2021/2022 X country season

The x country season kicked off at the end of November for me just 1 week after my final Duathlon of the year and when I was meant to be taking a 3 week break from training. I didn't really want to start racing this early and as it happened I was then persuaded into doing 2 races back to back. Definitely didn't feel like an off season at this point but I was happy to go into these races with no pressure or expectations.

My first two races were Varsity X country running for Portsmouth Uni and the South of Thames 5 mile x country running for Bracknell AC. Both went as expected, Quick starts followed by the traditional fly off die off tactic. I was feeling alright in these races but was having difficulties with any sort of hill which wasn't surprising having not done any focused hill running for a while. This gave me something to focus on in training before the x country season properly began.

At the start of December I had my first Hampshire league fixture running for the Uni, I was hoping to go into this one in better shape than the last two but I had come down with the traditional post season cold the week before so was still suffering during this race and ended up finishing 50th overall, Not a bad result but I new I had allot more to give.

Post Christmas/ 2022

After an 8 week block of solid training I started the x country season again in allot better shape than how it started. My first race back was the Southern x country champs, my first time in the senior men's race and it was a brutal 15k long. I was nervous going into this one with it being the furthest I had ran since September but I ended up having the race of my life finishing 148/684 with an average pace of 6min/mile over a 9 mile x country. This showed me that the longer x country's suited me perfectly.

A week later I was racing for the Uni again at the Bucs x country champs where the conditions were the complete opposite to the Southern champs the pervious week. This was a proper x country with the majority of the course covered in deep thick mud. I had a new plan of action for this x country, rather than the usual fly off die off tactic, I'd learn from my previous race that pacing it and starting off at tempo actually works a lot better ( I'm not sure why it had taken me so long to realize this ). With this new tactic in place I had a great race finishing 93rd/ 269, 79 places higher up than the last time I raced it in 2020.

Going into my final Hampshire league race of the season I was on a massive high, Every race I had competed in since new years had gone exceptionally well and I was hitting amazing form in training. I was loving running at the moment with my confidence at an all time high. Conditions for this race were brutal with a wet and muddy course and a brutally strong wind I new it was going to be a tough race. Perfect for me as I raced it to perfection finishing 15th overall beating competitors I had never previously been close to.

National X country championships, Parliament Hill.

Finally on to the last race of the season, National Champs. I was excited leading up to this race, Parliament hill is the toughest course around but also my favorite having always had good races here. This year I was in the senior men's race which meant I faced a whole new challenge. As well as it being 12k of mud like I've never seen before and the usual punishing hills. I was up against 2000+ men. Which made the start and first hill absolute carnage with pushing and shoving the whole way up the hill and people tripping over. Up and over the first hill I was faced with the muddiest conditions I've ever had to run through, Shin deep thick slimy mud. it was like running through treacle and that was on the downhill. As the course went uphill again the pace slowed down to walking pace as everyone was fighting to try and find the best line ( There wasn't a best line, It was a slippery ankle deep mud slide whichever side you went on). Like all my previous races my plan was to conserve energy for the first lap and then pick the pace up on the last 2 laps. This worked well as i found myself picking off athletes one by one and progressing though the field. Onto the last lap and I was sitting in a good position now with everyone running a similar pace. I was struggling to keep my position on the really muddy sections but I was able to make places back again whenever we hit a faster section of the course. Half way though the last lap my teammate caught up with me and went past ( I was shocked that I had been on front of him for that long). I used this to my advantage as I now had someone to chase and with 2k to go there was no holding back anymore. I was pushing as hard as I could on the faster sections and doing my best to hold my position on the muddy sections. As we hit the highest point of the course and started the downhill to the finish even with 1.5k to go I was running gas now and basically sprinting the easier parts of the course. I felt amazing at this point and as I hit the top of the final downhill section to the finish I unleashed everything I had left in the tank and flew down the hill into the home straight. For once I finally managed to find a sprint and I held off my the chasers behind me and finished 199th out of 2087. Wow what a race. To achieve a top 200 finish in my first senior men's race is just incredible and to finish around such high class athletes shows me just how strong that run was.

Next up

I'm taking a week off structured run training just to reset myself and recover before the Duathlon season kicks off with my first major race being the British Duathlon Champs.