Monday 16th Feb - Sunday 22nd Feb / Nationals

This week the National Cross Country Championships were being held in their spiritual home of Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath.

I love the National. Runners from all round the UK, of all abilities, set out for some quality racing with individual goals and hopes for the race. The men's race is a great sight, with nearly two thousand runners racing in their club colours and Parliament Hill has got to be the biggest cross country test of them all.

Undulating is a polite way of describing the course. A bit muddy doesn't do justice to the ranges of underfoot conditions you face. The mud can be like an ice rink or like quick sand and you never know what you are going to encounter.

I really wanted to put in a solid performance. So far this year things haven't quite gone my way in the big races for one reason or another and although my confidence had taken a few knocks, I still had faith that I was training better than ever and that at some point I would surely see the fruits of my labour.

It's always difficult to know how to tackle the week of training leading up to a big race like the National. It wasn't my main aim for this season - that was to come in a couple of weeks. But it is an important race and it's definitely a race that needs to be respected. To go into it shattered from a really hard weeks training would be madness. You'd soon be found out because if you sneeze, you lose a dozen places, so it's important that you feel confident that your body is strong enough to tackle seven and a half miles of fast, testing cross country racing.

Over the past eight months, since working with my coach Robin Dixon, a lot of the worry of how to tackle weeks like this has been taken away from me. I discuss with him what I want to achieve overall in a season and what I want to achieve in each individual race. He then sets about guiding me in the right direction so I can achieve my goals and perform at my best when I need to. Obviously certain things alter your plans and illness and injury are factors which will always change the path of your season and how you approach certain races. However, with Robin directing me, I now only have to focus on each session he writes out for me, rather than being constantly distracted by the thought of what I will be doing tomorrow or next week or next month.

So we decided that this weeks training would tail off towards Saturdays’ race, but only slightly - enough to give me a bit of bounce in my step but not so much that I compromised future races.

Monday was 30 and 40 minute runs which were tackled at a steady pace. Tuesday morning was a couple of miles to stretch out the legs. The evening session on the track was an initial 1200 metre rep, which I worked hard on, helping to push the pace as we lapped the track in around 72 seconds. This was enough to make me feel like I was working. The second part of the session was three sets of 4 x 400 metres. This is where I backed off saving some gas for Saturday. I was lapping around 70 seconds striding out as much as I could but staying close to my comfort zone. I didn't want to feel the lactic burn in my legs, that my heart was going to burst out of my chest or that my lungs were going to explode! I was working but I knew I could always pick the pace up if I needed to. The racing takes place on Saturday not on Tuesday night.
Wednesday was cut back considerably from the hour plus runs I'd been completing to just 20 and 40 minute easy runs. Thursdays tempo was cut to just 6 minute bursts within a 50 minute run, with a hours slow plod in the evening and Friday was just my usual pre race 20 min jog with strides.

I felt good going into the race. My legs were reasonably rested and the way I'd run on Tuesday gave me confidence as I'd shown myself during the 1200 that I was running well and in the 400's, although at the back of the pack, I wasn't finishing miles of the pace and this, without giving my all.

Race day and the gods were on our side. The sun was out and there was no breeze to speak off. This didn't fool me and after a quick look round the course, 15 millimetre spikes were placed in the bottom of my shoes. Mud, mud and more mud, the more grip I could get the better.

The race begins with a charge up hill for 400 yards or more. I decided to play a waiting game and relaxed for the first mile. It's all too easy to get caught up in things and push too much too soon. I set about getting into some sort of rhythm, which was difficult on a course that is so undulating and with so many changes in underfoot conditions. I was feeling good after a lap but was outside the top hundred. My goal was to finish in the top hundred. I pushed on at the start of lap two and was passing people consistently. At the half way point I was in around 100th place and still felt confident and full of running but just wasn't able to give as much as I felt I had. I was working hard but just lacked that edge, that extra five percent, which can make such a difference.
I knew I was capable of being much further up the field but yet again I couldn't realise it. I continued to work through on the last lap finishing in 89th place.
I was relatively satisfied. It was my highest placing in a national cross country race and shows that this year I'm running at my best. But it was one of those races where I feel I could have achieved so much more. The top 50 was by no means an impossibility. I know I have the potential to do it, the way I'd run told me so. It was a solid banker race. Unspectacular but another box was ticked and I remain convinced things are going to come together soon.

I've got the drive and motivation like never before. My long run on a Sunday is a great example of this. It's no longer a drag. I can't wait to put in the miles; it's made me stronger psychologically as well as physically. Even after racing over seven miles the day before doesn't stop me now. Previously, I may have wimped out, put it off for another day or cut the length down. Now I have to stop myself from doing more than my coach has set.
I need to put that cherry on the cake and to start performing in races. The sooner, the better, as far as I'm concerned. It's all well and good putting in weeks of great training but results are what count and I need to step up to the mark.