This blogging malarkey is inspired by my husband (he's Ticking Hills, whereas I'm Ticking Fewer Hills because he's training for a Bob Graham and the Lakeland 100 and I would simply die if I were to run that far) as a way of recording what training I've done rather than just cataloguing it informally in my head. I want to get faster at uphill running for next year, so I'm hoping the thought of that will keep me motivated throughout the winter when sometimes it is, quite frankly, a bit chilly and/or rainy and/or windy and/or dark to feel thoroughly inspired, especially when work has a nagging way of getting in the way of quality midweek sessions at times.
Last week was unfortunately a bit of a damp squib training-wise, due to missing Tuesday's training for a social engagement with my brother and a Christmas meal out. I'm therefore only recording from Saturday. This week I'm on holiday from work so have had plenty of time to rest and train, which has been quite a treat.
Saturday: 90 minutes swim, exhibiting very poor form during the 100m freestyles, so I shifted to more backstroke and kick and pull drills to avoid diminishing my confidence too much. And then in the afternoon a 15-mile cycle, just to keep my cycling legs ticking over. And then much curry and ginger suet pudding with lemon syrup sauce and cream. And mulled wine, since it's Christmas.
Sunday: 12 miles run at Hamsterley with Andy and a DFR group. Snowy and icy and lovely crisp clear weather. Very enjoyable, and followed with a cup of tea in the warm tearooms afterwards, which smelt of baby sick. And then a mince pie, since it's Christmas. And mulled wine and mulled apple juice in the evening, since it's Christmas.
Monday: 60 minutes swim, including a fair bit of intense backstroke and freestyle. Went quite well, given the amount of cream and butter I'd consumed in the afternoon during a festive baking session.
Tuesday: 7 miles jog on Cockfield fell, on what Andy would have people believe is the north east's premier off-road running venue.
Wednesday: 15 miles cycle, steadyish, with the odd hill, in moderate wind. And then tonight I'll go for a 90 minute swim.
Tomorrow the plan is a 37-mile steady cycle on moderately flat ground. The forecast is quite windy so we have no desire to go up high on the moors after being blown off in a gale 3 weeks ago. And then hopefully a run tomorrow evening, which will potentially give me 13-14 hours of training this week, with perhaps a bonus swim on Friday morning.
I've just been pencilling in races for next year so I need to start preparing in a coherent manner for those. I'm a bit restricted as to how much I can run with my Achilles - it gets fussy if I run on it for more than 4 times in a week - so I want to form some sort of training programme that optimises my fitness without causing injury. At the minute I'm shying away from reps after hurting my Achilles just before the relays in October, but my jogging outings on Sunday and yesterday indicate that it might be getting back to normal. I'm trying to do heel raises every day and need to make more of an effort with plyometric exercises.
Wow. This has turned out longer than expected. I'll work on brevity for next time. I had no idea I had so many thoughts rattling round in my head. Committing them to cyber paper has no doubt left my mind vacant.
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