Jessica Judd reflects on a tough and rewarding winter cross country season
By Mark Ashenden
Last Updated: 18/04/17 11:59am
No more splashing through icy puddles. Welcome back to the pounding of the hard track for a busy summer.
Jessica Judd has forgotten all her woes of not making the Rio Olympics, she's got back under the guidance of her coaching dad and performed heroics on the cross-country circuit.
The Sky Academy Sports Scholar opens up on a very lively winter, picking up plenty of silverware and how she's in great shape for the outdoor campaign.
My winter season is over and now I'm looking forward to the summer…finally! It has been such a great season but it's felt like it's gone on forever.
It all started at the road relays, moved onto the cross-country relays and then my first cross-country race was at Milton Keynes. I was so happy with second but knew I had to build up my endurance.
The European Trials were going to be 8km, and I had tired in the final kilometre at Milton Keynes and that was only 6km! So after that race we went back into training and worked on my endurance, doing longer reps with shorter recovery and then rested for the Trials at Liverpool.
It was one of my best races where I finished ninth. I was slightly disappointed but also happy to get so close to the lead and qualifying for the U23 team. Getting team gold was a massive highlight of my year at the European Cross in Italy, but I was again slightly disappointed I wasn't higher up.
I think that's what made the New Year so exciting. A below-par run at Edinburgh motivated me to try new things in training and continue to work on my endurance but to also speed things up.
One thing I learnt from that race too was that was the importance of recovery. I don't think I rested enough before the event in Scotland and I felt lethargic and tired. Dad and I took that all on board.
I hadn't won a cross country race this season until the Cardiff Cross Challenge and I think that gave me a massive confidence boost that I could actually win races. I still don't think that prepared me for winning the National Cross Country Championships though!
It was amazing and sprinting over the last 200m to win just felt like the best feeling in the world.
After all the races this year, there's a really good atmosphere at the end of all the Cross Countries. I get on really well with all the girls and feel that although we are competitors during and after the race, we are good friends.
This year I met Emily (Hosker-Thornhill) and was so happy for her going to the World Cross. We have managed to race each other alot this season and it was particularly special having my friend on the podium with me after the BUCS race... although I can't forgive her for beating me again!
Finishing the season with another win at the Inter-Counties backed up the feeling that I was in good shape, and it was the perfect end to the winter.
We decided to turn down the World XC to focus on the track season. , I will be starting to do a bit more pure speed work and gradually drop the mileage to try and prepare for the track.
I'm not sure what event I will focus on so I'll have to wait and see what I am best suited to when the track season starts. It just depends how I'm feeling. I'll run all the distances fairly early in the season and then commit to one.
This cross-country season has been better then I could ever have imagined, and I have to thank my dad who has managed to coach me and put up with my moaning and tiredness.
Also I am really lucky to be able to train at Loughborough University with my boyfriend who motivates me to do better each session.
I also have two great coaches at Loughborough - Sam my strength and conditioning coach and Simon who sorts my drills. They've really improved my core and running technique. I am part of a great team and I'm excited to see what we can achieve together.
