BRR Blog - 15 September 2025
BRR runners and supporters at the Pleshey Half Marathon
Hello there, Road Runners
I am ashamed to admit it, but the central heating has been turned on for the last couple of evenings. Just for a short while, to take the edge off, you understand. But I’m still clinging on to the short-sleeved running tops and shorts, for the time being, anyway! Have you switched on the heating yet?
This weekend saw race number six in our 2025 Grand Prix competition, the Pleshey Half Marathon. It’s the fifth time I’ve run it, and each time I’ve asked myself, ‘Why, oh why, oh why?’ This time was harder than usual, as I hadn’t been able to train due to injury. But, once again, I found the benefit of running with others. Just when I felt like giving up, I saw Tom B and Steve C not far ahead and managed to catch up with them. We completed the race together, spurring each other on, and a bad day turned into a good one. That’s what running buddies are for!
Talking of running buddies, Zahra Aslam is starting university this week. In addition, having turned 18, Zahra’s provisional England Athletics Coaching Assistant licence has been updated to a full licence.
Congratulations Zahra, and the very best of luck with your university course.
World Athletics Championships
At the time of writing, there wasn’t much to shout about for Team GB and NI at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, with zero medals being won. Of the three men and three women who got through the first rounds of the 100m qualifying, only Dina Asher-Smith made it to the final, and she finished a disappointing eighth. Our mixed 400m relay team failed to medal. The closest we have come to a medal is in the women’s marathon. Julia Paternain, who won the English Schools 3,000m in 2017 and 2018, came third. The 25-year-old's family is from Uruguay but she moved to the UK with her parents when she was two. Unfortunately, having previously run for Britain, she decided to run for Uruguay on this occasion, earning the country its first-ever World Championship medal.
There are still a lot more chances for our team to win medals, so let’s keep our fingers crossed for the rest of the Championships.
What Is Garmin Training Effect?
My rather smeared Garmin screen showing my Pleshey HM training effect
It felt like I worked hard at the Pleshey Half Marathon, and it appears my Garmin agreed, as it said my training effect was 5:0 – overreaching. But what does Garmin really mean by training effect?
If you have a Garmin running watch, every activity you complete is assigned a training effect score. This is an estimate of how much impact that activity has had on your fitness.
The longer and harder your activity, the higher the score. This score is mapped onto a five-point scale:
0 – No Effect
1 – Minor Effect
2 – Maintaining Fitness
3 – Improving Fitness
4 – Highly Improving Fitness
5 – Overreaching
In a balanced training plan, the majority of your days should be 2’s and 3’s, while your hard workouts might be 4’s and the occasional 5. Too many 5’s are not a good thing; you need a balance of hard training and recovery to improve.
Garmin breaks the score down into two categories: aerobic training effect and anaerobic training effect. Aerobic training uses oxygen to create energy and focused on sustained activities and endurance, like my half-marathon. The longer and harder the effort, the higher the training effect.
The anaerobic training effect is focused on time spent running fast (not like my half-marathon!). Running at high speeds requires your body to create more energy than it can through aerobic pathways i.e. breathing. But it can only do this for short bursts, like intervals. The more, longer, or faster these intervals, the higher the training effect. The fewer or slower these intervals, and the lower the training effect will be.
The calculation for training effect is based on EPOC – excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. This is the amount of oxygen your body keeps using after you’re done exercising while trying to get back to a state of normalcy and is a good proxy for measuring how hard a workout is. A higher EPOC means a harder workout.
Based on your heart rate during an activity, the pace of the activity, and the duration of an activity, Garmin can estimate what the EPOC is. Once that is done, Garmin uses an algorithm to map that value on to the five-point scale. This five-point scale takes into account your training history and fitness level.
For the anaerobic training effect, a similar process is used but the algorithm only looks at the EPOC generated when you are running faster than your VO2 max (the maximum at which your heart, lungs, and muscles can effectively use oxygen during exercise). It also takes into account how many intervals you ran, their duration, and the pace relative to your VO2 max.
Like all data on your Garmin, you do have to take it with a pinch of salt. If something messes with the data the algorithm is using, the training effect might not be 100% accurate. For example, if your heart rate is higher than usual – due to heat, humidity, fatigue, or illness – your Garmin will assume you worked harder than you actually did. However, if you use the training effect data alongside your own perceptions, it can give a helpful indication of how hard or easy your next training session should be. I think my 5:0 overreaching score is a good excuse to take it easy for a few days…
A to Z of Running
Episode five in the A-Z of running, and this week it is brought to you by the letter ‘E.’
Easy Run: A run that is meant to be run slow – to know you’re going slow enough, you should be able to hold a conversation; if you can’t chat, you are going too fast. Easy miles/kilometres should form the backbone of most training schedules. They allow your body to recover from tougher runs, so you are better able to attack your next intense session. They help to build your fitness and stamina without putting as much strain on your body as faster runs. Your easy run pace should be at least a minute slower per kilometer than what you would run for a 5K race, [that’s around 1 min 40 secs slower per mile]. There is no set distance for an easy run; the day after a tough training session or race, you might want to keep it quite short but, if you are training for a marathon, your long runs should be run at an easy pace.
Electrolytes: minerals that are essential for your body to function. The main electrolytes are sodium, potassium, and chloride as well as magnesium, calcium, phosphate, and bicarbonates. Most people should get all the electrolytes they need from a healthy, varied diet. But there are some circumstances when taking additional electrolytes may help. This includes if you’re doing strenuous exercise, especially if it’s for longer than an hour. Sports drinks and gels that contain electrolytes, including sodium and potassium, can be a useful way to replace electrolytes lost through sweating. Failure to do so can lead to weakness and fatigue, muscle cramps, confusion, feeling sick, and irregular heartbeat.
Elite: Those runners at the top of their game. Think of Mo Farah and Usain Bolt when they were competing, or maybe Keely Hodgkinson now.
Endorphins: These are the body’s natural painkiller brain chemicals released during running (and exercising in general) that reduce pain and promote well-being, creating a state of euphoria and typically leading to the experience known as Runner’s High.
Endurance: Simply, it’s your body’s ability to withstand pain and discomfort and run for extended periods of time. Also used to describe longer running distances, usually of 5k or more.
Greg’s Race Report
Tom S and Belinda, BRR first man and women at the Pleshey Half
Round 06 of Barking Road Runners’ Grand Prix series was at the Pleshey Half Marathon this week, with several members competing on the tough, undulating, course through the Essex countryside. First finisher for BRR was Belinda Riches in a time of 1:5:54:19 followed by Tom Shorey 1:56:45, Sian Mansley 2:25:22, Barry Rowell 2:27:46, Rob Courtier 2:28:37, Tom Brennan 2:33:01, Steve Colloff 2:33:02 and Alison Fryatt 2:33:02.
BRR parkrunners
Barking - Paul Withyman 20:04, Daniel Plawiak 22:00, Rosie Fforde 24:44, Jason Li 28:24, George Hiller 29:15, Faye Spooner 35:05, Nikki Cranmer 35:54, Darren Graham 37: , Belinda Riches 37:13, Alan Murphy 50:44 and Denise Graham 55:51.
Chelmsford Central - Gary Harford 29:17.
Great Dunmow - Louise Chappell 32:10.
Louise at Great Dunmow parkrun
Gunpowder - Paul Ward 26:47.
Morden - Rory Burr 26:01.
An exhausted-looking Rory at Morden parkrun
Orpington - Mark New 24:29.
Mark N at Orpington parkrun
Raphael - Doug King 27:48.
Sutton Manor - John Mitchell 26:37.
Valentines - Kevin Wotton 24:35.
Walthamstow - Stuart Mackay 21:00.
Wimpole Estate - Martin Brooks 27:22.
Highest BRR age gradings this week were Rosie Fforde 60.65% for the women and Paul Withyman 70.10% for the men.
BRR Diary – September
The highlights of the coming weeks are listed below but you can see the full diary of BRR events on the TeamUp app. Simply download the TeamUp app to your phone, then enter the calendar key: ks67p21gt8p5gzdo66 when prompted. If you don’t want another app on your phone, you can also find it under the ‘events’ tab on the Barking Road Runners website: https://www.barkingroadrunners.org.uk/calendar.
7.00pm, Tuesday 16 September - speed session. Jim Peters Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. This week, back by popular demand, John Lang will be leading the ‘Catch the Coach session.’
Warm-up, then we set off on the track jogging in one direction, while John sets off in the other. As we pass John, the pace is increased, then drops as we pass him the next time. We carry on like this for 30 minutes.
7.00pm, Thursday 16 September - Club road run. Castle Green Centre/Jo Richardson School. A road run, usually around four miles.
11.00am, Sunday, 21 September - Ingatestone 5 (GP07). Anglo European School, Willow Green, Ingatestone CM4 ODG. Penultimate race in the grand prix series. This year is the 40th anniversary. Online entries are closed, but you can sign up on the day (arrive early to avoid disappointment).
Various times, Saturday 27 September - Westminster Mile.
Various times, Sunday 28 September - Vitality 10,000.
2.00pm, Sunday 28 September - BRR versus A&G Builders charity football match. Barking Abbey School football pitch - South Park Drive. Come along and give our boys your support! More details nearer the time.
Cracker Corner - the hirsute edition
Yesterday Chris told me a man was knocking on our door with a moustache. No wonder I couldn’t hear him.
I said to my friend, ‘Your beard makes you look thinner.’ It didn’t seem to cheer her up.
I told Chris there was salesman with a beard at our door. He said, ‘Tell him I already have one.’
Quote of the week
“Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.”
Alice Morse Earle
This applies to runs too!
And finally…
Right places, wrong river: the 2025 Great North Run medal
There was controversy last week when it was discovered that the medal for the 2025 Great North Run contained a serious error. On one side of the medal is a map which is labelled with Newcastle, Gateshead, and South Shields with the River Tyne running across the middle. However, many runners are supposedly furious after spotting that the map is actually of Sunderland with the River Wear running through it.
It’s an easy mistake to make. Older readers may remember the 1960s song ‘I’m going to leave old Durham Town’. In it, Roger Whittaker sang about ‘sitting on the banks of the River Tyne, watching all the ships going down the line.’ However, the river running through Durham is actually the River Wear. Perhaps we can forgive Roger for changing the name of the river for the sake of rhyming.
What I can’t forgive are the runners trying to cash in by selling their Great North Run medals on eBay at inflated prices - I saw one on offer for £399.98. Oh, Dawn, how could you…
