Training Mon 8th - Sun 14th December

Having sampled the good life over the weekend, I eased my way back into training on Monday.
Relaxed and switched off from running, even though it was for just three days, I discovered my body was ready, but my head was still on holiday. It was a case of just forcing myself outside in my trainers.
Once I was there, it was easy to put one foot in front of the other and start running. Thankfully I managed to get myself outside twice for both my scheduled runs, and I felt OK.

Tuesday was cold all day. I went for a gentle run during daylight hours and ice was forming on cars so I knew by the evening track session it was going to be freezing. I wasn't wrong!
I went through my usual warm-up routine, but I think warming up was a little optimistic. I decided to take my time getting into the session, allowing my body enough time to adjust to the weather and the speed at which I wanted to run.

We were set a split session of 4 x 1000 metres followed by 6 x 300 metres. I was a little anxious, as the track was getting icy. I thought I'd be OK during the 1000 metre reps but the increased speed and forces required for the 300s would cause my footing to slip every time I pushed off. The first part, as I had anticipated, went well. I was pleased to clock around 3 minutes per kilometre given the conditions, but I struggled when I tried to sprint. I have a very long stride, which, by the laws of physics, requires a greater load or force to be transferred between my toe and the ground, but heightens the lack of grip I had on the track. My leg would slip out from under me with every stride. This meant my times were slow, but I was more aware of my hamstrings tightening. I was using my legs in an unfamiliar manner and they didn't like it. I only just completed the session, did a thorough warm down and hoped for the best on Wednesday morning.

With only one run planned on Wednesday I knew it could wait till the evening, giving my legs more time to recover. My hamstrings were stiff but nothing too serious. I decided to do a very gentle ten minutes in the morning to loosen them up. That, combined with lots of stretching whenever I could during the day, meant I had a pain free 70 minute run in the evening.

Having taken some time off I really wanted to push things on this week. So my coach upped my tempo session to 25 minutes of fast running. I really enjoyed the extra time I had working hard. I had to be careful not to over cook it, which I didn't, and felt strong and relatively controlled throughout. I had a race planned for Sunday but I wanted to train into it, so joined my club for a 50 minute run on Thursday evening and another one Friday.

Saturday saw another session in Richmond Park, which normally I wouldn't do with a race the next day, but as I wanted to train through to the race I turned up in the pouring rain, and ran a slightly reduced session. I didn't want to be completely knackered for my race and the conditions, due the bitter cold wind, were almost unbearable. I ran the 10-minute tempo and 10 one-minute hill reps within myself. I was pushing my body, just not to the limit.

Sunday was the Hogs Back road race in Guildford, an eight-mile race that involves nearly two miles of continuous hill climbing.
I was looking forward to it, the weather was still cold and my body was a little tired but my mind was focused and I wanted to put in a strong performance.

The race didn't really get going until we began the climb. There was a big group of us that splintered with the first attack. As soon as the gradient changed the pace was upped and it was soon down to a group of three. I felt OK but knew I couldn't go any faster. I was in a good rhythm but I was vulnerable to another increase in pace. That change soon followed and I was left to battle for second place. We reached the top of the climb half a minute down and I was looking forward to the fast decent that followed, but nothing happened. Normally my legs just flow, allowing the gradient to speed me up and I start flying. But my legs wouldn't go as fast as normal. I couldn't open up my stride length and second place got away from me. I still felt strong and had my rhythm I just didn't have that extra bit of speed I needed to compete. Once we were on the flat I slowly began to gain on second, and in turn we gained on first but it was too little too late, and I finished third. However, I wasn't dejected.
I had trained hard and well all week, and my aim was to run strongly, which I did. So I went away happy - I guess you just can’t win them all!