I wasn’t really sure where to go with my second blog as it’s been a rather calm February, despite my recent trip to Prague where I succumbed to food poisoning.

That really hampered my chances of getting any of the Strava segments – which was a real bummer! But I won’t go into detail on that one.

There was one thing however that’s been at the back of my mind for a while, so I guess what better way to share it, than through one of my monthly ‘class of 2018’ blogs.

It is to do with the perceived body image of a distance runner.

Interesting topic I’d say, and something which is rarely mentioned, by well, anyone.

What should a distance runner look like?

Well, I guess you can take a look at a large majority of runners who toe the line at any of the national events around the country, and almost everyone looks similar. Usually tall, thin and even thinner, right? But is this what we should look to mirror?

Since the age of about 15, I can count numerous occasions where I’ve been told I’m too big to be a distance runner, “you don’t look like the other runners”.

If I actually gave a damn about what people thought about me it would have really hampered my life.. sending me down a terrible path that many people go down.

For me, it’s never been a big issue, and by no means have I ever considered myself to be fat or overweight because I’m not.

But recently I was watching an event in Edinburgh, and I overheard a number of people discussing a girl competing for her country as “too big”. This athlete was placed high up the race too.

How can you look at someone running at the highest level and comment on the way she looks rather than how amazingly she is doing in a race of such a high calibre?

Society and culture

It was then I realised that society is in fact at the root cause of so many problems for female distances runners all over the world.

I’m not going to hide the fact that at times it bothered me when I stood alongside girls who looked so different to me. But I’ve also seen these girls go from healthy and strong, to ill and fragile, in such short periods of time.

You have to question if the constant comments in magazines and from coaches are causing these girls to question themselves and the way they look.

We all know that if you are at race weight or slightly lighter than normal you run ‘slightly’ faster. But it’s not sustainable for long and again we have seen this year after year with so many different athletes facing problems.

I have seen so many go through eating problems in my time as an athlete in the UK and the US and you can understand how easy it is to be influenced by the words of people who we trust, value and want to impress.

But as athletes – and well adults – we are able to make our own decisions. We aren’t stupid and we know you have to fuel your car with petrol, a phrase I’ve often heard said to so many.

I have no doubt that people close to me have been affected by what they have heard, been told, or perceive to be the right way to look, whether a distance runner or not. It’s awful to see.

It’s a culture that female distance running has sunk into, and especially one lived and breathed by so many distance programs and groups around the world. One that is VERY HARD to avoid.

I’ve experienced first hand what it feels like to be questioned not just by coaches, but by athletes who I believe become/became brainwashed by a coach who had an ideal image for EVERY female distance runner.

This ideal is not sustainable for every athlete, as every individual is an individual.

I think it’s important to highlight, that people need to take care with the words they use, not just directly to all athletes, but when having any conversation about individual female athletes. People often hear indirectly and react to this!

To anyone who reads this, it is okay to be exactly who you are. If you feel healthy in your body then why does it matter if you stand next to someone on the start line who’s much smaller than you?

Ignore what you hear. If any coach or person says you are too big, IGNORE them. It’s something I learnt to do in the states, and thankfully I made it without any issues, but so many do not! Also, think before you speak.

My goals for this year

Anyway, I am still on track for a sub 3-hour marathon, despite “not being the build for a marathoner” – what a load of rubbish!

I completed my first 90-mile week a fortnight ago and I felt amazing, well until the Monday.

Still a bit of work to do but it all seems to be going well, and 18 miles feels good at just sub seven-minute pace, so it’s not much further right?! I should probably actually enter the marathon now it’s getting a bit closer though, haha oops!

Cheers for now.

Laura Riches is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and this year will share her running journey every month. You can find out more about Laura here and further information on the ‘class of 2018’ can be found here.

The post You don’t need to be skinny to be a distance runner appeared first on Fast Running.

When you are waiting on an international call-up it can be a nervous time. The days until the squad announcement pass slowly, as if time has stalled and the days are soundtracked by Thom Yorke’s most depressing ditties. The last week was longer than a Peter Jackson movie.

On the day the squad for the 24 Hour Euros was to be announced we got a message to say it would be delayed – somewhat ironically – by 24 hours.

Thom Yorke was now collaborating with Sigur Ros to write a score for Lord of the Rings 4: Just Pawn It Frodo. Then, in this awfully laboured metaphor, Yorke got the guitar back out and started firing out the chords to Creep. At 1pm we were told the announcement would now be 3pm on the original day.

I was in. I am in. I got the news I wanted.

The relief is huge and the excitement palpable. The preparatory miles I was doing were not in vain. As I write this there are just fourteen weeks until the Euros. That’s less than 100 days.

Training for a 24 hour race isn’t easy. There are lots and lots and lots of miles to do. These are time-consuming efforts plus there is a host of others things to do; strength, mobility, core work and training the body to fuel on the move – just some of the additional challenges.

And, as ultrarunning pays as well as ice selling in the Antarctic, there’s a need to earn pennies and do a day job at the same time as ramping up the training. I have a full-time family, full-time job and am a full-time athlete.

Planning ahead

As soon as the team was announced I was looking ahead to personal and work commitments. Extrapolating out what possibilities and problems lay ahead. Three Ls dominate the horizon in life. Largs, London and Legoland.

Next week Louise, Euan, Caelan and I head to Largs for a few days. I am super-lucky in that Lou (another L, my favourite one) is supportive of my training. I will get out early when away and have some rolling time at night in the digs.

Then, the week that will present the biggest logistical challenge is early April when we head to London and Legoland for Easter.

I will need to work with my coach Paul Giblin on shaping the plan to make that week slightly different. Less time means more innovation to the plan.

We may deload that week, or do short but intense sessions and I will spend a chunk of my week on my feet exploring or waiting in queues for a vomit inducing rollercoaster that will echo with shouts of “again, again!” each and every ride.

I am excited about these trips. It is very easy to look at these types of challenges as blockers. Or work as being a problem that will stymie progress. They can be ready made excuses.

The reality is they are merely hurdles to be cleared in order to maintain momentum. But more importantly, they are an essential part of making sure the obsession that can be training for a championship event doesn’t become all-consuming. Perspective bringers.

With planning, forethought, determination and no small amount focus we ultrarunners make these things balance. It’s a delicate eco-system; guilt is not something you want to weigh you down. Maximising time by compartmentalising all of the competing factions for this precious commodity is a skill that has to be both recognised and developed.

Now I think about it, the Legoland week will be more Duplo than Creator. It will still be important in terms of training building blocks.

I just hope no stray pieces of the stuff make their way onto the bedroom floor for me to stand on barefoot, as we all know standing on a stray piece of Lego is the most painful thing known to humankind. These are the hazards ultrarunner parents face folks! And, you will be glad to read I am out of Lego puns now.

My recent training

Training has been biting these last few weeks. In my January post I talked about Pyllon Hell Week and that was a precursor to a couple tough weeks.

Mileage is about 80% of peak weeks, landing in and around 90 miles per week but the intensity is slowly building too.

Coach Paul has seen me through a few 24 hour races now and knows how to get the best from me. Typically I am an everyday runner with one or two double days as well.

There’s usually a couple of more challenging hill or speed sessions through the week and a Saturday long run with efforts. In the last few weeks I’ve run to Bannockburn, Stirling, Glasgow, Coatbridge, Falkirk and Polmont to commute via various methods to work. There’s a joke about historic battles in there somewhere with some more recent than others!

Another key focus this year for me has been working on my core strength. The gym at work is pretty awesome and I can totally feel the benefits of this.

In fact, I am kicking myself for not paying more attention sooner!

Now, another highlight of my recent training has been a couple of short races which I have done following on from tough long runs and long warm up runs too. I ran a 6k (relay) and a 12.5k race. The former is a race I won in 2016 yet despite PBing by 53 seconds I could only take 3rd place.

If you offered me a win slower than my best or third with a big PB, I would always take the latter though. The Kirkintilloch 12.5k is really different in that it has 12 hills in 12.5k. For me, it is a checkpoint on winter training.

Lastly, my favourite miles recently have been with Euan. His first headtorch run and getting back out after a few months off over the winter. Pretty cool to run with your son.

James Stewart is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and during 2018 he will share his running journey every month. You can find out more about James here and further information on the ‘class of 2018’ can be found here.

The post James Stewart: I am in, I got the good news appeared first on Fast Running.

I was very unsure what to write about this month for numerous reasons. I contemplated detailing my experiences of working full time and fitting training / racing around that.

However, after reading insightful articles by Anna Boniface and Aaron Scott and considering that their mileage is two to three times that of mine, I felt a bit of a fraud even thinking about it.

I then began writing about enjoying yourself outside of athletics, but realised that my first paragraph included enjoying seven foods and drinks that most nutritionists would be incredibly disappointed in me for consuming. I figured that this might not pass the editors at Fast Running.

Fortunately for me (and very unfortunately at the same time), I developed a stomach bug of sorts this past week, which has left me in quite a lot of discomfort.

It has also become a world-class inconvenience to my training and lifestyle. The past weekend at the Ghent Indoor meeting happened to be my one shot this season at the World Indoor qualifying standard. I figure you can probably see where this is going?

A week of losing valuable body fluid, vitamins, minerals, and energy was less than perfect preparation before attempting to get the World Indoor qualifying time.

I managed to run a 2:21 for 1000m the previous weekend at the Welsh Indoor Champs. This put me in good stead for a quick 1500m, but I soon realised just a few metres into the race, that the illness had taken more out of me than I convinced myself that it had. Going through in 2.31 felt hard work and a bit of a slog.

So a poor race, a bad performance for me, no qualifying time for the Worlds, and a very long journey back from Belgium to reflect. However, after 10 years of racing with many disappointments, reflect I did not.

Look forward

I have learned over the years that dwelling on bad days is not healthy for your mental state, nor is it good preparation for the next race/ block of training. Even on those days where things are in your control, and you’ve genuinely had a bad run for an unknown reason, you cannot dwell on the performance for too long.

Sit back, take 10 minutes to chat to your coach, your training partner, or whoever, put it down to a bad day (or bad health in my case), and get back to the work, believing in what you’re doing.

Those days when you have a bad run, become so much worse over the following weeks if you dwell instead of taking the positives out of the situation (whatever they may be). Spending hours pondering where it went wrong can lead you to the biggest danger of all, questioning everything that you’ve been doing.

So my advice – learn from it, and then try to forget it, concentrating on what is ahead, rather than what is behind. I couldn’t control his week’s illness, so I’ll concentrate on getting healthy, and going again.

Training

Training has been going very well recently – touch wood! The sessions have been quick, and the mileage has been decent. Breaking the Welsh Indoor 1km record was a huge plus, and weights have also picked up since tearing some ligaments in my lower arm 10 weeks ago.

I’m taking a couple of days this week to recover from whatever this illness is. I will then have a few runs with one quicker session before the British Championships in Birmingham this weekend, where I’ll race in the 1500m.

My training so far this month has been very similar to January, but here is a typical week, with the sessions that I did last week added in.

Sunday: 12 mile run at 5:56 pace
Monday: 7 mile run and weights
Tuesday: 5 x 600 metres (3k pace for reps 2 and 4, and 1500 pace for reps 1, 3, and 5). Finished off in a 1:25
Wednesday: 7 mile run and weights
Thursday: 6 x 300 (average 40.3 with a 39.8 final rep)
Friday: 40 minutes easy (rest every other week)
Saturday: 1km at 2:21

Tom Marshall is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and during 2018 he will share his running journey every month. You can find out more about Tom here and further information on the ‘class of 2018’ can be found here.

The post Tom Marshall: A lot can happen in a week… appeared first on Fast Running.

Everyone might think that being a top-level sprinter must be fun and easy, we go to the track for a little bit, then maybe the gym, and then we go home and be lazy.

Then we get to travel the world doing fun things… I wish that was the case.

I hope to outline that it isn’t as easy as this and share a few things from my own experiences on and off the track.

Firstly I’ll walk you through a typical day in the life of Leon Reid.

8am: My alarm rings and it’s either stay in bed for as long as possible or get up and start making breakfast. So being the ‘lazy’ sprinter it’s always an extra 20 minutes.

10am: Training begins. This starts with a nice long warm up during the winter because as you know it’s usually very cold or raining outside.

I won’t be keen to run 3x300m off 10 minutes recovery anytime soon. So a very prolonged warm up is essential.

1pm: Lunch is always on the move as I have to rush home and get changed before I start my coaching job at a local primary school. This keeps be busy from to 5pm.

5pm: A bit of time to chill before I go to my second job that night. A quick shower and catch up on the day, get some good food in and fill out my training diary. If I can get a cheeky nap in too I definitely take it.

9pm: It’s back to work, from 9pm to 3am I work in a local nightclub.

It sounds daunting, but if I’ve had enough sleep and tactically napped in between 5pm and 9pm I’m usually all good to go.

3:30am: Usually a cold walk home praying for my bed and my electric blanket, hoping to not hear that 8am alarm anytime soon before repeating.

Although my life is busy and draining it doesn’t stop me giving 100% in training… and behind all the hard work on the track there is a person simply trying to be the best he can be. My coach and I work day in and day out to make this dream a reality.

This year is a big year for me with the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games only months away. It’s my second Games after competing four years ago in Glasgow.

That experience didn’t go as smoothly as planned and it reminds me to heighten the importance of having a great support system around you whatever you are doing. My mum is my biggest fan and I couldn’t do it without her motivation and support.

That year of Glasgow 2014, I had an accident in Belgium where someone ran into me and broke my cheekbone, nose, concussion an bruised ribs and shoulder – the whole works. In the middle of my Nan’s wedding reception, my mum dropped everything to drive to Belgium and collect me from the hospital.

When it comes to racing, she doesn’t always get to see me race, but she always makes the effort to come to the big events it will be great to have her there in Australia cheering me on as she did in Glasgow 2014.

Next for stop for me will be the Irish National Indoor Championships later this month where I am aiming to retain my two titles in the 60m and then the 200m. I cannot wait to be back on the track going for my third and fourth national titles – so look out for my next post where hopefully I will have some good news.

To finish here is an insight into what an average weeks training looks like for me.

Monday – Gym
Overhead squat: 3×10 with weight
Hip thrusts: 4×8 building up the weight
Full clean: 5-4-3-2-1 getting heavier each set
Single leg squats: 3×6 with steady weight
Bench: 3×6
Optional upper body

Tuesday – track
Warm up: 30 mins (jog, comfort stretch, foam roll etc)
Activation Work: 30 mins
2 x 3 x 20m from blocks
4 – 5 x flying 20’s (30 – 20)
1 x 90m
Power development (1 x 5 SLJ, 1 x 5 Block Jumps, 1 x 5 SLJ arms behind back 3 x 10 Throws – 1 x 10 Jump forward throw back, 1 x 10 jump back throw forward, 1 x 10 vertical throw)
Warm down

Wednesday – Gym
Sand drills
Hurdle walkovers
Glute circuit
Light FAST weights
3 x 6 step ups (low box around 20cm). As fast as possible
.
3 x 6 reverse lunge taps into a high knee then a step up with the other leg 
3 x 10 lunge switches with a light weight on back (75% BW)
Upper body – 3 x 8 diagonal cables, dumbbell bench press, push press (in front and behind neck), hanging leg raises
Sit up circuit / sit ups / core

Thursday – track
Warm Up: 30 mins (jog, comfort stretch, foam roll etc)
Activation Work: 30 mins
1 x 4 x 30 blocks
2 x 220m (@ 400 race pace)
Power development (1 x 5 SLJ, 1 x 5 block jumps, 1 x 5 SLJ arms behind back 3 x 10 throws – 1 x 10 jump forward throw back, 1 x 10 jump back throw forward, 1 x 10 vertical throw)
Warm down

Friday – Gym and then track afterwards
Usually, a heavy gym session that almost kills us before the track. Then it’s an hour for lunch and then to the track to warm up for a technical session. For example blocks or foot positioning.

And that’s a general week for me, not including the Sunday session, but that is usually a lactic buffer as in some 300’s or 250’s fast!

Leon Reid is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and during 2018 he will share his running journey every month. You can find out more about Leon here and further information on the ‘class of 2018’ can be found here.

The post The life of a sprinter is not so ‘lazy’ appeared first on Fast Running.

93 days went by without running a step. I was like a kid on Christmas day for my first run back. 3 x 3 minutes at 50% bodyweight. My heart rate didn’t even touch 100 bpm, but it was still running. It was amazing.

I’m slowly progressing on the Alter G. Gradually building volume and increasing bodyweight each week. As each run comes to an end, it feels like that end of holiday dread and I wish I could stay in the bubble forever.

Running is incredibly easy when you’re partially floating. I’ve quickly found the maximum belt speed. It’s strange being able to chat away at 18km/h. I’m sure this fun won’t last as the bodyweight increases.

Step by step, we’ll get there #runyourworld #saucony #sauconyhurricaneteam #goperform #alterG #stressfracture #fortesportsmgmt #run3d #itab #injured #comeback #rehab

A post shared by A N N A B O N I F A C E (@annaboniface12) on Jan 25, 2018 at 3:15pm PST

It’s been a long journey to get to this point. Despite progress being painstakingly slow, I’m not rushing the process. My eyes have been opened to different cross-training methods. I’m finally reaping the rewards of a dedicated strength and conditioning programme. I’ve even conformed to the weight room necessities with my newly found deltoids and snapbacks.

Retrospectively, I should have taken this initial period not training completely. My body was screaming for some R & R. Continuing to plough away, I was still in that energy deficit, stalling my recovery.

Being reviewed by my doctor and told that I still needed to wear my boot, the penny dropped. I needed to rest to finally settle my flimsy fibula. Once being able to do five hops pain-free, the boot was binned.

This meant the real fun could begin. Other than cycling, I am a cross-training rookie. I’ve made many schoolboy errors to the entertainment of many. But despite my cross-training faux pas, I’ve realised what a useful tool it can be.

The Arm Bike

The most evil bit of kit in the gym. I tended to go into an arm twirling trance using HITT workouts, whilst feeling like my arms were about to fall off.

Key session
Warm up
30 secs (15 recovery) 60 secs (30 recovery) 90 seconds (30 seconds) 2 mins (30 recovery) 3 mins (30 recovery) 4 mins (30 recovery) 5 mins (60 recovery) 4 mins (30 recovery) 3 mins (30 recovery) 2 mins (30 recovery) 90 seconds (30 seconds) 60 secs (30 recovery) 30 secs (15 recovery)
Followed by 10 x 1 min (30 seconds) and 10 x 30 seconds (30 seconds)
Warm down

Tips
Netflix is essential
Wear a heart rate monitor to motivate your effort levels
Alternate forwards and backward arm rotations
Stand up if possible
Keep your RPM high and resistance not too high

Swimming

Terrifying lifeguards with my tumble turn efforts, I have managed to give myself several pool related injuries. Hitting my head, getting my foot stuck in the lane dividers and getting punched in the eye. Breaking my toe and my Garmin was the nail in coffin for my tumble turn attempts.

I can’t even do a roly poly on land so why I thought I would be capable of doing it in water is beyond me. Despite it not being my forte, I’ve utilised my time underwater to work on my breathing mechanics. There is no diaphragmatic workout quite like it. I would recommend swimming to anyone, purely on a breathing training component.

Key session
Warm up – 200m pull buoy, 200m front crawl, 200m breaststroke, 200m kick
Main set: 8 x 50m (15 secs recovery) 4 x 100m (20 secs recovery) 2 x 200m (30 secs recovery) 400m (30 seconds recovery) 2 x 200m (30 secs recovery) 4 x 100m (20 seconds recovery) 8 x 50m (15 seconds recovery)

Tips
Mix up the strokes and repetition lengths to keep it interesting
Practice breath holding to train your diaphragm
Learn lane swimming etiquette

Aqua Jogging

It’s more technical than it looks and be prepared for lifeguards to offer discounted swimming lessons, no matter how many times you reassure them that aqua jogging isn’t drowning.

Initially, I made the classic marathoner mistake of doing too much volume at not enough effort, but I quickly learnt to keep repetitions short and recoveries even shorter.

Key session
10 mins warm up
5 mins tempo (1 min recovery)
20 x 1 min (30 secs recovery), 10 x 30 secs (15 secs recovery), 10 x 15 (10 secs recovery)
10 mins warm down

Tips
Don’t bother with a floatation belt – it’s harder without one
The less you move forward in the water, the better
Keep upright, your core tight and drive your knees upwards
The faster the cadence, the harder the effort.
Mix it up with swimming
Find a training partner

The Bike

I’m fairly competent on the bike, although spin sessions are a new experience. The only real rookie error I’ve made in this department is not wearing appropriate clothing.

Getting stupidly cold and fainting in a corridor will teach me that lesson. Wrap up warm and get some decent gloves!

Key sessions
2-3 hour undulating road or mountain biking
Spin Classes 45- 60 mins
Turbo sessions e.g. 15 mins warm up, 5 x 5 mins (1 minute recovery), 15 mins warm down.

Tips
Don’t sit next to someone who wraps paper towels around the circumference of their spin bike unless you want to get sweated on.
Layer up outdoors
Be safe! – helmet, lights and a bike that is fully functioning.
Make friends – cycle with a group – drafting can make riding 20% easier.

The cross trainer

I’ve avoided the cross trainer following an embarrassing incident in Germany when I forgot my running shorts and had to resort to a session in my bikini. At least the Germans are more forgiving when it comes to bikini cross trainer incidents.

Tips
ALWAYS wear shorts!

Anna Boniface is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and will share her running journey every month throughout 2018. You can read her first post ‘The Break in Breakthrough’ here and further information on the ‘class of 2018’ can be found here.

The post Anna Boniface: cross-training faux pas appeared first on Fast Running.

Patience. The one word every sprinter (especially short) hates to hear!

In the midst of the oncoming indoor season, exam season being as brutal as always and already being a month into 2018 (how?!), I’ve chosen ‘patience’ as my buzz word for January.

A big thing I have learned so far this month is that right now, long-term gains are always more important than short-term ones.

Whether it be prioritising rest instead of running myself into the ground. Or choosing to study at home instead of going to uni and still having loads of work to catch up on. Or easing back one day so I can boss another – the long-term option has always left me feeling accomplished by the end of the week.

Not superwoman

I’ve realised this month that I’m not superwoman and that even though accomplishing things quickly in the short-term is attractive, dark circles under my eyes and a stiff back from sitting in a lecture hall for four hours is not.

I’ve had a really positive month adopting this new approach. It inhabits a new sense of patience and mindfulness I’ve never tried before and allows me to work at my pace, in my own lane. However, nothing in life is really that easy – if only.

Patience is best, but as the hype of indoors floods the timelines, suddenly you’re in your spikes getting ready for your season opener.

On top of that, having two assignments due later that night soon results in the meditative approach thrown out of the window, as well as a bit of your sanity.

A patient approach

But this is the mistake loads of us athletes make, and in fact, with the season approaching, there is even more reason to prioritise and protect your peace of mind and aim for a patient approach – because ultimately this will help you to perform at your best.

For me, having clear outcome goals for the indoor season doesn’t make the next few weeks a battle, but instead a really exciting time to benchmark where I am in my process towards the 2018 outdoor season and ultimately 2020.

By stepping back into this perspective, it makes life (as intense as it is) a whole lot easier and more enjoyable.

In training, coach Steve Fudge and I have pretty much learned a completely new dimension and style to my running, which hasn’t been easy to adopt, but I have been patient and am really happy with how I’m progressing.

I was happy with my opening 60m race in Cardiff last week, which was my first in almost eight months. I am looking forward to building on that, hopefully running some PB’s and also gaining more clarity and confidence in my race plan!

Not bad for a 'rusty' season opener! Sprinter @ImaniLara delighted to win 60m final in 7.41s at @WelshAthletics Indoor Champs in Cardiff https://t.co/A9mKwSeh9I @BritAthletics pic.twitter.com/mVlanCO3iE

— Sky Sports Scholars (@SkyScholarships) January 29, 2018

In January an average week’s training has looked like:

Monday: explosive track session, gym and university.
Tuesday: university, then speed or speed endurance session and conditioning.
Wednesday: treatment or recovery day.
Thursday: explosive track session, gym and university.
Friday: speed or speed endurance session, conditioning and university.
Saturday: conditioning day (and sleep!).

Imani-Lara Lansiquot is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and will share her running journey every month throughout 2018. More about Imani can be found here and further information on the ‘class of 2018’ here.

The post Patience is the name of the game appeared first on Fast Running.

In her first ‘class of 2018’ post, the still young 24-year-old reminds us that taking a step back sometimes from the all-consuming sport can be a positive thing.

It’s important to allow space for other interests and passions too.

Winter can be hard for an athlete with no injuries, but it is also hard for those who are still waiting for the chance to get a good training block in. At this stage, my motivation is probably at an all-time low for running and athletics activities.

However, this is not necessarily a negative emotion. I will be as positive as possible. After all, that is my mantra for the year!

The old me would have forced myself out the door to do my cross-training and additional exercise sessions if I was tired, sick or lacking in motivation. I had a serious fear of losing my fitness and keeping in shape.

But now I have been out for such a long time, that while athletics is important to me, specific competition and training activities have been pushed aside while I finish my degree, wait for injuries to clear up and pursue other interests.

Retirement?

No, this is NOT a retirement statement. I am simply accepting that my injuries will take a little bit more time to heal than I anticipated or planned for. The journey has to be experienced, injuries are part of the sport.

Mistakes can be made along the way by trying to change its course, by coming back to training too soon, as has happened quite a few times.

Since September, I have been trying to make my comeback and as expected there have been quite a few hurdles in the way. One being injury/illness and the other being life. For years when trying to compete at a high level I was obsessive about my cross-training.

But now with more responsibility and a final semester at university to contend with I simply don’t have the time to cross-train like a crazy lady. I am finally learning that the long game is the best game and pushing myself in ways that cause my mental health to suffer will not reduce injury recovery time.

I think among athletes there is very much a “do it or die” mentality when it comes to training. After over a year of purely cross-training, I have had enough, and I do sessions when I want to rather than feeling like I should do them.

Other interests

When I have a lot on with university or with the coffee shop that I manage with boyfriend, Johnny Foster, then I won’t train as much. It is futile feeling guilty for this as I view it as a worthwhile time investment for now and the future.

This month has involved quite a few unexpected things. I have been back to university and working hard to finish up my dissertation project. In terms of training, I am still doing some cross-training sessions, along with two strength and conditioning session per week.

Also, unfortunately, I have had some random illnesses this month. I was left unscathed by the “Aussie flu” but I have had food poisoning from some dodgy hummus, eye infections and a sore throat that has made me sound like a chain smoker! I am hoping that all these will cover me for the year and I will have a clean bill of health for months to come.

I’ll be back

I have booked to go to Portugal for a warm-weather training trip at Easter. With my eye on this in the not too distant future, I have the motivation to stay on the course to getting injury free.

Even if I am only easy running by that stage I will be happy to get to the sun and allow myself the time to train in a sociable environment.

I may not be the athlete that always listens to their body but I certainly am trying my hardest to become one.

Katie Kirk is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and will share her running journey every month throughout 2018. More about Katie can be found here and further information on the ‘class of 2018’ here.

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When I was approached to become part of the ‘class of 2018’, I was a little taken aback. I was in a pretty bad place with my running and had been for some time.

My performances throughout 2016 and 2017 had been way off my best and ‘fast running’ was a total contradiction to what both the results sheets were reading and the body was feeling! I was assured that the idea was for my contribution to be from a different angle and that it was my running story, good and bad, that may provide the point of interest for readers.

I have never been the most talented of runners, having never broken four minutes for 1500m or 60 seconds for 400m – so my potential was always limited.

But one of the things I prided myself on was consistency and hard work. Without boring you with a long list of statistics, the best example of this is probably that from 2002 through to 2012, I achieved 11 top 40 National Cross Country finishes in a row (with a best placing of 12th).

If it hadn’t been for frostbite at the 2013 Northerns curtailing my training, that streak probably would have been 13 years (I was back in the top 40 in 2014). Throughout that same period, I had a similar record at the Northerns (11 appearances in 13 years, all between 4th and 21st).

The not so good times

The 2016 National was when things started to take a turn for the worse. I’d already seen my National record take a real hit with lengthy travel between the Armagh 5k (14:42) and Parliament Hill two days later affecting my 2015 result (62nd) and then a nasty virus saw me finish 102nd in 2016.

If it hadn’t of been my 20th National in a row, there is no way I would have ran. In hindsight, running hard at this race is one thing I regret and it really left me in a mess for some time afterwards.

Then a series of injuries ranging from stress fractures to calf tears saw me on the sidelines for prolonged periods and I never really regained any consistency or quality of training. Again it’s easy to say in hindsight, but it was a mistake to run through some of the injuries as I did, I was simply desperate to maintain the consistency I know pays dividends.

The hardest thing for a runner is knowing when to say ‘my body needs a break here’. Sometimes you do need to plough on, but definitely not always to the point the body says ‘no more’.

I always knew that the consistency of race results I had enjoyed over a long period of time was largely down to the consistency of my training. Since 1999, when I started to take running and training seriously, I never missed more than a week, and to take more than three days off consecutively was largely unheard of.

We’re not invincible

I knew that I was extremely lucky in that respect, but at the same time, it was dangerous as I thought I was invincible. One of the first pieces of advice I will give any runner who approaches me is that consistency is the single most important factor in running performance.

You are far better doing 60-70 miles a week all year round than doing a few 100-mile weeks and then breaking down and having to take time out. We’ve all had those training sessions and training weeks where you’ve exceeded expectations, but the reality is consistency and patience are what is going to get you results.

Right now, I’m probably in the best place I’ve been for two years. I turned 39 in November and my fitness was at an all-time low. I ran the Stretford parkrun on my birthday and finished 10th in 17:11 on a fast course. A long way short of my fastest ever 5k of 14:21!

But importantly, after my latest injury layoff throughout most of September and October, a lot of long-standing issues had cleared up and I felt in a position to start the process of gradually returning to serious training again.

Turning 39 has given me a real focus to think long-term towards becoming a veteran and try to get myself ranked as high as possible.

I have taken part in four cross country races since that parkrun and seen great progress in each. Again, I won’t bore you with the stats but there has been noticeable progress from one race to the next.

The most recent was a 46th in the Northern Cross Country, which is my lowest finish since 2000, but a result I was very happy with as the first of those four cross country races suggested a position somewhere between 150 and 200!

In my next post, I’ll be reflecting on a number of lifestyle changes I have made since Christmas which I feel have already started to pay off and hopefully will help me to achieve my goals later in the year and beyond. Thanks for reading and below you can have a look at my recent training.

My last two weeks of training

Mon 15 Jan – 10 miles easy, finishing with 5x15secs
Tue 16 Jan – 10: miles including track session: 6x90secs (75 rest), 2x2mins (1:45 rest), 6x90secs (75 rest)
Wed 17 Jan – am: 6 miles easy, pm: 8 miles easy finishing with 8x15secs
Thu 18 Jan – am: 6 miles easy, pm: 10 miles including road session 1/2 mile (30secs), 4 x 1 mile (60secs), 1/2 mile
Fri 19 Jan – am: 6 miles easy, pm: 9 miles easy finishing with 5x15secs

Sat 20 Jan – 9 miles including grass session 9mins, 8mins, 7mins all off 2mins rest
Sun 21 Jan – 16 miles in Delamere Forest

Total mileage: 90

Mon 22 Jan – 9 miles easy finishing with 8x15secs
Tue 23 Jan – am: 5 miles easy, pm: 7 miles including grass session8x500m (60secs)
Wed 24 Jan – am: 8 miles easy, pm: 5.5 miles easy
Thu 25 Jan – REST DAY
Fri 26 Jan – 2 miles easy, 2 miles steady, 2 miles easy. This is a run I prefer to do the day before all of my races. I find taking a day off two days before a race helps, but if I do that and just jog the day before I often feel flat in the race. Here I pick up the middle 2 miles to around 6:00 per mile pace and tend to feel much better in my races for it

Sat 27 Jan – am: 3 miles very easy pre-race jog, pm: 11 miles including the Northern Cross Country Championships. 46th, my thoughts on the race above!
Sun 28 Jan – 17 miles easy

Total mileage: 71.5

Dave Norman is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and will share his running journey every month throughout 2018. More information can be found here.

The post Be patient, consistent and take a long-term approach appeared first on Fast Running.

On Saturday (January 27), Mhari Maclennan and Carl Avery won the Northern Cross Country Championships, while John Gilbert, Phoebe Law, Alex Brecker and Kate Holt claimed titles in the South of England and Midlands. The full race report can be found here.

Following the Welsh Commonwealth Games team announcement last week, Wales’ indoor specialists best were out in force at the National Indoor Championships.

Partridge sets course record in Seville

Lily Partridge got this year’s road racing of flying start with a win and course record at the Seville Half Marathon on Sunday (January 28).

Partridge, who clocked her marathon personal best of 2:32:09 in Seville last year, crossed the finish line in 71:06 – over six minutes ahead of the chasing pack.

Following strong cross country performances over winter and fourth at the We Run Rome 10k on New Year’s Eve, the Aldershot runner now looks ahead to London’s new half marathon event, The Big Half, in March, as she continues her build-up to the London Marathon in April.

“I am really happy, I came back from the Seville Marathon last year, so I knew the course,” Partridge told race organisers. “It’s flat, its fast and it’s raceable out there, so I am happy.”

Record-breaking indoor performances

Laura Muir and Zoey Clark stole the show at the Scottish Senior Indoor Championships setting national records over 800m and 200m.

Following the Scottish 3000m title in her indoor season opener earlier this month, Muir returned to the Emirates Arena to race in the less familiar 800m distance.

European 1500m and 3000m indoor champion, Muir, clocked 1:59:69 to break Lynsey Sharp’s previous record of 2:00.30, which was set in 2016.

Clark, a member of the GB silver medal-winning 4x400m quartet at the Wolrd Championships, clocked 23.58 to break the previous record set by Mel Neef in 1996.

Also setting records, was Heather Paton, who won the 60m hurdles in a time of 8.34. Paton beat her own championship-winning time of 8.37 from last year.

At the Welsh Indoor Championships on Saturday, ‘class of 2018‘ runner Tom Marshall continued his impressive winter clocking 1:55.19 to win the 800m title.

In the 1500m, training partner and fellow Commonwealth teammate, Ieuan Thomas, recorded a win in 3:53.89. Young talent Jonathan Tobin was second in 3:54.47 and Steeplechaser Jonathan Hopkins third in 3:56.49.

English sprinter, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, who also features in the ‘class of 2018‘, clinched the win in the 60m final clocking 7.42.

At the Vienna Indoor Classic on Saturday, Eilidh Doyle and Seren Bundy-Davies were first and second in the 400m, running 52.34 and 54.74 respectively. Doyle’s time gave her the World Indoor Qualifying time.

Philip Sesemann of Blackheath and Bromley won the 1500m in 3:44.18, with fellow Brit Michael Wilsmore finishing fifth in 3:45.28.

Elsewhere, in Seattle, U.S.A, Lynsey Sharp clocked 2:04.97 for the win over 800m.

The post Lily Partridge and Laura Muir break records appeared first on Fast Running.

In recent years uptake in those running in marathons has boomed. There are more marathons to choose from than ever before, or at least since the last boom in the 1980’s.

I do wonder though, whether there is a danger that people are jumping into the marathon too soon. The amount of people competing in 5ks has soared thanks to parkrun and it’s great to see more people being active. But what is a little concerning is the huge jump some make in throwing themselves into a marathon only months later.

The challenge of the marathon

Does the media downplay the challenge of the marathon? I often see slogans and stories claiming how anyone can do it and I agree that’s true, ‘but’, only with adequate preparation and by taking it at least a little seriously.

There is a risk with people picking up injuries when the body hasn’t been able to adapt to the sudden increase in training, or even worse, cause health problems if the demand is too much, too soon.

I would recommend people move up to 10k in the first year of running, then half marathon in the next six months, followed by the marathon after another six months.

In total, that’s still only two years, but at least the runner will have had enough experience to have mastered the distances to their best capabilities, as well as learning about dealing with niggles, resting, tapering, as well as nutrition and hydration.

Also, once you’ve run a couple of half marathons, it will give you a good idea of how to pace a marathon. A simple formula is to double your half marathon time and add the time you’d run 1 ½ miles. This would be quite a safe gauge to ensure you didn’t start too fast.

I also think some personal trainers and magazines that advise runners to go out running two to three times per week in the lead up to the marathon, aren’t helping matters either.

Five times per week should be the bare minimum, otherwise, the training is far too unbalanced; a long run would end up accounting for more than 50% of the rest of the weeks training, leaving the body struggling to recover from that effort, rather than adapting properly.

Like anything, a marathon takes preparation, time and dedication. If you’re studying a degree, I doubt a lecturer would give you an assignment and recommend cramming it into the last two days to get a good grade.

Shouldn’t we respect the marathon a bit more and aim to prepare properly and do it well? By saying ‘well’, I’m not talking about times or standards, merely getting the best out of yourself, after all, is that what running is about? Enjoy yourselves, take your time, there’s no need to rush.

Training and racing update

2017 turned out to be a very good year for me, especially in light of how my running had gone between 2014-2016. In that period I was left wondering if I’d ever get back to my best form.

Going back to basics and taking a year away from the marathon certainly did the trick and I surpassed my own expectations. I enjoyed racing more on the track and may even have bagged myself a couple of PBs if it wasn’t for missing the key part of the season.

I now feel that I’m ready to take on the marathon again with renewed enthusiasm, so this spring and I will be targeting London marathon in April.

2018 has already got off to a great start and I’m excited to be blogging for Fast Running as part of the ‘class of 2018’. I’m also thrilled to be an ambassador for On Running; a Swiss brand that do some fantastic lightweight ranges of shoes, which I’ve been running in quite a lot over the past six months.

Heading into the London Marathon, I’ll now be part of a small team of On runners. It’s all a big step forward compared to where I was at with my running 12-18 months ago!

Races so far this year

The first race of the year was the Lancashire Cross Country Championships on home turf at Witton Park, Blackburn. I was confident I could improve on my dreary ninth place from 2016 and I was aiming for a top-five finish – at least. I started off quite steadily languishing in the top 10, as Stuart Robinson forged an early lead.

As we came down from the big hill (the saucer) at the end of the first lap, I managed to sneak into the lead and from there it became a three-way battle between myself, Daniel Bebbington and Gary Priestley. It must have been quite a good race to watch, Priestley was strong on the climbs, I was forcing it on the descents and Bebbington was always re-taking the lead on the flat sections.

It boiled down to a close finish in the end, Priestley and I couldn’t shake off Bebbington on the hill. He out-sprinted me in the final half-kilometre to win by 7 seconds from myself, with Priestley just a few seconds further back.

Clubmate Rob Warner ran superbly with a strong finish to snatch fourth place and probably ran faster than any of us on that last lap. It was a solid result for the team, but we were disappointed to lose out to Salford.

Next up was the Four Villages Half Marathon at Helsby on the 21st January. It looked like we’d avoided the worst of the weather when the snow came and went in the middle of the week, but it proved to be very nasty conditions indeed on Sunday.

I stayed over in Chester the evening prior to the race and it looked like it would be quite pleasant and I was hoping to run a solid time, maybe even dip under 66 minutes.

However, within about an hour of the race, it started sleeting and the wind also picked up – leaving it feeling even colder. The race got underway at 10:30 am and Mo Abu-Rezeq forced the pace, with myself and Tom Charles giving chase. I was able to keep fairly close to Mo in the first three miles, which was reached in a modest 15:25. This wasn’t helped by the hailstone and the roads getting a bit slushy. Mo got away shortly after that and I was working hard to keep the gap from growing beyond 100 metres.

The conditions didn’t improve and from five-eight miles, we mostly ran into a headwind. By this stage, the roads were very slippery so I was trying to run on the edge where water was running down from the grass verges to get the best grip.

I managed to catch Mo briefly at around the eighth mile when he responded with another surge, but with three miles to go, we were neck and neck. I had a double take when I saw the clock at the 10-mile mark; 53:20, how could we be working so hard yet going so slow!?

It looked like it was going to be a tense finish, until I broke away at 12 miles, going on to win in 69:09. When speaking to Mo afterwards I found out he’d had some real difficulty with the cold seizing up his muscles and causing him to have trouble breathing properly, to the extent that he needed assistance at the finish. It’s probably the only time he hasn’t broken 70 minutes, but all credit to him for digging in during those last few miles.

I fared a little better in the conditions, but even so, I was a shivering mess afterwards and I could barely move once I crossed the finish line, my legs just completely seized up! It’s probably the worst conditions I’ve done a road race in.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll probably do one or two low key races and mainly focus on putting in quality training in the lead up to Bath Half Marathon, where hopefully I can improve my PB that I set there last year.

Training has been going well and I’ve been around the 80-90 miles per week for the past couple of months, but I want to be taking that up to 110-120 in February. So we’ll see how that goes.

Ben Fish is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and will share his running journey every month throughout 2018. More information can be found here.

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