13 January 2020
Its been a long time since I last posted on here, 25th August 2019 !! no excuses other than laziness, given the weather today is dreadful I thought it a good time to catch up, list my events from last year and look back, as well as planning this coming year. Storm Brendan is about to arrive and given its only 3:30 in the afternoon its already very grey and the wind is picking up. I just hope its not a very high tide today!!!
My current plan is to run the full Grizzly on March the 8th so desperately trying to get miles and hills in to prepare, I am managing a few hills but sadly not the miles! I did manage 9.5 miles last Friday but struggled, and that was around Burnham on Sea which is very flat!!! I have had two rounds of the lurgy since the beginning of December the last one hitting on Christmas day and is still in the back ground with some coughing and a very snotty nose :-( I think I am still not fully recovered and finding it hard to run any distance, I did manage a cycle ride across the levels last week, only 26 miles the first ride in over a month, I was very tired at the end taking a day to recover. I did do Crook Peak on Sunday 7 miles and 1000feet of climbing, but, I walked the ups and ran the downs, I think it was the slowest I have ever run it, weather was reasonable, bit windy going out but a tail wind back.
I am planning to run on Wednesday on the Quantocks with the running club, but unsure I will keep up with them, I maybe a little slow, I just hope by persevering I will overcome the fatigue I feel at the moment after each run, I must try to be positive, but it is hard. Its seemed a longdark damp and windy winter, not many frosty dry windless days [ in fact I don't think we have had any]
My plan for the next 8 weeks is to
Monday rest
Tuesday : Yoga in the morning [starting tomorrow] running club in the evening,run there and back as well 8 miles some tempo on club run
Wednesday : hills run 10 -12 miles or 40 mile cycle ride
Thursday : short run and running fitness in the evening
Friday: rest day
Saturday: Park run 7miles including there and back or other runs
Sunday : longer run 12-15 miles 'social run with club'
I hope as the event approaches I will be able to up the mileage to a maximum of about 16 miles [Grizzly is 19 miles with 2600 ft] and try to get up to 2000 ft and 4+ hours on my feet.
I will have a dress rehearsal two weeks before of about 12 miles on some of the route, as I no longer live near there its more difficult with an hours worth of travel each way.
I hope by updating the blog more regularly it might inspire me and help me be more positive about preparing, especially as I am struggling at the moment.
I am not planning to enter any events before the Grizzly.
looking back to last year
I ran 1056 miles meeting my target of 1000 miles in the year and achieving my 'Trail Running Magazine' goal of 1000 miles run in the year, really pleased with this as I have never run this far before. I now need to try to repeat it this year. BUT! it was at the expense of cycling miles where I only cycled 2210 miles
my events for last year were
Achieving 1000 miles running
the Grizzly Cub run 9 miles
Herepath half 13.1 miles
Glastonbury 10 k
Portishead coastal 10 k
Minehead Stumble 10 k - won my age category!
Quantock Beast 10 k
welsh 10 k won my age category again!
Wambrook Waddle 10 k
Paulett Plod 10k
Buckland Bolt 10k tail runner
Christmas Cracker 10 k Weston Super Mare
Christmas charity run BOS 10k
Charity Sportive 100k in Gloucester with Tim
Numerous Park runs at BOS
I enjoyed all the events winning my age category[over 65] twice this year, as well as running Park Runs I have volunteered on a number of occasion.
Last year I was on the verge of giving up on the local running club, but stayed with it and now try to run at least once a week with them as well as donning the Harriers tee on the races. I have also become a run Leader and will do my training on February 1st I hope. I do lead or trail the evening runs at the moment.
As far as Van usage, and fell walking, this hasn't happened, sadly I have neglected the van with only a few outs to tick over, I hope 2020 will bring more trips away as we are now more settled in our new home. we no longer need to 'camp' when visiting grandchildren as they are only an hour away now, so up and back in a day is no problem, unless!! there is another accident on the M5, which seems a regular occurrence from Bristol down to junction 22.
I have not managed a single outing to real mountains the Lakes or Wales for the last 2 years, so feeling a little sad each time I see pictures of those areas, must try harder to get away, especially being retired!!!!
I think this has brought me back up to date, not a lot of detail, but hopefully I can try harder to complete the blog weekly leading up to the Grizzly. looking back to my early Blog posts was really helpful. I have given up my computer spread sheets and rely on Strava to record my outings along with a handwritten diary which I started just before Christmas..
No comments:
Post a Comment