I seem to blog less and less these days - my time being stretched in other directions - but today, normally 'treadmill Tuesday' I am not running, again. So I thought it was about time have a blog catch-up.
So why am I not running? Well, the story is a bit of a broken record at the moment - yet another virus, another bad chest, and looking forward to another round of blood tests and clinics to attend. Something's not right. I can't put my finger on it, but I know something is not right. It's one thing after another, month after month I've missed short training runs, long training runs, track sessions - entire weeks of training - and even this past weekend I missed our club cross country championships. I'm not a huge cross country fan (I love watching it on television but it's not my favourite running discipline) but if I have been free I have always attending this one race at Annan. It's a shame, because only one other lady from the club went which would have meant I could have come away with a prize even with a terrible performance.
I'm at a bit of a loss when it comes to races this year. I can't really decide what to do as my build-up races towards the Lakeland 100 at the end of July. Last year I ran the Fling but that's not happening for me this year. I have two short and one medium fell races entered, and I have a long training weekend organised in May with some friends but beyond that I am target-less. It's probably just as well given my current health but I could really do with putting something on my planner for when I feel ready for racing big again. I had hoped that when the Anglo-Celtic Plate returned to Perth that I would race it. The 100k has always held a special appeal to me - Paul became Scottish 100K Champion not long after we got together. I've always felt that one day I would like to do one. And I would like it to be at Perth. Alas I will have to wait until it rolls back around in a couple of years time.
Many of my club-mates are well under way with their Fling training and it would be great to be able to train with them on a regular basis. It would really help me get some mileage in my legs but I can only do that if my health picks up again, and if our schedules match. Scheduling is tough when you have to juggle training times with a partner (husband in my case) and children (when you don't have extra childcare) and work and other commitments. I miss getting regular runs with my friends. At times I can feel quite isolated within the running community. Don't get me wrong I enjoy my solo runs but it's nice to have company as well. Thank god for social media and Strava - often that's the only way I know what's going on running wise - they are, so often, my points of contact with the world of running, especially when I'm not running myself.
So fingers crossed I can get some answers soon regarding my health issues, and start getting down to some solid, consistent training. I need to set some targets, some race goals to aim for between now and the Lakeland 100 in July. It will be the biggest and toughest race I have ever attempted and I really need to get on that start line feeling healthy, strong, fit and positive. Right now the race makes me feel small and completely inadequate. I'm sure a lot of people feel like that when they are targeting something that's beyond anything they've ever done before. This is why I need to get myself into a place mentally where I feel I am ready to tackle those 105 miles and 6300 feet of ascent. In order to feel mentally ready I need to feel physically ready - I need confidence in my training.
It's nearly the end of February and the race is at the end of July. On the face of it it seems like there s lots of time still to train, but really, when you start breaking into down into training periods, there really is not much time at all. It's time to go...
