2013: A year of opportunities?!

And so 2013 is now well underway. Yesterday we saw the welcome back of my least favourite month of the year and from now on the evenings continue to get lighter and, hopefully, the weather will continue to improve... or at least get warmer.

I started 2013 off on the other side of the world, in the Maldives. We had a 3 week, highly indulgent all-inclusive holiday, that ended up being a 3 week 3 day all-inclusive holiday as we had a 3 day flight delay! The island we stayed on was only 500m long by 150m wide and had no gym. There is no tarmac or any firm surface and so all I had to run on was the sandy covered jetty or the sandy track down the middle of the island. For some reason, my achillies tendonitus never reacts well to the Maldives. Last year I really did it in, trying in vain to keep running on it when it was getting more and more tender. As a result, I returned from the 3 weeks in January to run the First Chance 10k in absolute agony. I turned out a time of 40:10, over 2 minutes below my best which was set on the same course in summer. Wanting to avoid a repetition of this this year, I limited myself to just one run of 30 minutes every 3 - 4 days this time. The result was that my achillies did not flare up quite as badly but I returned to the U.K. with a massive drop in fitness.

Attempting to run on holiday, but my achillies tendonitus did not like the sand!

Makes for a different outlook than the Exmouth promenade anyway!

At first I panicked. One of the biggest gigs of the year - the First Chance 10k - was 10 days after I landed back in the U.K. 10 days to get fit again... hmm, not likely. So when I lined up on the start line on January 20th, against some of the top female competition in Devon, I knew I had my work cut out! Before I went away I had really hit a vein of form. This had largely been due to a revision of my training regime which saw me cut back the mileage in the Autumn months to just 20 - 30 a week over 3 running days, and saw me concentrating on quality miles rather than quantity, with cross-training and yoga to supplement. Training with my second claim running club, South West Road Runners, at their coached Wednesday track session also sharpened up my speed over the shorter distances, and doing my reps with my friends and track partners, Lucy Commander and Alex Cutts, helped no end. It really helps to train with females who you regularly compete against and who are of a similar level. I knew that Lucy was in superb shape going into First Chance and that she was hoping to set a new PB and go sub 37 minutes for the first time. I also knew that I wasn't!! Not in my best shape, not in PB shape, and certainly not in sub-37 minute shape. However, I also knew that they pick the Devon team for the Plymouth Hoe 10 mile Devon versus Cornwall Pneinsula Challenge after this race and so the eyes of the selectors are very much upon you: just to add to the pressure! After not being selected last year (precisely because I lost fitness whilst on holiday and churned out a below-par performance at First Chance), I really wanted to make the team this year, but with only 4 places up for grabs and about 8 females in serious contention for these places, my chances of being selected, given my decreased fitness, were not favourable. But I decided to give it my best shot!

Before this race, however, there was the small matter of the 'Oh My Obelisk' race. Don't be fooled by the twee name as behind this rather quaint nomenclature lurked a brutally tough, muddy, hilly off-roader around Dawlish and Haldon Forest. Billed as a 10 miler it in fact came in at 1.5 miles longer than that and, as the longest run I had done of any description since Guernsey in August, it was a tough re-introduction to racing after 3 weeks of putting my feet up and swilling endless G and Ts! I navigated all the tricky, technical off-road sections without a hitch, but then, just 2 miles from home, on one of the few tarmac stretches, I put my foot on the edge of a puddle that concealed a pothole, turned my ankle and went careening into the hedge, vociferating a few expletives as I did so! A quick self-assessment - am I ok? can I put weight on it? can i walk on it? can I run on it? can I run fast and hold onto my lead on it? - returned the verdict that yes, I could. So I power-limped the remaining 2 miles and crossed the finish line in pain but still in the lead (which is what counts!). That night, however, I was in utter agony and couldn't even tolerate the weight of my quilt on it, let alone stand and weight-bare on it. A few more expletives were uttered and a few objects might have been hurled (including the ice-pack, which I deemed to be totally useless...) as I contemplated the prognosis. 'Will have to pull out of First Chance'. 'Have already lost loads of fitness, now I just want to be able to get stuck in again and I bloody-well can't'. 'Well, that's the chance of a PB at London down the drain'.... and a whole manner of other similar doom-and-gloom conclusions. Fortunately, it turned out to be a minor sprain and when I woke up the next morning, it was still sore, but I could hobble on it. A trip to the physio and some ultrasound treatment saw me back running on it by the Thursday and then towing the line of the First Chance 10k by the Sunday. Phew. Panic over. Sometimes I wonder if I over-react to things....

Finishing the 11.5 mile 'Oh My Obelisk' race: clearly in pain from my ankle

And so to First Chance. Well, I went off hard, hoping to hang onto Lucy for as long as possible. This did not turn out to be very long at all as she was absolutely on fire and by the 1km point she was already away and gone. I found myself in 2nd place here but could hear the distinct sound of female breathing right behind me, so I knew I wasn't safe! And sure enough, as my kilometer splits started to drop off due to the lack of speed-endurance in my legs, I got overhauled by the Erme Valley Harrier athlete, Alison McEwing. Alison and I have had some great battles as, generally, we are pretty evenly matched and who comes out on top at a given race usually depends upon who is at a fitness peak at that time and who is not. It keeps us both on our toes and I'm sure we have pushed each other to better times and performances in many races. On this occasion, I was in a fitness trough and so at about 4k Alison came up along side me and then gradually began to pull away and I couldn't stay with the pace. By the end of the race Lucy was a clear winner in a massive new PB of 36:52, with Alison in 2nd in 37:49 and me holding on for 3rd in 38:06. I was frankly amazed to get within 2 seconds of my August 2011 PB given the shape I was in... or rather, wasn't in. Although I was fighting hard for the line to try and get under 37, I have to be pleased with just how close I did get given my preparation for this race. It was certainly a massive confidence boost to know that I don't have as much work to do as I feared and that a few weeks of solid training should see me sharpen up in time for my next big races.

Start of the First Chance 10k on the Exeter canal / river bank

5k point on the unforgiving 2-lap First Chance course

8k point of First Chance, having been ditched by the sub-38 minutes group I was trying to hang onto to! Next time, next time...

And to the next big surprise. I went up to bed one night to find a voice-mail message from Dave Phillips - the Devon team selector - to say that he would like to speak to me via-à-vis me representing Devon at the Plymouth Hoe race! What an utter shocker! I couldn't dial his number fast enough and also couldn't believe it. Only finishing 3rd at First Chance, I assumed the team places would go to Lucy, Alison and two other fast Devon girls who don't run First Chance but have been on the team for several years and perform consistently well at all races. Fortunately, Dave knew that I had just returned from a long break and that I wasn't at full fitness and so with some assurances from me that I will be come race day (17th Feb.), I'm on the squad!!

And so, having never run for Devon before I am shortly to make my debut for the county team on both the road (the Plymouth Hoe 10) and the cross-country (the Birmingham inter-counties championships). Is 2013 to be a year of opportunities? I bloody well hope so!! My new job has certainly opened the door for more opportunities to compete. At Sherborne I had to work both days, every weekend during term time, and so competing was restricted to holidays. As a result, I tended to cram in races whenever I could during school breaks, resulting in me doing too much within a short space of time and invariably ending up injured. Now I have every evening and weekend free, I can be selective about which races I do and plan my season in advance and my training around it in a far more measured approach. (Hmm... 'me' and 'measured': two words I previously never envisaged co-existing within the same sentence!)

I have many plans for 2013. Obviously my big goal for the Spring is the London Marathon. Training towards this has now started in earnest and my weekly mileage is now back up to 40+ and climbing steadily. Now, on reflection, the enforced rest in the Maldives has been no bad thing as my legs are feeling fresh and raring to tackle all that I have to throw at them. I have been reaping massive benefits from the S.W.R.R.'s marathon training programme, led by David Moulder. Dave is very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and encouraging, and all his sessions are extremely well organised. On Monday there is a marathon-focussed track session and on Saturday morning, a long run. Dave plans the routes beforehand, provides us with instructions and maps (not that he has any control over whether us runners can follow / read these instructions and maps however!) and he even goes around the route beforehand painting directional arrows on the road and depositing drinks stations! It makes it much easier to just rock up and run!

After London, we'll see. I'd quite like to try some new events this spring / summer, in addition to doing a couple of my favourites (the Snowdon Fell Race being top of that list!). But one thing I have decided is that I am not doing any ultras this year. I feel like a fraud for typing this, given the title and ethos of my blog, but I think a one year break from the uber-long stuff will do my legs good and will allow me to work on improving my PBs at the shorter distances. Having only been running seriously for 2 1/2 years, I am also still very inexperienced and lacking in base miles in my legs to do really well on the ultra scene without risking injury at the moment. There is plenty of time for all that fun and games when I am no longer producing PBs!

... And right now I am scaring myself with my new-found sensibleness and prudence. Who is this person?! What have you done with the Ellie who thinks she is invincible and that the advice and rules that others should heed do not apply to her?! It's a mystery!