I just got all a bit emosh with pride for myself, yes for the run, but more so for overcoming those negative demons that creep in on your thoughts mid run. There are other runs from other days that have felt the same (minus the blubbering) for similar reasons - smashing 3 mins at threshold or running steady paces over a long run (you know the ones, they give you a nice straight maybe slightly inclined line on your fitness watch stats). But it’s the same overwhelming feeling of omg did I just do that? Hell yes, I did just do that! What’s your favourite FVR run? Or workout? We both really love a good heavy legs day! So for Vicky it’s the hot tamale - when it all lines up and it’s a good day, the hot tamale is the one! It’s the hardest and spiciest, so when you nail it it really is the one.  For Helen - the hot tamale. No wait. I love a lightning bolt, once I’m passed the warm up messing about with the higher speeds for shorter intervals is so much fun, there are buttons on the treadmill that have finally got a finger print on it! Oh but the hot tamale.. there’s a real love/hate relationship with the hot tamale. Like Vic said, when it all lines up the feeling of success after a spicy tamale is like no other.  What’s your fitness goal for the rest of this year/next year? Hmm.. now this really is a difficult one for us. We don’t really have any fitness goals. Our biggest fear is somehow falling out of the routine of training and running and not finding the motivation to pick it up again. So in that sense, our fitness goal is to ensure a maintainable training/running regime and ensure we stay injury free. We’re not training for a big run, we train because we really do enjoy it. And we really do love the social aspect of seeing our new friends at the track or in the park - who would’ve guessed that virtual running and training would see us at our fittest and making such good friendships.  What do you do when you’re not running or at the gym? Good question! Vicky likes to cook, Helen likes to eat..  Vicky - cooking!! Love cooking and make pretty much every meal we eat from scratch. Ask me about my fancy BBQ! Helen - eating almost everything Vicky cooks. Unless it contains kale. And she does try to sneak it in.  Oh and we have cats - we spend a lot of time taking photos of them and showing everyone how gorgeous they are.  A fun fact we might not know about you? We first met when Helen was a student nurse on placement on my ITU. It wasn’t really a story of our eyes met across a patient’s bed, but rather a few months later we squinted at each other in the local gym (of course) wondering who is that squinting back at me and why do they look so familiar.. As Helen walked past she said 'do I know you..?' My response was a happy 'you do now love!' And the rest is history! Recipe of the week   Courtesy of our very own team member Margo – here is a health 5 Ingridient Flourless banana bread which is moist, oaty and naturally sweetened with maple syrup. Enjoy! Ingredients: 3 medium bananas 2 cups rolled oats 2 large eggs ¼ cup pure maple syrup 1 tsp baking soda   Method: Preheat oven to 350*F. lightly grease 9x5 inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. Add all ingredients to a blender and belnd until smooth and well combined. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean Let loaf cool completely in loaf pan. Store bread in an airtight container in the refrigerator   Happy baking! Podcast of the Week This week's podcast suggestion is with none other than one of the greatest marathon runners of all time. He just confirmed his ‘G.O.A.T.’ status at the Tokyo Olympics where he picked up his second Olympic gold medal for the marathon; he is also the marathon world record holder and he is the only person to have ever run a sub-2 hour marathon...it is the one and only Eliud Kipchoge. In this episode, they discuss marathon training, his reason to run and they chat about his favourite marathon. Eliud also gives some key tips for all runners. This is an episode that is inspiring and informational at the same time, and we think you'll love listening! Click here to listen Tee https://www.forcevelocitygroup.com Previous Previous Newsletter 23/12/21 Next Next Newsletter 09/12/21 Force Velocity Group ForceVelocityGroup@Gmail.Com Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy