Training Before the UK Inter Counties Cross Country

Any of you who follow my Facebook page will know that, following my 9th place finish at the Scottish National Cross Country, I earned my first ever selection to run the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships and World Cross Country Trials. This took place yesterday at Cofton Park in Birmingham. It meant my pre-summer break had to be put back by another 2 weeks. It was hardly a hardship because the call up made all the efforts I've made in over 15 years of athletics worthwhile.

As usual, a separate report on the event will follow at a later date. Suffice to say at the moment, I took 63rd place over the 12km course (perhaps a little shorter but not by much) in a time of 38:22. I was 5th counter for the Scotland West team which finished 2nd in the team contest behind the English North East team. It meant I came back up the road with a UK championship medal, an achievement which has still barely sunk in. For now, for anyone interested, here is my training in the 2 weeks leading up to the race. On Sunday 20th February, I ran gently for an hour to recover from the previous day's National. I pick it up from there.

Training, Week Commencing Monday 21st February

Monday: Track, 200m, 400m, 600m, 800m, 1km, 1km, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m, all with 200m slow jog recoveries, 9-9.5 miles including warm up and warm down.

Rep times- 33, 72, 1:52, 2:27, 3:08, 3:07, 2:27, 1:51, 72, 34

Tuesday: Rest.

Wednesday: High tempo, 8 miles (43:31), 5:30 jog warm down.

Thursday: Hill reps, High Point, 10 reps, running hard off the top of the hill, 5.5-6 miles including warm up and warm down.

Friday: 6.5 miles easy (39:48).

Saturday: Cross country intervals, Showground, East Kilbride, 8 x 3 minutes, 90 second recoveries, 6.5-7 miles including warm up and warm down.

Sunday: Longer run, 20 mins easy then 4 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 4 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 4 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, all with 5 mins jog recoveries, total distance- 15.5-15.75 miles (1:42:02).

Mileage- 52

All the aspects of my stereotype winter training week are here- track session, easy run, tempo run, hill reps, cross country intervals or a race and a long run. Monday's track session is known as a "pyramid"-gradually longer reps up to a maximum then gradually decreasing in the same way. I love running hard in groups and this gives me a chance to do a lot of it. At Cambuslang, we have a great wee Monday group of up to 8 athletes all working hard together. The reps were a bit slower with the Saturday race still in my legs.

I treated myself to the night off on Tuesday to watch Queen's Park defeat Annan Athletic 3-0 at Hampden. Fellow Queen's fan Lachlan Oates of Shettleston Harriers did the same since I chatted to him at half time. Wednesday's Thursday's and Friday's sessions all went to plan. The club had a session in Glasgow on Saturday morning. I was heading into town that afternoon and was a little pressed for time so did my own session in East Kilbride with three Buckfast drinking youths for company. One very kindly called me a "toothpick with hair" and offered some forthright views on my running technique. A Sunday run at the Windfarm with some Charlie Spedding intervals thrown in rounded off a very good training week.

Training, Week Commencing Monday 28th February

Monday: Track, 400m, 600m, 400m, 600m, 400m, 600m, 400m, 600m, all with 200m slow jog recoveries, 5.5-6 miles including warm up and warm down.

Rep times- 71, 1:49, 68, 1:45, 68, 1:45, 68, 1:46- felt very strong and fluent throughout.

Tuesday: Club, shortened Hampden run, 6 miles easy (38:18).

Wednesday: High tempo, 5 miles (27:12), 5 minute jog warm down- personal best in training for the route.

Thursday: Rest- out for dinner with work colleagues for our cashier's retirement.

Friday: 3.5 miles easy (21:02)- done in the morning, 4 hour train journey to Birmingham in the afternoon.

Saturday: Race- UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships and World Cross Country Trials, Cofton Park, Birmingham- 12km (approx), 63rd in 38:22, 5th counter for the silver medal winning Scotland West team, 7:30 jog warm down before the coach journey back.

Sunday: 1 hour easy- felt surprisingly good. Big spring in my step.

Mileage- 39

Events have taken a swift turn since my Facebook post last night. All I will say for now is my planned rest has been put off again. Watch this space to find out why.