Over the past week my cross country season has begun, theoretically this is my better field of competition to track and field with it offering slightly more distance and a more complicated terrain. My school cross country was my first race and it went well setting out the front from the start and pulling away over the slightly shorter 3.5km race, finishing 5 minutes ahead of 2nd place giving me confidence in my ability and showing my training paying off.
Most recently I have run the open Tauranga cross country which is my first non-school related race in cross country bringing me into the further world of competitions. I had to balance out the fact I had my final grading game for my football the same morning where I probably shouldn’t have put my uniform on but I couldn’t leave my team stranded completely. I played slightly less and in a further back position, saying so I still ran up and raised the intensity high with my heart rate following.
We drew the game and then I was off to travel to my race a hour away, when I got there I warmed up with a few niggles and aches from the game only 2 hours prior but nothing major to put me off. I completed my warm up and went to the start line.
I didn’t know who to expect and what to expect from this race with the line up having 4 different age groups together with no differentiation between, the race started steady and I felt strong on the first kilometre. I found a comfortable pace behind the front 3 and kept behind them reaching the first major hill climb.
I don’t get much time to practice hills but saying so I don’t drop back from them. I just definitely feel the pain build up after trying to flush out the lactic acid build up it gains again. From there I definitely felt the fatigue and the pain was paining, I struggled my way through the next 2km sitting at a constant pace and was running in 5th position overall with a lady of a different age category following closely behind.
I really was pushing everything I had to get through to the finish line and put trust in my fitness levels I know I had from all the training I had been putting in place consistently over the past few months. I finished the race and my last kilometre pace definitely saw the pain I was in.
Completing at 6th overall and then further found out I was 2nd in the under 18 category which I was pleased with.
Overall I was happy with how I raced and didn’t give up through to the end but it gave me the position to know how my body reacts under lots of circumstances in one day, going forward I probably wouldn’t do it again especially if the race had more relying on my performance alone.
I could see how much my training has been paying off and I’m proud that I have brought myself to this point of fitness and confidence in my ability to race.
I have Thames Valley Champs next followed by, Waikato/Bay of Plenty Champs, ending the season for school racing and my school racing overall in Christchurch in mid June, I can’t wait to see how I can preform in these races with fresh legs and minds going forward.
– Jessica Bray