One Season Ends . . .

. . . And another season begins. With the start of British Summer Time starting this weekend and the final Lincs League Cross Country race taking place next Wednesday, there is a real feeling of a new season starting. Add to this the lighter evenings and the fact that I only have a few weeks to go until I fly out to a hot and sandy deployment, it really does feel like a new chapter has begun. That's a bit deep for me really! I have lots going on in my life, for sure; however, as normal, I will try and keep this blog true to the aim of concentrating on training and racing.

Training has been ticking along, with no real schedule. If I feel like running, I run. If I feel like riding, I ride. . . You get the picture. The broad focus has continued to be on running. After the good run at the Inter-Services XC I sort of felt as though I had made a bit of a break through with my running - I was a lot closer to some of the fast guys. A decent run at Coningsby XC backed up my thoughts. However, a poor run at Waddington last week left me quetsioning myself:'is age catching up with me?' I thought to myself. After having a stern word with myself I banished such crazy thoughts from my head! So last Tuesday I ventured to track to train with the real athletes at Hunts AC. I love track running. As a youth, I started running on the track with Leicester Coritanians AC and this instilled a love for the speed and pain that a full on track session can provide. I guess it's hard to explain. Track running is, well, just 'different'! Anyway, we did 12 x 400 with 200 jog recovery. I was slightly fatigued from a hard ride on the Monday and 40 miles of commuting prior to the track session itself. I ended up being pleasantly surprised by starting off with 74 - 76 second 400 reps and then being able to up the pace to finish with 3 reps at 71 seconds. Now I know these times don't exactly burn the track up! But for me, it's progress. Finally, since starting track work early November, I felt more comfortable and able to clock semi-decent times. Not quite in the realms of my youth, when I could knock off 65 second reps with a minute recovery; but hey, I'll take 71 seconds right now! The wierd thing is, I expect to go faster if I keep up the track work. Will this happen? I'm not sure but I am going to try my very best to make it happen. To run fast, I reckon track work is essential. The difference now is that I need to factor in conditioning and, dare I say it, run drills to keep injuries at bay.

Happy training folks. 8-)