One week into 2025 and another year to work towards my large goals with a lot of new changes, at the end of 2024 I was lucky enough to get to opportunity to compete in a volleyball tournament on the Gold Coast of Australia, held immediately after my Nationals in Timaru.
After a nice and early rise Mum and I were at the airport before 3:30am and were on our way, being after my last race of 2024 I didn’t have any upcoming racing so my training my had backed off slightly, perfect for a week in Aussie. Travelling each direction, both on a Monday, it was even more perfect as that’s my rest day.
My volleyball coach was worried I would be too tired to play if I ran but I assured him that not only would I be fine, I wasn’t running full marathons, or training for anything so being fit and not doing my normal training would leave me with energy to play at my best.
The temperature in Aussie wasn’t as bad as I expected but the humidity was what was the worst for me to handle, it felt like I was only getting 3/4 of a breath each time compared to NZ. I pretty much just ran 30-40 minutes some with and some without strides. Let’s just say the 40 minutes felt like over an hour, starting early every morning the sun had already beaten me and I sweated like I had just run a marathon. Making it much harder to run than at home, once the week had finished and we had travelled home I had a run the next day and already I felt 10 times better.
I had started to struggle with recovery, sleep and fatigue and it was beginning to show in my running, with the heat in Aussie. It showed, so just being home I already was in my own bed, less stressed and felt like I could breathe a full breath of air each time. I’m yet to decide my year to come with racing and training but I am excited to get to training towards another event to better myself and my running.
– Jessica Bray