My final blog of 2016
17th December 2016 The third Gloucester league cross country where I would be representing Cirencester AC. The course was a simple 4 lap of 2.2km around some school fields, it was very muddy and had some small hills. The main problem throughout the race was choosing the right footwear. The grass was really squelchy which meant on every step I was sinking into the boggy ground which had been ran on constantly throughout the day. I felt very good throughout the whole race and set my challenge to beat two runners I knew were slightly better than me. I worked hard and tried to make the most of the nasty conditions with minimal benefit but I finished in 38th position over all and didn’t manage to catch my two targets. I was happy with my performance and I raced well but there were still some improvements to be made with pacing and tactics. The next club cross country will be the county championships on the 7th January where I will be racing for a place in the Gloucester u20 cross country team. How exciting. https://www.athletics4u.co.uk/cross-country/ Sunday 18th December My second follow up endless pool session with Jason Tait at SouthWestSwim. Today we focused on the hand entry and compared it to the previous sessions and I am glad to say there was a lot of improvement. Now we’re really trying to iron out the small issues, especially with the timing on the breathing. We finished off with some threshold training where I had to hold a certain pace, rest, then up the pace and we did this until the pool reached the maximum speed of 1:08 per 100m. I managed to hold this for 1 minute 30 and I hope that soon that will be my race pace!! Once the session was finished I cycled home from Jason house, it was roughly 25km which I took nice and steadily as my legs were pretty shot from the cross country. What I have noticed from having a coach is that I complete a lot more active recovery than I used to. Especially as there are different disciplines, for example if I had a running race, it is likely I would have an easy cycle the next day when originally I wouldn’t have bothered doing anything at all. http://southwestswim.co.uk/ Saturday 24th December Christmas Eve and I was going to Swindon Parkrun! I had been planning all week to attempt a parkrun pb and hopefully get under 17:30. I did a long warmup and lots of exercises to make sure I was ready. This was Swindon Harriers annual trip to parkrun and so I knew a lot of the competition and gave myself some individuals to beat, one of which won Swindon parkrun a few weeks prior. The race started and I got myself in to a good position, there was a lot of wind on the course so I stayed in a strong pack and was in around 6th. Using the other runners as a barrier to the wind I made sure to push the pace and make them work hard. Half way round and I had dropped them and ran alone until I caught up with my target man. He was struggling so I continued to speed up and cut through the wind myself. With roughly 400m left I had put myself in a comfortable position and crossed the line in 4th with a time of 17:40. Not quite the time I wanted but the conditions were far from perfect and now I know that I can run that pace fairly comfortably. Sunday 25th December Christmas day and I was going to Chippenham Parkrun! I had to drive over myself to complete the holy day parkrun, it was one I wanted on my record. I wasn’t aiming to do well or to achieve any particular time but I wanted to have a good run and make it worth it. Sadly Simon Nott arrived (a local running legend) and was dressed in a black Spiderman suit which barely held him back as he flew to a 16:40 finish. After starting off slow I started to up the pace and overtake some other runners and won a final sprint to finish 2nd in 18:28. Two Parkruns completed in two days and I finished in a better position with a slower time?! Boxing Day swim Jason Tait at South West Swim organised a ‘Boxing day Lake Swim’ at Lake 32 in the Cotswolds. The idea was to turn up and swim for as long as you wanted in the theme of budgie smugglers and swim shorts. Dad, Ollie and I swam roughly 50m and it was the worst minute of my life. The pain was similar to being poked with hundreds of pins all over my body. Serious respect to some of the people that swim all year round. Tuesday 27th December The seven sins, 7 miles with 7 (massive) hills. This was a complete trail race famous for the hills, mud and river crossings based in the middle of the forest of Dean. Normally I would enjoy races like this but I was aiming for the sub 60minute shirt which turned it into a real race. The race started and it was hell. The first hill was roughly 500m long and dropped a lot of the people who went off too fast, I used it to gauge my pace and plan who I was going to aim to stick with. I really pushed when going up the hills and then used the downhills to make up some distance on any runners near me. Half way, 3 hills completed and 1 river crossing done and the competitors had started to thin out a bit. Howard Ewan of Cirencester AC is a great endurance and trail runner and he flew past me and didn’t stop. At 30 minutes I was starting to get conscious of the time, just over half way but still 4 hills to go, I thought this was going to be close. It wasn’t. I smashed the second half of the trails, overtook enough people to put me in 5th position and finished in 55:45, well under the hour target. Howard came 3rd and finished over a minute in front of me and Dad finished in 1:06 and ‘loved every second’. This was by far my favourite running race of the year, I really enjoy trail running and (generally) not caring about the speed I’m going. I will be looking to race it next year and go for the podium. This is a race I would recommend to any runner, brilliant organisation of marshals and great hospitality. http://www.trimaxevents.com/ Saturday 31st December Parkrun…again. Time for our annual family (except my sister) visit to Pomphrey hill Parkrun. This was a 3 lap course with the famous ‘Up Pomphrey’ hill that had been resurfaced and is now covered in strong bark which reduced the amount of mud drastically. I was the only person in a vest and I don’t know why, it was really hot. Anyway the race started and I spent the first lap battling for position with another youth that looked to have some new shoes (probably got them for Christmas). After one lap we were over taken by an older runner who continued to run off into the distance looking very comfortable. It became a race for second position. Which didn’t last long as I was then overtaken by a man running with a camelback?! Who also comfortably jogged on past. One lap left and I was very determined to hold my position, I felt good, flew up the hill and finished in 18:07, just under a minutes improvement on last year. The boy with (now muddy) nice shoes came 10th in 19:07. My 14 year old brother came 27th in 21:02, Dad 41st in 21:58 and Mum (her only Parkrun of 2016) 167th in 26:09. Pomphrey is definitely my favourite Parkrun and I really enjoy coming back annually to attempt a Pb. I also finished 3rd last year but I was 1 minute slower, how annoying. Supporters- I am forever grateful to base of supporters who have and will continue to educate and influence me throughout 2016. I can finally confirm that I will be working with the following brands/businesses in 2017: South West Swim Performance Cycles Pedal Potential Katie Synge I can also confirm that I will continue to be a member of: Cirencester Athletics Flying Monk Triathlon Club
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