Wors World
All About Wor

I was up with the birds this morning (06:00) as I had a double training session planned.

 

The first part was running for 1.5 hours with Bunder around our village and surrounding areas, followed by a shower and a change of shorts, t-shirt and socks and of to Nottingham for my first British Military Fitness session.

 

The village that I live in is called Jacksdale with the emphasis on the fact that it is in a dale and is surrounded by fairly (in my opinion) tough hills so it’s not an easy course but will (hopefully) prove to be a great training ground for the P Coy Challenge in September.

 

The sun was already beating down (as much as the English sun can beat down) as I headed out the door at 06:45.  It was already hot when I met up with Bunder outside the local coop and we haeded off along Main Road heading for a fairly substantial climb before a descent to the canal.  We ran the canal meeting a couple of other early risers who we know from the local.  Those 2 guys were fishing and looked at us as though we were crazed.  Continuing along the canal we left at the turn for Monument Hill which, although short, is acknowledged as a leg and lung buster.

 

Making it to the top I felt good (gasping a bit of course but good).  Down the other side we crossed the old brick works (more recently this was an open cast mine which has now been reclaimed by nature) and reconnected back to canal.  As we’d ran a loop we again passed the fishermen who advised us if we got a move on we’d catch up the other 2 runners who had just passed by – fishermen eh?  They love a laugh 🙂

 

Back past the Monument Hill turn off as one session up here per run is enough for the moment but we’ll have to up this as we get closer to the challenge.  On past the reservoir where the snack bar was going strong and we were tormented with the smell of bacon sandwiches as we ran past.  After the reservoir we rejoin the canal and continue to the end.

 

Crossing the road we head straight up the hill to a gate which is usually patrolled by a large alsation which makes it a bit hairy but it wasn’t there today :->.  Touch the gate post and back down the hill.  Retracing our steps back down the canal we run round the other side of the reservoir under the cover of the trees we escape the sun which has continued to shine without a break.  We rejoin the canal for the final time and pass the fishermen for a final time.  Bunder asks "Have you not caught anything yet?" which wiped the smile off their faces – like I said fishermen like a good laugh :-).

 

Leaving the canal we run through the deserted recreation ground and split up – Bunder heads to his house and I continue in the direction of the coop where I stop for a paper and some freshly baked crusty buns for breakfast.

 

My finishing time was 1 hour 25 minutes for a distance of nearly 10.5 miles which works out at slightly over 8 minute miles – not too bad I think.  The route we took can be seen here.  I’ve shown my start as the coop rather than my house which is about a quarter mile from there – hopefully this will prevent stalkers from stalking me .

 

Back home and I had a quick look at the paper before showering and donning a set of clean training kit.  A half hour drive to the Forest Rec Ground in Nottingham and I was at the BMF session.

 

A group of BMFers were already there with their colured bibs on.  I introduced myself to an instructor and filled in the neccessary paperwork to allow me to take part.  I was given a red bib (middle fitness) and joined the rest of the group who by now were going through a warm up routine. 

 

10 minutes of side stepping, pushup, start jumps, etc. and we were warmed up and ready to kick on…….

 

The bibs split up into 2 groups: blue & red, red & green where green are the fittest/fastest members.  I joined the red/green team and headed off to the next set of exercises – batches of press ups starting at 10 and counting backwards to 3.  High knee kicks for a minute on each leg then wheelbarrow race!

 

We then gathered at the foot of a fairly steep hill lined with trees – shade at last!  As pairs we sprinted up the hill to the next tree where pressups, squats or burpees were executed until your partner caught up and commenced the pressup, squats etc.  This was repated ’til we made it to the top of the hill when we jogged back down to go again.  We repreated this 3 or 4 times with different exercises being carried out time – exhausting!!!

 

A final set of sprint were performed in a bleep test stlyee to deplete what remained of our strength before having a 10 minute session of no touch rugby.

 

The session wrapped up with a discussion of the various payment options then a group of about 10 stayed behind to run round the park which I joined.  The park is about 1.5 miles or so and that was my final effort.

 

All in all a great mornings training and I really enjoyed the BMF session even though I was absolutely knackered (or hanging out to use the military term).  I’m going to continue with the BMF as and when I can fit it in round my work and other training as well as join my local gym.