So I’m back from Font Romeu and the barrier training is progressing. My sessions were all lifetime bests and after 25 days at Altitude we got the bloods tested in the Font Romeu laboratory (were results are back within 2 hours – some service!) and my red blood cell count and haemoglobin had both increased by over 10%, which was bang on what we were hoping for.

So with 260miles in the bank over 4 weeks at Altitude it was time to head back to Sea level and hit the Track Season with my debut 3000m Steeplechase at the Loughborough International.
Being my first chase I was not sure how I was going to feel with 35 barriers to clear, 7 of these being the water jump
So I started steady behind experienced Scotish chaser Emma Raven (after a false start due to a technical error with the clock), the pace was steady and I felt very relaxed. Unfortunately it was very very windy and so times in most of the races that day were going to be slow and sprints over the legal limit.

I went on to win in Loughborough setting a new Northern Ireland Record 10:24.14. I was really pleased as I felt fresh after finishing and knew that with the combination of wind and only 6 weeks of hurdle work slowing things down my next race over the barriers would be much faster.

Race no.2 and another N.Ire Record over 5000m at the Manchester BMC. The race was paced by Steeplechase star Hatti Dean who took us all to 3000m in sub 16min pace. The race was closely run with 8 of us all together until the final couple of laps.