Final Session

am: 6 x 2 mins, 90 secs rest on trails at 4000ft
pm: Very easy 45 mins + strides
13.5mi

I got at about 0815 feeling a bit tired this morning but nothing major. I got some breakfast and headed to reception for 9 as we were meeting earlier to drive down the mountain to 4000ft to ensure a snow-free trail for the session. Charles Van Commenee and Spencer Barden came down to observe the session and Aaron Thomas' athletes trained with us for the first time so it was a really big group of us heading to Purgceda. I felt terrible jogging and really concentrated on my drills to try and get myself going. It changed nothing, I simply felt absolutely horrific today I don’t really know why. I won’t be taking a rest day again if I can avoid it as I cannot believe how awful I felt. It is like my body has just switched out of running mode because I had one day off! I am delighted that the session was less than 20 mins in total length as it was easy to get my head round; otherwise I think I could have been in trouble and had a DNF. I tried different ways of running by setting off hard and clinging on or setting off easy and picking up but it made no difference. I pushed pretty hard but there was just nothing in the tank. It wasn’t great underfoot as there were rocks sticking out and it irritated my foot a little. Unfortunately, Hannah was right – my shins were killing today. It was my anterior shins so it's purely muscular and I’m sure they’ll settle down. I warmed down with the Sooses, Barkesy and Challinor and said to them that it was the best I felt all morning as towards the end of the jog I suddenly felt like I had some bounce! Still, I suppose you'd say it is job done. I said to Ricky and Lisa that it genuinely has been a pleasure to train with them over the past 3 weeks and it was fantastic to see Ricky Soos back training; you really could not meet two nicer people in the world. Lisa was encouraging me to come on the next trip to Kenya and I'm not surprised as since I got here I've been leading her sessions out for her for the first two thirds! To get ready for the evening run I decided to take the Kenyan approach by having lunch and then just lying in bed all day. The atmosphere was palpable in our flat as Lewis watched Leeds Utd fight back from a goal and a man down to secure promotion; I think the evening run would have been a nightmare had they lost. After the final whistle I quickly made a beef stew to put on slow cook for when we got back. We ran on the trails from the apartment and after an opening mile of almost 10 minutes I decided to go by myself. I really don’t understand my body sometimes as I felt great running tonight from my first foot-strike; it’s bloody annoying that this wasn’t the case this morning. It was a very, very undulating route around the back of the track and golf course and probably wasn’t ideal for a recovery run. I felt strong and had no real niggles so I was pretty pleased. I felt fine on strides; strong and relaxed. We had a proper British beef stew for dinner which was just the ticket. I had a quick internet browse before we watched 'The Longest Yard' and both airports in Barcelona were closed because the ash-cloud has reared its ugly head once more! If I'm being totally honest, I would be delighted to stay here for another week so I am not fussed either way if my flight home is cancelled!