Libby Clegg blogs about what she's doing before the run up to the Common Wealth Games

After training in one of the rainiest days of the summer, Libby blogs about what she's been up to with the run up to one of the most important events of her career, the Common Wealth Games...

libby in showroom

Training

Between all my appearances and travelling I have been spending a lot of time training. It's that time when we cross over from the slow and steady training through the winter to more explosive, intense training which is great. My gym programme has changed from slow and steady training to more power specific stuff which is the nice, intense training.

When the sun starts shining and the weather warms up most people think it starts to feel like summer but for me it's when my body starts waking up from winter training with really high intensity speed work; I love it!

I have not raced yet but this week-end I'm having my first race down in Bristol at a league club competition. I'll be running against abled bodied athletes who are all running for their relative clubs so I'm excited to run both the 100 m and 200 m races. If the weather is nice that will be lovely!

I'm not aiming for a certain time but this first race is just to see what I need to work on a little bit more. It is a good indicator for where you are and see if your pace or stance needs a bit more sharpening up! Fingers crossed and I'll let you know how that goes in my next blog post.

Off the track

My Mum and her husband live in the Scottish Borders and it was the first time they met Hattie but it was so nice just to see them because I haven't seen them in months!

I did a school visit Hawick for the Champions in Schools which is part of the Winning Scotland foundation. They have athletes all over Scotland which is great and this is my 6th year of working with them so it is something that is quite important to me and it is good to see how the initiative has grown.

Hattie, my partner in crime, came along and I think when she saw the children she just really wanted to play with them!

I'm moving out of my bungalow in Loughborough as my flat mate is leaving (another Paralympic friend) so that is a wee bit stressful between everything else but it will all be alright because my boyfriend will be doing all the heavy lifting and main moving of things because I'll be away for a few weeks over the big move! Ideal timing huh?

Hattie

Hattie is my new guide dog which I blogged about in April and she has been such a great companion to have around. I took Hattie to training on Tuesday and she did not look impressed when she got absolutely soaked in possibly the wettest day of the summer. I had to get to training though and she is quite happy to come along with me.

She loves being petted and sits on the side of the track while I train. She is so good and enjoys all the attention she gets from being around the team and just everyone really!

hattie

Travelling

I'll be in Germany next week for two weeks on training so keep up with my progress on Libby Clegg on Twitter and of course my support group Team Libby on Facebook.

I have mostly been training in Loughborough but travelling will pick up in the next few weeks.

That's all for now but before I leave I just want to wish the ESPC Team luck on Sunday in there ColorMeRad 5k race on Sunday. Get messy Team ESPC, it will be great!

Chat soon,

Libby