The Athlete of the month, for the month July is.... Sophie McCormack
Not only is Sophie a smart and hard worker. She is also super humble. So much so, to the point that I congratulated her for being the athlete of the month and asked her to send her favourite pictures through. She said ‘Are you sure? Did you not make a mistake?’ haha and wouldn’t send me her pics unless I confirmed. YES Sophie, I am sure!
For the Asics 10k on the 10th of July, there was some phenomenal team results, But Sophie finishing in an impressive PB time of 48:18 really stuck out to me! After all that she had been through in training up until that point, it just made that amazing result ever so sweeter!
Sophie joined at the beginning of Feb earlier this year. At which point her right achilles was so inflamed that she had been off running since November. According to our team physios diagnosis she could only walk, do weighted loading strength training and cycle.
We both knew from the beginning her plan would involve A LOT of cross training and that it did. She replicated her Training Peaks plan, too the tee but instead of running, she did her sessions on a bike. Even though her and a lot of others in our team are truly passionate about running. This cross training phase, including loads of cycling needed to happen in order for her to improve her running upon her return.
We built an aerobic engine and after just a few weeks of running she was in the peak running shape of her life. Running quicker times than ever before. Making every single bit of blood, sweat and tears on the bike all that worth it!
Much like me, her achilles issue will never be 100% solved, It’s all about managing it and smart training going forward!
I am so dam proud of you Sophie, for getting through the achilles issue the way you did.
Your positive attitude goes a long way and is infectious to the rest of the team, We can all learn a lot from you!
Bring on the BIG Half and LONDONNNN marathon!
Huge team presence at both of these events!
Go get em Sophie!
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!!
Who will be the athlete of the month for August??
