At the beginning of November I had the national cross
country relays. This was a really great event and I feel as if I had a really
good race myself and CONAC had a really great team performance in every age
group. The day after this I had a lab testing day at Loughborough as part of
the England talent squad. It was a fantastic experience and really interesting
to read through the results and outcomes of the day. It was a really tough day
though as we had to do roughly 5-8 reps of 4minute on the treadmill and then
also a max VO2 test were we just had to run until we couldn’t anymore. It was a
really fun day and it was lovely to have the other members of the squad
cheering you on.
In November I also attended Norfolk sports awards which were
held at the forum, Norwich. This was a really exciting event as the best sports
people from all over Norfolk were there to celebrate the success of the year
and it was an honour to be a part of it. I was shortlisted for the Young sports
achiever award, along with 3 others. Unfortunately I did not win but the
competition was strong and some great athletes were in the field.
The following weekend was another eastern region academy
session. This was an exciting day and we got some really good coaching tips for
things we can do on the turbo over the winter for when it is too cold and wet
to go out on the roads.
In November we also had the England talent squad launch
weekend, which was a really great couple of days. It was held in Loughborough
and we got some really decent training done and also got to bond as a team as
well.
The first weekend of December was the winter regional
swimming championships which took place in Luton, here I only took part in the
800m free which was long course. I came 3rd and the time wasn’t what
I was hoping for, but then again it is only very early in the season so it was
really good place to start.
I had my celebration evening for my high school GCSE’s
during December, which was when I got presented my GCSE certificates and also I
won the Head teachers cup for PE, which was a really lovely achievement.
Saturday the 6th of December was the Norfolk
County cross country championships. I feel as if I had a strong race, it was
quite far, 6.3km, and I feel I held a good pace and strong form throughout which
is very important to me at this time of year. I was really pleased to take the
win and also first team. I haven’t had the confirmation yet but first across
the line gains the spot, so I have the opportunity to run in the mini London
Marathon in 2015.
Before I flew out to Portugal for the training camp, I got a
great massage off Carl Goose of Carl Goose sports therapy, which got me feeling
really fresh and prepared for a really hard weeks training.
Saturday the 13th of December was the first day
of the England talent squad training camp in Portugal. We stayed in a big town
called Rio Maior which had a great training complex within.
It had a lovely track
which looked like a coliseum and a fabulous 50m swimming pool which we trained
in as well as a diving pool outside and another 25m pool. It was a really tough
8 days training out there but the sights were great and the cycle routes were
so amazing, very tough, but still very amazing. I had such a great time and
everyone got on so well. I can’t wait until the next ETS camp.
