Vale Royal AC - Senior Section

Hi All!

So I figured that it has been way too long since I last updated my blog…for those of you on facebook you are probably pretty much up to date, but for those of you who don’t then here it is…

The indoor season was pretty short-lived for me, starting with a couple of low key races here in Albuquerque in January to show me how out of shape I was after my foot surgery in December, followed by a 5k in Seattle in February to show I was making some progress and finishing up with the Conference Championships to score points for the team. 

The end of indoors made way for a decent block of training…racking up the miles and bashing out the sessions to finally feel in decent shape going in to the start of the outdoor season this past weekend.  The Stanford Invite is a HUGE meet over here for distance runners.  The 5 and 10ks are always stacked and with near perfect conditions in the late evening when these are run it makes for some super fast times.  Last year I somehow managed to get stuck in no mans land, and that combined with a couple of tears in my shin muscle lead to a 34.32 clocking.  This year I was going home with nothing over 34 minutes, it just wasn’t an option.  So 33.32 was a relief in a way!  A big PB and a ticket booked to Regionals (unless a freak event has 48 other runners in the West running under that time…which would have been top 10 in the NCAA lastyear from what I’m told!).  So it was pretty much job done.  10k was a breeze after the accumulation of miles and big sessions that I’ve put my body through over the past few weeks!!!

Now the focus is back on London (it never really waivered, but Stanford temporarily took my mind of it!).  There is just 2 big weeks of training left before I head into the taper…this week will be particularly savage after starting with the last 20miler this morning and by Sunday the week milometer will read somewhere around the 120 mark. Phew.

I only have one more race between now and London…a 5k at the Mt Sac Relays on 16th April, just 9 days out from London. At first I was adamant this was going to be too close, but now coming round to the idea that it could actually be a good addition to the final preparations.  As long as there are no problems going into the race, and I make sure I’m listening VERY carefully to my body and do all the good stuff to recover well post race then it’ll be a good way of making the pace at London feel slow!!!  Mt Sac is another huge distance running event in California, second only to Stanford…so I’m looking forward to the chance to do some serious damage to my 5k PB!

I’m looking forward to seeing all the marathoners in London,and catching up with the rest of the gang while I’m home for the week after the race.  Hope everyone’s preparation is going well…not long to go now so its all about staying healthy!!!

See you soon!