I am sitting on my bed currently, putting my feet up after just having my last running session of 2016. Luckily I am not in cold England where the temperatures are currently pretty low and very foggy, but I am in Lanzarote on a training camp, where the skies are so blue and not a cloud can be seen. I will not be focusing on my training camp in this post but in fact the whole year, because I am guessing if you havn't already realised it is New Years Eve, and everyones instagrams are about how they have had lots of highs and lows in 2016, but I want to really look forward to 2017, not look back at the past too much because that's done, I have learnt so much this year and I want to continue on to 2017. The start of 2017 also means it will be my blogs birthday on the 12th January, which I am not going to lie about, but I am pretty excited about, but there will be a blog post to follow all about that too. A quick look back on 2016: It has been a very busy one, thats for sure. GCSE's, starting boarding, start of 6th form... to name a few. I have had highs and lows, we all have but I have learnt from my mistakes and learnt from my sucesses too! For example my blog post on a PARKRUN TO FORGET, there was no hiding for me how bad this race was, but I actually think it was very good for me, even though I definitely couldn't see that at the time, now looking back I have learnt alot from it. During the year, I have progressed from your leisurely runner out on a sunday, and leisurly swimming going to the occasional session, to picking up cycling and starting to take running and swimming much more seriously and have found myself doing triathlons, which I absolutely love! HEVER CASTLE TRI was my favourite event of the whole year, mainly because everything just all clicked into place and it was my first experience of a larger evenet with around 350 women in my race. My year was topped off by getting into the U20's GB aquathlon team, for the European Champs in May, in Slovakia. I hope this will be just the start of representing GB, as my ultimate goal is clearly representing GB for triathlon. Here are lots of highlights in photos of 2016, from my blog and instagram! So 2017, where shall I begin. Well, I guess tomorrow will be another day of getting in some good training, while I am here in Lanzarote on a warm weather camp. I am pleased to be starting my year with some positive training and it has helped with the much needed motivation as lately the freezing cold England had made it harder to wake up at 6am and walk to the pool in the dark, and when its 6:30pm and the roads are covered in ice and you can't feel your hands but you know that your run needs to be done (and to be honest once I am going I love it, it's just that first 5 mins which I don't). January holds lots of cross country races for me, which I am very excited for as I havn't been doing cross-country for long and never had a season of it. I am strangely excited for the the ground to get wetter and to start trugging through muddy field, instead of the ground being so dry that my spikes are as clean as they were before the race. My summer is very busy too, with lots of triathlons and some more important qualifing tri's for some bigger races in the year. I would like to also run another 10km race this year, maybe even the one I did this year as that was a fun course and also I would love to take part in an endurance swim, where you swim in open water for a longer distance than a tri (for example 1500m or even 3000m) but then of course you don't have the run or the cycle afterwards. I have lots of goals and aims for the new year, but I'll talk about them when I get there. I am not really the person for new years resolutions, but I have made one and that is to give up choclate for 2017. Okay, okay, I know this sounds quite tough but I don't eat that much choclate as it is, its just I have had rather alot of it this christmas and I feel like it would be a refreshing resolution. I am not sure how I am going to manage to stay up to midnight tonight as my training camp is pretty tiring, but I will try as it doesn't feel right not to. I hope you all have a great evening and heres a snap from tonights session which was a 4.7km time trial (it was meant to be 5km but it ended up being a bit shorter). G x
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On Tuesday I had a good school session, although we have definitely now reached the muddy season and legs covered in mud will become a popular thing. This was my last school session before the end of term and I am looking forward to next term which is full of cross country races. The last day at school was pretty relaxed and our maths lesson consisted of making christmas trees with our calculators, which I must admit was pretty fun! The last day was definitely in need for alot of us and we celebrated by going iceskating up in London, which was great fun and I even managed not to fall over at all. I was pleased to say that I hadn't got ill yet this winter, but when I woke up on Thursday morning, I knew I was coming down with something. I am now writing this 4 days on and I can't say I am feeling any better, and I am going from boiling hot to freezing cold, along with a nice chesty cough which has taken most of my voice away. The frustrating thing is, I havn't run since Tuesday and all I want to do is get out there and run. This morning I have had to miss my long cycle, which is annoying as the weather is nice for it, because recently I havn't been out much because of either the rain, ice or just how cold it is. Anyway, hopefully I'm going to be getting better soon, and I really hope to be back to training on Tuesday, although I am not going to push it if I'm not ready. The exciting thing is, that it is the count down to christmas, with exactly a week to go, I am in the festive spirit and starting to get excited!
G x Firstly I will appologise for the serious lack of blog posts in the last two weeks, it is just I have been very busy with work, but luckily I only have 3 more days left before I break up... Happy Days! I am defnitely in need from a break from work, although I am preparing myself for a large pile of holiday work! Anyway today I had another duathlon, in the same place as a couple of weeks ago, but this time it was a junior event so I was actually only racing people my age or younger, which is rare as I have got so used to racing against adults now. The distances were considerably shorter though this time and that is not really in my favour, well I could have done with the run being longer and the cycle being shorter but hey ho. Run no.1 was 1.6km, cycle was 8km and then the final run was ONLY 600m, it is basically a sprint... you can't really do too much with that. The run set off very quickly and I found myself going from being at the front of the start line, to the back quarter. I was fairly concerned by this point but I think I judged it fine, because 400m later I was the leading the girl and I am chasing the front pack of boys down, I knew I was going to have to have a strong run because my bike is still weak and needs work. When I got to transition I realised I was pretty much the only one who was in cleats and I still don't know how to do them up while cycling. This is something I seriously need to work on and is on of my challanges for the next month. After a little slow of transition, I set off on the cycle as the lead girl. On my 3rd lap I was overtaken by a girl and I tried my best to stick with her but by the last lap she was just out of my sight and I came in to transition 2nd, 15 seconds behind her, but the 600m run just wasn't enough time for me to get it back and I think there was about 10 seconds between us in the end. I came in as 2nd girl, and part of me was a little gutted not to have come in in first, but I guess its just getting more experience and I still need to work on my bike. Over christmas, I want to try and get some serious sessions in and perhaps get some brick sessions in too. I hope you have all had a nice weekend and also some better photos will be coming on soon and I will edit them onto here and put them on my instagram. One of the highlights of my day was definitely when a girl at the finish line recognised me from my blog, this honestly made me so happy!
G x |
HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
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