XC races

I made good use of the time out of training whilst my back settled down and got stuck into writing up my thesis.  By Wednesday I needed a break from it so stopped off at the Pacers to join in with the track seesion.  Great session, I'm not particuarly track fit at the moment and have plenty of work to do but its a good start.  I'll try and get there at least once a week over the winter months.

I felt confident that I was ok to run a cross country race so decided to give the Ampthill Challenge trophy a go at the weekend.  I'd never run this course before, and have to say its the toughest track I have ever raced!  Lots of steep hills but fortunately dry weather had resulted in light firm terrain.  It was a two lap course; I was pretty much finished after the first lap but kept going for the second lap.  I finished 3rd lady so really chuffed with that!  I felt incrediby unfit, but I guess my training programme for a fast flat 5 mile road race wasn't particuarly good preperation for this race!  I'd like to have a go next year and train properly for it.  I'm sure its helped my fitness :-)

I've picked up the swimming again now, increasing to 3 sessions a week.  I'm determined to get the hang of front crawl by the end of the winter!  Managed to get to the track on Wednesday, just half a session as I was racing again on Saturday.  Saturday's race was the eastern region v Cambridge Uni v RAF held this year at Gog Magog Downs.  Not quite as hilly as the previous weekend but still a tough course.  I finished 3rd again so happy with that.

We had some friends round for dinner later that evening, had a lovely evening, lots of food and booze and a really good catch up.  Managed to fit in a 25 mile bike ride on Sunday morning before the Indian Grand Prix.  Enjoyed chilling out with a cup of tea whilst watching Jenson Button drive superbly to finish 2nd.  The Indian Grand Prix is our wishlist to attend in the future!

The next xc race is towards the end of November so the aim over the next few weeks is to fit in some harder sessions and man-up!