Looking back through my blogs I noticed a question from mark about what I did as an U17 and I didn't quite answer it. As I've not got much else to talk about I'll fill you in about how I got to where I am.

At that time I was coached by a different Steve, a guy called Steve Mann who still coaches in Ealing. He took me on as a first year U17 after my first coach, Derek Hebbes, unfortunately passed away. If I remember rightly when I started working with him I trained 5 times a week and wasn't even the best in the group. It was fairly standard stuff, session on Tuesday, easy run (roughly 30 mins), plyometrics, SAQ and core exercises on a Wednesday, fartlek or quicker run on a Thursday, session on Saturday and a longer run of roughly 50 mins on a Sunday. It was also in this year (2006) he introduced me to his pals going by the names Steve and Maria Sharp. At the time I never started training with Steve. I was just about able to say two words to them as they were both England Internationals and I was only a little county champ.

 Then in my second year as an U17 he introduced circuits or weights on a Monday. Everything else stayed the same except the Sunday run started drifting towards an hour or a tad over. I reckon I was running around 30 miles a week. In the Christmas period of 2006 I started doing sessions with Steve Sharp and some Sunday runs. The sessions were good because I was running faster than usual but I think the Sunday runs were gold dust to me. For Steve it was an easy Sunday run between 6:00-6:20 miling, but for me it was a hard run and probably a harder workout than my sessions. We had a ten mile loop and by the end I was hanging on for dear life while Steve cruised. See the rest of my runs were easy, almost jogging, but then when I was with Steve it was such hard work. But instead of doing the sensible thing and letting him go, I tried to hide my tiredness and stay with him and always say I was feeling ok. I woke up every Sunday morning afraid of what was about to happen. But I always had the fright of my life when Steve brought his training partner Richard Ashe. I crapped myself because he never hung around and by halfway I was mashed and I was giving everything to hang on. I'm proud to say I can never remember a time they dropped me.

Steve Mann did a lot for me, was very good to me and under him I produced some great results I never thought I could. He got me doing a lot of technical work which made me strong and got me involved in drills. It got to a point I felt I needed a change, I didn't like doing it but I felt I had to move on. So as my first winter as an U20 began I got more involved with Steve Sharp. From meeting him in January 2006 we had become good friends (not so much anymore) and it was the winter of 2007 our coach-athlete relationship started. He moved me up to 50 miles a week running everyday and less of the technical stuff. He wanted me to get used to running further first and then we could bring the other stuff in. I had one double day a week (which I sacked off a lot of the time), a Tuesday session, Wednesday run, Thursday session, Friday run, Saturday session and long Sunday run consistently over the hour mark but not normally over 65. He also wanted my runs to be faster, not super quick but so I was moving at a decent pace. Unfortunately I didn't race much during the winter because of a couple of big illnesses but when I trained I got into great shape.

We then move into the winter of 2008 with a new type of education and new city to live in. I reckon this would be about the time most of you started to hear my name and saw me tear up the cross scene with my afro-ish hair (I do miss it). At the beginning of the season Steve said I was going to run 60 miles a week but this never usually happened, it was more like 55 in practice. I can be more detailed with the training here because it's fresher in my mind. I started doing double days more consistently but only on a Monday with two runs of 35 mins, then a Tuesday track session, 1 hour on a Wednesday, fartlek or acceleration run on a Thursday, 30-45 mins on a Friday, session on a Saturday and 70 mins on a Sunday. I did core on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and post Christmas I did circuits on a Wednesday.

Every step I've run this winter can be seen in my training logs. Comparing it to the above you'll notice weights were introduced, I did some prehab stuff, mileage was more often than not at 70 and I had 2 or three double days a week. Like previous years this year will see further progression in my training.

So there you have it, a summary of how my training has evolved in three years. I could've written so much more but it would end up being an essay. The difference in athlete I once was and what I am now is enormous. I'm now more serious about my running and more dedicated to my training. More of the strength stuff is coming in which is helping but also plays a key part in injury prevention. Just three years of being coached by Steve has taken me to where I am now, I wonder where I'll be after another three years....           

Take it easy,

Goolab xxx