RunnersLife interview with Britain's Gemma Steel

In the last three races that Fionnuala Britton of Ireland has won, the one athlete who has been ever present and pushing her to the line on each occasion has been Gemma Steel of Great Britain. When Fionnuala Britton won the European Cross Country Championships last December, Gemma Steel was in third place and just nine seconds behind. In the Great Edinburgh Cross Country race on the 7th of January, Steel was just behind again in second place with a twenty second gap. In Antrim last Saturday, both Fionnuala and Gemma were neck and neck until the last lap when the Irish woman opened up a lead to win the race by seven seconds.

RunnersLife caught up with Gemma Steel and the interview can be seen HERE. Just to show how athletes at this level train, her typical week is shown below...

Typical week
Mon - 2x 45 mins up Bradgate Park - Core work palates
Tues - am 30' steady pm- group session i.e. hills as stated or up to 20 x 400m on track.
Weds - AM -70' Steady PM- weights session
Thurs - 45 min tempo@ 5.30 pace or hilly loops PM- palates
Fri - rest day
Sat - 15 min tempo. 3 mins recovery- 5x 3 mins- 90 recovery. 8 x 200m sprints up hill. 10 min tempo to finish
Sun - 90' easy.