Ouch! I've spent the last 2 days in lots of pain! On Thursday night I did my 1st track session in about 4 years. I expected to maybe have tight calves on Friday but the pain I've got in my left hamstring is much much more than expected!! I did a long run this morning and going up hills was quite nice but coming down the hills was very painful and just to add to things I have now tightened up my back!! I am feeling happy though as I had a really good session and ran much faster than I thought I would. Lets just hope that tomorrow's long bike ride sorts me out!!

I did my first duathlon race of the year on Sunday. It was the North West Champs at Parbold and I came 1st! I was really pleased as its a very tough, hilly course. I did a course recce the day before with my coach and a few other athletes so I was feeling a bit nervous on the day at having to climb Parbold Hill 3 times on the bike - although I was more worried about the down hill that followed!

I came through on the 1st run in 1st place and somehow managed to stay in the lead for the bike. I was really expecting to be caught on the bike. Hopefully this means that my cycling training is paying off. I then relaxed (if you can do that) going into the 2nd run feeling pretty sure that I wouldn't be caught. I felt quite tired on my 1st run so I was surprised again when I saw the splits as it was quite quick! It was exactly 5k too as I'd measured it on my garmin the day before!!

Just back from a 10 day training holiday in Sardinia. It was so nice to get away from work and the cold weather for a while. It was quite windy out there which stopped us from cycling on one of the days but apart from that managed to get some good cycling and running training in. It was lovely to be able to go out running in vest and shorts! The roads were great for cycling - hardly any cars and lovely smooth tarmac - and some good hills!!