Tom Devlin - 1st year at Newcastle University - 20th November
Just another quick update on how I'm doing. I'm back training every day again with a variety of sessions as explained before. On Mondays and Wednesdays the run with the group tends to be 5/6 miles very steady. Usually I add on 2 or 3 miles at the end as well because the going can be quite slow, so this just adds on a bit more mileage and speed.
The track sessions are going much better as well, early on I was struggling to complete the sessions due to illness etc. However last week we did 5 x 1k and yesterday (Tuesday) was a session of 200, 400, 600, 800, 1k and then back down again and I finished both of them stronger so there is some fitness coming back. The sessions do tend to play about with the speed a lot, the 5x1k were done as 1k, 600/400, 1k, 600/400 then 200/200/200/200/200 with only a 20s recovery after the 600s and 200s, and so in this way they keep you working.
Aside from this is it is still a fast, sustained session on Thursdays and I've begun to run during the day on Friday before circuits. I will eventually get round to a parkrun on the Saturday morning but the early morning has still evaded me so far, so I usually go out on my own later, or do the hills session. Sunday is a familiar 10mile+ long run.
Last Saturday I had my second race at the Braid Hills XC hosted by Edinburgh. It's a mile lap done twice, featuring a very similar hill to King of the Hill - around 8 minutes from base camp to the summit - so quite challenging! I came in 3rd for the University and we took the 3rd team prize so it was a successful weekend all round (results on Power of 10). Next weekend (Sunday) is the next round of the Harrier League in Jarrow as well so there is no shortage of races available and I've been promoted to the medium pace group. If I finish in the top 20 this week then I make the top group for the next race.
I am beginning to notice a few differences between the programme here and at home though. As Cameron mentioned in his update there is no one sending round training reports after sessions etc. and we have to rely on our own watches for timing. It just goes to show the level of support you get from the coaches and parents at Tonbridge that I doubt you'll find at many places elsewhere, so a big thanks to everyone there.
Additionally there is much more training on road and on track, rather than on the grass or much cross country, and I have felt in my legs that my knees and calves can be a little stiff sometimes due to this. Nothing serious and I am coping, but it is a difference. Furthermore, almost everyone apart from me trains in spikes where possible, whereas I would use them only when necessary just to avoid putting extra stress on my legs, as again I feel it could lead to injury.
Thankfully still on top of everything and I will be back mid-December. Hope all is well at Tonbridge and it's great to see the fantastic performances since my last e-mail, such as Mansfield. Congratulations to all the runners.
Thanks
Tom
The track sessions are going much better as well, early on I was struggling to complete the sessions due to illness etc. However last week we did 5 x 1k and yesterday (Tuesday) was a session of 200, 400, 600, 800, 1k and then back down again and I finished both of them stronger so there is some fitness coming back. The sessions do tend to play about with the speed a lot, the 5x1k were done as 1k, 600/400, 1k, 600/400 then 200/200/200/200/200 with only a 20s recovery after the 600s and 200s, and so in this way they keep you working.
Aside from this is it is still a fast, sustained session on Thursdays and I've begun to run during the day on Friday before circuits. I will eventually get round to a parkrun on the Saturday morning but the early morning has still evaded me so far, so I usually go out on my own later, or do the hills session. Sunday is a familiar 10mile+ long run.
Last Saturday I had my second race at the Braid Hills XC hosted by Edinburgh. It's a mile lap done twice, featuring a very similar hill to King of the Hill - around 8 minutes from base camp to the summit - so quite challenging! I came in 3rd for the University and we took the 3rd team prize so it was a successful weekend all round (results on Power of 10). Next weekend (Sunday) is the next round of the Harrier League in Jarrow as well so there is no shortage of races available and I've been promoted to the medium pace group. If I finish in the top 20 this week then I make the top group for the next race.
I am beginning to notice a few differences between the programme here and at home though. As Cameron mentioned in his update there is no one sending round training reports after sessions etc. and we have to rely on our own watches for timing. It just goes to show the level of support you get from the coaches and parents at Tonbridge that I doubt you'll find at many places elsewhere, so a big thanks to everyone there.
Additionally there is much more training on road and on track, rather than on the grass or much cross country, and I have felt in my legs that my knees and calves can be a little stiff sometimes due to this. Nothing serious and I am coping, but it is a difference. Furthermore, almost everyone apart from me trains in spikes where possible, whereas I would use them only when necessary just to avoid putting extra stress on my legs, as again I feel it could lead to injury.
Thankfully still on top of everything and I will be back mid-December. Hope all is well at Tonbridge and it's great to see the fantastic performances since my last e-mail, such as Mansfield. Congratulations to all the runners.
Thanks
Tom
Jack Keywood - 2nd Year at the University of East Anglia, Norwich - 15th November
Hey again,
Been busy the last couple of weeks with essays and other work, so this is a bit late!
Training and racing has been going well over the last couple of weeks. I have started doing some Sunday morning runs with a couple of the guys from UEA. We have a pretty nice 8 mile route, which we can vary, but I'm actually missing some of the hills from back home! Other than Sunday runs, I've been training Tuesdays and Thursdays on the track; Tuesday's with my mate James, and Thursdays with Tim and Pauline Ash's group. I have also been doing the occasional Saturday morning session.
The last two Tuesday sessions I did have been:
1. 5 x 600m, with 90 secs between each. Unfortunately I can't remember what I was doing for these reps.
2. 5 x 800m, with 90 secs between each. (2.39, 2.38, 2.38, 2.37, 2.35)
The last two Thursday sessions:
1. Tempo session. 4 x 90 secs, (45 seconds between each), 4 x 45 secs (30 seconds between each), 4 x 30 secs, (30 seconds between each).
2. Tempo session. Mile on track (5.14), 6 x 70 secs (keep walking for 30 secs), 6 x 30 secs (keep walking for 20 secs).
I also raced on the 6th November again in the EACCL. I managed to improve my place from 6th to 4th this time around, which I was pretty happy with. I was also second UEA scorer again, and again we smashed the team. We are now 49 points clear at the top of the table! The next race was meant to be the home fixture at UEA next Wednesday but unfortunately it has been postponed.
And that's all I have to say about that. I hope all are well back home!
Jack
Been busy the last couple of weeks with essays and other work, so this is a bit late!
Training and racing has been going well over the last couple of weeks. I have started doing some Sunday morning runs with a couple of the guys from UEA. We have a pretty nice 8 mile route, which we can vary, but I'm actually missing some of the hills from back home! Other than Sunday runs, I've been training Tuesdays and Thursdays on the track; Tuesday's with my mate James, and Thursdays with Tim and Pauline Ash's group. I have also been doing the occasional Saturday morning session.
The last two Tuesday sessions I did have been:
1. 5 x 600m, with 90 secs between each. Unfortunately I can't remember what I was doing for these reps.
2. 5 x 800m, with 90 secs between each. (2.39, 2.38, 2.38, 2.37, 2.35)
The last two Thursday sessions:
1. Tempo session. 4 x 90 secs, (45 seconds between each), 4 x 45 secs (30 seconds between each), 4 x 30 secs, (30 seconds between each).
2. Tempo session. Mile on track (5.14), 6 x 70 secs (keep walking for 30 secs), 6 x 30 secs (keep walking for 20 secs).
I also raced on the 6th November again in the EACCL. I managed to improve my place from 6th to 4th this time around, which I was pretty happy with. I was also second UEA scorer again, and again we smashed the team. We are now 49 points clear at the top of the table! The next race was meant to be the home fixture at UEA next Wednesday but unfortunately it has been postponed.
And that's all I have to say about that. I hope all are well back home!
Jack
Jack Keywood - 2nd Year at the University of East Anglia, Norwich - 30th October
Hey guys,
Following a fairly below par start to my running career at uni (first year/freshers tended to get in the way of training), I have regained some momentum and am glad to say I'm getting back into proper fitness and have been competing early on into my second year at the University of East Anglia.
Norfolk has a tendency to be quite a boring and flat county for distance running, but that clearly hasn't stopped a very decent athletics community from forming. CoNAC (City of Norwich AC) and UEA Athletics regularly train with each other, with the main distance training days being Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday mornings. There are a main pair of coaches for the CoNAC distance runners, not unlike Mark and Dawn I guess, in the form of Tim and Pauline (I am yet to meet Pauline, but I can assure you that Tim's a good laugh). While Norwich is quite flat in landscape, Tim has certainly made sure that training is not any easier than down south.
My training regime so far has mainly consisted of a Tuesday track session at UEA's Sportspark with only myself and my mate James, a run on Wednesdays or Fridays with the UEA distance runners, another track session on Thursday evening's with Tim and the UEA/CoNAC distance runners, and a morning session at 10.30am on Saturday, again with Tim and the UEA/CoNAC distance runners. My last training session (29th October) was track session of two sets of 2 x 1000m, with 90 seconds recovery between the 1000s and 2 minutes between the sets. I was averaging 3.24 for these reps. These were followed by a couple of 200m reps, mainly to keep warm in the chilly conditions!
Last week (24th October) I raced in the East Anglian Cross Country League with my fellow UEA runners at RAF Barnham. While I believed at the time that I was 7th overall (there was some confusion over the tokens that were given for positions), I actually managed to secure 6th place as the second scoring UEA runner. In an extract from our XC Captain's report of the men's 10km race, I receive probably the best mention I've had in a race report:
“Leading the 'A' team home was Jamie Short, who ... secured a superb 3rd place ... Second place for the men was 2nd year Jack Keywood who ran a well judged race and in the process managed to breeze past the dying XC captain at the start of the final lap securing 6th place. Jack looks set to be on his way back to his best following a year out of the sport. XC captain Dennis Cross paid for a fast start as he attempted to follow team mate Jamie Short, and was consequently disappointed with his 8th place finish. He will seek redemption on Jack and Jamie in the next fixture! ... Andy Holliman ran well to … secure 12th place. The team finished 1st 17 points clear of their closest rivals.”
Suffice to say, Steve Keywood will need to be on top form to beat me this year at the annual Christmas Pudding Race. Here's hoping he doesn't try tripping me up... again.
Jack
Following a fairly below par start to my running career at uni (first year/freshers tended to get in the way of training), I have regained some momentum and am glad to say I'm getting back into proper fitness and have been competing early on into my second year at the University of East Anglia.
Norfolk has a tendency to be quite a boring and flat county for distance running, but that clearly hasn't stopped a very decent athletics community from forming. CoNAC (City of Norwich AC) and UEA Athletics regularly train with each other, with the main distance training days being Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday mornings. There are a main pair of coaches for the CoNAC distance runners, not unlike Mark and Dawn I guess, in the form of Tim and Pauline (I am yet to meet Pauline, but I can assure you that Tim's a good laugh). While Norwich is quite flat in landscape, Tim has certainly made sure that training is not any easier than down south.
My training regime so far has mainly consisted of a Tuesday track session at UEA's Sportspark with only myself and my mate James, a run on Wednesdays or Fridays with the UEA distance runners, another track session on Thursday evening's with Tim and the UEA/CoNAC distance runners, and a morning session at 10.30am on Saturday, again with Tim and the UEA/CoNAC distance runners. My last training session (29th October) was track session of two sets of 2 x 1000m, with 90 seconds recovery between the 1000s and 2 minutes between the sets. I was averaging 3.24 for these reps. These were followed by a couple of 200m reps, mainly to keep warm in the chilly conditions!
Last week (24th October) I raced in the East Anglian Cross Country League with my fellow UEA runners at RAF Barnham. While I believed at the time that I was 7th overall (there was some confusion over the tokens that were given for positions), I actually managed to secure 6th place as the second scoring UEA runner. In an extract from our XC Captain's report of the men's 10km race, I receive probably the best mention I've had in a race report:
“Leading the 'A' team home was Jamie Short, who ... secured a superb 3rd place ... Second place for the men was 2nd year Jack Keywood who ran a well judged race and in the process managed to breeze past the dying XC captain at the start of the final lap securing 6th place. Jack looks set to be on his way back to his best following a year out of the sport. XC captain Dennis Cross paid for a fast start as he attempted to follow team mate Jamie Short, and was consequently disappointed with his 8th place finish. He will seek redemption on Jack and Jamie in the next fixture! ... Andy Holliman ran well to … secure 12th place. The team finished 1st 17 points clear of their closest rivals.”
Suffice to say, Steve Keywood will need to be on top form to beat me this year at the annual Christmas Pudding Race. Here's hoping he doesn't try tripping me up... again.
Jack
Tom Devlin - 1st year at Newcastle University - 27th October
Thought I'd just give you a quick update on how I'm doing as I've seen a few others on the website.. Settled in very well at University now having joined the Athletics club and getting back into some steady training after an inconsistent first couple of weeks earlier on in the term.
The sessions are not too different to Tonbridge although the pace is a bit slower! There is a track session every Tuesday down at Gateshead which last week was 10x400 (average 69s) off 1minute and the reps have ranged from 1k through to 400m. Thursday is a tempo and there is a circuits session every Friday which is very similar to Richard's.. Other than that there are a variety of steady runs throughout the week and a few times I have gone by myself - including a very painful 17miles to the coast and back! I'm probably going to try and do the parkrun in the next couple of weeks.
It's not a bad group to train with on the track there are 4 or 5 of us in the quickest group who go round together and on the long runs if we feel we need something faster we can go and do our own route. There is also a guy from St Albans here so some healthy competition from a Judd perspective!
I had my first race yesterday (Saturday 26th) in the North East Harrier League which felt quite good. It was a very similar event to the Kent league although I didn't quite understand the handicap system they employ but because I have never raced in the league before I started in the first pack with the fastest guys 5mins behind. I finished 8th in position but 27th overall on time: http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=91526&event=ZXC&venue=Shibdon+Pond&date=26-Oct-13 (Note - Also in top 10 of above results is ex TAC and Judd old boy Adrian Whitwam !)
I'm still following all the tac results on twitter and the website and it's good to see the club going from strength to strength. Congratualtions to everyone who ran at the Road Relays 2 weeks ago and the Kent league today, can't say I miss the course round Somerhill! And good luck to everyone at Mansfield next week.
Looking forward to coming back at Christmas
Thanks
Tom
The sessions are not too different to Tonbridge although the pace is a bit slower! There is a track session every Tuesday down at Gateshead which last week was 10x400 (average 69s) off 1minute and the reps have ranged from 1k through to 400m. Thursday is a tempo and there is a circuits session every Friday which is very similar to Richard's.. Other than that there are a variety of steady runs throughout the week and a few times I have gone by myself - including a very painful 17miles to the coast and back! I'm probably going to try and do the parkrun in the next couple of weeks.
It's not a bad group to train with on the track there are 4 or 5 of us in the quickest group who go round together and on the long runs if we feel we need something faster we can go and do our own route. There is also a guy from St Albans here so some healthy competition from a Judd perspective!
I had my first race yesterday (Saturday 26th) in the North East Harrier League which felt quite good. It was a very similar event to the Kent league although I didn't quite understand the handicap system they employ but because I have never raced in the league before I started in the first pack with the fastest guys 5mins behind. I finished 8th in position but 27th overall on time: http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=91526&event=ZXC&venue=Shibdon+Pond&date=26-Oct-13 (Note - Also in top 10 of above results is ex TAC and Judd old boy Adrian Whitwam !)
I'm still following all the tac results on twitter and the website and it's good to see the club going from strength to strength. Congratualtions to everyone who ran at the Road Relays 2 weeks ago and the Kent league today, can't say I miss the course round Somerhill! And good luck to everyone at Mansfield next week.
Looking forward to coming back at Christmas
Thanks
Tom
Alex Howard - 1st year at Oxford University - 26th October
Hi,
Just thought I’d give you a bit of an update about how I’ve been getting on, know you’re busy with the Kent League today though, hope it goes smoothly.
Have managed to settle in really quickly here, Christ Church is a lovely place and the people both in college and in the cross country team are really nice. It’s been a really busy few weeks, with getting to know everyone and work - I have roughly two hours of lectures and 1 tutorial/class every day with 4 problem sheets that are supposed to take 5 hours each due in each week - meaning that I haven’t been able to give as much time to running as I have been over the summer.
The main club session is on a Tuesday afternoon where we tend to do something like 5 x 4mins (off 90secs recovery), 1 x 6 mins, 4 x 30s (off 30secs recovery), which is pretty different to the Tonbridge sessions with a lot more volume and done based on time rather than distance. Other than that there are other runs scattered throughout the week and we do a lot of runs by ourselves or in small groups due to everyone’s contact hours being all over the place, with a lot of emphasis put on circuits as well. I’ve been trying to make my training up to around 30-40 miles a week but have to adjust this as my legs feel quite tired a lot of the time, probably as a result of so much going on.
We had our first Varsity selection race this morning, an inter-college race. I felt I ran really poorly and came 7th, it was 10k going up and down the same hill and my quads just felt really tired, I never got into a good rhythm (the guy who came 4th I’ve been consistently beating in training). I’m a bit annoyed with it, but it bodes fairly well for getting in the Blues 8, as only one of the top runners wasn’t racing (another 2 are injured/very out of form). We have the second and last selection race in exactly two weeks so hopefully I can give a better showing of myself there and nail down a spot.
Hope all the training group are going well back home,
Alex
Just thought I’d give you a bit of an update about how I’ve been getting on, know you’re busy with the Kent League today though, hope it goes smoothly.
Have managed to settle in really quickly here, Christ Church is a lovely place and the people both in college and in the cross country team are really nice. It’s been a really busy few weeks, with getting to know everyone and work - I have roughly two hours of lectures and 1 tutorial/class every day with 4 problem sheets that are supposed to take 5 hours each due in each week - meaning that I haven’t been able to give as much time to running as I have been over the summer.
The main club session is on a Tuesday afternoon where we tend to do something like 5 x 4mins (off 90secs recovery), 1 x 6 mins, 4 x 30s (off 30secs recovery), which is pretty different to the Tonbridge sessions with a lot more volume and done based on time rather than distance. Other than that there are other runs scattered throughout the week and we do a lot of runs by ourselves or in small groups due to everyone’s contact hours being all over the place, with a lot of emphasis put on circuits as well. I’ve been trying to make my training up to around 30-40 miles a week but have to adjust this as my legs feel quite tired a lot of the time, probably as a result of so much going on.
We had our first Varsity selection race this morning, an inter-college race. I felt I ran really poorly and came 7th, it was 10k going up and down the same hill and my quads just felt really tired, I never got into a good rhythm (the guy who came 4th I’ve been consistently beating in training). I’m a bit annoyed with it, but it bodes fairly well for getting in the Blues 8, as only one of the top runners wasn’t racing (another 2 are injured/very out of form). We have the second and last selection race in exactly two weeks so hopefully I can give a better showing of myself there and nail down a spot.
Hope all the training group are going well back home,
Alex
Charlie Joslin-Allen - Iowa State University - 13th October
Hi everyone,
Apologies for not writing sooner - I have had midterm exams and a lot of reading and studying to get through. Here is a brief update nevertheless.
It's been tough the last couple of weeks with niggles creeping in, and the backroom staff have been fantastic in managing this. I have kept consistent training whilst also managing the problems I have had at the same time.
It is unclear when my first race will be; with the disruption to my training Coach and I will just have to see how I develop over the next few weeks before deciding when to race me.
On a non-training front: as I said before, it's fantastic here and the people here are very welcoming and supportive. It's much like Tonbridge in some respects, except on a much larger scale. It's been a great start (bar the niggles) to what I hope will continue to be a productive and successful rest of the year.
I'd like to give a shout to all the teams who competed this weekend - some encouraging performances from the younger ones and also another consistent showing from the seniors. I look forward to seeing how we fare at Mansfield next month!
Stay healthy all, keep training hard!
Charlie
Apologies for not writing sooner - I have had midterm exams and a lot of reading and studying to get through. Here is a brief update nevertheless.
It's been tough the last couple of weeks with niggles creeping in, and the backroom staff have been fantastic in managing this. I have kept consistent training whilst also managing the problems I have had at the same time.
It is unclear when my first race will be; with the disruption to my training Coach and I will just have to see how I develop over the next few weeks before deciding when to race me.
On a non-training front: as I said before, it's fantastic here and the people here are very welcoming and supportive. It's much like Tonbridge in some respects, except on a much larger scale. It's been a great start (bar the niggles) to what I hope will continue to be a productive and successful rest of the year.
I'd like to give a shout to all the teams who competed this weekend - some encouraging performances from the younger ones and also another consistent showing from the seniors. I look forward to seeing how we fare at Mansfield next month!
Stay healthy all, keep training hard!
Charlie
James Thompson - 1st year at Bristol University (with Nicola Wilkinson also there)
Hi,
Just an update on training so far in Bristol. We train with Bristol and West for intervals on Tuesday and Thursday but they're run differently - they're timed rather than distance. So on Tuesday we did 3x6m, 2x4m, 2x2m and so the volume's a lot higher too. I had a good session yesterday running 9-10km and pace was about 3.05-3.10/km for the 6m reps I think, as the course was meant to be 650m and my splits were coming in around 1.52-2.05 depending on the rep.
The Manchester relay was good too - the men's team came 15th and women's 10th with Nikki on first leg running around 10.35 (pretty flat 3k, off road course) and I ran the last leg in around 9.45. I was pretty happy as it's my first race of the season and we've got another one coming up in the Gwent League on 19th October.
Hope all's well in Tonbridge,
James
Just an update on training so far in Bristol. We train with Bristol and West for intervals on Tuesday and Thursday but they're run differently - they're timed rather than distance. So on Tuesday we did 3x6m, 2x4m, 2x2m and so the volume's a lot higher too. I had a good session yesterday running 9-10km and pace was about 3.05-3.10/km for the 6m reps I think, as the course was meant to be 650m and my splits were coming in around 1.52-2.05 depending on the rep.
The Manchester relay was good too - the men's team came 15th and women's 10th with Nikki on first leg running around 10.35 (pretty flat 3k, off road course) and I ran the last leg in around 9.45. I was pretty happy as it's my first race of the season and we've got another one coming up in the Gwent League on 19th October.
Hope all's well in Tonbridge,
James
Cameron Knapp - 1st year at Southampton University - 27th September
Just thought I'd give you an update of how the last week of training has been since I saw you!
Training:
- Thursday 19/9; 1/2 hour Spin Bike and a 4.5 mile run at a strong steady pace.
- Friday 20/9; 1/2 hour Spin Bike and an hour of Tennis training.
- Saturday 21/9; 1/2 Hour Spin Bike
- Sunday 22/9; Long Run -7.10 Miles
- Monday 23/9; Long Run- 7.58 Miles
- Tuesday 24/9; Session- 12 x 400m (av. around 70/71)
- Wednesday 25/9; 1/2 hour Swim. Circuit training- (personal Circuit).
- Thursday 26/9; Session- Pyramid. 1 Lap of a Cricket Pavilion, 1/2 a lap jog, 2 Laps on, 1/2 lap off, 3 Laps on, 1/2 lap off, 4 laps on, 1/2 lap off, 3 laps on, 1/2 lap off and then back down to one.
I saw the results from the weekend! Really well done to everyone. It looks like quite a few really rose to the occasion and the B-Team in the Senior men's qualifying for nationals is great news!
I traveled down to Uni on the Saturday and moved into my accommodation the same day. On the Sunday I took myself on a run which I inevitably got lost on and then after 50 minutes found I was exactly where I needed to be! It was a good run as I discovered potential other routes in various directions including a large woodland.
Monday my flat mates and I were feeling heavy after the night before but I got up and went for a run, but stayed close to the site as I was feeling pretty delicate and got to know the Southampton Common pretty well!
Tuesday I went down to train with Southampton AC for the first time. Jon Tilt who I've been in contact with was not present so I was talking to a guy named Tony Fern who told me what was happening and I must say I wasn't best pleased that 12 x 400m was my first session with them!! However, it didn't turn out too badly and there are some pretty good athletes there. To name a few, Ceri Mitchell who ran the second fastest lap at Aldershot in the Senior Women's event, Mahamed Mahamed who ran the quickest lap at the U17 event (he's only been running for a year!!) and Alex Wall- Clarke who was only two seconds behind Andy on the first leg of the Men's. To be honest I was pretty impressed at the standard of some of the athletes here. On Tuesday it was quite hard to integrate into the group but tonight was a lot better and people seemed to take me a bit more seriously and were more comfortable with me around.
From the last couple of sessions I can see some differences between Tonbridge and Southampton. For one, I definitely don't take for granted all the work you put into making training briefs and summaries! They don't keep track of rep times let alone keep record and then make a summary of them! So the only feedback I have is how I felt during the session, which isn't bad so I don't get wrapped up and worried about the times and just run as hard as I need. But this may take a bit of time to get used to! Also they sort themselves into groups which was a bit hard as I had no idea where I'd fit in. This in itself wasn't too bad but it did make the session a bit messy with almost 10 little groups forming and people dropped off all over the place. I don't think it helped that recovery was taken by the first runner to cross the line rather than the last which meant the guys at the back got less recovery and had to work even harder! I guess this goes with the attitude of 'run how you feel' but seemed to lack the structure that you guys incorporate into the sessions back home. The actual sessions have been good and the few coaches are all friendly and have welcomed me. They seem very much more speed work orientated which hopefully benefit me but it looks like it's down to me to keep the mileage up!
All in all I'm really enjoying it! University has been a lot of fun but the fun is already drawing to an end as lectures start on Monday. I have to do my own Circuits though which is pretty lonely but hopefully I'll find some others to come with me! Rich has sent me some circuits for me to do and I'll try to get what I can done.
Hope to hear from you all soon and everything back home is all good and running smoothly.
Cheers,
Cam
Training:
- Thursday 19/9; 1/2 hour Spin Bike and a 4.5 mile run at a strong steady pace.
- Friday 20/9; 1/2 hour Spin Bike and an hour of Tennis training.
- Saturday 21/9; 1/2 Hour Spin Bike
- Sunday 22/9; Long Run -7.10 Miles
- Monday 23/9; Long Run- 7.58 Miles
- Tuesday 24/9; Session- 12 x 400m (av. around 70/71)
- Wednesday 25/9; 1/2 hour Swim. Circuit training- (personal Circuit).
- Thursday 26/9; Session- Pyramid. 1 Lap of a Cricket Pavilion, 1/2 a lap jog, 2 Laps on, 1/2 lap off, 3 Laps on, 1/2 lap off, 4 laps on, 1/2 lap off, 3 laps on, 1/2 lap off and then back down to one.
I saw the results from the weekend! Really well done to everyone. It looks like quite a few really rose to the occasion and the B-Team in the Senior men's qualifying for nationals is great news!
I traveled down to Uni on the Saturday and moved into my accommodation the same day. On the Sunday I took myself on a run which I inevitably got lost on and then after 50 minutes found I was exactly where I needed to be! It was a good run as I discovered potential other routes in various directions including a large woodland.
Monday my flat mates and I were feeling heavy after the night before but I got up and went for a run, but stayed close to the site as I was feeling pretty delicate and got to know the Southampton Common pretty well!
Tuesday I went down to train with Southampton AC for the first time. Jon Tilt who I've been in contact with was not present so I was talking to a guy named Tony Fern who told me what was happening and I must say I wasn't best pleased that 12 x 400m was my first session with them!! However, it didn't turn out too badly and there are some pretty good athletes there. To name a few, Ceri Mitchell who ran the second fastest lap at Aldershot in the Senior Women's event, Mahamed Mahamed who ran the quickest lap at the U17 event (he's only been running for a year!!) and Alex Wall- Clarke who was only two seconds behind Andy on the first leg of the Men's. To be honest I was pretty impressed at the standard of some of the athletes here. On Tuesday it was quite hard to integrate into the group but tonight was a lot better and people seemed to take me a bit more seriously and were more comfortable with me around.
From the last couple of sessions I can see some differences between Tonbridge and Southampton. For one, I definitely don't take for granted all the work you put into making training briefs and summaries! They don't keep track of rep times let alone keep record and then make a summary of them! So the only feedback I have is how I felt during the session, which isn't bad so I don't get wrapped up and worried about the times and just run as hard as I need. But this may take a bit of time to get used to! Also they sort themselves into groups which was a bit hard as I had no idea where I'd fit in. This in itself wasn't too bad but it did make the session a bit messy with almost 10 little groups forming and people dropped off all over the place. I don't think it helped that recovery was taken by the first runner to cross the line rather than the last which meant the guys at the back got less recovery and had to work even harder! I guess this goes with the attitude of 'run how you feel' but seemed to lack the structure that you guys incorporate into the sessions back home. The actual sessions have been good and the few coaches are all friendly and have welcomed me. They seem very much more speed work orientated which hopefully benefit me but it looks like it's down to me to keep the mileage up!
All in all I'm really enjoying it! University has been a lot of fun but the fun is already drawing to an end as lectures start on Monday. I have to do my own Circuits though which is pretty lonely but hopefully I'll find some others to come with me! Rich has sent me some circuits for me to do and I'll try to get what I can done.
Hope to hear from you all soon and everything back home is all good and running smoothly.
Cheers,
Cam
Charlie Joslin-Allen - Iowa State University - 9th September
Sorry that I have only just managed to send you this - it has been very busy here with getting stuck in with school, settling into life as a cyclone and of course, the training side of things! I hope this email finds everyone well and injury-free!
I would like to start off by saying that I believe that to come stateside was the best decision I have ever made. The setup here is extraordinary and if anyone saw some of the pictures I have put up on twitter, Iowa State has some absolutely fantastic facilities which you cannot find in many places back home. Thus far I have got a few pieces of kit, plus four pairs of Nike trainers (2 training shoes, 2 flats) with a bulk order hopefully coming in the next week or two. The team have been very welcoming, and this combined with everyone being very focused and with a great team work ethic rather than individual work ethics.. it's safe to say adjusting to life here has gone very smoothly, and everything is seemingly falling into place.
It's very different over here as the mentality is like that of the tour de France - pack leader, wingman etc. and is extremely team based. More to the point, it is incredibly professional, and huge credit has to go to Head Coach Martin Smith for this as it feels like a professional athletic program, and I am excited to be a part of it. There is no messing around at practice, intense focus and huge emphasis is placed on the little things rather than actual practice and workouts: sleep, eating well, keeping hydrated, stretching before and after practice etc. Coach Smith is very big on discipline in these areas, and this is something which I believe is going to prove invaluable in the long run - not to mention his grilling 30min motivational speeches before and after practice!
In terms of practice and workouts, the hardest thing has been the core stuff... We do 3x 1 or 1 and a half hour core sessions every week (monday, wednesday, friday) and it has had me feeling very tired on occasion! They are really really tough, and to put the icing on the cake, on my friday core they made me hold a 5 minute plank with the rest of the team watching at the end of the workout! It hurt so much, it started burning in my IT bands! They said I need to burn off my freshman 15 (whatever that means!).
Mileage and practice-wise, I have just come off my biggest ever week of 62miles. It has been pretty easy adjusting to the miles though as all of my runs have been at 6:45 pace of slower, except for saturday where we did a 5mile tempo at 5:40 pace. I have only run one session since being here (two Saturdays ago) which was (4k, 2mins, 400m)x3 with 10mins rec between sets, which at 5:30 pace was incredibly hard! I was dead by set 3! Luckily the 400s were only 70s so nothing too killer at the end of the session. (Ed - I clarified with Charlie and it was 4k run, 2 mins rec then a 400 in 70 then 10 min rec and repeat 3 times. The 4k was 10 laps of a 400m circuit)
The overall emphasis is on a solid base and consistency rather than pushing to the limit just yet. Recovery has been key in keeping injury free and I have had 2x 12 hour sleeps and one 15 hour sleep this week including a few hours of napping in the afternoon a few days a week.
Outside of practice, it has been an extraordinary experience. The whole American Football thing is interesting as it seems to be about everything but the game! Probably because we embarrassed ourselves losing to North Iowa last weekend! Nevertheless, tailgating is a laugh and I even managed to get some football chants from back home going during the game. We have a rivalry game this Saturday against University of Iowa, which promises to be huge! I just hope we play better than we did against UNI.
That's just a very basic outline of how everything is going... Hope this is okay! I'd just like to wish everyone luck in their races over the next few weeks, and it looks like the group is going well at the moment. Big congrats to #DonWest for his 3:48, and I'm looking forward to see how the team does at Southerns. It's looking stronger than ever!
Until next time!
Charlie
I would like to start off by saying that I believe that to come stateside was the best decision I have ever made. The setup here is extraordinary and if anyone saw some of the pictures I have put up on twitter, Iowa State has some absolutely fantastic facilities which you cannot find in many places back home. Thus far I have got a few pieces of kit, plus four pairs of Nike trainers (2 training shoes, 2 flats) with a bulk order hopefully coming in the next week or two. The team have been very welcoming, and this combined with everyone being very focused and with a great team work ethic rather than individual work ethics.. it's safe to say adjusting to life here has gone very smoothly, and everything is seemingly falling into place.
It's very different over here as the mentality is like that of the tour de France - pack leader, wingman etc. and is extremely team based. More to the point, it is incredibly professional, and huge credit has to go to Head Coach Martin Smith for this as it feels like a professional athletic program, and I am excited to be a part of it. There is no messing around at practice, intense focus and huge emphasis is placed on the little things rather than actual practice and workouts: sleep, eating well, keeping hydrated, stretching before and after practice etc. Coach Smith is very big on discipline in these areas, and this is something which I believe is going to prove invaluable in the long run - not to mention his grilling 30min motivational speeches before and after practice!
In terms of practice and workouts, the hardest thing has been the core stuff... We do 3x 1 or 1 and a half hour core sessions every week (monday, wednesday, friday) and it has had me feeling very tired on occasion! They are really really tough, and to put the icing on the cake, on my friday core they made me hold a 5 minute plank with the rest of the team watching at the end of the workout! It hurt so much, it started burning in my IT bands! They said I need to burn off my freshman 15 (whatever that means!).
Mileage and practice-wise, I have just come off my biggest ever week of 62miles. It has been pretty easy adjusting to the miles though as all of my runs have been at 6:45 pace of slower, except for saturday where we did a 5mile tempo at 5:40 pace. I have only run one session since being here (two Saturdays ago) which was (4k, 2mins, 400m)x3 with 10mins rec between sets, which at 5:30 pace was incredibly hard! I was dead by set 3! Luckily the 400s were only 70s so nothing too killer at the end of the session. (Ed - I clarified with Charlie and it was 4k run, 2 mins rec then a 400 in 70 then 10 min rec and repeat 3 times. The 4k was 10 laps of a 400m circuit)
The overall emphasis is on a solid base and consistency rather than pushing to the limit just yet. Recovery has been key in keeping injury free and I have had 2x 12 hour sleeps and one 15 hour sleep this week including a few hours of napping in the afternoon a few days a week.
Outside of practice, it has been an extraordinary experience. The whole American Football thing is interesting as it seems to be about everything but the game! Probably because we embarrassed ourselves losing to North Iowa last weekend! Nevertheless, tailgating is a laugh and I even managed to get some football chants from back home going during the game. We have a rivalry game this Saturday against University of Iowa, which promises to be huge! I just hope we play better than we did against UNI.
That's just a very basic outline of how everything is going... Hope this is okay! I'd just like to wish everyone luck in their races over the next few weeks, and it looks like the group is going well at the moment. Big congrats to #DonWest for his 3:48, and I'm looking forward to see how the team does at Southerns. It's looking stronger than ever!
Until next time!
Charlie
Kieran Reilly - Indiana University, USA - 7th September 2013
I competed in my first meet on US soil today- The Hoosier Open! I finished 9th over 8k, time was 25:49 on a pretty tough home course ( picture course a bit like birmingham but hillier) . My aim was top 12, so top 10 was good! I beat several upperclassmen too. Probably the lowest key race i've ever ran in with only 35runners and one other team - a DII team from indiana called wabash, however a good training race nevertheless! I was 2nd freshman home to the canadian Jeremy who was 2nd in 25.30.
Coach helmer said fastest freshman debut run on course was 26mins, so am well happy with that! Also considering Jeremy's a 5.38 2k steeple and 3.48 1500 runner at just 17, plus he's been doing 70-80miles a week over summer im very happy!
Running on dry grass seemed like a breeze compared to the typical british bog! next meet is in 2 weeks.
speek soon,
Kieran.
Coach helmer said fastest freshman debut run on course was 26mins, so am well happy with that! Also considering Jeremy's a 5.38 2k steeple and 3.48 1500 runner at just 17, plus he's been doing 70-80miles a week over summer im very happy!
Running on dry grass seemed like a breeze compared to the typical british bog! next meet is in 2 weeks.
speek soon,
Kieran.
Kieran Reilly - Indiana University, USA - 6th September 2013
Hi
Apologies for not keeping you updated on how things have been going, I've been pretty busy the past few weeks! Anyway, I suppose I should start off by saying that, I absolutely love it here already! I definitely feel I've made the right choice both in coming to America and choosing Indiana as a school. The weather has been so hot here the past few weeks, with every run I've done being topless due to the humidity. There's a lot of small differences in things out here too, particularly when it comes to wording etc. for example; one of my teammates thought that a standing in a 'queue' was a toilet? apparently it's called standing in line here haha! (Don't even get me started on there timeout policy for TV adverts after 22mins during the "soccer" game, I could have started a riot I was so baffled!
I've just finished my second week of classes and they seem to be going well so far, though not much work has been set to tell really. As for the running side, it's almost just like being at Tonbridge! There must be 25+ guys on the XC team, all of which have been very welcoming and I feel I've fitted in nicely. Seems to be a lot of banter in the locker room and everyone takes it seriously at the same time. Training has been going well so far, I did 55 miles last week despite not running on Saturday and the week previously was 50. The coaches have told me to slowly build up and not rush into things too quickly, in order to adjust to the new training etc. I want to aim for around 65 miles or more by Christmas time. The emphasis seems to be on higher mileage and steady running to build a good base for a long track season. We workout on Tuesdays and Fridays, but also meet everyday at 3 to do various runs, usually through the vast woodlands and uni golf course etc. As for the workouts themselves, we've been doing mile and 2k repeats on the cross country course (which is really undulating/hilly) and they seem to have been going well for me. Despite not putting in a heavy base summer like most of the other freshman and upperclassmen, I seem to be coping well, realistically though I think I will be redshirting the XC season this fall, in order to build myself up strongly and save eligibility etc. Having said that, the assistant coach did suggest that If I'm strong enough to make the top 7 that they'd make me fit for the business end of the season. I'd like to make the team, as it'd be a good achievement, though i'm not that fussed if I don't. We've done quite a few escalation runs as well, which get pretty competitive and intense considering we hurtle through narrow twisting woodland trails!
I've got my first race tomorrow - The Hoosier Open, which is just a really low key meet on our home course, nothing serious at all. We haven't been given any kit yet other than a pair of flats and some spikes which are pretty sweet, though we should get a huge order in next week. I'm running unattached tomorrow, so it looks like i'll be representing TAC from across the pond! Looks like the group has had some good results since I've left, particularly Westy! #DonWest.
I will let you know how it goes,
Kieran.
Apologies for not keeping you updated on how things have been going, I've been pretty busy the past few weeks! Anyway, I suppose I should start off by saying that, I absolutely love it here already! I definitely feel I've made the right choice both in coming to America and choosing Indiana as a school. The weather has been so hot here the past few weeks, with every run I've done being topless due to the humidity. There's a lot of small differences in things out here too, particularly when it comes to wording etc. for example; one of my teammates thought that a standing in a 'queue' was a toilet? apparently it's called standing in line here haha! (Don't even get me started on there timeout policy for TV adverts after 22mins during the "soccer" game, I could have started a riot I was so baffled!
I've just finished my second week of classes and they seem to be going well so far, though not much work has been set to tell really. As for the running side, it's almost just like being at Tonbridge! There must be 25+ guys on the XC team, all of which have been very welcoming and I feel I've fitted in nicely. Seems to be a lot of banter in the locker room and everyone takes it seriously at the same time. Training has been going well so far, I did 55 miles last week despite not running on Saturday and the week previously was 50. The coaches have told me to slowly build up and not rush into things too quickly, in order to adjust to the new training etc. I want to aim for around 65 miles or more by Christmas time. The emphasis seems to be on higher mileage and steady running to build a good base for a long track season. We workout on Tuesdays and Fridays, but also meet everyday at 3 to do various runs, usually through the vast woodlands and uni golf course etc. As for the workouts themselves, we've been doing mile and 2k repeats on the cross country course (which is really undulating/hilly) and they seem to have been going well for me. Despite not putting in a heavy base summer like most of the other freshman and upperclassmen, I seem to be coping well, realistically though I think I will be redshirting the XC season this fall, in order to build myself up strongly and save eligibility etc. Having said that, the assistant coach did suggest that If I'm strong enough to make the top 7 that they'd make me fit for the business end of the season. I'd like to make the team, as it'd be a good achievement, though i'm not that fussed if I don't. We've done quite a few escalation runs as well, which get pretty competitive and intense considering we hurtle through narrow twisting woodland trails!
I've got my first race tomorrow - The Hoosier Open, which is just a really low key meet on our home course, nothing serious at all. We haven't been given any kit yet other than a pair of flats and some spikes which are pretty sweet, though we should get a huge order in next week. I'm running unattached tomorrow, so it looks like i'll be representing TAC from across the pond! Looks like the group has had some good results since I've left, particularly Westy! #DonWest.
I will let you know how it goes,
Kieran.
Luca Russo - On four month placement at DeSales University, Pennsylvania, USA - 27th August 2013
Hope all is well back home!!
I've had a great first 2 weeks in the states. I arrived and got a surprise from my family out here, they had bought me a ticket to go to the patriots game, that night!! It was such a good experience! We then went straight down to their family home in Cape Cod, which was beautiful! Some of the houses were unbelievable! There are a lot of famous people that have a house down there! We went for a day trip to an island off the coast of the Cape called Martha's vineyard, where Obama had been on his Holiday, unfortunately we missed him by one day! But we ate in the restaurant where the day before, Michelle Obama had eaten there with Opera!! Apparently Obama played golf pretty much all holiday! Tough life!
I flew down to Phillie from Boston on Thursday last week. Since arriving everybody has been so welcoming!! Like unbelievably friendly and nice! The campus is very spread out!! I live the opposite side of campus from where all the other athletes live and it's close to a 10 minute walk. I jumped into training straight away, and jumped in at the deep end!! On the friday they had an 11.2 mile run planned. We drove about half an hour away from campus and ran on a path along the river. The scenery was top drawer, I kept on looking at the surroundings and almost tripping other people up where i stopped running in a straight line! Luckily they found it funny and understood! But what I didn't realise was that the run, which started quite slow, was supposed to pick up. I hadn't done an 11 mile run for a long time now, and when i last did one, it was sunday run pace. This picked up and at 35 mins I was nackered!!!! I had hit a wall. But there was no way I was going to drop out!! I couldn't do that on my first session with the team!! Finally after 74 mins and an average of 6:20 per mile for the second half. It was safe to say that I was dead!!
At the other end, the coach left to collect some sub style sandwiches, and then everyone got given an inflatable ring and to get part of the way home, we floated on these rings back down the river!! It was shallow with blunt rocks and the water was so clear and fresh! It was so cool! It also meant that when we got back to campus we didn't need to have an ice bath because it was quite fresh!!
That afternoon to flush our legs out we did an easy 3 miles, and for diner they had a BBQ and we all played volleyball on an outdoor beach court! So different to London!!
The next morning the coach called a 7am practise. This was only 6.5 miles and I thought I was going to be struggling after the previous days training, but surprisingly I felt good and ran at the front with their top dog, Ryan Megee. I think we averaged about 6:20 for the whole run.
I then had Sunday off and Monday was the teams "Long day" or Sunday run. The majority of the team had 15/13 miles to do but because he knew that I haven't ran for a while he only gave me 7, but that was done at a sunday run pace!!
We are about to have another run now, i think it's going to be about 7/8 miles but not too quick as we have a session tomorrow, but i'm not sure what the session is going to be!!
That's about it with the running side. There is a warm up race on Saturday which is only 6km at the University next door called LeHigh, but he has emphasised that it isn't important at all and we are running back to campus after (about 4 miles) but thats's not going to stop me from trying to beat all the others!! The next race after that isn't till 21st September I believe, so there is plenty of time to get back into race shape!
Speak to you soon.
Luca
I've had a great first 2 weeks in the states. I arrived and got a surprise from my family out here, they had bought me a ticket to go to the patriots game, that night!! It was such a good experience! We then went straight down to their family home in Cape Cod, which was beautiful! Some of the houses were unbelievable! There are a lot of famous people that have a house down there! We went for a day trip to an island off the coast of the Cape called Martha's vineyard, where Obama had been on his Holiday, unfortunately we missed him by one day! But we ate in the restaurant where the day before, Michelle Obama had eaten there with Opera!! Apparently Obama played golf pretty much all holiday! Tough life!
I flew down to Phillie from Boston on Thursday last week. Since arriving everybody has been so welcoming!! Like unbelievably friendly and nice! The campus is very spread out!! I live the opposite side of campus from where all the other athletes live and it's close to a 10 minute walk. I jumped into training straight away, and jumped in at the deep end!! On the friday they had an 11.2 mile run planned. We drove about half an hour away from campus and ran on a path along the river. The scenery was top drawer, I kept on looking at the surroundings and almost tripping other people up where i stopped running in a straight line! Luckily they found it funny and understood! But what I didn't realise was that the run, which started quite slow, was supposed to pick up. I hadn't done an 11 mile run for a long time now, and when i last did one, it was sunday run pace. This picked up and at 35 mins I was nackered!!!! I had hit a wall. But there was no way I was going to drop out!! I couldn't do that on my first session with the team!! Finally after 74 mins and an average of 6:20 per mile for the second half. It was safe to say that I was dead!!
At the other end, the coach left to collect some sub style sandwiches, and then everyone got given an inflatable ring and to get part of the way home, we floated on these rings back down the river!! It was shallow with blunt rocks and the water was so clear and fresh! It was so cool! It also meant that when we got back to campus we didn't need to have an ice bath because it was quite fresh!!
That afternoon to flush our legs out we did an easy 3 miles, and for diner they had a BBQ and we all played volleyball on an outdoor beach court! So different to London!!
The next morning the coach called a 7am practise. This was only 6.5 miles and I thought I was going to be struggling after the previous days training, but surprisingly I felt good and ran at the front with their top dog, Ryan Megee. I think we averaged about 6:20 for the whole run.
I then had Sunday off and Monday was the teams "Long day" or Sunday run. The majority of the team had 15/13 miles to do but because he knew that I haven't ran for a while he only gave me 7, but that was done at a sunday run pace!!
We are about to have another run now, i think it's going to be about 7/8 miles but not too quick as we have a session tomorrow, but i'm not sure what the session is going to be!!
That's about it with the running side. There is a warm up race on Saturday which is only 6km at the University next door called LeHigh, but he has emphasised that it isn't important at all and we are running back to campus after (about 4 miles) but thats's not going to stop me from trying to beat all the others!! The next race after that isn't till 21st September I believe, so there is plenty of time to get back into race shape!
Speak to you soon.
Luca
James Thompson - Gap Year and currently away in Australia- 3rd May2013
Hi ,
Just another quick update on training. I'm on my way up to do a Whitsunday Islands sailing tour for 3 days so I won't be training much over the next few days. I'm keeping pretty fit anyway with the walking/swimming/surfing/snorkelling I'm doing but I've managed to get in a couple of sessions I've been really pleased with since my last email. I completed a 12x400 off 60s session along the esplanade and found another backpacker (who had been a personal trainer in the uk) willing to do it with me so I set him off 50-100m ahead of me although he didn't last all of them. It was pretty got even though it was the evening but the route was flat and firm with a slight s turn in it. I was really tired after and sore the following day but this could have been down to the bar crawl that followed. I averaged 69s But the route was more like 390m. Yesterday with the same guy I completed a 3x330-40m and 3x150m with 6 minutes recovery off all of the. Apart from the last one where I took 3. I ran 48,49,48 off the 340s and 21,21,20 but the last rep on each of those I think I probably dipped under those times.Really
enjoying it out here and good to see everyone doing well and in particular George on top of the rankings!
All the best,
James
Just another quick update on training. I'm on my way up to do a Whitsunday Islands sailing tour for 3 days so I won't be training much over the next few days. I'm keeping pretty fit anyway with the walking/swimming/surfing/snorkelling I'm doing but I've managed to get in a couple of sessions I've been really pleased with since my last email. I completed a 12x400 off 60s session along the esplanade and found another backpacker (who had been a personal trainer in the uk) willing to do it with me so I set him off 50-100m ahead of me although he didn't last all of them. It was pretty got even though it was the evening but the route was flat and firm with a slight s turn in it. I was really tired after and sore the following day but this could have been down to the bar crawl that followed. I averaged 69s But the route was more like 390m. Yesterday with the same guy I completed a 3x330-40m and 3x150m with 6 minutes recovery off all of the. Apart from the last one where I took 3. I ran 48,49,48 off the 340s and 21,21,20 but the last rep on each of those I think I probably dipped under those times.Really
enjoying it out here and good to see everyone doing well and in particular George on top of the rankings!
All the best,
James
James Thompson - Gap Year and currently away in Australia- 3rd May2013
Hi ,
Just a quick update on my training out here in Melbourne. I've kept up some casual running and my fitness but I've only managed one session so far. I go to Sydney tomorrow and it'll be easier to get out for some proper sessions when I'm away from my cousins.
I completed the session today and I was really pleased with it - I was sore from going to the gym the previous day which meant I really struggled to up my pace in the later reps. It was the middle of the day so pretty hot and sunny and there was a slight hill in the loop too (I finished above where I started). I did a 5x500m session similar to the one everyone did last week and added in 2x200m at the end (to compensate for the 6th 500). My times were 86,86,88,87,85,32,31 but I really
had to push myself and felt good for it. I'll get back to 2 proper sessions a week and keep you updated more regularly.
Hope everything's going well in England,
James
Just a quick update on my training out here in Melbourne. I've kept up some casual running and my fitness but I've only managed one session so far. I go to Sydney tomorrow and it'll be easier to get out for some proper sessions when I'm away from my cousins.
I completed the session today and I was really pleased with it - I was sore from going to the gym the previous day which meant I really struggled to up my pace in the later reps. It was the middle of the day so pretty hot and sunny and there was a slight hill in the loop too (I finished above where I started). I did a 5x500m session similar to the one everyone did last week and added in 2x200m at the end (to compensate for the 6th 500). My times were 86,86,88,87,85,32,31 but I really
had to push myself and felt good for it. I'll get back to 2 proper sessions a week and keep you updated more regularly.
Hope everything's going well in England,
James
Jamie Bryant - Gap Year away in Belize November to June now - 16th February 2013
Hope you are well,
I don't know if you have heard by Facebook or someone but I have accepted a job as an assistant leader for TrekForce. This means I will be staying out here until the 1st June, it will be running the same course I am just about to complete except I will be the assistant leader so I will be responsible for helping with running the logistics of running this course, helping with
teaching the new groups, leading treks etc. So unfortunately for my running I will not be back training until then.
Apologies if you had started to include me in any races but I wanted to tell you after I had signed the contract. However I am keeping fit here by trekking, and running when we get back into town.
Hope everyone at TAC is well and training hard (looks real good from the training plans). Great to see as always the bad weather has not put off the training, hopefully the results will show in the nationals. Wish everyone the best of luck from me!
Jamie Bryant
I don't know if you have heard by Facebook or someone but I have accepted a job as an assistant leader for TrekForce. This means I will be staying out here until the 1st June, it will be running the same course I am just about to complete except I will be the assistant leader so I will be responsible for helping with running the logistics of running this course, helping with
teaching the new groups, leading treks etc. So unfortunately for my running I will not be back training until then.
Apologies if you had started to include me in any races but I wanted to tell you after I had signed the contract. However I am keeping fit here by trekking, and running when we get back into town.
Hope everyone at TAC is well and training hard (looks real good from the training plans). Great to see as always the bad weather has not put off the training, hopefully the results will show in the nationals. Wish everyone the best of luck from me!
Jamie Bryant
Henry Pearce - 1st year at Loughborough University, 9th January after his first international
Edinburgh International XC- Junior Men
Having missed out on selection for European Cross Country Championships, I was so happy to hear the news that I had been selected for the Edinburgh Cross Country international. It had always been my aim to gain a GB vest at times I doubted it would happen. The main reason that I doubted myself sometimes was because in the past two seasons I have had injuries during the cross-country season. The worst was last year when I picked up shin splints in mid January. I ended up not racing from the 14th Jan to 15thMay. During this period I cross trained, by doing aqua jogging sessions each day and sometimes doubling up. The cross training did help me retain my fitness the injury definitely affected my track season. So far, this
cross country season has really been the first season (touch wood!) where I have been able to get consistent training without injuries or major problems. I have just started studying at Loughborough Uni and the transition from school has
seemed to go very well. The facilities, training group and setup are really great at Loughborough and I would strongly recommend the University to runners. Life is very busy here in the Midlands. Days are really taken up by training,
working, cooking, eating, sleeping and there really isn’t much time for anything else!
For the trip the GB team stayed in the same hotel as the teams from Europe & America as well as the likes of Genzebe Dibaba and Meseret Defar, which was just so exciting. The only team I did feel a bit sorry for was the Europeans because, coming from different nationalities, they could not even communicate with each other, let alone us. The atmosphere was very relaxed and everyone really got on with their own thing the day before the race.
The weather was unseasonably mild and the setting amazing with the Palace of Holyrood and Arthurs seat as a backdrop. The course was undulating, soft in places underfoot and included a log jump and two stream jumps. Our Junior Mens team consisted of Jonathan Davies, Matthew Fayers, Calum Johnson, William Paulson, Benedict Westhenry and myself. With none of the team having previously competed in the race in Edinburgh team was embarking into the unknown.
On the day of the event we were led to the elite athlete marquee, that I certainly had not experienced at a cross country race before! The marquee was filled with tables and chairs, where all the teams could sit down and relax in a sheltered and heated environment.
The Junior Men’s race was the first of the International races on the day. We were competing against an American Team and a very strong select European team. We knew before the race that we had our work cut out and that it would be very tough. The race started at a fairly steady pace and for just under 2 of the 3 laps the field was very much together. To the fore were a few European athletes, Americans, Davies and Johnson, with the rest of the GB team not too far behind. On the last lap was where all the action occurred. Davies broke away with a group of 3 other athletes from America and Europe. Close
behind him was Johnson. Paulson, Fayers and myself were in a group together with a couple of American athletes just ahead of us. Eventually Davies had a strong race finishing in 4th behind two European athletes and an American. Johnson also had a very good race coming 7th, Fayers came 11th, Paulson 13th, myself 14th and Westhenry 26th.
It really was a great experience and a very memorable one. I now am getting my head down and training hard with the main aim being the World Trials in March. All the Junior team that ran in Edinburgh are eligible for this. I returned to Loughborough a few days ago but alas have come down a dreaded sick bug - probably caught in Scotland. The chap behind me on the flight home was sick so probably got it from him. Luckily I have made a speedy recovery and now am able to train properly.
Having missed out on selection for European Cross Country Championships, I was so happy to hear the news that I had been selected for the Edinburgh Cross Country international. It had always been my aim to gain a GB vest at times I doubted it would happen. The main reason that I doubted myself sometimes was because in the past two seasons I have had injuries during the cross-country season. The worst was last year when I picked up shin splints in mid January. I ended up not racing from the 14th Jan to 15thMay. During this period I cross trained, by doing aqua jogging sessions each day and sometimes doubling up. The cross training did help me retain my fitness the injury definitely affected my track season. So far, this
cross country season has really been the first season (touch wood!) where I have been able to get consistent training without injuries or major problems. I have just started studying at Loughborough Uni and the transition from school has
seemed to go very well. The facilities, training group and setup are really great at Loughborough and I would strongly recommend the University to runners. Life is very busy here in the Midlands. Days are really taken up by training,
working, cooking, eating, sleeping and there really isn’t much time for anything else!
For the trip the GB team stayed in the same hotel as the teams from Europe & America as well as the likes of Genzebe Dibaba and Meseret Defar, which was just so exciting. The only team I did feel a bit sorry for was the Europeans because, coming from different nationalities, they could not even communicate with each other, let alone us. The atmosphere was very relaxed and everyone really got on with their own thing the day before the race.
The weather was unseasonably mild and the setting amazing with the Palace of Holyrood and Arthurs seat as a backdrop. The course was undulating, soft in places underfoot and included a log jump and two stream jumps. Our Junior Mens team consisted of Jonathan Davies, Matthew Fayers, Calum Johnson, William Paulson, Benedict Westhenry and myself. With none of the team having previously competed in the race in Edinburgh team was embarking into the unknown.
On the day of the event we were led to the elite athlete marquee, that I certainly had not experienced at a cross country race before! The marquee was filled with tables and chairs, where all the teams could sit down and relax in a sheltered and heated environment.
The Junior Men’s race was the first of the International races on the day. We were competing against an American Team and a very strong select European team. We knew before the race that we had our work cut out and that it would be very tough. The race started at a fairly steady pace and for just under 2 of the 3 laps the field was very much together. To the fore were a few European athletes, Americans, Davies and Johnson, with the rest of the GB team not too far behind. On the last lap was where all the action occurred. Davies broke away with a group of 3 other athletes from America and Europe. Close
behind him was Johnson. Paulson, Fayers and myself were in a group together with a couple of American athletes just ahead of us. Eventually Davies had a strong race finishing in 4th behind two European athletes and an American. Johnson also had a very good race coming 7th, Fayers came 11th, Paulson 13th, myself 14th and Westhenry 26th.
It really was a great experience and a very memorable one. I now am getting my head down and training hard with the main aim being the World Trials in March. All the Junior team that ran in Edinburgh are eligible for this. I returned to Loughborough a few days ago but alas have come down a dreaded sick bug - probably caught in Scotland. The chap behind me on the flight home was sick so probably got it from him. Luckily I have made a speedy recovery and now am able to train properly.
Jamie Bryant - Gap Year away in Belize November to February - 4th January 2013
Hi ,
Happy New year and I hope you had a good Christmas. I'm now over half way through my trip now and it seems to be going so fast. So far most of the time has been spent in the jungle learning about group leadership and how to survive in the jungle. Christmas was really different, we got a change to our normal rations of crackers, beans and salsa to some proper meat, chicken! however the chickens were still living... so I spent a part of my Christmas day gutting them. We have seen lots of wild life including the 2 most dangerous snakes in Belize found in the creek we wash in.
The group is getting along really well and has had few arguments, which is really nice. I'm getting bitten to pieces here though one night I stepped on an ants nest before getting into my hammock and got over 100 bites on one foot.
Unfortunately there is little opportunity to run here and I'm really really missing it. Thankfully I'm not becoming unfit though as we are pretty active the whole time.
It looks as if the group is training really well, and congratulations to Henry for getting GB selection!!! Wish everyone good luck in races to come!
Jamie
Happy New year and I hope you had a good Christmas. I'm now over half way through my trip now and it seems to be going so fast. So far most of the time has been spent in the jungle learning about group leadership and how to survive in the jungle. Christmas was really different, we got a change to our normal rations of crackers, beans and salsa to some proper meat, chicken! however the chickens were still living... so I spent a part of my Christmas day gutting them. We have seen lots of wild life including the 2 most dangerous snakes in Belize found in the creek we wash in.
The group is getting along really well and has had few arguments, which is really nice. I'm getting bitten to pieces here though one night I stepped on an ants nest before getting into my hammock and got over 100 bites on one foot.
Unfortunately there is little opportunity to run here and I'm really really missing it. Thankfully I'm not becoming unfit though as we are pretty active the whole time.
It looks as if the group is training really well, and congratulations to Henry for getting GB selection!!! Wish everyone good luck in races to come!
Jamie