Dudley Ladies Beginners Course 2012
Dudley Ladies now infamous beginners running course starts on on Tuesday 24th April
2012
Every year, club
founder, Rita Vanes organizes this very popular beginners running course for
women and last
year, over 150 ladies turned up to take their first steps towards
achieving their goal of running 3 miles within 10 weeks
Olympic Torch Bearer Rita has been running
these courses since 1996, first at Dudley Kingswinford where she established
their ladies section and now at her own Dudley Ladies group based at Wombourne Leisure Centre, in Ounsdale Road.
Dudley Ladies Running
Club has grown to become the largest ladies only road running club in the
Midlands and following a number of high profile articles in various national
running magazines and newspapers, Rita has been inundated with requests to
set up ladies running clubs and beginners courses in areas as far a field as
The Outer Hebrides, The Isle of Wight, Wales and Norwich. 
Rita says:-
“This beginner's course
is the full monty where we start people off from absolute scratch and get
everyone up to running 3 miles or over within 10 weeks.
On top of that we show
them all the basics of stretching, warming up and warming down, what shoes,
bra and clothes to wear etc.
The course is basically
aimed at people who have either never run before, haven't run for some time
or simply can't run for a bus and we teach them all the basic things that
they need to know.
During the course we
have various people come in to give talks or demonstrations or promotions
etc just to keep things fresh and interesting.
On the physical side, I
start them off with a little bit of walking and a little bit of running
around the football field.
This is so that they are
not running on hard surfaces to start with and it gently eases you into
running and builds you up slowly..
When I'm satisfied that
everyone can cope with the field, we then take them out on to the Wombourne
Railway walk to do an out and back type run.
This is where I get you
to run out for a certain number of minutes before turning around and running
straight back.
Over the weeks, I
increase the amount of time until everyone either reaches or exceeds the one
and half mile turn around point to achieve your 3 miles.
Some of the runners will
of course go on and do a lot more in the allotted time but believe me;
everyone does it in the end.
The beauty of this
system is that no one ever finishes last or feels silly or that everyone is
waiting for them and of course you progress up to doing the 3 miles in your
own time at your own rate without anyone standing over you telling you that
you've GOT to do this that or the other.
I've been using this
system for several years now with beginners and people will tell you that it
works very well, hence the very low drop out rate.
But having said all that, if you’re a runner who
can already run about 3 miles regardless of the speed and want to run with
the established group then just come along and join us whenever you can and
see how you get on.
You don’t have to come twice a week because I try
and make things as flexible as possible because I know the way things are
for a lot of people but obviously, the more often you run then the fitter
you will become.
You don't have to register or pay or anything if you
don't want to, when you first come, you just turn up, either for the
Beginners or the normal club.
Then after a couple of runs with us, if you think
that running and Dudley Ladies is for you, then you pay your subs which will see you through until September 2011 and
that's it.
We cater for women of all ages and abilities from
absolute beginners up to seasoned marathon runners, so if the beginner's is
too basic for you, as I said, I'll integrate you in to the main group and
you can carry on from there."
So
if you are a beginner that wants to join in with the fun and learn to run or
you're an established runner that would like the safety and companionship of
running within a large group, you can get further information by emailing
Rita on rita@dudleyladies.co.uk
Click on a
thumbnail below to see pictures of a previous years group
