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Great Eastern Run: Get ready to step up to the mark
ET Features Editor Julia Ogden starts her training for the Great Eastern Run with Gemma Catlin at Werrington Sports Centre
ET FEATURES editor Julia Ogden, a self-proclaimed fitness hater, has signed herself up for the Great Eastern Run.
The team working for Peterborough City Council’s Planet Pulse gyms have offered to help her train, here she explains how the first few sessions went.
I AM not, by nature, a daredevil, but I have done many “scary” things as part of my job. I have abseiled down a church tower, taken part in the London to Brighton bike ride, modelled in a fashion show and even flown with the RAF – but I have never taken on anything which has given me the heebie-jeebies quite so much as this latest challenge.
Call me mad, but I have signed myself up for the Great Eastern Run.
I know to some of you out there this may not seem that significant, but, to me, it is a massive deal, especially when you consider the furthest I have ever run in my life is three and a half miles.
For those of you who do not know, the Great Eastern Run is a half marathon – which means the route is just slightly more than 13 miles long.
This year’s event will take place on Sunday, October 10 – otherwise referred to as 10.10.10 – so I have exactly 203 days to prepare.
Some of my colleagues, who are keep-fit enthusiasts, have laughed at the fact I am already beginning to train, but I am determined that if I am going to do this, I am going to do it properly.
I want to run the whole route, and complete it in less than three hours.
I am also 40 years old and am beginning to feel the odd creak and groan in my knees and ankles, so think a slow build-up is the best way forward.
My training actually began three weeks ago under the wtachful eye of Gemma Catlin, a personal fitness instructor at the Planet Pulse gym at Werrington Sports Centre, Peterborough.
Gemma is 24 and a keep-fit enthusiast. She loves her job – in particular helping unfit and unhealthy people get fit.
“It is really satisfying when you help someone who is really overweight and unfit achieve a specific goal, whether that is to lose some weight, or just be able to do half an hour on the treadmill,” she said.
“I had one man who was referred here by his GP, because he suffered from really bad asthma. When he first came, he had to use his inhaler all the time, but, within weeks, he had stopped using it as much, and now only has to have it at night and first thing in the morning, which is obviously great news.”
The first thing Gemma does when she first meets a client is take them into a little room on the first floor of the gym and measure them – in more ways than one.
First of all Gemma measured my height. I am 5ft 8ins tall.
I then had to jump on the scales and was rather shocked to discover they put me at 11st 10lbs.
My body mass index was 25.2 (apparently it should be between 18 and 25, so I am only 0.2 over, but the same could not be said for my body fat measurement. I was disgusted to discover that 36 per cent of my body is made up of fat.
Gemma, however, was not as horrified as me, assuring me that, for my age, height and build, I should be between 27 and 32 per cent, so I wasn’t that far over.
She promised that by the end of our training, she would have helped me bring this down to under 30 per cent. All, I can say to this is watch this space.
After this ritual humilation, Gemma then put my fitness to the test and was encouraged to see that although I was really out of breath after running 20 minutes on the treadmill, I did recover quite quickly.
She also ignored my whingeing, when she increased the incline on the treadmill several times during the last 10 minutes of the exercise to see how I coped.
“This isn’t fair,” I shrieked. “We live in Lincolnshire, there are no bl**dy hills!”
“Come on, you can do it,” she urged. “Stop moaning and keep running!”
Yikes, this woman is a real task master.
Actually, joking aside, Gemma is brilliant. She is encouraging without being patronising and her enthusiasm and positive outlook is somehow contagious.
Last week, when I went to the centre, I really wasn’t in the mood.
“I know it is only week two, but I just don’t want to be here today,” I moaned. “It is so cold and I wish I could have stayed at home, cuddled up on the sofa with my husband.”
Instead of humouring me, Gemma basically ignored my moans, and put me through my paces instead.
And, amazingly within about 10 minutes of being in the gym, I honestly felt like a different person.
Gemma has set up a training programme which keeps me interested and challenged, because I get to use a variety of the hi-tech gym machines, including the cycling machine, treadmill, rowing machine, and cross trainer.
Next week, we will be working on building up the strength in my legs by using some light weights and looking at my running technique – apparently like a lot of women who run, I take very small steps, which actually uses up more energy, Gemma wants me to concentrate on taking longer and bigger strides.
So watch out everyone here I come . . . And, if I can do it, you can, too.
n If you would like to find out more about the personal fitness sessions at Planet Pulse gyms, call Werrington Sports Centre on 01733 576606, Bushfields Sport Centre on 01733 234018 or Jack Hunt Sports Centre on 01733 264644.
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