Athlete Jessica Judd on hitting altitude in the United States for pre-season training
By Mark Ashenden
Last Updated: 28/08/16 8:46am
Snow, high altitude and lots and lots of running. This was no holiday....
But these are the things you have to endure to be the best in the business as rising 1500m star Jessica Judd can testify.
The 21-year-old Sky Academy Sports Scholar is close to starting her summer season and after several months of cross country running, she headed to the Colorado hills for some gruelling activities.
Here are Jessica's thoughts on her time across the pond and her excitement for the forthcoming challenges...
This blog was slightly delayed because I had to do a drugs test!
The testers can turn up whenever, so if I'm just sitting eating my dinner and the doorbell rings, it means I have to do a urine and blood sample which can be a pain - especially if I've just gone to the toilet before their visit.
That usually means they have to wait until I can provide a sample, which is normally a couple of hours!
Back to the interesting stuff... I recently came back from my trip to Boulder in America and it was just great. Some of my training group and I went there for three weeks as part of a training trip and to experience altitude.
Boulder sits at 5,400ft in Colorado and so as soon as we got there, we realised how hard it was going to be.
It made everything so difficult. Just an easy run in the first week felt tougher. The first couple of days we got there it was snowing, so it made the nearby lake look amazing. That made for some lovely views on our run.
When the sessions started, it really began to get tough. We trained at the Fairview High school track, which was so nice. The views of the Flatirons were incredible.
On a hot day, it was so nice being down there and getting some good quality sessions done. Training seems to be going in the right direction and I'm really happy with how everything's been going, so it's exciting to see what this track season has to offer.
We also went up to Magnolia Road, which we found really tough. It's at 8,000ft and is so hilly, so that was really difficult. It was the best feeling getting it done though and lovely to be able to tell people that we had run up there.
It was sad to come home, but after three weeks I felt like training had gone as well as it could so it was nice to be back in Loughborough and see my boyfriend and family.
The next stop was BUCS, where I ran the 1500m. We had the heat on the Saturday and then the final was on the Bank Holiday Monday.
It went so well and I felt really strong - I just wasn't quite speedy enough, but it's still only May.
My dad and stepmum came to watch me and it was so lovely to see them. My boyfriend also spent the weekend with me, which was so nice.
It's been an eventful few weeks but everything seems to be going well. I'm nervous for the rest of the season but also very excited. It'll be nice to see if all the hard training pays off.
I run at the weekend at the BMC Grand Prix at SportCity where I'm doing a 1500m and then next week I'm doing the Loughborough International.
WHAT'S COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS
19 - 27 MAY: Savannah Marshall, World Championships in Kazakhstan
22 - 30 MAY: Sam Oldham, Europan Gymnastics Championships in Switzerland
