I thought i best update my blog as those who are interested may be wondering what i'm up to. Well…it's been quite a frantic start to 2015 and i'm only now finding the balance. The usual dreaded jetlag floored me for 2 weeks after i got back from USA, as it always does, even though people tell me i should only suffer with it for 5 days - well sorry folks, but the nausea, headaches and constant lethargy are real, believe me! This hampered my training efforts, along with the dreaded dissertation now being the main focus of the year. No longer do i have an 'A' race, but instead my 'A' event is getting my dissertation done and hopefully getting it done early so i can ramp up the training and fit in a race or two!
Don't get me wrong, i have entered now 3 races, but they're all running events. Running is my "go-to" sport, it's what i need when i want to clear my head, or de-stress, or think. If i'd had a long hectic day i'm able to get myself out for a run, but less likely to manage a turbo sess, or battling the egos on the squat rack in the gym, and even less likely to make it for a swim! As much as my training has been affected, well for months now, i'm consistently running and i'm now running to heart rate, which i've never done before. Sure, i've done it, successfully, for the bike, but up until now found my HR was too high. Well, needless to say i spent weeks just running on feel, very easy runs, even being able to just breathe through my nose for some, and then i started to use heart rate, going on previous heart rate testing and again feel. I still need to do a lactate threshold test, and on the bike, to get my heart rate ranges set properly, but for now i'm happy with the progress i'm making.
The races i have entered are two long hilly train runs, and the swansea half marathon where ideally i'll clock a big pb and have a 'good for age time'. Although, i'm not going to follow a plan for this, just doing what i know, so i'll be happy with a pb, but chuffed if i get the 'good for age' time. The two hilly trail races are the Preseli Beast Bach in pembrokeshire, 11miles of fell and trail running. meant to be a cracker - hard but beautiful! This is at the start of May and then the end of May i'm doing another beast race, the Beast of Bryn, 15 miles of trail and climbs. Another epic on the calendar apparently. My mileage is almost there now, so i'm just building slowly, and then i'll have the miles in the legs for the half marathon the following month and then if i can keep the distance up i'll be set for late season triathlons, maybe a half ironman distance if i can get the bike and swim up too.
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| Trail running - pure bliss |
So whilst my running has been going well, i haven't been able to consistently do strength work or bike. Part of this is my weekends now being taken up mostly with study, along with the usual housework chores and food shopping, but also not being in a routine that means i go to the gym no matter how i feel. That is, until now! What i have developed the past 2 weeks is a routine of getting into work early, 90 mins early, so that i can study before i start work. This also kills 2 birds with one stone as i beat the morning traffic that makes a 20 minute drive to work a very frustrating 50 min drive. However, the lesson i learnt on friday was that i must take my iPod into work as when some of my colleagues decide to come in early and then spend all that time gossiping, loudly, it means that i can't concentrate and my early morning study time is wasted! Now that i'm consistently studying every day if i choose, then all that remains is to get my arse to the gym for a bike/gym/swim sess (or combinations of) a couple of times a week. I have been shocked, and pleased though that when i have got on the bike (indoors now, as i haven't been outside, or done a long ride, since my last race in october), and done strength work, that i'm still bang on the money with heart rate, speed, and then strength in the gym. Yesterday, i even clocked a pb for deeper squats (almost parallel in quads whereas previously i was doing quarter squats are far heavier weight), and probably could have gone heavier. That was having not been for about 2 weeks! But, what it did make me realise though is that i love the feeling of being more toned, of feeling stripped, and i know that due to less training i've got a few pounds to lose so that's what is motivating me to get to the gym a good few days a week on top of running, so that i can maximise my time and get my body back to where i want it. Then, when i am able to race i'm fighting fit and raring to go!!
Swimming is my least favourite, mainly because the times are less social to be able to go and not get frustrated by lack of etiquette when the lanes are busier. I also need to ensure my nutrition is right so that after work when i head to the gym for a bike and gym sess, that i then don't cry off through hunger before i get to dip my toes in the pool. I swam 3 times over xmas when i was away, but since then i must have swam maybe once?? I've not yet tested out my waterproof iPod in the pool either, only running outside in the rain! So this week the goal is to swim 2-3 times, no excuses, other than my own! (that's as long as my asthma-induced cough eases when i get my new inhaler tomorrow).
As for my dissertation, well given i only had 28 viable responses i'm pleased i have some good results that are significant, although it's not looking likely that i can do as much with them as i had hoped. I have 5 days annual leave before April, so i'm going to spend some of those days writing some of my dissertation, and then i'll feel that i'm on track to finish nice and early. The other days i'm hoping i can spend doing DIY around the house as i'm aware that there are things that i have left for too long, painting, touching things up, and i like things to stay nice, rather than becoming spoilt and looking unsightly.
So overall, we're 6 weeks into the new year, and whilst i'm not training as much as i'd like, i'm now feeling in a place ready to commit to upping the training and sticking to it, knowing that i'm also keeping up with the study as well.
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| If you believe you can do it, you will do it! I know i will!! |
