Hello all

Yet another month has come and gone and I am afraid to say I have nothing different to report. March consisted of more training and another world cup. There seems to be a pattern in my life. Train a lot then put it all to the test in a competition.

The bulk of training this month was spent back up in the mountains of France. A return journey to Font Romeu. This time our numbers were a lot less with just five girls and two coaches, a small and intense group. This was due to the boys’ team and some of the girls’ team travelling to Mexico for a World Cup competition. My fellow Scot Louise Helyer competed there finishing a credible 19th. Good Work.

So we hit the altitude for another two weeks of extremely intense training.   I always work hard but it is safe to say I have never been so exhausted at the end of a training camp before!

We all worked very well together and pushed ourselves to the max, especially in the pool and out on the roads and hills. The weather caused slightly dampened sprits at the beginning but by the last day we were running in t-shirts and enjoying some sun. 

This rise in temperature caused our strength and conditioning coach to have great ideas of us all getting in a river after our last hard run to help recovery! What?!?! is all I could say! There was still some snow on the ground! Trust me it was a nasty experience! FREEZING!

We returned from France just over a week before the next World Cup. This one was on home soil in Milfield School, near Glastonbury. This for me is always a fun competition; I quite like the slightly more relaxed build up to the competition, mainly because the furthest we have to travel is one hour. Much easier than airports, queues, security people and lots of waiting.

The semi-final was a nice day for me as I produced a good shoot;184/200, and a great fencing score of 1000. This means I won 70% of the fights. These two scores gave me a comfortable lead and I finished the semi-final after the swim and run in 1st place.

Sadly I wasn’t quite so accurate in the final. I finished 15th, which is a decent position, however I am always striving to be better so I am very rarely content with my performances.

On this day it was my swim and running that impressed me the most. I produced good times which are a boost after the long winter plagued with injury. In the competition it was my shooting and fencing that disappointed me. I was by no means terrible but both events were below my par. As always there is room for improvement and I look to my next competition to continue to prove myself.

So after a well needed day of rest, whilst still attempting to study in the library, I began training again.  The countdown to the world championships stands at 7 weeks. This does not yet scare me, (I think) it is a healthy amount of time to get some more endurance and skill improvement.

I feel I should advise people reading this to laugh lots – I am finding it hugely important in life just now! ;-)

Bye Bye for now…I am off to pack AGAIN.

Mhairi

© Copyright In The Winning Zone, MMVIII, All Rights Reserved