Training blog

This time last year Minna and I were running Comrades marathon! To get our bags after the finish we had to climb up and down a set of 18 very steep steps. I'll never forget the pain!

I was back at work this week and thankfully wasn't as rusty as I thought I'd be. Being a veterinary anaesthetist involves a lot of manual dexterity - venous and arterial cannulas, jugular lines, ultrasound guided nerve blocks and epidurals are just a small part of what we do. This week my smallest patient weighed 1.2kg - definitely a challenge performing an epidural injection! It felt good to get back on the proverbial horse.The biggest challenge is having to wear a face mask all day. I have no idea how the NHS workers are dealing with all the daily PPE.

All week I've been thinking about the murder of George Floyd and the institutional racism that exists at every level of society. I read Reni Eddo-Lodge's book Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race last year as part of our book club and it made me realise that silence on the issue isn't ok. The spaces I've existed in at school, university, work and within my running have been almost entirely white. I'm also acutely aware that this blog has only featured white athletes. I'd love to make this blog more diverse so if you think you can help with that please get in touch. Zing Tsjeng (miss_zing on Instagram) has some information on some other things we can do if you want to help in some way.

Training this week has been ok although I was definitely a bit tired off the back of a big week last week. I've been trying hard to prioritise good food and sleep but I definitely succumbed to some emergency caramel digestive biscuits on a few occasions.

My last rest day was May 29th. I covered it in my last blog post.

Saturday May 30th

AM - 1 hour 50 mins easy - I ran with Minna (check our her interview) and her dog, Nairo, on the Ridgeway early in the morning. It was absolutely gorgeous weather and the time flew by. Running with friends is always so much easier! I did this run pre-breakfast so mixed up some chocolate protein powder (something I found in my cupboard, probably from a race goodie bag), frozen blueberries and cherries and water for a recovery drink when I got back.

PM - 80 minutes - I did some of this with my friend and colleague Dani and the rest on my own. I felt surprisingly ok but it was so hot. Struggled overall to get enough fluid in all day - felt like I was constantly drinking and still mildly dehydrated.

Sunday 31st May

2 hours 15 minutes with 2 x 20 mins tempo in the middle (5 mins jog between).

This was a big weekend of running for me! Minna and I ran along the Thames Path and then did the 20 minutes reps around Dorney Lake. It's such a great venue so we were really sad to see loads and loads of rubbish around the lake from the night before. I managed a walk with the dog in the afternoon although we really just walked to a bench, sat and enjoyed the view at the top of the ridge behind St Catherine's Hill, and walked home!

Monday 1st June

Recovery run 50 minutes

I ran with Ellie - hopefully an interviewee for the future. All super easy.

20 minutes core stability.

Tuesday 2nd June

AM 45 mins easy followed by 50 minutes core and weights.

PM 40 mins easy

Wednesday 3rd June

90 mins with 3 x 15 mins (3 min jog)

Minna and I met met at Dorney Lake but sadly it has been closed until September due to the damage from the weekend. Some of the buildings were broken into (including the 2012 Olympic finish gantry), there was lots of glass on the grass and piles of rubbish. A lot of the tracks are closed at the moment - Southampton and Winchester near me - so we've been using this for speed sessions. It's so frustrating that it's closed but totally understandable. We instead tried to do the session along paths and the road around Eton. I was guilty of trying to chase the pace and generally the session felt a bit panicky. I generally felt a bit off although the paces were ok. I also weirdly felt like I had DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) - maybe from weights the day before?!

Thursday 4th June

My feelings of being not-quite-right on yesterday's run were explained by the appearance of my period this morning. It's definitely not something I'm usually happy to talk about but I think it's important for female athletes that it's not taboo.

AM 40 mins easy - I had asked Tom to walk Goose, our English Pointer, this morning so I could run before work without getting up too early. In the end Goose was very keen to come. He's almost 9 and a bit old to run with me but in the end I took him with me. It was a bit stop and start to pick up poo and let him have a drink but really nice to get running together.

PM 40 mins easy - I ran with Ellie again. Really nice and the time flew by.

Friday 5th June

Rest day so just dog walking and work today.