Thursday 24 November 2011

Scottish University XC Champs

Last Saturday was Scottish University Cross-Country Championships, my 1st cross-country in two years and only my 4th ever.








I went in to the race with confidence in my running but not sure how well I would do, the surface was very difficult, it was basically just a famer’s field which was extremely rutted with tractor tyres. Other than that it was very flat but not fast due to the surface. It was a 4lap course totalling 10.8km, my plan before the race was to build into the race and try to pick people of as I went through the race. It hind sight I didn’t race hard enough, I actually feel I underestimated where my running is at the moment, I ran the first two laps fairly comfortable (maybe too comfortable) and then lifted the pace at the start of lap three. I feel I should have at least lifted it from the start of the second lap, but I had made a pre race plan and I stuck to it.



















I was still extremely pleased with the outcome, I ended up finishing 5th and in doing so have qualified to compete in the Great Edinburgh Cross-Country Run as part of the Scottish University Team. Mo Farah won it last year so hopefully more big names will be racing this time as it would be an amazing experience to run in the same race as guys of that calibre.

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Running a lap of the Stirling University Loch in 7 minutes


I haven't blogged in a long time, but I have just been training away and doing alot of uni work so have been kept busy.

Below is a wee video my coach took today with his helmet cam. On campus at Stirling uni there is a Loch (or Lough if your from anywhere other than Scotland) with an undulating gravel/dirt the whole way around it.
A full lap is 2.4km exactly. Today myself and some of my training partners had a 1 lap run time trial around the Loch. My aim was to go under 7mins 30 but instead i managed to hit 7.00.01 (maybe i will get under 7mins the next time.) my garmin gave an average speed of 20.4k/h. Here is the video of the run, (I am the one in the white t-shirt).
My running is feeling really good at the moment, I have just being pretty cautious with my running ever since my injury last year and it is only really now that my body is able to withstand more running so i am building it up slowly and it seems to be going in the right direction; hopefully much more still to come.

I have Scottish University Cross-country at the weekend so this was a nice wee boost to my confidence letting me know where my running is sitting at.

Here is the video, just something different enjoy. :)