Izzy Fry hits the ground running despite South Africa setback
Local athlete Izzy Fry was able to hit the ground running on Saturday, despite a disrupted start to the year.
Fry had an excellent season in 2024, setting four personal bests in the 5000m.
She enjoyed a ninth place finish at the European Championships, and was the highest finishing Brit in Rome, having achieved the first sub-fifteen minute time of her career at 14:59.63.
This was followed by another personal best in Vienna, before she took a women's team silver medal at the European Cross Country Championships.
Fry flew out to South Africa after Christmas for a warm weather training camp, but this didn’t quite go to plan.
“The plan was to prepare for the indoor season before heading to Boston,” she explained.
“But in the first week of the training camp I had a niggle that I just couldn’t get on top of.
“It was in my lower back, the two facet joints at the bottom of my spine were inflamed.
“We got a scan, and it was one to get on top of.
“We decided to have time off, so I didn’t do much running over there.
“It was frustrating, but we wanted to think longer term with the season going into the summer.”
Fry’s training camp quickly turned into a holiday in South Africa, which helped to ease any disappointment.
“I still enjoyed heading out there in the sun and getting some vitamin D.
“It definitely wasn’t what we had planned, but we still took some positives away from it.
“My back just needed complete rest. I thought I might as well enjoy it!
“I switched into holiday mode quite quickly.”
Since the aborted training camp, Fry has managed to get over her back issue and get stuck back into a busy early-season schedule.
“It took a while to fully ease off,” she explained.
“The doctors later said that as long as it was managed I could run through it.
“I’ve been trying to get as much as I can out of my training without tipping over the edge.
“As athletes we have to deal with these things.
“I’ve been gradually building it back up these last few weeks.”
Fry returned to action on Saturday at the Podium 5k, held at the Leicester Cycle Circuit.
She finished fourth, setting a 5k road personal best and a Newbury Athletic Club record with a time of 15:26.
“We put Podium in the plan as something to aim for,” she said.
“Things were clicking a bit sooner than we expected so we decided to go for it.
“The way it was run was a bit unexpected.
“Typically you expect a hard race from the gun, but with money on the line in the Women’s Elite Race it quickly became quite tactical.
“I didn’t fancy being the pacemaker, so I decided to control my pace.
“I had to wind it up with 1k to go, but I didn’t have the sharpness I usually gave.
“But I can still take positives. It was a respectable time and it felt really smooth.
“It was really fun to just race.”
Fry will now gear up for the start of the outdoor season, which promises to be packed with events long into the summer.
“It’s about getting into a routine and getting that consistency back,” she explained.
“I’m obviously fitter than I thought I was, having put a marker in the sand.
“I’ve got a 10k road race in three weeks time, and then I’m off to an altitude training camp in Font-Romeu for four weeks.
“We’ll just keep building.”
