I am a 61 year old midwife, live in Edinburgh, and started running a year ago.  I started really slow,and am still a slow runner, but I jog for  20 minutes most mornings before work.  I would like to get a whole lot fitter and am considering doing a week-long boot camp early in the new year to get really fit before Retirement.  Has anyone done this?  Is is  stupid at my age?  I was thinking of a women-only one called GI Jane.  What do people think?

Amazing achievements so far Frith!! My take on this is that it may be fun but possibly too much in a short space of time, I'd recommend a continual gradual improvement, with slight increases in pace and intensity. Cramming at a boot camp might cause injury or even put you off! I'd also be questioning the actual long term benefit of a week long camp, I suppose if you compared it to studying for an exam,  longer period of studying and revising is more likely to educate you better and achieve a greater chance of a high grade, whereas cramming a week of study in at the last minute, is likely to drain you and increase the chances of a poorer result! Dunno if that makes sense but thats my ramble of a Monday morning!