Preparing for the Grind

Graham Hogg – Preparing for the Grind. Source Chris Lew

Hi All,

I’m going to keep this first post pretty brief and use it as somewhat of an introduction. I’m a middle distance athlete hailing from Britain, Most people will not be aware of who I am, what I’ve done and why I’m posting on an Australian athletics blog as I’m from the UK. To cut to the chase, I lived, trained and raced in Australia during the 2012/2013 Track season but I am now back on home soil preparing for my most dreaded part of the year….. cross country. I hope to shed some light on how things are done over here so you can all get a better perspective as to how its done across the pond.

I never got to attend any cross country meets in Australia myself but from what I’ve seen in pictures it looks to be somewhat dryer, warmer and a damn sight more pleasant than what I’ll have to face over the coming months. Primarily being a track athlete i do not thrive on the hills and mud and would feel much more comfortably legging around an oval a few times until i can’t feel my legs, but it is a key part to my strength training as i have not had a full winters training under my belt in at least 3 years due to either injury or illness.

I’m going to leave it there for now and I will be keeping you all updated with the ups and downs of my season as it progresses, starting with my first cross country race tomorrow. I will try to grab some pictures so you can all see how miserable it is, and be thankful that you live in an area where you’re winters are generally warmer than our summers!