I started my week of hard training the day after the regionals with a speed session at the track. I wouldn't usually advise speedwork the day after a race but I felt I needed to up the game a bit for the weekend by sharpening up and getting onto my toes.
I dragged myself out of bed early on Monday morning and did a recovery gym session with plenty of stretching and some core work. My track session consisted of 12x400m at 80 second pace which I was pleased with. Another tough swim session on Tuesday morning, and back in the gym again Wednesday morning.
The track session on Wednesday night was 8x800m. I felt the benefit of Mondays short sharp work and worked at 86 second pace.
I completed another tough swim session with WSSC on Thursday morning to rest my legs and recover from the previous nights track session; I'm still a terrible swimmer but not quite as terrible as a year ago!
I was happy with the way I felt last Sunday after a steady long run on the Friday, so I repeated this on Friday evening having hit the gym on Friday morning.
Saturday was a much appreciated rest day!
On Sunday at Woodbridge the course was the same as it was earlier this year, with wide farmland tracks and sandy terrain. I had a moderate start, I didn't think it necessary to put my foot down straight away as there were no narrow sections early on. I couldn't hang on to Julian who is flying at the moment but felt I had a strong race with consistent pace. I finished 29th overall and first lady. Steve Robinson won the race comfortably.
I'm really pleased with this race as my time was exactly the same as when I ran the race February, with similar splits. I was two phases of fitness further forward in February so to acheive the same time is encouraging, I just hope my fitness hasn't peaked too soon. If I've misjudged the timing of my fitness I will be burnt out and tired for the races I hope to peak for in 2012 so fingers crossed this isn't the case!
My next race was Wednesday at UEA. I don't like to train at the track on a Monday if I'm racing on the Wednesday and also felt that after the hard training the week before I needed to taper and relax for a couple of days. I had a recovery gym session on Monday morning and was pretty tired during my swim session on Tuesday, to be honest I was useless!
The course at UEA was interesting to say the least! I had a strong start and got on the back of the leading men. We followed our usual route through Earlham Park and upon reaching the lake encountered a roll of chicken wire across the boarded path around the lake and several men on all fours tacking it on! We jumped over the chicken wire (well most of us did!) and warned the men we were on our way through, negotiating our way round them.
I moved up to fourth overall in the last mile of the course, and finished first lady. Emma ran well and finished 6th lady for pacers and Eloise and Cathy both had a great run. Overall a great result for Pacers ladies.
On Friday Herbi and I headed up to North Norfolk with my Mum and Dad for a family weekend away. We stay at a self catering suite in Cley next the Sea. The living room has a lovely woodburner, which came in very handy as it was freezing cold and poured with rain all afternoon! I headed out for an early(ish) run along the coastal path on Saturday morning, accompanied by Herbi on the bike. It was beautiful, so quite and white with frost. We did 10 miles, and after brunch and copious mugs of tea headed off to Holkham for a walk on the beach.
The walk was great, I've never been to Holkham before and quite fancy running that leg of the Round Norfolk Relay! We hit the Adnams shop afterwards and had a great time tasting the wine and chocolate liqueurs! They had lots of kitchen stuff as well as gifts to drink and eat so we bought plenty of Christmas presents as well as some mulled wine for the evening.
In the afternoon we lit the woodburner and drank rather a lot of mulled wine before a meal at the pub down the road. We headed off to Dereham the following day and met the rest of our family and some friends for the Santa Special train trip and a meal out afterwards.
After a lovely chilled out weekend it was back to the grindstone on Monday morning. I had another race scheduled for Wednesday so I didn't go to the track Monday night, I had a lie in and used the gym in the evening instead! I had a hard swim session on Tuesday morning to set me up for Wednesday.
This weeks race was at Reepham. Last year the course was under snow so you couldn't really see what you were running over. We were ready to contend with the ploughed field and river crossing we contended with last year, although the foliage and bogs seemed harder to negotiate without a layer of snow over them!
How wrong were we! The first half of the course had changed this year and we had a river crossing we weren't expecting in the first half mile with a boggy water meadow leading to and away from it. We then had to climb over a five bar gate which I have to say I did very badly! Pete Golding is an expert at vaulting such gates so I'm hoping he will pass his expertise on!
No ploughed field this year, instead we ran round a field before a nice downhill stint on a grass track. A bramble patch and another water meadow preceded a deep river crossing that, again, we weren't expecting! Another stint on the water meadow and we tackled the water crossing from last year which was very easy in comparison to the others!
I was a bit further back in comparison to the men than I was last week at UEA, so some work to be done there. I finished first lady and Eloise and Cathy were a fantastic 8th and 14th respectively! Another great result for the Pacers Ladies.
I take my hat off to Chris and Peter who ran round it twice.
Having completed the first phase of races for this season the plan was to put in a few weeks of hard training again to move my fitness forward in preperation for the second phase of racing in January. However, I was shattered on Thursday so ducked out of my swim session in the morning! I started training again on Friday morning with a gym session in the morning and a hill session in the evening. The hill session was tough, 10 reps of the hill on the left hand side of Ickworth Deer Park. I felt stronger than the last couple of times I did this session so my fitness has improved.
Herbi and I went to his work Christmas Parties on Friday and Saturday night. I couldn't get out of bed in time to run with the boys on Sunday morning but eventually managed to drag myself out to complete an enjoyable 14 miles round Ickworth Park in the snow.
Even though the Formula One season is over I can't post a blog without a mention of my favourite sport. I'm pleased to see the new driver line-up of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Riccardo at Toro Rosso. Both very talented drivers I've followed in Formula Renault 3.5 this season. The change in driver line up at Force India with Nico Hulkenberg joining Paul Di Resta should also bring some exciting racing.
I'm looking forward to some hard quality training over the Christmas period, as well as two weeks in Goa in January! Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year........................
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