Cross Country

The trip to Mansfield was tense yesterday, I had pre-race jitters at the pressure of running with our fastest ladies team over a 3k cross country course amongst some of the best runners in the land. The nice bit was the venue, back to Berry Hill for a lovely undulating course with fantastic loo provision and a nice trackside cafe offering bacon butties and trays of chips for those deserving a post-XC snack.

Soon after arriving we heard the news that one of our star runners had suffered a run in with a pothole and after a stunt roll across a pavement into the road was lucky to still be with us. Mary W is okay I think but not quite okay enough to race. So Vicky W, me and Jo B took on the XC world together. Vic took on leg #1 and despite the interruption and stress of a foot op earlier this year still looked a lean running machine and brought us through in 15th position to hand over to me on leg 2. I was nicely in touch with a few ladies at the leg start and enjoyed the chase through the woods though could still feel the GSR in my legs. After being passed by one far too perky looking runner I managed to dig in and pass a few more over the climb out of the woods and through the final 800m to bring us to 8th, handing over to Jo B for the final leg. Jo ran a stormer and maintained our position for much of the run, clashing elbows with some of the fastest in the field, even Steph Twell was there. Jo brought us home in 10th place after a battle to the finish line. A good gutsy result for us girls I think. Results here. The boys 'A' team ran strong too, the 'B' boys not making a full team in the end and M's nasty cold left him glad of a lucky escape. Its back to the long run tomorrow.

The Northerns

Well, I'm feeling a bit hung-over after a session with Maggie the mauler last night. My legs needed a real good sports massage after a return to lots of tarmac and autumn training. Breakfast this morning was a bit of a chore, I struggle with my stomach on race days and always get a nervy, butterflies in my tummy feeling, even at the lower key, training races.

I'm still waiting for my England race info for next weekend and am checking my email like an obsessive compulsive person but time zones etc. all make things happen at strange times and its only just become the weekend technically. Relay racing will distract me nicely, starting with a short and painfully sharp 5k with Bingley Ladies today for the Northern Road Relays. I think we've now got a team sorted, but which leg to do? Decisions, decisions. Report to follow...

Home safe and sound and nicely refuelled having survived another frightening fast race without injury. A lovely day was had in blazing sun at the Carnegie track for the ladies 4 stage relays. As always the field was high quality with many of the track babes out in skimpy pants showing off their abs of steel. I wore my lunarettes with slightly awkward pride and felt like Zebedee, bouncing around the two lap course, taking in all sorts of terrain, including laps of the track and adventures through woodland trails. Bingley ladies ran hard and weren't far off a medal in the end but we weren't quite fast enough, finishing 5th overall with gutsy runs all round. We were chuffed to be out as a team though and I was reminded again how good it is to run for a great club sporting the magic Bingley colours. Well done to our boys who also ran their socks off. An easy long run tomorrow once M has his turn at the hard stuff. It should be a good 'un.

Quivering Quads

What a lovely day Sunday was. Got home feeling pretty pooped after a 15m recce of the Yorkshireman route. Though I raced this one last year I never cease to be amazed at my capacity to forget race routes. I clearly pay no attention to where I’m going when I’m ‘in the zone’ and this perhaps gives some context to my accidental extra half mile around the Wharfedale HM a few weeks ago. Anyway, M & I took the course pretty briskly, whilst I gormlessly tried to remember patches of track and turnings that I have absolutely no recollection of. I was also secretly wondering why I’ve entered this killer of a HM at the start of my next training phase; I’ll be stuffed for at least a week after those climbs and descents & the memory of all those aches & pains after last year is making my quads quiver...

We spent the remainder of the afternoon entertaining and avoiding news of World Champs, saving our slice of athletics excitement for a chilled evening of telly. Watching this stuff makes me very emotional; it’s such an inspiration and makes me all choked up and teary. On the back of this fantastic motivational fuel, I’m increasingly determined to make a good job of this winter’s training, which includes building in proper recovery around the tough stuff. I’ve Saturday’s 10m race to get through and then a two week planned ease down to do just that. The mileage will then build again to peak for Xmas time with the Ribble Valley 10k as the final flourish. I’ve just entered Ribble online & notice it’s the Northern Champs too. How much motivation does a girl need…!

Defying Demons

I did good today readers. I've been quaking at the thought all week of this wretched race and had been developing a less than good mindset for today. Though I'd been telling myself it was only a training race I still felt a bit niggled that it was the 5k Northern Champs and I'm not in the greatest shape. Anyway, this pretty small but high quality field, (including a Kenyan contingent) meant that I could run very anonymously - some great names were there which allowed me to run with no pressure or expectation and just try to focus on a good race.

The course was a 3 lapper around Blackburn town centre with a surprising amount of undulation for this reputedly fast course. This proved to be a bit of treat for me though, as the eye-balls-out-pancake-flat style event is not my thing. Anyway, I lined up near the middle of the pack and set off with the gun, with a fairly relaxed smile on my face. The course seemed to fly by; the 3 laps winding and undulating frequently to make the run interesting, with the exception of some of the heavy winds catching anyone not huddled in a pack. I started well, with the leading ladies in touching distance, and maintained this for the first 2 laps, overtaking a couple of ladies and moving into 4th position. By the final lap these old legs were tiring and with a final push I managed to secure 5th place with a young Chester-le-Street lady overtaking me on the last quarter of the final lap.

I can say with some surprise that I actually enjoyed this race today and those that know me well will understand what a transformation it is for Runningbear to enjoy a 5k. I think I've developed a bit of a taste for the distance and am already planning my sub 17 for next Spring! The time was reasonable in the conditions and a PB at 17.37; enough to secure me bronze medal position in the Northern Champs. There. Demons slayed and a medal to polish too. Now off to tea at Tricky's for a good end to a productive day.