Swunch - was very busy, and had to use the medium lane, but actually, that wasn't too bad in the end.

Jog around the estate and 4 x ~15-second strides as preparation for tomorrow's National XC champs.

English National XC Championships 2023. This was a last-minute thing - I hadn't expected to be able to run because of the cost of transporting myself to Chester, but thanks to Alec and Westbury Harriers I was able to get a lift with them from Yate. It was a great day out and I didn't put any pressure on myself, so pretty much enjoyed everything (apart from the second 6km lap!). I filmed it using my GoPro attached to my head plus the obligatory vlog I inevitably do at races now. Reasonably pleased with my time/position considering everything - although slightly frustrated to miss out on a top 50% finish by just 6 places!

Warm up for National XC.

Swunch with 2 x underwater 'strides' - managed a full length (wall to wall) on the first. After this, the 'car collision incident' happened where I drove off - not proud of it, but I think the fear of insurance costs/claims, etc scared me into driving away. I'm not financially stable at the moment and can't afford to fork out another £350 excess. It only looked like a small scrap/scratch anyway.

Easy-steady run from home around Norton after putting Tyler to bed. Used earphones and just relaxed into a comfortable pace. Apart from tired achy legs, CV-wise it felt pretty easy, but my calfs started to tighten up a little about 2/3 into the run - they felt sore/tight and knotted after.

Swunch at Trowbridge - avoiding BOA for now because of the 'car bump incident'. 1 mile, then 2 x under water 'strides'.

3 sets of 200m (4 minutes), 150m (3 minutes), 100m (basically walk back recovery), and 50m as fast as possible with 8 minutes between sets - we went indoors for the 8 minutes and I walk around the indoor track. I was still recovering from the National XC champs on Saturday, my legs were tired and both calf's tight. I struggled on this session and felt quite sick after the first set - let alone the second! Struggled my way through, keeping 200's under 31 and running something like 14/15 second 100m pace for the 3 other reps.

Swunch at Melksham swimming pool - I was very impressed with the pool, it's a brand new building with lots of great facilities - clean and friendly staff. The pool luckily was very quiet today and I managed to share a lane with one other swimmer who didn't get in my way at all, so swam a mile without having to stop once. I could imagine it wouldn't be so stress-free on busy days but will try and come to this pool more often. Did 2 x 'underwater strides' at the end - managed about 20m on each.

Attempted to do a long slow run (8-10 miles) after nearly 3 hours cleaning the bathroom, but my calf's (specifically my right calf) were very tight/fatigued/sore and started to spasm up shortly after Babington House (loop was through Haydon down to Kilmersdon, up to Babington and then the plan was back via Whitehall Woods) so I cut it short and head the shortest way home (via Kilersdon and Jack and Jill hill) walking/stopping to stretch when I felt my calf was on the verge of tearing (e.g. up the hill) but luckily I think I got back in one peace, just need to let it rest now.

Team Thie Circuits in the living room - still feeling a little unwell (some sort of upper respiratory track infection) plus my stomach was a little dodgy from that spicy chicken I had for lunch!

Recording a virtual run around Greyfield Wood in the snow! It was actually still snowing quite heavily, which was simultaneously lovely and really annoying because it kept covering the GoPro lens with water (which I had to keep wiping off, although I didn't do it frequently enough). A lot of the trail was still muddy and slushy, so not as pretty as I had expected from the thick layer of snow that fell everywhere else. The most frustrating thing was my battery dying when I was in the must beautiful (and snow covered) part - where I normally focus on my bluebell virtual runs (the quiet area at the top of the large mound) and even more frustraingly it started to snow heavily by the end, which looked amazing but I wasn't able to record it.

I was still tired from yesterday's run in the snow and feeling a little unwell (have a canker sore coming on) but I wanted to go to the club anyway. The session was 1 set of 3 x 180m with walk-back recovery, 10 mins, and then 3 x 150m. But even warming up everything felt heavy, stiff, and achy, and while doing my strides (outdoors) my left hamstring felt odd/tight/twingy - like it was about to tear (I've felt this feeling before) so I was getting anxious. I started the first rep slower and built up into it, but my hamstring and then lower abdominal muscle started 'playing up' - sort of felt tight/sore/spasmy at the same time. I managed to get through the next 2 reps (with Ned and Omar) but then called it a day and gently cooled down instead of doing the next set - which no one did as Ned had an XC race on Saturday and Omar only did the first rep. My left abdominal muscles felt very sore after - they almost looked bruised. I'm going to take at least 3-4 days of complete rest before doing anything else - my body needs it.

Swunch at Melksham, it was busy today so a little stressful. This was my first exercise since last Thursday, I've been suffering with some sort of throat infection since last week and I'm still suffering from that now.

Jog around Haydon Batch (very muddy) and 3 strides at the end. I was testing/prepping for the track session tonight but in the end, I stayed home with the plan of doing hill sprints tomorrow. I'm still feeling unwell (sore throat) but better than before and able to run.

Parked at Welton Rovers for Tyler's disco with Rocky and jogged along the cycle track to 5 arches, drills, strides, and then 10 x 15 second (~120m) sprints up the pit path hill with walk back recovery in about 2 minutes. Did a longer effort on the last rep (about double) to the bench at the top of the hill. My legs were a bit stiff and feeling fragile - felt like my hamstrings could have given way while warming up, but I was OK during the session - I was fine until about rep 7 then I started to feel heavy. Still getting over my throat infection but I'm feeling a lot better than I was a few days ago.

Swunch at Melksham. The left leg (hip flexor) felt very tight/fatigued towards the second half of the swim and the right hip flexor felt fragile/weak/a little sore during the first half.