New Year resolutions

New Year Resolutions -don’t bother.  No seriously don’t bother as you’ll only end beating yourself up especially if you only last a few weeks before ditching them.  Let’s replace the word resolution, which has a negative connotation, with the word goal(s) and if you are going to set a goal - set the bar high.  There’s nothing more disappointing than seeing someone set a low bar, and then achieving it!  It just encourages mediocrity.
Set a goal you are passionate about.  Write it down.  Put a plan around it and have someone check your progress on a regular basis - someone you’re accountable to.  Put it on Facebook.  Link it to a charity so when the going gets tough you don’t want to let them down.  Tell your friends and Blog about it - I promise it works and I’ve a 9 year track record to prove it.
If you keep your goals to yourself it’s easy to let them drop and may gyms will see this when they are packed in January and start to empty in February and back to the regulars by March.  This approach can be life changing.
With my daily and weekly goals being monitored by my coach, I make sure I arrange my day / life around getting the session done and making it meaningful.  It doesn’t always work but I’d say 97% of the time it does.  Sometimes Tollcross Swimming let me down like yesterday when they didn’t open till 12 and I was standing outside at 11 (not shown on their website!). I didn’t have time in my schedule to wait as I was going to a family event which involved a few glasses of wine and food.  I carefully paced myself so that the following day I was fit to run 1 hr 55 mins at Chatelherault in the morning.  It would have been easy to have had a “session” yesterday and not be able to get out of my bed in the morning and to skip the run but reporting after every training session to my coach doesn’t give me that option.
This approach works for me so if you really want to achieve something special in 2019, you might want to consider it.  Or you could let another year go by and find yourself heading up to the next year end thinking about New Year Resolutions.  The power is in your hands - go on.  You know you want to.  All the best for 2019.

It’s the season to be jolly

Where has the year gone?  Blink and you’d have missed it.  You plan a goal and before you know it you’re at the startline.  My first startline next year will be the Highland Fling in 17 weeks time and there’s a lot of work to be done.  Going from 5 miles to 53 miles in that timeframe won’t be easy, but it will happen as it’s only the warm up for the main event where I’ll repeat this mileage another 3 days and 40,000ft of climbing.  As Muhammad Ali said, “if your goals don’t scare you then you haven’t set them high enough”.
This week my running mileage took a hike and it felt great.  My heart rate is a bit high but that will be sorted in the next month as the consistent running starts to show in the results.  The temperature certainly has an effect and today I was running in -3 degrees and trying to stay upright on the icy country roads.  My heart was working hard but not hard enough to stop the pain with the cold in my fingers despite wearing gloves - it will be ski gloves next time!
But it’s not all hard training.  On Saturday a large group of triathletes met at Chatelherault in fancy dress and to the amusement of the other walkers we did a slightly slower lap than normal.  The highlight had to be our T-Rex who had dogs either attacking him or running for their lives.  While we all work and train hard during the year, this is the season to be jolly so make the most of the time off if you are lucky enough to have some.  I’m enjoying two weeks off and while I will continue training I’m looking forward to some wonderful food, plenty of rest, the odd glass of wine and time with the family.  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for following my journey.  Merry Christmas.

Maybe I, maybe naw

Maybe I, maybe naw won’t mean much to my friends from afar but its this time of year when a comedy show comes on telly and a “football character” uses the phrase when trying to make a decision (in Edinburgh they’d say “possibly darling, possibly not”!).  Sadly the maybe I, maybe naw phrase has been over used this year with all the political talk of Brexit.  I’ve heard there’s a significant vote taking place on Tuesday but maybe I, maybe naw - it’s doing my head in!
The solution however is simple.  Pull on a pair of trainers and go out for a run.  Ignore all the noise and hot air being spouted and go and enjoy the wonderful surrounding in your own back yard.  My return to training has been gentle with runs restricted to between 5-8km.  I’ve quickly built up my swimming to 1,500m but this is following drills or specific sets.  I’m on week two of my strength training however some golfers elbow has restricted certain exercises.  Going for some sports therapy tomorrow so hopefully that will get sorted.
And despite all my experience, yesterday I got caught up in a fast, was meant to be social, Chatelherault run.  The first half was good but I realised the second half was going to hurt - and it did.  My heart rate and breathing were out of sorts which continued today even though the pace was much more controlled.  It’s either a lack of running or I’m coming down with something.
But it’s the “off season”.  The sessions should continue to have a purpose but with a bit more chatting and a slower pace.  We’ll get through December without having lost too much fitness so we can hit the ground running in January because it’s less than 4 months to the 53 mile Highland Fling Ultra!
Maybe I, maybe naw is not a phrased used when training - if it’s on the schedule, get it done.  The only time I’ll be using that phrase in the coming weeks will be deciding if I want more sticky toffee pudding and undoubtably the answer will be I!  Enjoy your offseason training folks....and the mince pies!