Festive excesses

I can't believe how long it has been since my last blog but life has been a bit crazy recently.  Work has been extremely busy while I've been spinning a lot of plates,  preparing for Christmas, social functions and fitting in some training while trying not to get injured by slipping on the ice.
The ice has been a regular feature recently and there have been some close ones.  The other week at Chatelherault it was like an ice rink causing one of the runners to fall a couple of times.  One slip could put you out of action for months and I want my physio budget to be significantly less in 2018!
Yesterday's run at Chatelherault was hellish.  Normally it starts to get tough three quarters of the way round but I was feeling it before half way and knew I was in trouble.  I was breathing through my bum and my heart rate was racing.  It was probably the excess wine and food over the last few days and a lack of sleep.  The proof of the pudding (literally) is that yesterday after my run I had an hours sleep and much less food and wine.  I also had 10 hours sleep.
So today I headed out for the same run as the day before.  I'd sorted my heart rate monitor which I haven't used for the last 5 months.  I flew round the lap, breathing was good and I completed the lap 2 minutes quicker than the day before.  Is it a coincidence?
I've been gradually regaining my weight since G2G but in December it has kept going north and I'm not happy.  But I realise that it's just what happens at this time of year to me when I don't have an early season race planned.  By 2nd January I'll have the gym build in my garage and the hard work will start.  The miles will start building and I'll be back on the turbo and in the pool.
I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a healthy and prosperous 2018.  Set your goals high and go chase them.  Have fun along they way.

Winter gear

One of the things I like about this time of year is buying new winter gear.   And as it was my birthday I had the perfect excuse.  The boxes arrived and I was excited to try on my new high viz running jacket along with my new tights - but the weather turned mild and they were too warm!  The same happened today so I'll just have to wait till the rain, snow or frost arrives as it did the week before.
I added 2 additional shorter runs this week where I pushed the pace.  I don't enjoy doing that when I'm not back to fitness but it gets me there.  Both longer runs this weekend were quicker than last and I'll take that as a sign of progress.
I'm threatening to get back in the pool but have decided to use a pool boy so I can build my upper body while working on breathing exercises.  This in turn will improve my core and my running. Still haven't made it onto the turbo trainer but there will be plenty of time for that over the holidays.
My aim in December is to get more training sessions in per week and to avoid the excesses where possible. The real hard word starts in January and by then I will have confirmed by race schedule for 2018.  I'm excited just thinking about it.