Bringing the Blog out of hibernation!

Oh no! I've done it again! I always say to myself I'm going to keep my blog up-to-date and then things get in the way! I spend all day sat at a computer working away, and then I spend a good part of the evening training and by the time I've had dinner I definitely don't fancy sitting down at a computer again and writing about training.
Also, I feel like there's not really been much to talk about the last few months!
OK, OK, that's not strictly true - there is the small matter of the World Duathlon Champs, and that's probably worth quite a lengthy entry! But apart from that I was tapering down for the World Champs and then recovering and having an enforced end of season break - so that's pretty much the whole of September covered off there with not much training to speak of.

But despite there not being much going on training wise, I keep saying to myself that i want to keep my blog updated because it's a great personal record and has a bit more detail than my minimal training diary - AND also because I'm an avid blog reader! I love reading other athlete's blogs. Especially when I'm training on my own and not racing it can feel quite lonely slogging out the miles, so it's always great to sit down with a cup of tea and read what my friends have been up to. Just a bit of extra motivation to get out and get the training done, plus I find I can learn a lot from how others deal with fitting training in to busy lives!
I love the blogs on RunnersLife - very interesting to see what other sessions runners are doing over the Winter, and how people approach big races in different ways. Plus they're always updated weekly which makes for great Monday morning coffee break reading!

Right, enough ABOUT blogging, and time for some actual blogging - what have I been up to?!
Firstly, I've made the very important discovery that unless everything else in my life is going smoothly, I simply cannot train hard. If other things are taking up my energy, I don't have the energy left to consistently train hard. I'm one of those athletes who needs to focus before a hard session and concentrate on what I'm trying to achieve, otherwise I just can't do it!
Lesson learnt. And as training hard and achieving my sporting goals makes me happy, I'll be doing my best to get things in balance a bit more so I have the energy to train well.

Secondly, I've discovered the level of training I can do to not lose any form - always useful, and now I'm in a position where I can push on with Winter training and focus more.

Ok, better get on to what I have actually been doing...

Right at the end of my two week break after the World Champs I ran a charity 10km up in Scotland. The Strathcarron Hospice 10km was a fundraising event for the hospice that looked after my Uncle before he passed away earlier this year - my wonderful cousins decided it would be great to get the family together to run the 10km and give back to the Hospice by raising money for them. It was brilliant to see my family doing something so positive and really enjoying running as well! I was super proud of my brother for running the 10km without any preparation, and happily confessing he'd never run that far before.

It was a beautiful sunny day and a lovely course - apart from the first 3km all being uphill! I set off steady, slowed down a bit up the hill and then enjoyed every second of the race, passing 5km in 21mins and speeding up to finish in 40.55 for 2nd lady and 21st overall.
Results here
I'm already looking forward to doing this race next year and will definitely be trying for first place - I know my Uncle would have wanted to know why I hadn't won!

Since then I've been getting back into training and been very busy buying a house with my fiance. It's been a surprisingly stressful time, with not knowing exactly when we'd be moving till a couple of days in advance! Luckily I had Sean to sort out a lot of the stressful stuff and reassure me we wouldn't be homeless...and if we were, it wouldn't be for too long! Everything worked out in the end and we moved into our new house the day before we had to vacate the old one.

Training wise I've been building up the bike sessions to 3 a week comprised of:
1 long ride - though this is currently only up to 60mins as I'm still having problems with my hip
1 45 min spin class - I've found a fantastic spin class at my local DW Fitness which definitely replicates the sort of interval training I'd be looking to do on my own.
1 4 mile run + 40 min bike session

I've also built up my long run to 12-14 miles with an exceptionally long but very enjoyable 2 hour run round Stockport a couple of weeks ago!
Running session wise I've struggled to have enough energy for sessions but have managed some good mile reps and an enjoyable 10 x 90seconds along the canal which had to be cut down to 8 x 90seconds when it got too dark to see people walking towards me - although I jumped, I didn't actually scream!

Race wise I had a good run at the Worsley Woods Park Run at the beginning of November, setting a course PB of 20.20 for this very muddy ParkRun which actually has 3 sets of steps in! My aim is to get under 20mins for this one as not many women have managed it yet!
I followed that up the weekend after with a shocking run in the Manchester XC League at St. Helens. I maintain that the first XC race each year is always the hardest, so this year I stupidly decided to make the hardest of the Manchester XC Leagues my first race. It was AWFUL. Up hill, down hill, up hill, down hill - and all the down hills were really muddy and boggy so it was relentlessly hard! Unfortunately this was another case of finding out how hard it is to train/race without any energy and when I finished the race I was very dizzy and couldn't even warm down. Not enjoyable at all.
I took things easy in training the next week and had a great Physio session with Paul Savage at Athlete Matters which loosened up my tight back and hip and come Sunday I was in much better shape for the Leeds Abbey Dash 10km where I set a Season's Best of 39.35. I'll do a full race report on this one as I think this one actually deserves it!

After Leeds I'm feeling a lot more positive about what I can do when I get some consistent training in - so that's exactly what I'm going to do for the rest of the Winter! I'm also adding in a yoga class each week to try and work on my flexibility and mobility in my back/hip to hopefully enable me to build up the bike further - apparently 2 hours is the aim!

WOW that's a long blog - if you've made it through this far, thanks for reading - it must be time for another cup of coffee now! As always, any comments are welcome and I PROMISE I'll be doing more regular blog updates now - if I get some consistent training done I'll be able to write about that for a start!

Thanks :)

City of Salford 10km

Just a quick race report on the City of Salford 10km - I've now recovered sufficiently from it to be able to write about it!

Although I ran faster than the 10km I did a fortnight ago, I can sum up this race from the things that went wrong - and learn from them!

1. I struggled in the heat and had to grab water half way round - though as soon as I'd had water I felt a lot better and started running better.

2. I paced this really badly - going through 2km in 7.40 and getting close to my 3km pb!

3. I didn't focus at all on the race, between 3km and 6km I was too concerned with how bad I felt!

4. I was really stiff and didn't run comfortably at all. Afterwards my back was so tight I struggled to warm down at all.

Basically, lots of things to improve on and my next 10km is likely to be the Leeds Abbey Dash in November - after the World Duathlon Champs I want to get a good solid block of training in and get under 40mins in Leeds. My aim for 2012 was to get under 39 mins, but I'll have to see how the next couple of months go and possibly run a few 10kms in December to try and achieve that!

1 Kirsty Longley Liverpool pembroke sefton 00:36:59
2 GWEN KINSEY STROUD & DISTRICT 00:37:11
3 Jenny Knass Stockport Harriers & AC 00:38:11
4 Nina McArthur Salford Harriers & AC 00:39:22
5 KATIE GEELAN BURY AC 00:39:25
6 Kerrie Wood Doyle Stockport Harriers & AC 00:39:46
7 CLAIIRE O'CONNOR Salford Harriers & AC 00:40:26
8 Stephanie Bullock 00:40:33
9 Lora Blann Altrincham & District AC 00:40:41
10 Sarah Mackness Telford AC / Altrincham 00:40:47
11 Lisa Ainslie Trafford Athletics Club 00:41:09
12 Michelle Wilkinson 00:41:16
13 Helen Lawrenson Wesham Road Runners 00:41:46

Another race done, another improvement in time - and lots to work on for next time!
I'm looking at ways to prevent the tightness in my hip and back that limited my running and might have to start going to Yoga again. I used to love going to yoga and always left the classes feeling taller and calmer - just need to find a good class and get started again!

Tough 2 Weeks of Training

Last 2 weeks of hard training before the World Duathlon Champs, and it really has been a hard 2 weeks.
I feel like I've never trained this hard in my life, but what I really mean is I've never put this much effort into training! I've definitely done some harder sessions and done more volume in a fortnight, but because of losing so much fitness with tendonitis I've had to put absolutely everything into training to regain as much fitness as possible before the World Champs.

My coach, Phil Nichol, seems to have got my training absolutely spot on - I've ended each day absolutely exhausted, but when I wake up in the morning I'm looking forward to the day's training, and with a couple of exceptions I've managed to stick to the plan!

So this is what I've been up to in the last 2 weeks...

W/C 27th August
Mon: 10min run, 35min bike, 5min run
Tues: 5 x 1mile off 2 min rec: 6.32, 6.40, 6.28, 6.30, 6.27
Weds: 35min easy run - legs in agony
Thurs: 20min run (2.8 miles), 35min bike (inc 5min effort fast), 22min run (3 miles)
Fri: Rest! Bad day!
Sat: Worsley Woods Park Run: 1st Lady in 21.23
Sun: North West Triathlon

W/C 3rd September
Mon: 75 min run
Tues: Track session - 1600m (6.02) 1500m (5.40) 1200m (no idea-feeling really sick!) 800m (2.40)
Weds: 30min run, 45min bike including 5min intervals, 30min run
Thurs: Bike session - 20miles including 4 x 3mile efforts
Fri: Rest with sore hip
Sat: 10min run, 20min bike, 15 min run
Sun: Salford 10km: 10th Lady in 40.47

To be honest, although I have complained continually about being tired, I have absolutely loved the last 2 weeks of training. It's been good and hard but I can see and feel gains in my fitness every day.
I've done 2 cracking track sessions in the last fortnight, and for me to get down to 6 min miling is a huge step in the right direction - now if only I could get my tempo runs and race pace down to 6mins!
I used the Worsley Woods Park Run as a tempo run, running hard but controlled for the first 2 miles before easing off towards the finish - not wanting to tire my legs out too much for the North West Triathlon the next day, and I still clocked my best time for the course!

The North West Triathlon probably deserves it's own race report, but I really don't want to think about it anymore! I needed to do a duathlon before the World Champs so I emailed the organisers to ask if I could miss the swim in the Triathlon and just do the bike and run - they were very accommodating and gave me the thumbs up. Despite this, I certainly won't be doing this event next year! For a start T1 and T2 were 500m apart and the bike course was on roads which were far too busy for the event. I struggled to overtake because of the number of cars passing on the busy A roads and with another bike event taking place on the same day it felt really dangerous! I also had a bad experience during the race as I got my first blow out, hitting a pot hole at speed (with cars going past I was unable to avoid it) and juddered to a halt, struggling to keep my balance after only 5 miles. With a new tyre and inner tube required I had no option but to get in the support car and enjoy the drive back to the finish. Although I wasn't a fan of the course, the organisation of the event was fantastic - it must be hard to find suitable locations to hold triathlons, especially for the volume of people wanting to take part - I think they had thousands!
Before the blow out, the bike was going really well - it felt great to be out racing and I was loving zipping past people (yes, yes, I know I had a huge advantage of having not swum!). Having not been out on the roads on my bike since March because of injury, I was apprehensive beforehand, but I soon felt like my old self and enjoyed being in a race again. Luckily the organisers dropped me off at transition so I ran in with my bike, put my trainers on and headed off on the run. My aim for the day was to finish the bike & run, so I was more than a little annoyed to not achieve this. To compensate I speeded off on the run and clocked the fastest women's time of the day in 19.46, overtaking people all the way. Obviously not a fair competition on the run as I'd hardly done any of the race, but 19.46 for 5km is a reasonable time and I felt strong on the run with a bit of cycling in my legs.

Positives:
Felt good on the bike
No reaction from cycling the day after
Speedy run
Hopefully got some nerves out the way

Negatives:
Blow out!
Not getting a decent length bike done

I got my bike fixed up quickly and got it out on the roads on Thursday, putting in a tough session of 4 x 3miles with 2 mins recovery. It was great to get out into the countryside and enjoy a lovely sunny evening but I found where the roads were really uneven it really upset my tendon and I had to take the next day as a rest day and just test out my tendon and sore hip on Saturday before Sunday's 10km.
Race report on Salford 10km coming soon!

The next 2 weeks training are tapering nicely for the World Duathlon Champs, so it's just a case of getting a bit more bounce and speed in the legs and keeping healthy. Fingers crossed!

Ellesmere 10km

This weekend I had the choice of the following:
* 3 mile tempo, (2min jog) 2 mile tempo
* 5x1mile tempo (2 min jog rec)
* 10km race

Looking at the target paces for the sessions I decided doing a 10km race would be far and away the easiest option!
I find it much, much easier to run fast in a race situation - there's something about having people around me also taking things seriously that helps me focus. Recently I've been able to focus pretty well during tempo sessions and get my head down and hit my target times, but this week I was suffering with a bit of jet lag and was pretty tired from my week in Canada with work.

I found a nice, supposedly fast, 10km in Ellesmere, Shropshire - which fitted quite nicely into our plans of visiting my family over the bank holiday weekend.

Unfortunately finding the race was pretty much the only bit of planning which went well! I was super tired from Canada, and still jet lagged, so I woke up late on the Sunday morning, struggle to get ready in time and we then got stuck behind slow moving traffic on the twisty roads to Ellesmere. I arrived 15 mins before the start of the race so I just had time to get my number on, dash to the loo and get my racers on.

It was the first time I'd even tried my racers on in over a year, and as soon as I tried to jog in them I remembered exactly why I'd left it so long - somehow the right shoe is far too narrow, despite them being exactly the same size as all my other Saucony trainers! With my other trainers being totally soaked from yesterday's training session, I had a choice of totally wet shoes or slightly small shoes. I went for the slightly small shoes hoping they'd loosen up. Which they actually did, but not until 6km!

I was also feeling dehydrated from the start, despite having downed pints of water and a bottle of powerade in the morning. I guess I hadn't rehydrated properly after Saturday's session (10 min run, 25min bike, 15min run) and I struggled in the heat, finishing the race with a headache!
The race itself actually worked out as a great tempo session. I started running with pretty much the same group of people, going through kms in just over 4 mins till I hit 5km in 20.18. As you can see from the photos taken at 1km, 7km and the finish, I was running with the same group of people pretty much all the way - good pacing from us all I think!

I slowed a bit over the last 5km and I could have sworn the last hill was a lot steeper than it was. In fact I was telling my boyfriend, wait till you see this really steep hill we had to run up, and when we got to it I saw it wasn't much of a hill at all - on the way round it felt like Snowdon! There are some excellent photos from Bryan Dale and it was a lovely, well organised and well supported race in pretty countryside. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more without the last 2 weeks of training, travelling and jet lag affecting me, but it served it's purpose as an alternative to a tempo session!

I finished 8th Lady in 41.07 which is a Season's Best so I can't be too disappointed! My 5km split of 20.18 is only a few seconds outside my 5km SB, so I'm hopeful of going under 20 in my next 5km. I've also got a 10km planned in a couple of weeks, the City of Salford 10km, which I'm going to ease off a little for and hopefully get under 41 mins!

Unfortunately I didn't have much of a sprint finish at the end and narrowly missed out on 7th - hopefully I'll have time to get some speed in my legs before the next 10km!
Results available here

Top 10 Women:

Pos	Name	Club	Chip Time	Pace from Gun
1	Michelle Ross-Cope	City of Stoke	00:35:16	5:41 min/m
2	Kim Fawke	Telford A.C.	00:36:23	5:52 min/m
3	Mandy Vernon	Trentham A.C.	00:37:52	6:07 min/m
4	Clare Thurgood	Orion Harriers	00:39:26	6:22 min/m
5	Laura Gray	B.R.A.T	00:39:49	6:25 min/m
6	Becky Lewis	Unattached		6:34 min/m
7	Emily Dove	Whitchurch Whippets	00:41:06	6:38 min/m
8	Sarah Mackness	Telford A.C.	00:41:07	6:39 min/m
9	Jacqui Smith	Oswestry Olympians	00:43:07	6:59 min/m
10	Catherine Voyce	Shropshire Shufflers	00:44:31	7:12 min/m

Before the next 10km I'm going to get myself some new racers - I think I might go back to Nike's as I loved my Nike Zoom Marathoners. I'm also looking forward to getting some more training in and then easing off a couple of days before the race so I have a bit more bounce in my legs! Salford Quays should be a much flatter course than Ellesmere, though with £250 for first place it's likely to be a much higher quality race - can't wait!

Jet-lag & Training!

The last fortnight of training has been quite tough, because I had a week in Canada in the middle of it with work. I was worried about how I'd fit training in with travelling and working - on one of the days the conference lasted from 7.30am to midnight so there was absolutely no opportunity for training then! Luckily jet lag meant I was up early most mornings so I managed to get some training done before breakfast. While none of my training was perfectly as I'd like it this fortnight, I stuck to my schedule with the exception of 1 day and I think I continued my good progress!

W/C: 13th August

Mon: 45min steady
Tues: 2 x 2miles tempo. Great session clocking 13.55 and 13.05 (the first effort was slightly uphill. I got chased by a very scary dog and it's vicious thug of an owner on the last effort, who responded to me asking him to call the dog off with a load of swearing. This probably speeded me up a bit though I did take a detour through a hedge!
Weds: Travelling to Canada, as soon as I arrived I tried to adjust my body clock and headed straight to the gym for my first attempt at cycling in weeks. 10min run, 10min cycle, 10min run. All went well and it was nice to get on a bike again!
Thurs: 75min long run. REALLY HARD. It was far too hot and humid and I was far too jet lagged and generally tired for this, but I managed a decent run - when I got back I measured it at 8.5 miles so I wasn't quite as slow as I thought. Though I did have to stop and sit under a tree for a few mins half way through, just to recover from the heat!
Fri: 6x800m (90s recovery) on the treadmill. Not the easiest way to do an 800m session, especially as I hate running on treadmills, but I got it done!
Sat: Rest with full conference day!
Sun: 10min run, 15min cycle, 20min run. Actually enjoyed getting in the gym on the treadmill, putting my music on and getting this done after yesterday's long working day!

W/C 20th August

Mon: 10min run, 20min bike, 20min run. Spent the day walking round Toronto, which seems like good extra training to me!
Tues & Weds: Rest. I was so tired from travelling and jet lag and the long days in Canada that I had absolutely no energy to run or do anything apart from sleep.
Thurs: 45min steady run. Really struggled to pick my legs up. Have been feeling dizzy with jet lag!
Fri: 10miles in 80mins. I was feeling really dizzy all day but didn't want my training to be affected any more so my boyfriend came out with me on this mammouth run to keep me company and I equipped him with energy gels, just in case I got dizzy while running! Luckily as soon as I got out in the fresh air and start running my body decided to co-operate and I had a lovely long run with the boyf before a nice Friday evening relaxing on the sofa! Just what I needed after a tough couple of weeks.
Sat: First Brick session on my racing bike - I was a bit cautious beforehand because I really did not want to have any problems so close to the World Duathlon Champs. I faffed around a bit, and then had a word with myself - it's only 4 weeks till D-Day and I have to take some risks. So I blasted out an awesome session of 10mins run, 25mins bike and 15mins run - hitting it all hard and giving it 100%. I was exhausted after and (as I discovered on Sunday) didn't do a good enough job of rehydrating!
Sun: Ellesmere 10km - 41.07, 8th Lady Race report to follow. Good hard workout and some warm weather training!

All in all it's been rather tough the last couple of weeks to fit everything in. I've definitely done the best I could though. It's quite surprising how hotel facilities vary so much. Considering I was staying in a 45 storey hotel I was expecting a decent size gym, but instead there were only 2 treadmills and 1 bike, meaning there was often quite a queue for the equiptment! It was nice to get a long run done in Canada and get out to explore a bit more of the area, but running in new places is hard as I'm always worried about getting lost or running into less nice areas. Luckily I was able to stick close to the river and enjoy some nice scenery without running into any problems (apart from the massive hill back up to the hotel - but I did get some support from pedestrians just for trying to run up it!)
The next couple of weeks of training are going to be really really tough as I ramp up the bike sessions in preparation for Nancy. I've had to promise my boyfriend that my permanent tiredness is only temporary as I've not been much fun the last week with training, work and jet lag to contend with. Luckily he makes it a lot easier for me by cooking dinner while I'm out training - it definitely helps with recovery to get in to a nice hot meal waiting for me. It's amazing how much of a difference having a good support team makes when trying to balance everything and get the best out of myself and my training.
I'm already looking forward to October and calming the training down a bit to build a good cycling base - something that I don't have at the moment. I need to get everything in balance a bit more and get the life:work:training sorted, however for now I'm just going to focus on doing everything I can to get fit for the World Duathlon Champs! Wish me luck!

Run The Flash 10km and Training Update

I am loving racing right now!

On Tuesday I went down to London to watch the Olympic Triathlon - what an experience! I watched the Triathlon in Beijing and the spectators were rather sparse, a totally different story in London where Hyde Park was totally packed!

It was really inspiring and has made me even more determined to qualify for the World Triathlon Champs in London next year! However I've got to take things slowly as I come back from training, even if that has meant getting a few races under my belt.
Using races as training is helping so much as it's taking the pressure off the races as well as giving me good markers of how my training is progressing.
In previous years I've been kind of scared of racing, only wanting to race when I felt I was in shape to get a PB, and only being interested in running on fast courses. Now I'm getting the benefit of racing on different courses and conditions to help learn how to race over longer distances. I've always done well at track tactics, but my tactics for road races have been shockingly non-existant. This summer I've taken advantage of not being in PB shape as I recover from tendonitis by entering lots of fun races as training.
This Saturday was the Run The Flash 10km back at Leigh Sports Village and I was looking forward to have a nice hard run out round a lovely course.
My training leading up to the event came off the back of a hard week of racing the week before.

W/C 6th August:

Mon: 30mins easy
Tues: 4x1200m at the track. It was just me and Sandra doing this session so it was a bit too much like Sunday's race where I was trailing after her! I'd just come back from watching the Triathlon at the Olympics which was a fantastic day and inspired me to run fast. I was doing my 1200ms in around 4.40 but struggled towards the end with Sunday's races in my legs.
Weds: 45mins run
Thurs: 3x1 mile tempo (1min rec) This session was meant to have another 800m rep on the end, but I was SO tired I just could not move my legs any more and ended up pretty much crawling home!
Fri: Rest
Sat: Run The Flash 10km, Leigh, 44.13. 1st Lady. Race report below.
Sun: 75min run with the boyfriend on the bike doing a great job of keeping me company so it was a more enjoyable Sunday!

Run The Flash 10km

Using a slightly different course to the last race I ran at Leigh this was a 2 lap race and had fewer hills, which I was very happy about! It was a hot day and the field looked slightly smaller than the last one. From the start I was the first lady and got a good gap on everyone behind me by 5km so I eased off. I went through 5km in ~21 mins and then as per coach's instructions used the race as a training run and enjoyed the encouragement from the marshalls for being first lady! It was really nice to win a race and I enjoyed every step of it!

I also came 11th overall - makes a bit of a change from some of the road races I've done where I've been down in the hundreds overall! The next race organised by Sports International is the City of Salford 10km where 1st prize is £250 - unfortunately I think the competition might a bit tougher then!

End of July Training Update & 3 Races!

W/C 23rd July

Mon: 40mins
Tues: Rest
Weds: 10min warm up, 4x3mins hard, 10 min warm down
Thurs: 40mins
Fri: 30mins
Sat: Rest
Sun: Leigh Legacy 10km - 43.13, see race report

Feeling great after the race I had a week of quality training and racing!

W/C 30th July

Mon: 30mins
Tues: 6x600m with Altrincham AC. Great to be back down training with the club and to see everyone! The rest of the group were doing 8x600m so I missed a couple to get a bit of extra rest and felt strong running on the track. First track session back, DONE! I didn't even take my times as I just wanted to focus on running smoothly and getting the session done.
Weds: 45min easy to easy the legs off
Thurs: Sale Sizzler 5km 20.11 Absolutely awesome run to take over a minute off my time from a fortnight ago! Very very pleased!
Fri: 73min run - very pleased to run this far! Just started running and enjoyed it so much I kept going, though on the way back I was listening out for the road traffic noise to know I was getting back home!
Sat: Rest
Sun: Northern Track League, Litherland (Southport) - 3km in 11:33.1 Found this really hard in the heat and couldn't go any faster but another huge improvement on a month ago. Also trotted round a 1500m to pick up some extra points for the club.

Had a great week of racing, clocking some fantastic times and making huge progress all in the space of 8 days! Looking back I can't believe I managed these times after such limited training - at the time I was disappointed not to go under 20 mins and 11.30, but I feel confident I can hit these times very soon and I'm quite excited about next year's track season! Things are definitely going in the right direction, and fast!

Racing as training seems to be working - I'm getting more out of it than I would a training session and it's building my confidence nicely!

Feeling Like a Runner Again!

I'm very happy to report that 8 weeks out from the World Duathlon Champs and I finally feel like a runner again!

On Sunday I had my first 10km race of the year - the Leigh Legacy 10km, an off road race that I'd entered out of necessity rather than feeling like I was capable of having a good run at this distance. My boyfriend had encouraged me to enter so I'd know where I was at over 10km - after all in 8 weeks I'm going to have to run 10km, then cycle, then run again, so I need to move towards longer races and build up my stamina as soon as possible. In the week before the race I was quite nervous about running the distance - I'd only managed one run longer than 10km since injury, and I was worried that it would be horrendous and painful and that I wouldn't be ready for it! With quite a bit of encouragement I'd entered with the aim of assessing my fitness over 10km and giving myself a marker to improve on.

I woke up feeling super keen and couldn't wait to run! It was pouring with rain and with the course going round Pennington Flash it was going to be very muddy - perfect conditions for a Sunday run really!
In my enthusiasm to run I kind of forgot I'd been injured and struggling to run and just warmed up as normal. For the 5km's I've done I've been very aware that I'm coming back from injury and have only done short warm ups so that the total distance run that day doesn't go to high. On Sunday I forgot all about this and did a 15min jog to warm up, my normal stretching routine with hip mobility exercises to try and prevent the tightness I've had in my hip over the last few weeks, and then I even did some strides before bouncing around on the start line - I actually couldn't wait to race! All the races I've done this year I've not stretched beforehand, as I haven't been able to - so even the warm up was a huge improvement.

Lining up on the start line under the inflatable banner with music pumping all around I was very happy to be out in the rain on a Sunday morning. Chatting to another runner, Louise, who I recognised from a few 5kms I've done this Summer (she's won them all!) I found out that the course was quite hilly.
Good thing I was warned about this as it helped me pace my efforts up the hills and I was prepared for a tough race throughout!

I set off at a fairly easy pace, aiming to get round the whole course in one piece! With this being my first 10km I was unsure how I'd cope with trying to run hard over the distance and didn't want to over do it in the first 2km. After about 2.5km I was running along the canal and the gaps in front were getting quite big. I know how easy it can be to switch off when you find yourself in a big gap and I wanted to make this race as easy for myself as possible, so when a guy came past me, I took the decision to put a little bit more effort in and try and hang on to him. I picked up the pace slightly and then actually found the race easier as he was a great wind block and was gradually moving through the field picking off other runners! With every kilometre that passed I challenged myself to stay with him for another km, and another km, and I did so until we got to 8.5km when he started to move away. I tried to pick up the pace to go with him, but just didn't have it left in my legs and from that point I'm happy that I didn't drop my pace at all, but he speeded up quite a bit!
When I came back into Leigh Sports Village my boyfriend was excitedly jumping up and down (well, almost jumping up and down!) at how well I was doing and although I got out sprinted at the finish by a fast finishing man, I was over the moon to cross the line in 43.13! WAAAYYYY faster than I was expecting, and I felt great and finally like a proper runner again! And to top it all off, I came 3rd Lady and won a meal at the nearby Radisson restaurant!
After this I feel a lot more positive about my chances of getting fit in time for the World Duathlon Champs as it's a huge step in the right direction! If I find any photos of me running around in the pouring rain like a very happy but very drowned rat, I'll update later!

Tendonitis to Training : Slow Progress!

Last Monday I was feeling very disheartened with my progress.
I was trying to run for 40 mins, having managed 35 the day before, and my legs were tired and just trying to run was feeling far too hard. It was a general "oh god this is so hard I'm never going to make it back to the house" type of run. I started thinking about how it's just over 2 months to the World Duathlon Champs, and I've not managed to run for 5 miles.

Luckily I snapped back to reality pretty quickly and realised there was no way I'd be ready for the World Champs if I didn't change my attitude. 40 mins might be hard work, but it was never going to get easier if I gave up! I also thought, I've probably made pretty good progress, but I've not been writing my training down so I can't see the progress I've been making. I'm constantly comparing how I feel and how far/fast I'm running to what I was doing in March - which is incredibly disheartening because that's a world away from the level I'm at now.
I decided to stop focusing on how hard running is at the moment and instead just enjoy being able to run! As soon as I did that, I had a much more enjoyable run and decided to explore a couple of new footpaths in the woods. I got home and found I'd done 45 minutes, had a lovely run and was in a much better mood. I was still really tired with all my muscles aching, but I'd managed my longest run since March and enjoyed most of it!

I also realised how important it is to record my training, so I can 1. get some perspective on my progress, and 2. plan further training to TRY and get in shape for the World Champs.

So, here it is...my training since injury, broken down by week commencing date.

28th May: 2 x 10 min run
4th June: 2 x 15 min run, 1 x 5 min bike
11th June: 2 x 20 min run, 1 x 10min bike,
***FIRST RACE: Dunham 5km: 21.37***
18th June: 1 x 10 min bike, 1 x 10 min run + 10 min bike, 1 x 20 min run
***SECOND RACE: Lymm 5km: 23.12***
25th June: 1 x 20 min run, 10 min bike, 1 x 25 min run
***THIRD RACE: Worsley Woods Park Run 5km MT: 22.16***
***TRACK RACE: Northern League 3km: 12:20.8
2nd July: 1 x 25min run, 15 min bike, 1 x 35min run, 20 min bike
***FOURTH RACE: Forest Park Ladies 5km MT: 21.47
***FIFTH RACE: Worsley Woods Park Run 5km MT: 21.41***
9th July: Tues - 40 min run, 20 min bike.
Weds - 36 min run.
Fri - 25 min run easy.
Sun - 35 min run.
16th July: Mon - 46 min run.
Tues - 10 min, 3x3min efforts, 10 min.
Thurs: ***SIXTH RACE: Sale Sizzler 5km 21.10***
Fri: 35 min run easy.
Sun 60 mins! 7.5 miles

Photos from Sale Sizzler available here

Looking back at that now I can see I'm making great progress and managing to roughly stick to adding 5 mins a week to my longest run, though I did get a bit carried away on Sunday enjoying the sunshine and being able to check out some slightly different routes to the 25-30 min ones I've been restricted to recently.

I've also been doing a lot of races and loving it!
I must confess it was quite hard to get my head round racing and being so much slower than I was a few months ago, especially finishing miles behind people I was competitive with recently. But racing so often has been great for keeping me motivated - I definitely needed some intermediate challenges before the World Champs to break things up a bit. It's also fitted in well with my training as I've needed to do a lot of ~5km runs and it's helped ensure I do something faster than a trot and put some effort in. I've also absolutely loved it - it's been great to enjoy the social side of running, see people and make some new friends from my races!
Racing has also enabled me to put in some little targets - like getting under 21.30, and now I'm aiming to get under 21 minutes at the next Sale Sizzler 5km. I've even got a couple of 10km trail races planned, mostly as a training exercise so I am running hard(ish) over a longer distance, and so that when I do finally get fit, I'm not out of practise at racing.
For the first time in my life I'm actually looking forward to running a 10km this Sunday and am hopefully preparing my body to do some serious training over August and September.
It's great to be back :)

6 months of silence

Well it's been almost 6 months since I last posted anything here and I'm guessing I've lost any avid readers in that time!
Since my run in the Midlands XC Champs, I've had a very turbulent few months - both personally and sportingly. There have been some fantastic high points, and some low points. Because I'm keen to get my blog back on track and up-to-date, I'm going to skim over the last few months for now, and then probably go back in a few days time and put the details in.

I want to update my blog, because over the last few weeks I've read a couple of blogs and a book which have totally ignited my passion for sport. Chrissie Wellington's autobiography in itself deserves a separate blog post, but it made me remember how important sport is, and not just sport the sake of sport, but also the positive impact it can have on people's lives.
I've also been inspired by Joe Skipper's blog. Joe's a Manchester based Triathlete, who puts in some amazing training and gets some fantastic results. It's definitely worth a read!
Nina McArthur's blog and new website are both great reads! Nina deals with some hard issues in sport, and what I think of as the dark side of elite sport, especially given Hollie Avil's recent retirement. It's been fantastic to read about her journey and see how she's come back to triathlon and loving it!
The other blog which has really made me think about training and competing over the last few months is Paul Savage's site. His blog is a really insightful reflection on training at the top level in the real world. It's given me great perspective on how important other facets of life can be in achieving good performances in sport. Paul's also responsible for the fact I'm now back running and cycling after a very tough couple of months, which is a huge testament to his abilities as a physio. I've seen a hell of a lot of physios in the last 20 years, and he's by far and away the best!
When I've got more time, and when I'm not in the middle of writing a book length blogpost, I'll revisit all those sources of inspiration in more detail - especially Chrissie Wellington's autobiography, which initially turned me off triathlon before leaving me itching to get back competing!

I've broken the last few months down into sections as this is such a lengthy novel I'm writing...

February Bronchitis

March Smashing it to Qualify for the World Duathlon Champs

April Multiple Hospital Visits

May Tendonitis

June Tentative First Steps

So hopefully if you're interested enough to question my silence over the last few months, here's why and where it all began...

February
Bronchitis

At the end of January I felt like I was in great shape. I was so pleased with my Bronze medal at the Midland Champs and had put together a great couple of months of training. Usually by this point in the season I've lost a couple of weeks or more to illness. No matter how well I look after myself, as soon as we get a prolonged period of cold weather and snow I always pick up some sort of illness. With it almost being February, I thought I might have managed to survive this Winter. Unfortunately I was a little too optimistic this year. I ran the Midlands Champs with a bit of a cough and with the cold period that followed this turned into Bronchitis, despite me trying to be sensible and not train. I missed almost all of February with Bronchitis and had to take 2 courses of anti-biotics to shift it. I was really gutted to miss the end of the XC season. That's a total understatement! At the end of my last blog entry I wrote: "providing I can get back running soon it was probably worth it for the medal!" What a statement to make - seems like I totally cursed myself there!

So with not training for February, why wasn't I using all the spare time to update my blog and training entries?
I don't know about anybody else, but if I can't run at all I find it very very hard to be involved in the sport in anyway. Somehow even hearing about my friends' training and racing irritates me. It's hard too explain - I wish them all well, especially when I'm not racing them as they're not the opposition, but it just makes me feel worse to hear about what I'm missing out on! As a non-pro, I can't even imagine how elite athletes must feel when they're injured. For people who make a living from sport and are continually pushing themselves to be the best in the World, it must be even harder to be unable to race or train!

I recently read an interesting article, which I can't for the life of me find now, about how athletes should play video games just after sustaining injury. The research behind the article found that if the brain is distracted from the injury, the mental impact of the injury is less and recovery is quicker. They also found that by encouraging disassocciative behaviour they can minimise the long-term impact of the injury and avoid old injuries playing on athlete's minds during competition and affecting performance.

March
Smashing it to qualify for the World Duathlon Champs

To steal a phrase from Joe Skipper, who's blog I love - I spent March totally smashing out the training! This was a great month of training and my coach Phil did a fantastic job of writing a program that got me in shape for the qualifying race at Oulton Park.
It was such a great month of training I'm going to dedicate a whole post to this. As I write this post I'm in a similar situation of having missed a lot of training so I know it'll do me good to review in detail how I've managed to regain a lot of fitness in a short time!

April
Multiple Hospital Visits

At the beginning of April I was taking it easy after Qualifying for the World Duathlon Champs - ensuring my body recovered from the hard training and giving myself a mental break from the pressure.
I was sat on the sofa one evening when I felt a pain near my hip. I quickly realised it was slightly swollen, and was quite baffled. The pain grew over night and the next morning I was in agony and could hardly moved. The next week included many many visits to the doctors and hospital as the pain got worse and worse. I eventually ended up in hospital for a few days on the surgical ward after a hernia was diagnosed. However when I had the pre-surgery scans there was no sign of a hernia and it took a visit from a specialist to diagnose Adductor Tendonitis. I spent the next few weeks in agony and on lots of drugs, unable to move or sleep. I know there are plenty of worse things I could be suffering from and I don't want to sound too self-pitying, but there is something about being in too much pain to sleep which absolutely destroys me! The mysterious nature of my injury didn't help and this was compounded by my inability to make myself a cup of tea. In conclusion April is a month I would much rather forget.

May
Tendonitis

Knowing I had Adductor Tendonitis, I felt more able to take positive steps to get better - so I did a lot of internet research on tendonitis. I read a lot about how hard it is to get tendonitis to heal because of the blood flow, and how this can be helped by topical painkilers and creating the right environment in your body. I'm sure scientists will think this is a lot of mumbo jumbo, but I embarked on creating an alkaline environment in my body by drinking lots of alkaline foods like broccoli and cauliflower, and drinking lots of pineapple juice (an excellent anti-inflammatory).
I also started walking again and saw Paul Savage at Athlete Matters Physio. Paul is without a doubt the best physio I've ever seen and has helped me get back running and cycling again in what I realise now is a very short period of time! Since I got mobile again I've been getting gradually better every day and although it's felt a bit bleak at times, progress has been really positive, especially throughout June.

June
Tentative first steps
coming soon...

I think that'll do for my first post for so many months! Now I'm back running I feel like I should dedicate an entire post to my training progression - partly for my own benefit to record exactly what I've been doing and what's worked for me.
Over the last few months it's been a bad time for training, but luckily there's a hell of a lot going on in my life apart from training. Though I must admit I can easily forget this when I can't even make myself a cup of tea!
Much as I wouldn't like to admit it, the break from training has fitted in quite well with me starting a new job! I've had the time to settle in to a new routine without worrying about training and racing, though I have been taking advantage of flexi-time to fit in physio sessions. I've also had a year's worth of holidays in the last couple of months with trips to Spain and Portugal as well as a work trip to Dublin.
More updates to come soon - including the all important training blog and how I managed to qualify for the World Duathlon Champs!
Thanks for reading - all comments welcome, especially the constructive ones :)

Midlands XC Champs 2012

28th January 2012: Midlands XC Champs, Wollaton Park, Nottingham
Every year the Midlands Champs is one of my favourite races - it's a top quality race and it seems like every cross country runner in the Midlands turns out. There must have been around 300 people on the start line, from GB Internationals to keen club runners. Athleticos (great site for athletics coverage in the UK!) filmed the race and did a great job of picking up everyone in the field as well as the leaders:

Watch more video of 2012 Midland Area XC Championships on www.athleticos.org

As you can see, it was another beautiful day for running - we've been really lucky so far this year. The course was firm apart from the bottom corner and the long straight down to the finish. From running the UK InterCounties Champs here a few times, it can be a very very tough course when it's muddy. I can also remember running here as an U17 on a slightly different course and struggling in the mud.
Today's course seemed especially hard with the long lap taking us to the top of the hill by Wollaton Hall before looping back down to the bottom, along the avenue and straight back up the steepest part. The organisers also kindly added another hill loop as you head down towards the finish - sending runners off to the right for a short downhill before a very steep uphill to rejoin the course!

Normally that many hills would fill me with dread, but today I couldn't wait to run! I knew I had to take it steady up the hills and keep relaxed, as 8km XC is a pretty long race for me, and given my cough over the last few days I didn't want to over stress myself too early in the race and suffer with a tight chest and coughing again.
I was also excited because there was an outside chance of a team medal. The team competition is always super competitive with Charnwood and Bristol&West usually taking Gold and Silver at any Midlands event. Bronze however is pretty open, and if we all run well on the day there's a chance we'll finish 3rd. I've got 2 Midlands medals already, 3rd U20 Women's team from the Midlands XC Champs at Stafford Common in 2005 and 3rd at the Midlands 6 Stage Road Relay Champs at Sutton Park in 2007.
With our top 2 runners, Claire Martin and Kim Fawke both internationals, and both likely to finish in the top 10, there's always a chance if the rest of us run well, we'll pick up a medal! Photo below (courtesy of Johnny Sanders) shows Kim and Claire in the lead group on the front lap:

I felt pretty good on the warm up, with limited coughing. I've been taking calcium supplements since my stomach cramps in the last race and I was feeling a lot better for it. I got a good 25mins slow jogging in before the race, stretched in plenty of time, put my spikes on and did a few strides. Generally I felt quite relaxed as with 3 laps to run and lots of hills I knew I needed to stay in control at the start and gradually wind it up. Having had problems breathing on Tuesday night I'd decided going off hard was just a recipe for disaster!
The race went great, I worked through steadily over 3 laps, but got to the top of the last big hill feeling as if I was about to throw up - a good sign I'd timed my effort right! And here's a lovely photo of me at that exact moment:

During the race I'd only spotted a couple of Bristol&West runners and I'd seen a Tipton girl drop out, so as I came off the top of the hill with a couple of minutes left to run, I had it in my mind that we may be in with a chance of a medal. Spying a Coventry runner and a Trentham runner just ahead of me, I pushed really hard over the final 1km to overtake these and pull away with a decent sprint finish! I finished in 50th, results here, with Telford AC getting Bronze by 1 point from Coventry - glad I overtook the Coventry runner in the final 1km! Local clubs Charnwood and Notts AC took Gold and Silver respectively.
We got a nice long warm down in afterwards enjoying the gorgeous sunshine and lovely park (below with Stacey Johnson and Rebekah Randell)

Our individual positions were:
Claire Martin 7th
Kim Fawke 9th
Sarah Mackness 50th
Nellie Sanders 85th

And here we are with our Bronze medals!

(L-R: Sarah Mackness, Nellie Sanders, Claire Martin and Kim Fawke)

Congratulations to all the team, great effort everyone! Just one place worse from one of us and we wouldn't have come 3rd. Thanks as well to Johnny Sanders for the driving, support and excellent photography - more here. Unfortunately by the time I got home I was exhausted and coughing lots, and my attempts at running on Sunday were thwarted by problems breathing. A trip to the Doctors on Monday diagnosed Bronchitis and I've had problems breathing all week following the race. On reflection I shouldn't have run with a cough, and I'm lucky I managed to run as well as I did. I've had to have a week off training as the Doctor warned I risked collapsing if I tried to run with Bronchitis - hopefully the rest won't do me too much harm with the Nationals only a few weeks away and providing I can get back running soon it was probably worth it for the medal!

Training 23rd - 29th January 2012

23rd Jan: 1 mile swim, feeling good but coughing between lengths
24th Jan: Track session, 4 sets of 700m (90s jog) 300m, with 3 min recovery between sets. Really misty tonight - looked like freezing fog coming off the track. Tried not to get too out of breath, was coughing badly between sets and chest getting really tight - not sure how much was due to the cold air! Enjoyed the 300ms, hitting 55-56.
25th Jan: Spinning class. Worked really hard to compensate for lack of run this morning. Still coughing
26th Jan: 5miles at lunch on the treadmill. I hate running on treadmills, not only is it dull and I bang my arms, knees etc on the sides but I also get really dizzy when I step off. Felt a lot better, apart from the dizzyness. No coughing, indicating it's the cold air giving me problems.
27th Jan: Rest
28th Jan: Midlands XC Champs, Nottingham: 50th, 3rd Team! Good run, tough course - see more in race report. Long warm down, 10miles in total.
29th Jan: Attempted long run on the Wrekin, couldn't breathe in freezing fog, coughing. 7 miles as had to turn back.
(week = 28miles)

Training 1st - 22nd January 2012

1st Jan: 72 mins in pouring rain - 9 miles
2nd Jan: Rest Day - had planned on attending Altrincham session but hip was sore after yesterday's run
3rd Jan: Tempo session, very windy & hilly route: 2miles (14.38), 2min jog, 2miles (15.08), 2min jog, 1mile (~7.30, stopwatch on the blink) - 8 miles total
4th Jan: am 38min run round Hale Barns - 5miles, pm Spinning session
5th Jan: am 39min run round Hale Barns - 5miles, pm S&C session at Altrincham inc. 8x100m strides - 4miles
6th Jan: Rest
7th Jan: Shropshire County XC Champs, 8th - 8 miles
8th Jan: Long easy run from Shifnal with Nellie & Johnny - 10.5 miles
(week = 40.5 miles)

9th Jan: 1 mile swim
10th Jan: Altrincham grass session: 1x2km, 1x1500m, 2x1km, 2x500m - super hard session! 6miles
11th Jan: am 38min run round Hale Barns - 5miles, pm Spinning session - worked really hard
12th Jan: 12x300m off 1min recovery, great session 58-61 seconds, finishing in 55. 5miles
13th Jan: 55min run from work, legs tired 8miles
14th Jan: Rest Day
15th Jan: Manchester XC League, Stockport - running well in 14th feeling good when had to stop with stomach cramps
(week = 32 miles)

16th Jan: 1 mile swim - felt much better than last week, more comfortable in the water
17th Jan: Aborted Altrincham session, struggled with stomach ache again and jogged for ages - 6miles
18th Jan: Spinning - worked hard to make up for last night, coughing during the day but no ill effects on bike
19th Jan: am 3mile run - attempted 5mile run failed when stomach ache kicked in again
20th Jan: Rest due to cough - lost my voice
21st Jan: Rest due to cough - lost my voice
22nd Jan: Easy 45min run to test legs out and not push heart rate high. Followed up with 150 sit ups and 50 press ups - 5miles.
(week = 14 miles)

2 excellent weeks of solid training before stomach cramps / cough curtailed week 3 of 2012.

Depsite the illness, the new training regime seems to be working well - I was surprised to manage such an excellent session on 12th Jan, feeling really strong and legs moving well despite struggling to walk up the stairs that morning. I was feeling really fit for the Manchester XC League and was absolutely gutted to have to stop - I was walking for a while hoping it would ease off, but no luck! Ah well, plenty more races this year and hopefully having taken a couple of days off with a cough I've recovered enough to attack the next week of training and race well at the Midlands XC Champs next Saturday.

Shropshire XC Champs 2012

The 2012 racing schedule kicked off on 7th January with the Shropshire XC Champs at Lilleshall.
This course is deceptively tough as it gets very boggy when wet and the steep hill just before the end of each lap is through energy sapping long grass and uneven ground - it's a very Shropshire course, with a lovely view of the Wrekin from the start field.
2012 saw possibly the largest ever field for a Shropshire Champs - certainly the largest I can remember with over 70 women on the start list. This race has suffered in recent years from being held in December, usually clashing with a North Staffs XC League Race. This year it clashed with nothing, and everyone from Shropshire was here, giving us a full Telford AC team:

Photos courtesy of Johnny Sanders

I was a bit annoyed to find the race was longer than I remembered - 1 small lap and 3 large laps making it close to 7km. Having missed what felt lot of training over Christmas with a nasty cold, and having completely overindulged on Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding, I was definitely not as fit as I wanted to be. I was definitely looking forward to the TAC night out afterwards more than the race!
I set off just behind a group of 7 - all of them top athletes who would usually be quite a distance in front of me - the race panned out as I'd predicted! On reflection I think I should have at least tried to hang on to this group to test my fitness a bit more. Next time I'll have more confidence in my abilities and at least give it a go!
So I set off in 8th place, and finished in 8th place. Results available here

It was quite an enjoyable race, and a good confidence boost at the start of the year - unflattering photo here:

It reminded me how much I miss running with the fantastic group of girls at Telford AC, and how awesome we are! We took Team Gold and Team Silver today, as well as individual Gold and Silver medals. A fantastic start to the season, and I hope everyone continues with equally amazing results and enthusiasm for racing!

Nellie Sanders(9th), Sarah Mackness(8th), Claire Martin(1st)