The English National Cross Country Championships

7 weeks until the Boston Marathon!

This week I planned to take it easier to enable me to be as fresh as possible for the English National Cross Country Championships on Saturday. After 2 recent strong cross country performances, I'd set myself the challenge of finishing in the top 100 - I knew this would be really tough but I was prepared to work hard and give it a go. 

Monday 20th February 2017 

As always, Monday was a recovery run - 4 miles in the morning at a steady 9:20 mm pace. After the first day back at school after half term (dressed as an astronaut) we did our second recovery run of 6 miles at 9:15 mm pace. Not feeling too bad apart from some pain underneath the arches of my feet and around my ankles caused from cross country wearing spikes. Wanting to be as fresh as possible from Nationals, I actually joined John in his stretching routine which is from the P and D book that our training plan is from. 

Tuesday 21st February 2017 

On the plan for today was a morning GA run...now this is the run that has, in the past, caused slight disagreements between John and myself (usually because I can't / don't want to run fast in at 5:30 am when I can barely keep my eyes open!). So today, I wanted to try and be good, avoid confrontation/ tellings off and stick to the plan at try to hit 8 min miles. 

Knowing how my feet were feeling yesterday, I was a bit apprehensive but, surprise, surprise, the stretching had actually helped (who'd have thought it!) and I was managing to get comfortably under 8mm the whole way around. 

8 miles done at an average of 7:45 pace - a huge confidence boost; I'm definitely getting fitter and faster. 

In the evening was PT. Jules is brilliant because every week is something different. This week we had a series of exercises - 30 of each exercise, 2 exercises in each block separated with cardio in the form of alternating 400m run (which quickly turned into a sprint when John and I got competitive and played the - see who can go the fastest on the treadmill before it shakes horribly and becomes terrifying - game! - I got to 17.5!!!) and 500m row.   

These are the exercises: 

Press up position- row with 4kg dumbbells to shoulders

Squat and press 4kg dumbbells 

Cardio

Upright rows 10kg barbell

Shoulder press 10kg barbell

Cardio

Tricep dips

Squats to the floor with 8kg dumbbells 

Cardio

Bicep curls 10kg barbell

Cable machine - standing ski sit rows "8

Cardio

Cable machine - seated leant back rows "10

Bench press 15kg barbell

Cardio

Squat jumps

Squat thrusts over barbell

Cardio

Chop lunges plus 10kg weight plate

Press up position with shoulder taps

Cardio

VIPR tube overhead -to-side squats

Split lunge jumps

Cardio

Squats to the floor while holding 2 x  16kg kettle bells

Press ups

Cardio

Down-and-ups flat to the floor

Squats plus 10kg plate hold out from the chest

Phew! A very hard session but it left me feeling great afterwards. 

Wednesday 22nd February 2017 

Wednesday morning saw a lie-in - horray! In the evening, we did a quick 4 miles before club and then did our usual GWR winter 10 mile route. After the quick morning run and PT yesterday, I wanted to take today slower than usual. 14 miles at an average of 8:44 mm pace. As always on a Wednesday, it's lovely to run with friends and just enjoy running together - even with the wind that was starting to pick up a bit. 

Thursday 23rd February 2017 

We awoke to the sound of Dorris manically storming around the Harbourside! This was one of those runs where you wrap up warm, get to the door, look out and reaaaallllyyy want to turn around and go back to bed. It was raining pretty heavily anyway, coupled with the strong winds made for a daunting start to the run. Eventually, we managed to convince ourselves to step outside the door into Dorris' path...

The plan was to try and do 6 miles... Leaving home and running up the Harbourside towards the Portway, the gale-force-wind was coming straight towards us. Very quickly, the rain went from heavy to torrential and rather than falling vertically, it was coming horizontally - directly into our faces. Because it was so windy, the rain was actually hurting as it hit me! The only saving grace was that we knew when we turned, the wind would be behind us. Wanting to reach that turning point as quickly as possible (and wanting to avoid running over too many bridges in gale-force winds) meant that out 6 miles quickly shortened to 3.

Running back down the other side of the Harbouside was actually rather fun! The wind was so powerful that we were being blown along at quite a pace! The rain lessened and we actually started to enjoy the run. Nevertheless I was definitely hoping that Dorris had buggered off before the time came for our evening run!

Thankfully, the storm had indeed died down in the evening and our 7 mile recovery run was far better than expected. 

Friday 24th February 2017 

Friday morning and just 7 steady miles to rest the legs before cross country tomorrow. Everything felt good - legs had some bounce in them and feet had recovered from last weeks races. 

Friday lunchtime at school meant running club - the last one for the Year 3 and 4 kids. They wanted the challenge of running further than ever before so we ran to the woods and managed to do 2 laps instead of the usual one. I'm so impressed and proud by the improvement they've made in just 5 weeks. 1.6 miles done  - a long way for 8-year-olds! 

Saturday 25th February 2017 

I awoke feeling that mix of excitement and anticipation that only a race day can bring. We were travelling to Nottingham with our club in a mini-bus. 3 hours there, to run for about half an hour, before driving 3 hours back - we must really like running!!! 

We met at the club and headed off for the North (or as people keep trying to tell me - the Midlands - but to a Londoner - Nottingham is North!).  After a bit of faffing around, we made it to the park only to find a HUGE queue for the car-park. Cat and I began the process of checking our watches anxiously and getting more and more stressed...eventually, we left the boys in the bus and jumped out. By the time we'd found our race numbers and got ourselves sorted, we had to head straight to the start without any time to warm up or soak in any of the atmosphere; not the best race preparation. 

Because the nationals is such a big race, you have to start in a specific place according to your club. Annoyingly, our starting pen was on the far left hand side...why was this annoying? Well, after a short straight there was a very sharp right hand turn which meant I would have to cut across the field and run further than my competitors with starting pens on the right hand side. Nevertheless, I was poised right on the start line and ready to go. In the distance I heard a very faint bang...surely that couldn't be the starting gun... a few of us hesitated for a second...it was in-fact the starting gun but, again, because we were so far to the left, we could hardly hear it. 

Having got off to a pretty dreadful start, I knew I'd have to do some serious work to get anywhere near the front. By the time everyone had moved to the right hand side for the first turn, I estimate I was in about 300th position and I was not happy about it! I picked up the pace and just weaved in and out of as many people as I could while trying really hard not to fall over on the very bumpy ground. 

After about 1 mile, I was feeling more comfortable with my position - I estimated about top 200 which I decided I was pleased with. The first 100 were definitely too far ahead to catch now so I just concentrated on picking people off one by one. The course was very challenging but varied and interesting and actually really quite fun. There was a good mix of cross country features: 1 main, steep hill, lots of smaller undulations, 2 streams (or possibly man-made-bodies of water!)  2 short boggy sections and 1 long boggy section which the organisers had definitely been watering all week! 

The race was 5 miles and I finished in 149th position. Not the top 100 I'd really wanted but, considering the start I had, I was feeling pleased with myself. I waited for Cat (who'd also ran brilliantly) to finish, then we both ran across just in time to see the men start. 

There's something quite incredible about watching over 1000 fit, athletic men storm towards you! Obviously, we weren't spending too much time admiring the talent and instead were focusing on trying to spot our GWR men and cheer them on! Then it was a quick dash to the tent to put on some layers and try and wipe off some of the mud before finding a good spot to cheer from. All our men did us proud. John was first GWR man home in a fantastic position of 509th in a very competitive field. 

Sunday 26th February 2017 

On the plan for today was 24 miles...after cross country...that could be interesting! Nevertheless, I joined John, Marcus and Dr Dave for their Green Man recce. The Green Man is an ultra race that skirts pretty much the whole of Bristol. All of 3 of the guys ran the full route last year and have planned to do the shorter 30 mile route this year. The race is next weekend so, in preparation, the plan was do to 24 miles of the course today to check that they could still remember the route. 

After only about 3 miles, I realised that 24 miles would not be happening for me. Every step hurt. The arches of my feet were in agony on the soft grass after racing in spikes yesterday. The terrain was challenging - lots of bogs - again! I realised that I had had enough of mud and grass. I became very glad that I'd not signed up for this race - I am definitely a road runner! 

12 miles in - only half of what I'd planned to run - but I was done. My feet hurt, I was holding the boys back from the pace they wanted to do and I was simply not enjoying myself. I planned to get a taxi home and let the boys continue on their merry way. However, John - ever the gentleman - decided to sacrifice his long run and come back with me. Initially, I urged him to continue; my plan had just been for me to stop and I felt guilty for spoiling his recce. But it was lovely to have company and not be going home alone. 

After some rest and recovery, I checked my strava - my total for the week - 68miles... well the OCD in me couldn't have that! John wanted to go out and do a few more miles so I joined him for a slow 3 miles to get over the magic 70 mile marker. 

Hoping that my feet and legs recovery quickly as my aim for next week is to stick to the plan as closely as possible. 

Total mileage for the week = 71.6 miles 

Finally, just a gentle reminder that I am running the Bath Half to raise money for the Lifeskills centre which teaches children how to keep safe in the modern world. This is a fantastic cause because it can prevent serious accidents and help to save lives. Please help to educate the children of Bristol and donate by clicking on the link below. 

https://www.everyclick.com/glutenfreerunninggirlrunsbath

I've raised £90 so far. 

Thanks to:

John, Roz, Lucy, Clare, Fidel, Fiona and my Mummy and Daddy who have already donated.