Firstly, to start this month I wanted to welcome Andrea to the site. I believe this is the start of "girls runnerslife", although im sure with some of the stuff the lads discuss on here, we have already touched on many girly subjects..lol.

So this is it,the start of the winter. The weather is already starting to resemble winter, and having been in work this week planning for the start of term, the early mornings have also returned. I think thats the hardest thing for me about the winter. The miles I dont mind. The mud is fine and the hard slog sessions are fun... but the early mornings I hate. Theres nothing worse than when that alarm rings at 5.45 am, its dark outside and the rain is pissing down. Its these mornings that make you tough, and its definately these mornings that you think about when the hard work pays off. I will on numerous occasions throw the alarm clock up the wall when it rings at that time, Ill turn over and think "I really cant be bothered today", but then you have a sense of guilt, a sense of disgust with yourself, and its this that makes the decision for you: "Get your lazy ass out of bed and run". I always think that if i dont run, then some athletes, the people I compete against are out there doing it instead, getting one over on me, getting in the extra miles that could be the difference.....in the end its this sense of "keeping up with the pack" that throws you out of the door.

The first mile of the morning run, as im sure many of you can relate to, is painful. Your legs are like lead, your feet hurt, you stumble up and down curbs, your breathing is all over the place and then you hit a hill... I remember once being out on a morning run, after a few mins my brother drove past in the car on his way to work, he stopped and asked if I was okay, asked why I was shuffling like an old man, he thought I was injured....thats how a runners first morning mile looks to ordinary people....ouch. So with all this to look forward to im really easing into the training this year. The miles are building up very steady, and with no rush to get into shape, im just feeling my way back into it with loads of easy/steady runs varying in distance from 5 to 12 miles. Started using my heart rate a lot more on runs now and looking at how this compares to mile splits which helps greatly. It helps to know how these things relate. I can go away now and record the runs distance, the mile splits for the run, and the HR averages. This helps with planning and monitoring progress.

We did our first testing session on saturday. Got together with Lindsay for the first time, and carried out our first threshold assessment. Both myself and sharpy did the session in Cannon Hill park, Birmingham, which seems to be a bit of a mecca at the moment for distance runners. (jean ndayisenga was the in the park, mart williams, dan dalmedo, rob birchall plus webby and milesy use this park a lot), so it was nice to see others working hard and grinding it out. The session went well, and although very rusty I think the outcome was accurate enough to make the morning worth while. Afterwards it was back to sharpys pad to sit down with Lindsay and plan the season (with great food provided by soon to be mummy maria!!). It was nice to finally meet the new coach, and already Im over the moon with his approach and ideas, I think things will go really well- as long as im sensible and listen to his advice.

So with all this in mind and the winter ahead im ready to keep laying the early foundations for the season. Remember you cant build a solid house without good strong foundations, so hopefully im on the way to building that robust base.

Take care and keep up the hard work, remember- it pays off in the end!