7 January 2015

Last weekend, Laura Muir (coach: Andy Young) opened up her 2015 season in superb style by moving to second on the UK all-time list in the women’s U23 3000m indoor rankings behind Zola Budd. While many people were probably recovering from the Christmas and New Year celebrations, the Scottish athlete laid down a convincing marker with a new personal best of 8:51.75 for the best possible start to the New Year.

2014 was a steep learning curve for the 21 year old Scot but she was delighted to start the indoor season with a new personal best, especially taking into account that she was came down with a cold over the Christmas period which nearly jeopardised her start to the season at the Emirates Arena.

Muir said: “I was really happy with my performance – I hadn’t looked at any of the rankings before the race so I didn’t know where that put me. I was really pleased because I had been a little ill over Christmas with a cold and I was meant to miss the race. However, a week before, we decided I was well enough to run the race so I was happy to run that time.

“Initially I was thinking I could run 8:45 so to run that close to it after having quite a few days off training makes me very pleased. Everyone is a little bit nervous about that first race of the season. You always want it to be a good one to start the year well so it’s nice to have had that race under my belt.”

The Glasgow University student, who is studying Veterinary Medicine, has been stepping up her training this winter and she puts her impressive start to the year down to a consistent winter which was free of injury and illness over the winter months.

“We’ve been doing a lot more endurance based activity, not necessarily upping the mileage but the sessions have been quite tough. I’ve been getting them in for a number of months and not missing any due to injury or illness, so I’ve been able to get a solid block of winter training in.”

She is prepared for a busy indoor season which will climax at the European Indoor Championships in Prague this March. The Dundee Hawkshill athlete is seeking qualification for the event and will focus on both the 1500m and 3000m in the build up before choosing one of the events prior to the championships in the Czech Republic.

“My main aim in the indoor season is to qualify for the European Indoors; I really enjoy competing indoors. I have trained a lot on indoor tracks – I used to do pretty much every track session at Kelvin Hall on the indoor track, and now when we can, I’ll train at the Emirates Arena, so I’m looking forward to competing indoors again”.

Next up for Muir is the Sainsbury’s Glasgow Grand Prix on Saturday 24 January at the aforementioned Emirates Arena, and the youngster is excited at the prospect of competing in front of a Scottish crowd once again.

“It’s always great to run on home soil especially in a Scottish vest. It should be good fun!"

Tickets for that event are still onsale, and Muir will be part of a Scotland team taking on GB & NI, France & Germany. Click here now to secure your tickets.

Follow Laura’s journey through the season on Twitter @lauramuiruns