I’m happy to say I’ve been up and running for a few months now and I’m feeling great! However, my return to training has been quite challenging, not realising taking a month off training would take such a big toll on my conditioning. As a result, it was important for me to build in to things slowly and take the time out to set realistic goals. The first month or so I definitely considered that having a break hadn’t helped, but I kept at it and sure enough I have started to notice improvements in training.
So I have survived winter cross country season without too much race practice and was lucky enough to get through to CIS and State cross country to allow me to go to my last All Schools Cross Country as part of the NSW team. This is great as most of the girls I have run against for the last 5-10 years have made the team as well. So it will be great to team up with Karlie Swanson, Sarah Marvin, Beth Croft and others to represent NSW for one last time.
Making the Cross Country team was one of those dual edge swords where you are required to choose between competing activities. My Year 12 School formal is the Friday night before the Cross Country Championships. So I had to agonise over whether to miss the formal, or go to the formal and not run. I decided to run as that is my passion and after all, it is just a dinner with a bunch of guys 😉
Everyone talks about how challenging HSC is; I would totally agree, with them. Training for all these events and completing trials, makes life busy but also keeps you on your toes and makes your prioritise and plan things out.
But HSC has to come first, so there have been many times this year where I have had to alter/miss a training session or not compete e.g. NSW Short Course as it was right in the middle of trials. So it is a different experience to see races that you would normally compete in go by and not even put them in your calendar.
This means the next few weeks consist of a jam-packed schedule, juggling school events and other competitions. Our first round of school athletics, IGGSA is coming up, followed by All schools Knockout and then onto Nationals Cross Country in Melbourne at the end of the month. I am definitely looking forward to the up and coming track season and hope it is a big year to come ! 🙂
