Disciplined consistency

I'm glad the last couple of weeks are behind me.  The dental surgery went well and the recuperation invoving soft food and no smiling is over.  On Wednesday I got my stitches out of my mouth and that was far from pleasant, needing a local anaestic as they weren't for coming out!  My vaccine jab was fine and other than the expected sore arm, I had no side effects.   The next day I went out for an 11 km run followed by 12k, 24k and today 12k.
And that's what has inspired my blog this week.  Disciplined consistency.  As you know I've been working all year at getting my heart rate to behave during my runs.  Ultra slow runs where I've been aiming at a max heart rate of 132 and longer runs where the target is 147.  These rates are tough to get under especially with the hilly terrain that I train in.  This week all runs were under the target heart rate even my longest run at Chatelherault where the terrain makes this difficult.  The pace plays an important part and I've managed to slow down in order to follow my coaches plan.
Having a properly constructed plan taking account of your fitness, work life balance and your goals is the starting point but you have to be disciplined and stick to the plan, even if it's difficult.  I have found this years training frustrating but experience has taught me that it would come good in the end.  It has but I need to stick with the targets set as the mileage starts to increase.
I'm looking forward to the weather improving so I'm not getting wet feet during the run which always increases the risk of blisters but as I have said before, the right socks is the key to avoiding blisters as does treating your feet with a good foot cream daily. 
If you haven't got a race in the diary then get one in.  It motivates you to put in the miles and it makes every training session more focused.  The 2021 is approaching and with disciplined consistency, you'll smash it.