Story added: 10th July 2018

Last year's female race winner chats Run Norwich, training and career highlights...

On last year’s race…

I really enjoyed last year’s race. I am local to Norwich, and it’s really good to do a race on your doorstep. The first half of the race was fast and competitive, and then once I was in the lead I just tried to hang in there, through the tougher part of the course. I knew several of the men that were running near me, so it was nice to race them.

On career highlights…

My lifetime running highlight was being the fourth scorer for Winchester and District AC at the 2007 National XC race. It was very tough, but thanks to an amazing team effort, we got gold. The result meant we got to represent England in the European Clubs XC in Portugal, which was a great experience to mix with world class athletes.

On training…

I work as a sports health nutritionist which I mainly do from home. This is really good for my training as I can plan my day in and around runs. It also keeps me up to date with new research and nutritional information that can help with my running and health. I also work part-time for SportLink Running and Fitness which I really enjoy meeting and serving customers, and chatting all things running.

I typically run on average between 60-70 miles per week. I have lots of different people who I train with – that helps to keep the mojo going!

On race day…

I am a very routine runner. I like to eat two and a half hours before the race, check the weather, and then arrive early so I can do a two-mile warm up. I do eight fast strides before the race.

On conquering the course…

My advice for new runners would be to make sure you have a rough idea of what 10k pace effort feels like so that you finish the race strongly and don’t keep checking your watch too much! Try to make sure you do some hilly efforts to prepare you for the second half of the race. And just keep positive mantras going in your head throughout the race.

On retaining the title…

I started training for longer distances this year but really did not enjoy it so have switched back to 10k. This has meant I’m behind in 10k specific training this year compared to last year.

I find I run best if it is a good competitive race. This helps me switch off from worrying about the time as I don’t wear a GPS watch. If this happens again this year, I might be in with a chance of bettering my time.