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My second blog instalment comes from St Moritz, Switzerland. I’ve now been here for a week of a three week training stint at high altitude. I decided, along with another two university runners, to see what altitude training is like and how we adapt to training here.

The first couple of days here have many surprises; firstly this place is amazing. The views and running trails on offer here are incredible. Secondly, it’s tougher to run out here. Anytime that you reach a hill; your heart rate sky rockets, your lungs start to burn and your quads are aching. It’s not nice at all! It’s safe to say that we avoid the majority of hills, although obviously in moderation we don’t mind them too much.

Our training here is mostly just easy running; we are all building back up after a break after the track season. It helps that we are all coached by the same coach; therefore we all follow a very similar schedule. Most days we have been training twice a day. This either includes; two runs in a day with a mini bit of core/drills tagged on after the evening run or one longer run with a second ‘session’ of core/drills in the afternoon. We are basically living as full time athletes out here and therefore we are trying to maximise this by working on things such as technique, form and such by core stability exercises and hurdle drills.

Outside of running we have a fair bit of spare time, some would find this pretty boring but we haven’t found it too bad. Initially it was a bit of a shock however we all came prepared. We brought out laptops with us along with a host of books and music. Most days we walk into the town and grab a drink in a favourite cafe of ours. Some days we take the laptops to check the internet for anything important. There is a small cinema here; it’s a little more expensive than at home, however nearly everything here is. In the main part of town it is very expensive, every other shop is designer such as Versace, Gucci, Prada etc.

Although we have come here at a quiet time of year, the transition between summer season and ski season, there are still some elite runners. Irina Mikitenko and Mara Yamauchi, first and second in last year’s London Marathon are both here, along with a Norwegian steeplechaser who I raced a couple of years ago.

A full week in and now the running is starting to feel a bit easier. We have found some good routes after some successful and some not so trial and error routes. One run culminated in taking in a 3 to 4 minute straight hill that with every turn just got even steeper, our lungs were screaming at us by the top. We are airing on the side of caution on all runs as my HR was significantly higher on a couple of runs last week so I backed off and made 100% sure that I was running easy. Hopefully training here will pay off and cross country will go to plan.

5/8/09 - European Junior Silver

Ok my season has just finished and I think now is a good time to reflect on it. All season the aim has been to qualify for the European Junior Athletic Championships. I’ve had a fair few highs and a couple of lows too. I won the British University 3000m steeplechase final early on in the season, only after hitting a barrier in the qualifying rounds! I had to do the qualifying time for the euro juniors (9:00) and I had numerous attempts at it. I missed it by two tenths of a second in May, as you can gather this isn’t a lot! I eventually got the time (8:58) at the last opportunity and booked my place on the plane to Serbia!

So off to Serbia we went, the team was huge (64 athletes in total), some of us knew each other from previous comps and a lot of us didn’t. After the plane journey we stepped outside of the airport and the heat just hit us. It must have been 30 something degrees at 6 in the evening! We had talks with the doctor and the physios and they told us the best ways to cope with heat.

My event had heats (Friday) and a final (Sunday). At the beginning of the week I was feeling confident about the heats, I was relatively pleased we had them. It meant I got a race to see what it was like out there and I had the chance to go and improve on my mistakes in the final. My mindset for some reason changed throughout the week and I was worried before the heats about going out, I wasn’t all that nervous, I just didn’t want to be going home without making the final.

So we went out to the track just before the race. I had my ice towel and water spray with me; I wasn’t feeling too bad with the heat, which is surprising as it was over 40 degrees! I watched the first race go and they ran very well. The first 6 in that race all ran 9 minutes or below, I was worried. I had to run a PB in what weren’t ideal conditions.

I ran a stupid race tactically, which meant I was second with 600 to go but ended up 6th. I qualified for the final as the final fastest loser in 9:08. I made the final by 7 tenths of a second, not very much but regardless I was in, I was very relieved!

So onto Sunday, where I knew that anything can happen in the final. I knew I had made some major mistakes in the Heats and that if I ran well I could get a personal best out of it at the very least. I was feeling much more relaxed for the final and I had a lot of confidence. When talking with the team managers I felt I could do very well, a medal was on the cards. I always had a little doubt in my mind however, that maybe I was being over-enthusiastic and that I should just hope for top 8.

I went into it with a game plan of staying towards the back for the first kilometre and then starting to pick up later on. This is how I had done by PB so I thought why change something that worked well. I followed the race plan perfectly and I was last until 1km. I felt great; I kept just telling myself “Keep relaxed, they’ll come back to you.” By 800 to go I was in a group of 4 with a Spanish guy just getting a gap. I had the decision to make, do I risk it and go with him or sit in and try to guarantee a medal. I went with the latter. With 200 to go I had three barriers left, we were shifting by now. I was stuck right on the inside with the pre race French favourite and a Belgian lad. We were fighting for the silver and bronze medals. I tried to move out but it was going to be a long way round, so I waited, hoping that they’d move out. They were too pre-occupied with each other that they left me a perfect person’s width right down the inside of the final water jump. This is usually my best barrier so I attacked it hard and got the momentum off of it. I then just gave it everything to the line.

I came second in a new PB of 8:51.56. I was over the moon. What a turnaround from the heats! It just shows that keeping confident and not worrying too much is the key to a good performance!