The Road to Torun (Part 2) – It was supposed to be fun

One week down already and not the start I would have hoped. In the North East of England we only have a 60m indoor training facility at Gateshead Academy of Sport, so when we get snow, which isn’t very often, then it makes training more of a challenge. 

At the start of the week, we had snow and the track was a white out. However, all was not lost as it was good snow, if there is such a thing, and I could still do my weekly tempo session in the snow. 

In addition to the tempo session, the week included a great gym session, which alongside the regular routine included a friendly plyo box jumping challenge. Building up from a low start, I was pleasantly surprised how high I could get, maybe the Pilates is paying off, and more plyo is something I’d like to incorporate more of into training. 

Next up was a sprint endurance session, running 200m reps at 400m drift pace. Found this very easy, and my confidence was growing that my training plan was paying dividends. 

That was until the final session of the week, which was meant to be a fun end to the season. The Xmas Paarlauf relays, whereby teams of 4 people compete in a relay comprising 8 legs (100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m) with each person in the team running 2 legs and they can’t run the same distance twice. 

The fairest way is for everyone to run 500m. For example, 100m + 400m or 200m + 300m. There are 2 races, and in the first race I chose to run 400m and 100m which was great fun.

I should add that with 10 teams (40 people) on the track at the same time, these races can be more than a little tricky, especially at the handovers, and unfortunately in the second race (for the second year in a row), I got tangled with another athlete at the handover and ended up on my backside, and today I’m nursing my pride and a few bruises. 

Needless to say, this definitely won’t be happening three years in a row, as I intend to leave Xmas Parlaufs to the rest of the group from now on, or invest in one of these.

Onwards and upwards!

Until next time …