December Stato

In the excitement of Christmas I completely and utterly forgot about my blogging target of reaching 58 blog entries this year (thus achieving and unexpected parity with 2010...).... so unless I do a blog for each of the remaining hours of the year I will not achieve this....

OPPPSsssss

But never mind..... this has taught me something... when you set yourself a goal then keep a reminder of it somewhere obvious....

And on the not quite making the goal front I also set myself a secret (in that I didn't really publicise it - apart from on RunKeeper that is)... anyway the goal was to run 50k during December.... had I not had a hangover on Sunday I may have achieved that one... but today I sit here at my desk typing away at 17:42 carrying the guilty burden of eating too many pies and drinking too much wine over the Christmas period and not getting off my lazy arse and so am ending up on 45.3km... yes 4.7km short.... or 4.5laps of the block of houses where I live... I could do this now... but it is now 17:43 on New Years eve and Champagne is calling me... not my trainers... !!! Something about lack of dedication to your goal springs to mind with this one...

Still when I look at December I did have some success and did have some failures.... but I did achieve more (physically speaking) then in November.. but then I wasn't actually ill at all (unlike sneezy, coughy, weezy November)... so closing Stats for December are:  (and yes I accept I am not going our for that 4.5 laps of the block)....

Run: Total 45.3km in 5hrs 3min (up considerably from November so actually I did achieve something of my 50k goal)
Bike: Total 140.5km in 6hrs 47mins (up only slightly from November - I ought to have a bike goal for Jan)
Swim: Total 6.8km in 3hrs (amazingly 6-7 times that of November and probably more then the rest of the year combined... WOW)
Other Stuff (Yoga, stretching, core etc) 2hrs 54mins (over an hour more then November but still more to do)

It's been an amazing year .... we started it in Perth, Western Australia and finish here back home having travelled back through Australia, New Zealand, sailed across the pacific (ok no sails as such but a big cruise ship), visiting amazing places on the way and flying back from the US. We are truly fortunate to have been able to do this ...and having returned in the summer, having had a great time, got jobs pretty quickly... more then anything else I can definitely say there is no place like home.

Thank you 2013.... Hello 2014... 

January Challenges

So I've already signed up to Janathon.... so that will be a challenge in itself... but in case I want more I've found the following; I probably won't sign up for all of them but am considering something....

1. http://www.jantastic.me/ Not just January but actually a 3 month running challenge which you set up for yourself (goals that is) and sign up to on the website and away you go...
2. Then "the Runner Beans" are setting up a 21 days of yoga challenge... given it takes 21 days to form a habit... this one being a yoga habit... http://www.therunnerbeans.co.uk/2013/11/21-days-of-yoga-in-january.html
3. Then of course I could go "dry"...  http://www.dryjanuary.org.uk/ 
4. As I do tend to like "green" coloured drinks, especially when I'm feeling ill then perhaps I should consider a 30 day green smoothie challenge...... http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/green-smoothies/30-day-challenge/
5. Lisa just posted a link to Winter Miles Challenge which does look quite interesting, similar(ish) to Jantastic but slightly different and quite motivational.... definitely considering that as I do need some run focus in my life!
6. I haven't found a decaf challenge yet but I'm thinking that reducing my double espresso intake may not be a bad thing... kind of like dry January but rather then alcohol I'm talking caffeine!

On other news I had a much more successful training day today with my early swim and midday run done. I enjoyed the swim - having swum 4 times in the last week and a bit I'm beginning to get a feel for the water again... yeah for that!!... the run... well that was less pretty, although at least it was sunny and actually I did have one of those lovely moments when a deer jumped out of the woods and across the path in front of me... that was special :)

 I didn't take this picture by the way - I found it on google images - but you get the idea!!

Epic Failure....

Gahhhhhhhhhh

Whilst I like my new job, the role, the people and the place are great..  I do dislike having quarter end/ year end/ next year planning all at the same time....this comes with the territory with the type of role and for this week has lead to long hours... which would be fine would it not be for the fact I was hoping to get in to some sort of training rhythm.... so I am frustrated - largely at myself to be honest.. as I probably could have done better.... . Monday morning I got my abs and stretches in... and then  I probably could have work left on time Monday evening to get to the pool even for a short swim.. but didn't realise what the time was so failed with that. Tuesday I did get on my bike and did a commute to and from work... success

Wednesday basically I couldn't get myself up at 6am for a run in the dark, wind and rain and was at work before 8 and left and 7 so was hardly likely to go for a run in the evening.... but I should and could have done my run early....

Thursday morning should have been a swim morning but given Wednesday's schedule I had to change my visit to my sports guy to get my upper back unlocked to early Thursday morning ... so I got that visit done instead of going swimming early, then it was another later night in the office... and by Friday I was basically simply too knackered to do anything and another longish day fueled by caffeine and sugar led to the scheduled "rest" day being achieved.. but given that was my third rest day in a row I'm not sure it counts!...

Today I could have gone on my club ride but frankly the ambient light hasn't got above the light you get at dusk and I have no urge to do anything and feel whipped out!..  - so this is my fault I may get on my turbo trainer but I'm not going to stress over it as I just feel like I need to decompress from the week past if I'm honest.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to feel more energised and back on track for a swim & run day..... whinging over!!

At least it is the shortest day of the year so from now on every single day gets that little bit lighter (until June)! I always make this point this time of year - because, well, I like sunshine and long for the longer days :)

I also got an email this week about the prospective start of Janathon.... so I have just signed up for that... I think I may be mad .... so a lot of short blogs to come in January ;)

In light of my last blog post too I'm going to clean up my feedly feeds as well, currently there are too many sport blogs in there both from days gone by and from last years Junathon which has led to feedly overload and so actually less chance of me following anything or anyone!

I miss the days when...

I was just looking back at some old blog posts (as you do... or maybe I do... such a saddo)... anyway...

.. Tthere was a a time before I really discovered facebook and, to a lesser degree twitter, when I not only blogged more regularly but also read and commented on blogs more regularly ... I kind of miss those times...  .. and the blogging community which was... I tend to still read some (far fewer) blogs but like many people (I suspect), I tend not to comment so much on them - now where is the community spirit in that??... this makes me nothing but a blog stalker!!

So anyway - they say blogging may have been and be going on the way out but I don't think I am there yet.... so I think I will spend a little bit of my time to read and comment a bit more... and muter that blogging community spirit once more...!

The Week That Was...

Unofficially I started getting "prepared" this week... Prepared to start H.I.M training which is starting in January (race 1st June).... So I guess you can call this Prep 1:1

So I had a training week kind of planned and was hoping to stick to it.... and by and by with some form of miracle I kind of did - apart from the big MISS on my long run today which was down to me tweaking my knee in a shower rail erecting incident and also inclement weather - had I gone for a run after my swim I may have made it!!

But anyway - I'm quite happy and I score myself 8 out of 10.... lose a 1.5 points for missing the long run and 0.5 points for doing a 1hr 15min turbo session yesterday rather then a 2 hour club ride.... but in a feat of complete amazement I did make it to the pool the allotted 3 times for a minimum of 20mins...

Stats then are;

TOTAL : 4hrs 48mins (plus a little bit of stuff I didn't record I think I will round that to 5)
Core/ Stretch: 1 session from 1
Swim: 3 sessions from 3 (3.4km in 1hr 23mins... a mixture of FC sets and drills)
Bike: 2 sessions from 2 (30+km in 2'15mins.. how come my turbo km are always so low?!)
Run: 1 session from 2 (4.80km in 30mins)

The aim of the next few weeks is training rhythm and some consistency... I'm not interested in speed and just want to start building endurance... so am not going to get bothered about what I'm logging exactly as long as I'm logging something regularly and keeping myself regularly active without getting frazzled... no work travel till mid Jan and whilst it's going to be manic I'm hoping I can achieve balance and find the routine!

CTS Dorset "race" report

Well despite the east and north of the country being bashed my a big storm yesterday there had been no bad weather on the South Coast and so to Lulworth Cove we headed for the latest instalment from Endurance Life coastal trail series.

This event is marked as "extreme" largely due to the cliffs you climb up and roll down on the course. For a change for a CTS event the 10k was actually just short of 10k, coming in at 9.9k..... Unlike the "half marathon" which would be hard enough on these trails without throwing in an extra few miles... Coming in at 16miles, marathon something like 27 and the ultra too many miles to contemplate (33 and a bit I think!).

People evidently come from far and wide for this one as a evidenced by coach load of Dutch appeared just as we arrived for check-in! Now I haven't be training much due to the lurgy I had in November... But at least we have hills, although small ones... To train on... I'm not sure there are any really big hills in Holland and I don't think much in the way of cliffs... So I can see the appeal but how would you train for this (lots of incline 10 on the treadmill!?)

Anyway... To the race .... Given we were starting up a lovely hill (pictures to follow)... And gIven I've not trained much or run an awful lot recently I had already planned to walk the hills, come cliff faces, ... Although when it came to it this is what pretty much everyone did! The first 5k contained 4 significant climbs, of increasing length and steepness ... I had lots of fun on the down hills.... Arms out flying down was ace.... I hope I didn't annoy people... There were a couple of us really fast on the downs, with little holding back... I jogged on the flats and walked upwards.... And when my HR exceeded 170 (!!!!!) whilst walking up the hills I just stopped and took in the view and waited for me to recover a bit!

Having taken between 42 and 45 mins to do the first 5k we then turned inland and headed back... With a completely different aspect and with once again amazing views.. And at one point with no wind and the sun out it was hard to believe it was winter! The biggest danger in the first section of the return loop were cow-pats with one poor runner getting had by one of them... Slipping up, just lucky she didn't face plant in another on the way down! Travelling across the flat inland route was far more straight forward (thankfully) .... Until we got to the last and steepest descent back to the start/finish.... This one I decided not to run down like a demented dog, it just seemed too steep to risk... So I held back and put the brakes on a bit which frankly well and truly buggered my quads but that didn't matter because the finish was just around the corner! Yipppppeeeeee!

What a truly wonderful place for a run!

Given my last Endurance life event was, quite frankly, an awful experience (pushed too hard), I'm pleased to report the mixture of terrain and speed with rests meant for me it was far more enjoyable. I took the enjoyment of this event as essential to my "race" success and was the prime goal which I think I succeeded .... I'm now looking forward to a nice pint of ale with sausage and mash to celebrate!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Lulworth Cove

Err November

Well November was pretty much a complete write (or wrong) off.... Had a cold - that was fine but lost a couple of training days... got better... then got another cold/ lurgy/ virus/ thing which just wiped me out.... so the monthly stats are easy and short....

Run: Total 27.3km in 2hrs 54min (about half of October)
Bike: Total 134.3km in 5hrs 25mins (down from Oct - but this was only due to 2 long rides and no commuting)
Swim: Total 0.9km in 20mins (err... yes about the same)
Other Stuff (Yoga, stretching, core etc) 1hrs 37mins (at this rate I will be weak)

I think I had something like 16days just ill with the strength of a weak kitten.....

...Didn't do any of my planned events... understandably ... all in all a rubbish month to quickly forget!

My aim for December is just to get some consistency and routine back in my life!! All my work travelling is already done for the month and (fingers crossed) no sign of any cold on the horizon.

I wonder what the stats will be like for December... and will I do another 10 blogs and so surpass my 2010 blogging year?!?