Well, as you can tell, I've been neglecting my blog for quite some time. As we entered into 2017 I did a bit of self assessment, as I'm sure many of us do. I logged on here to see what I'd been up to last time we spoke. As it turned out, my last post was around this time exactly a year ago and reading through it, I was struck immediately by how similar it was to what I was planning to write this year. In fact I'd go so far as to say it was almost word for word what I was going to write! Had I not moved forward at all in the last twelve months? I certainly had some note worthy achievements, as always, there were plenty of races and I did really well with my cycling, increasing my mileage from around 15/20 miles up to 30 miles. All that aside though, I did not improve my running times significantly, I did not improve my upper body strength and I most definitely did not lose any weight! For all of that, I cant help but be disappointed with myself.
Where did it go wrong and what am I going to do different then? I did a few sessions with a personal trainer but its a paradoxical situation; either work is so busy that I'm not able to fit sessions in or work is quiet and so I cant afford the luxury of personal training. Looking forward, money will be tight as we need to save for a mortgage, so personal training is off the menu for a while. I have everything I need at home anyway, I just need to keep myself motivated. Last year I tended to skip the weights sessions in favour of running or cycling, so this year I must make sure I'm not taking the easy option every time.
I've decided not to enter a half marathon in 2018, so March 2017 will be the last one for a while at least. I've come to this decision because training for it takes up so much time and effort that I cant do the other things I want, like the weights workouts. Its difficult to schedule a heavy legs session when you need to be fresh for a 10 mile run a few days later! It also hurts my joints quite a lot, which is no fun. Therefore I have decided to focus on 5 and 10km runs for the next year at least and really work on beating some PB's. On the subject of joint pains, I've been referred to a muscoskeletal clinic with particular reference to my hip, which is giving me so much pain lately.
This year we are doing two Nuclear races (mud obstacle), one in May and one in September. I'm doing two Race For Life's, the 10k and the 5k muddy. I'm also doing the winter run, hopefully the Tough 10k and the Rudolph Run again as well as the Brentwood half marathon of course. Besides all those official events, I'll be challenging myself at cycling again. Last year the goal was to cycle to Southend (30 miles), this year I want to double it, there and back. As a side show for motivation, I am doing a virtual race throughout the year; Lands End to John O Groats. I log my weekly mileage from running and cycling with the race organisers until it totals the distance (605 miles) they post on Facebook and send me postcards from where I would be so far.
Diet wise, its pretty much everything I said I was going to do last year. I'm feeling pretty good about it this time. One of the lifestyle changes I want to make is to not spend as long in the evenings watching telly and drinking cider. There are so many little things on my to do list that I never quite have time for, the silly little things, from tidying the sock drawer to putting up new pics in the gym. I don't have time because I come home from work, eat, then watch telly (even when there's nothing worth watching). So now, if there's nothing worth watching, I'll go and find something to do. Hopefully this will result in me drinking a bit less and make me a bit more active. If nothing else, I'll be ticking off all those little jobs!
Hopefully I'll speak to you a little sooner than last time!
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