2014 was awesome, 2015 could be even better...

A belated Happy New Year from me.

Its been a while since my last post as not a lot has been happening, well not from a training point-of-view.

My last update was man-flu related.

I ended up losing 25 days to whatever the hell I had over December.  It wasnt much fun.  Even after a course of antibiotics, a 7 day dose of additional steroids followed by a super-strength course of antibiotics, I was nowhere near 100%.  At one point I ended up in Queen Mary's at Sidcup for a Chest X-Ray, just so that the GP could rule out possible Pneumonia or some other nasty.  I cant tell you how relieved I was to find the X-Ray was all clear.

Thankfully, the almost constant coughing and wheezing has now stopped which has allowed me to start training again, all be it very slowly.  I'm now religiously taking my steroid inhaler, something thing I've never done since my teens and I'm carrying my Ventolin inhaler around with me everywhere.

As you'll see from my Strava feed, my first run back was on the 29th December.  That was a huge eye opener for me.  That ended the longest break I've had from training since I started taking my fitness seriously and it has affected me badly.

My stamina has gone, my leg muscles are aching after each run, so much so that my quads have felt bruised upon return and stretching and my HR, both active and resting has gone through the roof.

I've since run 5k on Jan 1st, 5k on Jan 2nd and then what I would call a very conservative 10k on Jan 5th, despite my average HR being much higher than it should be for a run of that pace.  However, that is to be expected after the time off.

As I build up my training again, no doubt my HR will come back down again.

It's disappointing and very frustrating to know that I ran my quickest 10k in almost a year in my last run before coming down ill but its one of those things that you just have to accept.  Illness and injury will occur and there's not much we can do about it.  We need to manage our bodies and try to look after ourselves as much as we possibly can.

I ended 2013 with a review, so I really should officially end 2014 in the same way, all be it a week later than it should have been.

2014 was pretty awesome.  Here are my final stats:

Not only did I run my first marathon in April, I ran another three, making it 4 in a year.  I managed a fraction over 1,016 miles for 2014, a little less than the 1,055 I racked up for 2013.

In terms of my 2014 targets, I achieved #1 (successfully running Paris all be it not sub 4hr as planned) and #5 (running more marathons). Target #2 of running a sub 50 min 10k totally evaded me as I didnt actually run one competitive 10k in the year.  I'll leave that one as a work in progress.

As for Targets #3 and #4, neither really happened.  I think my cycling days are well and truly over, if I'm being honest with myself.  Although I enjoyed a few of the rides I had last year, cycling doesnt physically challenge me any more.  I cant be hassled with the maintenance required for a decent road bike and I certainly cant be hassled with traffic.  The last two rides I had ended up with me getting a sh*t-load of road rash, thorns and my life flashing before my eyes.  I've got an 8 year old daughter and I want to see her grow up.  I know I can trust myself on my bike but sadly I cant trust other road users.  As much as cycling is becoming popular, the roads are becoming unsafer.

As for social life, mixed really.  Hopefully that will improve in 2015.

However, totally out of the blue I met a woman and she's put a smile on my face.  Its a  pretty tough thing to do in all respects so 2014 has been a pretty decent year.

Unlike NYE on 2013 when I went running just before midnight to totally forget the New Year was coming, NYE 2014 was spent partying.  Talk about a change lol.

So on to 2015.  Hopefully it'll be even better than 2014.

As for objectives & targets, I'm going to leave them as open as I can...

1) Achieve a new marathon PB.

2) Achieve a new 10k PB.

Stating numbers is counter-intuitive.  I'd desperately like to run a sub 4:00 marathon and a sub 50min 10k but until I actually do it, I wont know if I can.  2014 taught me a lot about my body and a lot of the time is down to timing.  I was in decent shape ahead of Amsterdam but being ill the night before the race ruined the run for me.

If its going to happen, it will.  Of course, we need to train to give our bodies the best chance of making it happen but I'm going to try and run this year without putting myself under any pressure.  I want to enjoy my hobby and not get overly compulsive about my targets, although I intend to train as hard as I can.

To give my body the best chance to succeed, I've now knocked the booze on the head for the foreseeable and I'm back to counting the calories religiously again in an attempt to drop a few more pounds (25 days of no training over the Christmas period is not a good scenario as you can imagine).

So here's so a happy, successful and most importantly injury/incident free 2015.

JB.

Wednesday Training (Happy New Year 10k with man flu)

I've pretty much felt like death over the last 48 hours.  I picked myself up enough yesterday afternoon to do a very slow trail run and I hoped I'd be able to do the same today.

It didnt quite work out like that.

I hate New Year's Eve with a passion.  I'd rather just get on with things and let it pass me by.  When I got back from my parents this afternoon and realised my neighbours had visitors which highly like meant yet another party to contend with, I thought to myself enough was enough.

I dosed myself up, I soaked myself in the hottest steamiest bath in history to clear my nose and sinuses and I got in my lycra and I forced myself to run 10k at about 11.20pm on NYE.  That way, I could avoid midnight altogether.

Its absolutely no fun being billy no mates and I'm certainly not going to subject myself to having to listen to others having fun.  So off I went...

I took the run very easily. No effort at all. A nice slow constant pace, ensuring I was only taking shallow breaths so as to avoid drawing the cold air on to my lungs which could cause further chaos later.

You may notice that the average HR is much higher than it would be for a run at a much quicker pace but that is easily explained by the several gallons of Diet Coke I've drank in the last 12 hours and the various medication I've been taking (nurofen cold and flu tablets, benilyn chesty cough, subutamol etc).

I felt pretty good considering.  No coughing or spluttering.  The sinuses remained clear until I got home in the shower.  So first 10k of 2014 completed within the first half hour of the new year, although the first 3 miles occured in 2013 :)

At least I can have a lay in and not feel remotely guilty in the morning.  Roll on Izzy o'clock, I've missed the little lady like mad!