British distance runner is striving to reach her potential at the University of Birmingham<\/h5>\n
Amelia Quirk is benefiting from the best of both worlds as she thrives within the high performance environment at the University of Birmingham while under the remote guidance of experienced coach Mick Woods.<\/p>\n
Having worked with Woods since 2017, Quirk \u2013 fifth in the 2021 European Indoor Championships 3000m \u2013 admits she has had to improve her communication skills to get the most out of a partnership that has led to GB vests on the track and in cross country. \u201cI\u2019m typically terrible at replying to messages,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
On the phone, Woods gathers information, imparts knowledge and delivers sessions over daily calls. On campus, former international steeplechaser Luke Gunn, head of athletics at University of Birmingham, oversees many of her sessions in person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do a decent amount of running on my own, but quite often, especially at the weekend, I join in with the uni group,\u201d says Quirk. \u201cIt\u2019s a really big group and pretty similar to what I have at home in the fact that it\u2019s mixed gender and ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get Birmingham Uni students but also local people based in the area. That\u2019s one of the things I really like about Birmingham \u2013 everyone just shows up and joins in and I think that\u2019s really helpful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The 23-year-old MRes Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences student showed fine form at the start of the winter. She clocked the fastest leg at the ERRA National Road Relays in early October and finished first Brit at the Cardiff Cross Challenge.<\/p>\n Amelia Quirk leads Pamela Kosgei (Mark Shearman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Injury followed, leading her to miss the Euro Cross trials in Liverpool, but she is due to return to racing this weekend (Jan 8) representing England in the Juan Muguerza Cross-Country Race in Elgoibar, Spain.<\/p>\n Her naturally shy demeanour certainly doesn\u2019t lend itself to trash talk or excessive self-confidence. In fact, while others may revel in the atmosphere of a boisterous cross country event, Quirk \u2013 in the past at least \u2013 admits that she\u2019s had a tendency to panic. \u201cI don\u2019t like crowds or loud noises, so I find it really stressful,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n A benefit of the University\u2019s \u201cElite Dual Career Athlete Pathway\u201d, and one of the reasons she chose to study in Birmingham, is access to an outstanding programme of practical support which enables her to get the best out of herself physically and mentally.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve really bought into sports psychology in the past year,\u201d she says. \u201cI knew it was something I needed to work on, but initially I was very sceptical about it. Our sports psychologist Sue Jones is brilliant. She\u2019s really good at giving us practical things to work on, so we do a lot about managing racing environments.<\/p>\n READ MORE: How they train archives<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cFor example, when I was doing a treadmill tempo she sent a playlist with horrible crowd noises to the physiologist who just randomly played them to me. Because my heart rate and lactate were being measured, we could see there was no effect on my physiology which was good. It showed me that I could work through it and it\u2019s teaching me that the crowd noise isn\u2019t a threat to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n University of Birmingham coaches put together an outline training plan for the month which they share with athletes\u2019 personal coaches. \u201cMick will look through that and say, \u2018Yep, we\u2019ll do that session\u2019 or \u2018We\u2019ll do that but miss this rep or do this or that instead\u2019,\u201d explains Quirk. \u201cEven the athletes that are coached by the university coaches, they\u2019ll have sessions that are tailored to them because they\u2019re doing different events, too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jenny Nesbitt leads Amelia Quirk (Mark Shearman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Typical training week in early winter<\/strong><\/p>\n Monday:<\/b><\/span> (am) tempo session, either long reps on the road or on the treadmill in the physiology lap. \u201cStaying in the right zone is not one of my strengths, so I get my blood lactate taken to make sure I\u2019m actually doing tempo,\u201d she says; (pm) drills\/strides or quicker sprints on the track depending on time of year (with the university group). \u201cSometimes I do hurdle mobility with the uni group, too,\u201d she adds. \u201cLuke usually leads that \u2013 he provides good input for technical running and all the form drills. I find it quite useful to keep in touch with my speed and technique.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Tuesday: <\/b><\/span>easy run (usually 60min) then strength and conditioning (S&C).<\/span><\/p>\n Wednesday: <\/b><\/span>(am) time-based session on the grass with varied rep lengths \u2013 for example, 6min, 4 x 3min, 6min, 4 x 90sec (all with 90sec jog recovery); (pm) easy 30min spin.<\/span><\/p>\n Thursday: <\/b><\/span>as Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n Friday:<\/b><\/span> rest (unless race weekend in which case it would be 20min & strides) and lower limb\/injury prevention foot drills.<\/span><\/p>\n Saturday:<\/b><\/span> session with the university group (if not racing) \u2013 for example, two sets of 9min, 6min, 3min (60sec recovery) or three sets of 6min, 6 x 30sec hills, or 1600m (400m jog), 3 x 1km (200m jog), 3 x 400m (200m jog) on the track.<\/span><\/p>\n Sunday: <\/b><\/span>long run (80-90min).<\/span><\/p>\n Quirk admits that the inclusion of drills and S&C exercises (with S&C coach Simon Eustace), specifically to address any areas of weakness, have been a valuable addition to her training programme since starting university.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n She supports her training with regular physiotherapy with Mike Gosling (Physiokinetic).<\/span><\/p>\n Amelia Quirk (Mark Shearman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Favourite session<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t give a specific one because I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019ve never done the same grass session twice. Mick\u2019s always tweaking it slightly! I love that there\u2019s always a mixture of rep lengths, especially when the reps get shorter towards the end of a session,\u201d she says. <\/span>\u201cWhen I\u2019m back at home [in Berkshire] I love a long run, especially in the Swinley Forest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Least favourite session<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t think of any session that I don\u2019t enjoy. I don\u2019t like rest days, but I know how important they are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00bb<\/i><\/b>\u00a0This article first appeared in the <\/i>November issue of AW magazine<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00bb <\/i><\/b>Subscribe to AW magazine <\/i>here<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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