Mansfield - National XC Relays 2022

Bleugh, I am shite at XC. No getting around it. That was a king size struggle, even at lower weight I just done skip across the mud.

This is the 3rd time I have done this race and each year I have got progressively lower down the field (99, 109 and 130th Saturday). In fairness the first leg is skewed towards the faster runners and it's a bit elbows and fists on the first lap in the woods.

Good fun though and always nice to bank a race effort. HR was pretty much 5k PB high so if I can rev like that on a fast course I will hope it will be quick.

This week the plan is to start building (53 miles and 500 TSS last week) and first up on Tuesday is a benchmarking session. I'll run 2k - 2k - 2k - 2 x 1k at power bands of HM (300w) 10k (315w) 5k (330w) and 3k (350w). Power should be slightly slower than those paces but I am not sure what's happening with weight loss so worst case it's a very solid 5m volume session and I should expect to be running 6mm - 5.45mm - 5.30mm - 5.15mm which then gives me good data going into next block of training.

I really need to focus on strength this week too and start doing a hilly run and keep the band work in.

Not much to report really, things look like they could be good but I am just waiting to start putting out some performances and runs that really start to light the fuse.

Niggles - right calf still tight but doesn't seem to be much of an issue. Glutes seem tight occasionally but actually better than they have been and low back tight which I should be able to iron out. In fairness fairly happy with where I am. Hopefully nothing changes and I can bash out some decent sessions.