It has been a rather eventful month but more for negative reasons than positive ones. Coming into May I was quite excited as I had 2 races on the calendar (both running): Marlow 5 mile and Highgate Harrier's 10k night of PB's. The former, for a bit of fun, and the latter, to try post a very solid 10k time. I'd also had a solid period of training in April so I was in good shape to get this season underway.
Marlow 5 Is a local race for me and attracted a field of 1000+ runners, which sounds impressive but in truth I would describe it as the jogging world championships. This means that usually there isn't a huge amount of competition at the pointy end. This year, however, was the most competitive it has ever been with the top 4 crossing the finish line within 16 seconds of each other. I really enjoyed sprinting round my stomping grounds whilst dueling it out with a few other runners. A group of 4 formed within a couple hundred metres of the start and stuck together till around 1 mile to go. It was here when the early efforts of the race caught up with me as I attempted to raise the pace for the finish line. Sadly, I didn't have the legs on the day and I came 3rd in a respectable 25:43, just 8 seconds from the winner. This beat my time from last year by 1:14 so it shows that good progress has been made.
Marlow 5 Is a local race for me and attracted a field of 1000+ runners, which sounds impressive but in truth I would describe it as the jogging world championships. This means that usually there isn't a huge amount of competition at the pointy end. This year, however, was the most competitive it has ever been with the top 4 crossing the finish line within 16 seconds of each other. I really enjoyed sprinting round my stomping grounds whilst dueling it out with a few other runners. A group of 4 formed within a couple hundred metres of the start and stuck together till around 1 mile to go. It was here when the early efforts of the race caught up with me as I attempted to raise the pace for the finish line. Sadly, I didn't have the legs on the day and I came 3rd in a respectable 25:43, just 8 seconds from the winner. This beat my time from last year by 1:14 so it shows that good progress has been made.
After the race, I had a couple of easier training days and then succumbed to an infection. To play it safe, I took 48 hours off to allow my body to defend itself. When I resumed training it felt as if I'd taken 2 years off, not just 2 days! Regardless, I carried on for a few more days, still keeping training relatively light to ease back into things. There were 2 weeks between Marlow 5 and the 10k track race and over a week had already been wasted. The race was on Saturday and I went out for my last run on Thursday evening. During the run I must have unknowingly rolled over on my ankle because the following day I was hobbling round the house with a pain above my left foot , feeling sorry for myself. I had to pull out of the 10k. This was really hard to do as, despite how crazy it sounds, I was dying to run round that track 25 times as fast as I could.
With that put behind me, I went back to focusing on training and exams. The former was again short lived due to an intensely tight feeling in my left calf. It was painful to stretch and to walk on leading to another couple of days of missed/botched training. Fortunately, one of my ETE racing teammates, Laura Fidler, came to the rescue. She is also a Physio and has helped me to get back on track.
I now hope that this streak of inconsistent training will come to an end as it greatly hampers any fitness gains and does not facilitate a healthy mind nor body. Consistency really is key.
Some of you reading this who haven't read my other blogs may be wondering 'You are a triathlete why aren't you doing Triathlons?' I feel that by using this month as an example, I may be able to explain it better. As I am primarily a triathlete I have pressures and expectations when competing in Triathlons. Thus, if I pick up any injuries, niggles or even become ill, I would be paranoid about this affecting my performance at the next race. This is a normal scenario for an athlete to be in and it is something you learn to deal with as you mature. However when it occurs at the most important period in my academic life to date (A-levels exams) then this combination of stresses can be potentially overwhelming, leading to more problems and decreased performance, academically and in races. I hope this addresses that question, but don't worry I will be competing at the back end of the year, as part of the Castle Series which I am very much looking forward to.
Thank you for reading.