Tales from the British Athletics Mountain Running Training Camp

I write this on the four hour drive back to the mystical land of Wales from attending the British Athletics Mountain Running Training Camp up in Georgia Malir’s neck of the woods, Leeds. (I should probably be doing Welsh revision for my speaking exam on Thursday but this is obviously way more important!) 

Upon arriving at the very posh Weetwood Hotel I found I was roomy with Rebecca Hilland who actually lives in Norway! I hadn't met her before but as is normal for most mountain runners she was lovely and we were soon chatting away. I knew pretty much everyone else on the camp and it was nice to see everyone again and catch up.

The Weetwood Hotel

Sarah Rowell started the training camp with a look back at the GB team’s success in 2015 and the highlight of this was definitely a first time viewing of a short video of the British team at the home World Mountain Running Championships last year. Those championships will always hold a special place in my heart being my first home World Champs and my first team medal at a major champs. Everyone loved the clip and it definitely brought goosebumps to look back, reflect and remember such massive British success on that very special day! When I look back and think about it; that day when I got to wear my GB vest competing against the best in the world on home soil seems kind of surreal. If I could go back and relive that weekend I most definitely would. Nevertheless we must all look forward to future.

Team GB at the World Mountain Running Champs 2015

So, Sarah then described in detail the major champs this year in Arco and Bulgaria. I've been very lucky to have actually already raced on the course in Arco, Italy near Lake Garda for the World Youth Cup two years ago. It is such a beautiful part of the world and all the lovely pictures Sarah showed us are going to be a definite motivation for all of us towards making the team and being able to race there at the European Championships this year.

Arco is a beautiful location for a mountain race

Racing in Arco in 2014

Next up was food and I think it's fair to say that we all felt a bit under-dressed in the hotel surrounded by people who were all neatly dressed for weddings and what not. We mountain runners didn't mind though and the food was delicious. 

The look on the waiter's face when Katie Walshaw asked for custard “and possibly a banana please?” was priceless. He had probably never heard of such a combination asked for in the posh hotel, but he did oblige.

I never knew that arranging a training session could be so confusing as we all planned to go to the local hill called The Chevin to do a hill session on the Saturday. Of course; us girls easily decided what we wanted to do without much debate, but the men were not so quick to decide… “Oh, let's just run around the hill and the paths when we get there and decide what we want to do then”

So after a nights sleep and breakfast we made our way to the famous Chevin, where sometimes Johnny and Ali Brownlee train. After a gentle jog (it wasn't that gentle really as us girls tried and failed to keep with the men) the boys finally decided they would do long hill reps from the bottom to the very top, with us girls doing shorter faster ones half way up. 

I felt really good during the session and was pleasantly surprised as this was my first big hill session of the year. It was great to turn around after each rep and fly back down to the start. And, I DIDN'T FALL OVER!!! Can we just take a moment to appreciate this achievement as I'm forever renowned for falling over running fast downhill. May I even dare to believe that this is a thing of the past? We'll just have to wait and see! 

The Chevin was a lovely setting for a hill session and I can see why GB team mate and friend, Georgia Malir uses it a lot for training! 

The men seemed to be running well up and down the hill too, so a good training session for all.

The view from The Chevin

After some much needed lunch, it was time to get our brains in gear with a talk from Jamie Pringle all about preparation for altitude. This was particularly useful as he talked a lot about how altitude effects the body physically and how it is best to prepare for this. The World Mountain Running Championships this year are at altitude in Bulgaria so this was highly relevant.

Talking altitude

A quick trip down to Leeds Uni followed, for a drills session with Alison Rose. This was useful as it helped everyone to identify their weaknesses and how we could address them in order to improve. 

A talk about training for mountain medals revealed that Andrew Douglas likes his magic 8 hours sleep, Rebecca Robinson has such a crazy lifestyle balancing running with being a doctor (I thought training around exams was bad enough!) and also Chris Smith’s ability to overcome challenges as he lives in London with hardly any hills but has learned to make use of the environment around him. 

An extremely yummy vegetable lasagna for tea followed. (Don't worry though Mum; yours is still the best!) The meal presented a slightly less amused waiter when Katie changed her mind on food once again, but to be fair to him he did once again oblige.

Yummy vegetable lasagna

Georgia and I had fun talking Strava, blogging, so called gimp masks, altitude training etc with the fell running legend: Ben Mounsey after the meal. I'm not sure Ben and I successfully persuaded Georgia to start writing a blog though. You can check out Ben’s epic blog here.

I think its safe to say that we all probably ate more jelly beans between us than the number of miles we ran cumulatively. A never ending bowl always seemed to be there tempting us to eat just one more. As Sarah said, Gary must have been “buzzing around on the ceiling” with the amount he seemed to eat.

Andrew, making the most of the free snacks!

The arrival of Sunday brought the Sunday long run, full of sunshine and shared miles. Georgia was a very good guide showing us get local routes.

Finally to end we had a session led by Liz Birchall on ‘How to market yourself on social media’. This was interesting and provided an insight into how British Athletics use social media to promote the sport. Everyone probably felt that Ben could have lead this session as he's obviously the social media king! 

I'm lurking behind Ben's head there somewhere

So as we've just crossed the border back into Wales, it’s safe to say that I'm suitably excited to see just what the friendly GB mountain running team can produce this year. Time to put the hard work in...

but for the moment, back to reality and to revise for that Welsh exam.

PS: A big thank you to all the British Athletics coaches and managers involved with organising and creating such an inspiring weekend. 

PPS: Also thanks to Georgia for showing us around her local routes. Next time we will have to make it to the cafe for pancakes.

Nine lessons I've learnt this cross country season

Hello you lovely lot,

Yes...I do admit some of these things I already knew before this cross country season began. Nevertheless, they have been of particular relevance this season. So let me share my nine things I've discovered or re-discovered during cross country.

1: Never be afraid to dream...

I was over the moon and so honoured to be selected to represent Great Britain at the Great Edinburgh Cross in January this year after having a good race at the British Athletics Cross Challenge in Liverpool. I couldn't wait to get out there and show that I'm not ~just a mountain runner, who can't run fast~.

2:...but be prepared to pick yourself back up when those dreams are shattered. 

After catching a nasty cold just before I was due to represent Great Britain in the Great Edinburgh Cross, I had to make the extremely hard decision to withdraw and allow a more healthy athlete to have the honour of representing the country and do the vest justice. Looking back now, that was the right decision but it was an extremely difficult one to come to. What was important was I was able to recover and pick myself back up to compete well for the rest of the season. I am hopeful that there will be more opportunities to represent my country in the future and I will be able to show people that I am not ~just a mountain runner~. 

3: Trust the process and don't stress over the short term results. 

The short term races are just stepping stones to the long term goals you are aiming to achieve. In the long term you'll look back at the ups and downs and see that they helped you to learn and understand what you need to do to achieve your best. It's all just part of your journey.  

4: If the tactic doesn't work the first time; it's probably not going to work the second. 

Enough said.

5: Appreciate the moment.

This cross country season I competed at my last ever Welsh Schools' Cross Country Championships after competing in every race over seven years.  It was the end of an era and made me really appreciate the amazing opportunities I have been given through being involved in this fantastic sport. This was further re emphasised when I competed for Wales at the Home Countries Cross Country this past weekend in Scotland. This was combined with the Schools' International (SIAB) and seeing all the younger Welsh athletes so excited to race in their Welsh kit for the first time was priceless. I remember that feeling; a feeling of nervous anticipation that I do still get standing on any start line today.

6: A bad race does not make you a bad runner. 

Everyone has good races. Everyone has bad races. It is important not to lose your motivation when you have the latter. Each race is a learning curve. Don't beat yourself up. Learn from it and move on.

 

7: A friendly rivalry can help bring the best out of each other. 

This cross country season myself and Cari Hughes of Menai Track and Field have had a friendly rivalry all season.  When you have those sorts of races it really helps and pushes you to achieve your best. I was obviously extremely happy for Cari when she won the Under 17 British Athletics Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships recently. Watching her run away from the leading group was amazing and I am glad that we have been able to push each other and experience this rivalry within Wales. I'm already looking forward to pushing each other over the country next season. 

Sorry Cari, I stole your photo!

 

8: Once people start to realise you write blog posts, they naturally want a mention and keep asking when you're going to write your next one. 

So here's a shout out to all those Welsh athletes wanting a mention that competed at the Home Countries Cross Country on the weekend. Naming names would be seen as favouritism: you know who you are! 

The Welsh team at Home Countries

 

9: Without my family and people around me; I would not be the athlete or person I am today. 

I am forever in debt to my family who have spent the last seven years being my number one running fans and supporting me wholeheartedly towards achieving my dreams. So a huge thank you as ever to my family and also the people around me at school, my friends, teammates and people within Welsh Athletics and Sport Wales for helping me along this journey. 

Onto the next chapter.
See you in the mountains, 

Heidi x

Writing & Running, Running & Writing

The days before I actually launch forward into writing a blog post, I can nearly always feel the words brewing as my brain starts to unconsciously form sentences of its own accord. Sometimes it could be just before I drop off to sleep, when an idea, thought or one short word or sentence pops into my head and nags at me throughout my sleep and the coming days ahead. Or it could be when I am out on a long run around the beautiful countryside of my hometown, or midway through a lung bursting interval when a eureka moment hits me.  As much as I try to banish them, these thoughts hardly ever go away and snowball forward, expanding into something bigger and more complex.

It is not until I stop, sit down and actually take the time to scrawl down the sometimes hundreds of perfectly formed sentences screaming to be released from my head that my brain can stop and forget that one word which started it all off.

To me, writing and running go hand in hand, complimenting each other throughout every day life. Through the act of running, you can unconsciously free the mind of the unwanted 'rubbish' and connect to your true self, helping to understand your thought processes and what you want and need to write. All of the unwanted monotony floats away on the breeze or escapes with each foot strike hitting the untrodden path ahead. This helps to strip you back down to the amazing raw human emotion of feeling and being free; running wild. There is no better feeling than unleashing the inner beast when you are out there, putting one foot in front of the other and experiencing the true sentiment that you could probably run forever. There are some days when running hurts and every step forward feels like two steps back. That's just part of your journey.

So why do I write? The same reason I run. For the adventure and to discover my true self. By putting pen to paper, it is easier to understand my own internal dialogue and running helps to simplify this down to a more naturally, clear state.

Running is my happy place

My head has always been full of words and full of stories. Discovering my love of running has only intensified this need to write. When I was younger, it was a familiar sight for my family and friends to find me sitting in the garden or squirreled away in a corner, reading and re-reading my favourite stories or hunched over my notepad scribbling down my own tales. I'm just glad that now I have found a way to share my thoughts and stories with the world through blogging.

Writing has always been easier and more natural than talking for me and now running has become easier and so much more fun and exhilarating than walking.

I run because it makes me happy. No matter how far my running takes me, I can be sure I will always be a runner and always crave the simple freedom that a run can bring.

I write because it also makes me happy and putting pen to paper is a process I will always perform.

After all, we've all got stories to tell and writing and running is just my way of expressing mine.

How do you express yours?

We've all got stories to tell