THIS has been a tough week of training. My Runners World schedule said it was to be a week to concentrate on ‘hill sprints.’ Lots of people have asked me this week ‘why practice hill running when the London Marathon course is predominantly flat?’ This answer comes direct from Runners World.

Regular hill sessions will benefit your running in a number of ways - they'll strengthen your legs, improve your running efficiency and boost your cardiovascular fitness. And in contrast to isolated strength sessions in the gym, hill work forces the muscles in your hips, legs, ankles and feet to contract in a co-ordinated fashion while supporting your full body weight, just as they have to during normal running. So, as you become increasingly used to running uphill, running on the flat will seem even easier. And as easier running translates into faster running, you'll be one step closer to meeting your marathon target.

So, the schedule said, warm up jog, sprint 2 minutes uphill, jog back down, 10 times, cool down jog……….this is the hardest training session I have ever done! I jogged just passed the Red Lion pub and ‘sprinted’ for 2 minutes UP the Happy Valley hill, by the 10th time of going up there was not much sprinting going on, believe me. I just hope it works. This took real effort and determination, but I felt so much better for doing it. It was time to apply the motivational words and expressions that I use on a daily basis with my class participants to myself.

Mid week I had a ‘steady’ 7 miles to run, steady meaning about marathon pace…wow was this hard work or what? My legs just didn’t have it after the hill sprints and I couldn’t keep up the pace. With A lot of sweat, effort and determination I finished, but it was disappointing – mamma said there’d be days like these. (Was it mamma or was it Dave Bedford?). However, the week ended with a 16 mile run around (but thankfully not up) Bredon hill. This felt great and again I experimented with different carbohydrate gels and jellybeans and took the distance all in my stride, I finished with energy to spare and could have kept going. Great! Back on track, or road so to speak.

The inspiration for putting myself through all of this came from my visit to the Acorns Childrens Hospice in Worcester this week. Myself and Ron and a couple of other Golden Bond runners were shown all around. It really is a wonderful place with some fantastic facilities for the children and their families. Most of the staff there are volunteers. If it weren’t for places like this a lot of these life limited children would be in a stark hospital ward. At Acorns they are free to do as they please, there are gardens (again tendered by volunteers) all the latest toys and specialist equipment (a lot of it donated) so that even the children with the most restricted movement can join in. If a child wakes in the night and wants to paint a picture, that’s what they can do! The staff and volunteers at Acorns are dedicated to making the short lives of these children as happy and comfortable as possible. Not just for the child but for their whole family and not just for now but also for as long as it is needed. All Acorns services are provided completely free of charge. It costs about £450 to provide a day of specialist care to a local life limited child. This is why I have pledged to raise £2000 for Acorns. If you would like to donate to Acorns Children’s Hospice please go to www.justgiving.com/vikkisivertsen. Thank you very much to those of you who have already donated, it means a lot to me and the families at Acorns.