It’s December 4th and Lanzarote has come and gone for another year. The last few months have been focused towards running well in the challenge this year. Cross country has been going well but is more of a warm-up for the fun in the Tinajo. If truth be told I think I was a little down on where I expected to be once the sand settled, finishing in joint 12th place overall. I lost that ground on day 1, by not pushing enough in the 10K.
The 10K was a struggle in Lanza, 13K was fantastic once I got over a bad patch around 8K. The beach was a bit slower than expected but good overall. For the second year in a row I really enjoyed the 21K more than any of the other races. Early in the race I found myself in contention for 5th place. Although that didn’t last too long I really pushed all the way home and came in with a PB. I ran a faster pace per K in the half than in any other race.
I had an awesome time in Lanzarote. It was up there with the best ever. I still have some work to do to get into the top 10, but minus 5KG and more miles will see fit to that for next year.
Training has been going well over the past few months with a slow build up from August onward. I don’t think I have enjoyed it or had so much confidence in my running late 2011. Having struggled for a year with a sting of injuries I took the easy going approach in the 2nd half of the year, never pushing too hard and focusing on plenty of core work. This approach has kept me healthy and in good shape (until now 🙂 ). The addition of a structured Pilates class in September made a huge impact that I can really feel when I am getting tired in races. My fast, strong finish is back.
Arriving home late on Saturday I headed for Tymon park on Sunday for the Dublin Intermediate. Being vary tired the race was a major struggle. I battled through with a strong finish. After taking off my spikes I realized that my right foot wasn’t right. Ice and plenty of pills have done some good, but 3 days later I’m still hobbling. This afternoon I went to the VHI clinic to get a scan and thankfully there is no stress fracture but there is a bad strain. I need to content with doing some aqua jogging over the next few days to stay fit for the National Novice. I have never cross trained whilst injured before, so lets see how this goes.
