2020, The Year That Changed My Life!!

Well what a year that was ! a very tough year for everyone! covid has definitely put into perspective what is important in life…. So what has happened to me and why has it changed my life ? Well sadly my marriage broke up, and we decided to go our separate ways, so that ment me starting from scratch really, new home, had to furnish this home, new car, new life really. Athletics was the only thing keeping me sane ! the routine of training, just getting out the door and putting some miles in the legs, gave me a focus. So yeah, me and my eldest boy are living a new life. Towards the end of the year I had 2 isolation periods, due to my boy being contact with someone at his school testing positive for covid, and also being made furloughed from work just before Christmas wasn’t easy. This period however gave me time to think about my life, for ppl that don’t know me, my eldest boy has Autism and goes to a special school for young adults with needs. So while I worked from 2pm -10pm my parents look after him, sadly they are getting to old now to cope with this ! So what was I to do ! My only option was to give up work and become a full time carer for him. This was a very difficult choice to make, taking myself out of full time employment, which i’ve done for 27 years of my life! It was the mental health side of things I had to be careful of to, isolating myself from everyone. My running will give the focus I need to stay sane ( I hope ) lol. So its life as a full time athlete for me now, excided in one way, cause now I can finally achieve my full potential and focus on things that I was neglecting…

So, training, how’s it been going? I have to say it’s been going amazing, I’ve been able to up mileage safely and recover properly. 2020 has been short on races yes, but I’ve put done a great base, mileage has been between 65-75 miles per week. But I definitely have learned a lot of lessons alone the way, especially how my body reacts to certain sessions, and I think what some ppl don’t realise is when I do my recovery runs, these are all about turning the legs and getting the blood flowing and get the tightness out of my joints, so I’m doing about 8:30-9 min milling , so incredibly easy. For me it’s 80/20, 80% easy 20% hard. This personally seems to work for me.

Training is mainly done on my own, and don’t get me wrong, enthusiasm does dwindle from time to time, but I try and get out with friends when I can, Holly Haywood and Ellie Thorpe have been life savers 😆 thank you ladies x

The support from my coach has been great, he’s been there for me so much over the years, with his training plans, advice and keep me in check, Thank you Gary.

But one lady I do want to thank has been Sophie, she has been very supportive over the years, not just in training , in life in general. Thanks Sophie x

A normal week kinda looks a bit like this in the winter.

Monday: 8-10 miles easy am – 4-5 miles recovery run

Tuesday: interval session am – 4-5miles recovery run

Wednesday: 10-12 miles easy am – 4-5miles recovery run

Thursday: Track session am -4-5 miles recovery run

Friday: 6 miles steady – tempo am – 4-5miles recovery run

Saturday: Rest day

Sunday: Long run 15-17 miles..

The weekend running can differ depending on when i have my other little boy.

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