Thursday, August 29, 2013

All Ireland Development Championships



Congratulations to Eoin Clayton who finished 1st in the U16 boys high jump with a clearance of 1.51m and also finished 4th in the 100m at the All Ireland Development Championships which were held recently in Tullamore .




Sunday, August 25, 2013

Week 4 Beginners Training Plan for the Ratoath 5km on the 15th Sept.

Goal- Run/Walking the Ratoath 5km on the 15th Sept and feeling great after it.

Ratoath AC accept no liability for any accident or injury howsoever caused while using this plan. As always please check with your doctor prior to beginning any strenuous exercise and listen to your body as you exercise and stop if you begin to feel unwell, dizzy etc. Always bring some form of id with you with an emergency contact number.

Up to now we've talked about -

Posture
"Each training session begins with standing at the door roll your shoulders back, chest out, tummy tucked in, pelvis in under you ... (do the action as if your teacher told you in a sharp tone to 'sit up' :) ) your arms bent at the elbows to 90degrees thumb and index fingers gently touching. "

Cues for Posture and and Keeping light on your feet
"Key cues- Stand tall, quick short light strides, no plodding."

Cadence
"The running cadence that we're looking for is between 170 and 180 strides per minute and using a metronome, either a small electronic one or a downloaded app on your smartphone (I use a free app metronome pro, electronic digits and easy to set beats right up to 300bpm) is the easiest way of getting this rhythm. "

I won't add anything more to this weeks session, other than changing the run times, but want you to keep it all together.

Monday 
5mins walk, 12x (1min run, 1min walk), 5 mins walk. remember the cues above "Stand tall, quick short light strides, no plodding"  if you find your cadence slowing, your shoulders dropping STOP re focus both your mind and body and start again. 33mins total

Tuesday - Rest

Wednesday
3min Walk, 4x(4min run, 2min walk), 5mins walk to finish. Long run portion but longer walk recovery to compensate. 30mins total 

Thursday - Rest

Friday
Same as Wednesday but if the 4 min runs are to tough then feel free to revert to 1 or 2 min runs instead. It is easier to keep posture and cadence over the shorter run cycles and posture and cadence are more important than time running.
 
Saturday - Rest

Sunday
5 mins Walk, 10x (2min run, 1 min walk), 5 min walk to finish. 39 mins total.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Masters add to the medals over the weekend.

To add to the great efforts put in by the juveniles last weekend, coaches Siobheal Cummins and Peter Doherty were also in action at the All Ireland Masters Championships on Sat 17th August. Siobheal winning Gold in her Masters section jumping 1.35m before torrential rain put paid to any further increases. Peter Doherty finishing in Silver position in a time of 11.73 to Roger Sexton a new masters competitor from North Down AC. 
Tom O'Connor (Liffy Valley AC) also won gold in his 1500m with a great time of 4mins30.71s
Well done to them all.

Record haul of medals for Ratoath/Rathbeggan at National Community Games Finals.





The National Community Games took place at the weekend in Athlone. Ratoath Rathbeggan had 11 athletes competing in various events including sprint relays, 100m, 200m, 60m Hurdles, Long Puck, Long Jump and the Marathon. Amazingly all eleven athletes came home with a medal which must be a record for any parish. The events commenced on Saturday morning with the heats of the athletic events, Ivie Okome, Ella Healy, competed in the individual 100m event and both qualified easily for their semi-final, Tom Kilgannon also qualified in the 200m, while Fionn Drumonnd was unlucky not to make the semi from his heat, finishing 5th in a blanket finish.
Both the U10 mixed relay of Aimee Doherty, Ella Healy Fionn Drummond and Tom Kilgannon and the U12 girls relay consisting of Aoife Rutherford, Ivie Okome, Rachel McPartlin and Emma Coroner qualified safely for their semi, both teams winning their heats. While this was going on Jack Lanigan was producing a great performance in the U12 long puck, eventually taking 3rd place and winning our first medal of the weekend. The relay semi-finals took place on Saturday afternoon, again both teams put in great performances, again both winning their semi-finals. As reported already, the second medal of the day came next with a great jump of 5.09m by Gareth Doyle in the u14 Boys long jump earning him a silver medal.
The Athletic individual semi-finals took place on Sunday Morning, Ella Healy was up first and was just edged out into 5th place, again another blanket finish. Tom Kilgannon put in a fighting performance in the 200m semi, but again was edged out into 5th place on the run in. Ivie Okome had a great run in the girls U12 semi winning by a good margin.
Alex Hunter in the meantime was out on the roads of Athlone in the Marathon, Alex ran a great race finishing 9th, and as part of the Meath County Team finished 2nd in the team event.

More was to come from Ivie in the afternoon, and after a sluggish start in the 100m final, she powered her way up the track to take the gold in impressive style, this was Ivie’s first national individual title and one she will remember.
More medals were on the way in the relay finals, the U10 mixed relay were out first, they were drawn in lane 8, a difficult lane for relay, but that did not put them off, Aimee Doherty got them off to a great start and had a smooth change over with Ella Healy who flew down the back straight, again another good change over with Fionn Drummond who ran a great bend and handed over to Tom Kilgannon, The Dublin team were also flying at this stage and were 1-2 metres up on Tom at the final changeover, but with his usual determination Tom made up the gap and powered  all the way to the line to just take it from Dublin, with Cork finishing 3rd and Clare 4th

The u12 girls were up next, again the girls were drawn in lane 8, Aoife Rutherford ran another good leg as she did in both the heat and semi, passing to Ivie who as usual was powerful on the back straight, again Ivie had a good pass to Rachel McPartlin who ran a good bend passing smoothly to Emma Coroner on the anchor leg, Limerick were also going well in lane 1 and there was nothing separating the teams as both girls tore up the finishing straight, unfortunately this time we were just edged out on the line into 2nd place with less than a tenth of a second separating the teams, with Cork in 3rd and Carlow in 4th place.
Great credit to both teams who trained hard during the summer, and well done to all athletes who competed so well in their various events.



Saturday, August 17, 2013

Silver Medal for Gareth Doyle at National Community Games


Ratoath A/C athlete Gareth Doyle produced a wonderful display of long jumping on the first day of the national community games to take the silver medal in the u 14 competition. With his first jump of the day he jumped a new PB of 5 meters 9 centimeters. In addition he had three other efforts in excess of 4.90m and did not have even one foul which in the blustery conditions represented an exceptional series of jumping.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Week 3 of Beginners Training Plan Starting Monday 19-8-2013

Goal Run/Walking the Ratoath 5km on the
15th Sept
and feeling great after it.


Hopefully by now you'll be getting more comfortable with standing tall as you run and running with a short but snappy cadence. For those interested in a bit more guidance regarding and exact stride rate then there are some free apps out there which can help. The running cadence that we're looking for is between 170 and 180 strides per minute and using a metronome, either a small electronic one or a downloaded app on your smartphone (I use a free app metronome pro, electronic digits and easy to set beats right up to 300bpm) is the easiest way of getting this rhythm. First practice using your arms only while standing, remember held at 90 degrees, and bringing your elbows back swinging with the beat. For a little while stand at home and vary the bpm on the metronome, if you want to have an idea of the pace Usain Bolt is moving his arms and legs then bring the beat up to 300 bpm, and try and get moving your arms with it. If you bring it faster than the 180 and then back down to 180 the arm movement will feel easier. 135-140 bpm is a good walking rate but Rob Heffernan will be up at the 180 mark :). (If you like music then www.podrunner.com has both an app and podcasts that go up to 180bpm though they are very techno/house and sound frenetic best used when we get to longer runs)
Anyway, the idea is to get both arms and legs moving together running on the spot and then slowly move around but keeping with the quick cadence. Note how you have to keep up on the balls of your feet, it is hard to plod at 180strides per minute but you can still run slow. The next thing is to take this snappy cadence outside. 

Monday
5 mins walk, 10 x (1min run, 1 min walk), finishing with 5 min walk. See how you go with the 180 cadence remembering stand tall, shoulders back but relaxed, chest out, tummy tucked in running on the balls of your feet. Remember you don't have to run fast here. 30mins total
Tuesday-Rest
Wednesday
5min walk, 6 x (2min run, 1 min walk), finishing with a 5 min walk. 28mins total
Thursday-Rest
Friday
Same as Wednesday
Saturday-Rest
Sunday
5 min Walk, 7 x (2 min run, 1 min walk), finishing with a 5 min walk. 31mins total.

Please, Please, Please take these as a guidance only. You are responsible for for your own body always err on the side of caution, it is always better to do less than to push yourself to meet times. As a small rule of thumb if you are physically well but just don't feel like doing the session, get ready, get out the door, do the plan for 10 mins staying close to home, if after 10mins you are still feeling lethargic call it a day and head back home and save the session for the next day, making sure to get plenty of rest that night. What you will generally find is that the initial 10 mins will clear the cobwebs from mind and body and you will be able finish off feeling strong.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Cross Country Training Tonight 7:30 Toole's Field GAA Club immediate right as you enter main gate.

Bring Jacket and Change of shoes for the car home as the field is in use with calves so there is 'natural waste' ;). 
Session will be for approx 45 mins. 

Monday, August 12, 2013

Juvenile Training Starts back this Tuesday 13th August

U9's Born 2005 5:30-6:30
U10 and U11 Born 2004 and 2003 6:30-7:30. 
U12's + born in 2002,2001... From 7:30-8:30pm. 
Emphasis this season on Aerobic Fitness and Cross Country.

Little Athletics to start in early September - date to be confirmed.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Week 2 of Beginners Plan

Goal run/walking the Ratoath 5km on the 15th September and feeling great after it.

We're going to keep more of the same for this week, run/walking as before however we will add one or two extra minutes running to gradually get the body used to more effort but without over stressing.
Monday 5 min walk then 7 x (1 min run, 1 min walk), ending with a 5 min walk. 
5 minute walk but remembering to start as always standing tall, shoulders back arms at 90 degrees, with your pelvis "sitting up". Start with a good fast cadence for your walk as feels comfortable for you.
For each of the 7x 1min runs remember use your arms to increase your cadence use short light strides. You can be travelling over the ground slowly but you are not plodding. You are standing tall, shoulders back, chest out, "sitting up" body good and straight. For each transition to a 1min walk your cadence will slow down and your stride length will increase so you might find that you are travelling at the same speed as when you were running. This is just fine, right now you are teaching your body running posture and cadence (tall, quick, and light). 
5 min walk home to finish but remember no slouching :). 
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Same as Monday
Thursday Rest
Friday- Slight change here. We're going to increase the run times to 2 mins but decrease the repetitions to 4, ie. 5min walk, 4x (2min run, 1 min walk), 5 min walk. So you will have 8mins of running and just beginning to extend the running time. As always you are in control if you are feeling that this is too long just go back to the 1 min run 1 min walk but do 8 repeats of this instead of the 4x2 minute. Then you are getting the same run time in but with more recovery. Always watch your posture and cadence.
Saturday Rest
Sunday if you felt good on Friday then repeat it here otherwise repeat the session from Monday. 
Key cues- Stand tall, quick short light strides, no plodding. 




Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Ratoath 5km Beginners Plan 6 Weeks to go.

Ratoath 5km Beginners plan for those who have been walking regularly and would like to begin to add running into their workout. 
Ratoath AC accept no liability for any accident or injury howsoever caused while using this plan. As always please check with your doctor prior to beginning any strenuous exercise and listen to your body as you exercise and stop if you begin to feel unwell, dizzy etc. Always bring some form of id with you with an emergency contact number. 
If the run sections are too long for you then change them to fast walking sections and aim this year to walk the Ratoath 5km but to consider training towards run/walking a 5km in the winter. 
Week sun 4th August 6 weeks to go. 
Goal get out min 3 days this week with min 1 day between sessions
Equipment 
some form of digital watch, stopwatch or timer that u know how to use would be a bonus, or your phone stopwatch.  
Comfortable running clothes. 
Pair of running runners. 

Think of what route you will do that should last between 20-30mins on your first estimate. Pick circular route maybe around Steeplechase or the Loop around the village.

Each training session begins with standing at the door roll your shoulders back, chest out, tummy tucked in, pelvis in under you ... (do the action as if your teacher told you in a sharp tone to 'sit up' :) ) your arms bent at the elbows to 90degrees thumb and index fingers gently touching. 

Start your stopwatch or look at your watch to get your start time and start walking controlling your cadence with your arms. Start with a 5 min walk at a good pace for yourself. 
Then depending on how you are feeling keeping tall, 'sitting up' pick up the cadence with your arms and begin to run with very small strides but a quick turnover so you are not running fast over the ground but begin right from the start with correct running form, speed will come much later. Aim not to plod but to try and be as light on your feet as possible for 1 min then bring down the cadence again and walk for 1 min. 
Repeat this run walk pattern for 6 repetitions. If the 1 min run is too much reduce it to 30sec run with 1min 30sec walk for the 6 reps. or as said above dont run at all but make the walk a bit faster.  
Minute by minute breakdown. 
0-5 mins Walk. Cue to yourself 'stand tall'
5-6 is a light on your feet run. Stand Tall, quick arms and short light strides. 
6-7 walk 'tall'
7-8 run 'tall, snappy and light'
8-9 walk 
9-10 run
10-11 walk
11-12 run
12-13 walk
13-14 run
14-15 walk
15-16 run
16-21 walk on home remember to keep tall no slouching. NB this walk cool down is important don't just go from a quick light run to a complete stop. 
You should feel as though that was easy that you could do it all over again and this is exactly what you want to feel. 
Repeat today Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. 
Post comments/questions below or on the Facebook pages and we'll do our best to answer them as quickly as possible.