Ain't Nothin' Gonna Break-a My Stride...

...well except for, er, quite a few things actually.

I've not done a lot of running since the last blog entry, and this entry is basically a litany of excuses. (You have been warned!)

It all started [cue dream like flashback with harp playing effects] at the Forum's Xmas On The Fells (XOTF). Was a bitterly cold run towards the end, and I was a bit too slow in putting on my warm gear at the last stop-and-wait-for-the-others point. I then decided to wait and run down with the backmarkers, which meant running a lot slower than I'm comfortable with and so I didn't get my body temperature up again. As a result I was sat in the pub, curry house and finally, the club that night all shaky and shivery. Not only that but my body seemed to take a while to recover from this.

Other than this what was there? Oh yes: 

• I missed an opportunity for a couple of decent length runs over the holiday period whilst at the family's, because I forgot my headtorch;
• I missed out on quite a few Sunday runs because Pendle was inaccessible (snow on the roads);
• Running on the roads as an alternative, or as part of my mid-week training wasn't feasible as the roads/pavements/lanes near me were lethally icy;
• Once the snow had gone, weekends were spent decorating our bedroom;
• Weekdays were spent mainly away from home - so I've not been to a Tuesday night headtorcher with the club since before Xmas.

It's not all been doom and gloom: between access to Pendle being granted and the snow going completely I was able to hit it a couple of times. Got quite a few pictures which I will get on here at some point. Absolutely loved running in the snow. Such a great training effort required as you go between running on top of icy, crusty snow, and falling through the crust (up to the calf/knee/waist). Ended up with shins totally shredded of skin where the crust took the top layers away on the way in and on the way out of the snow. Also ended up with an impressive cankle where my foot would sink beneath the snow and would turn on whatever bumpy, uneven terrain there was underneath. Brilliant fun!

I've been able to salvage something whilst I've been away with work as well. I've been in hotels with gyms so I've been hitting the treadmill (soul destroying, but necessary) and putting together some mad circuits for a total body workout, but really hitting the legs hard with some strength and plyometric work. Using the treadmill as a warm up then destroying myself on the circuits has been oddly satisfying, and a really good alternative to the running, and will probably try and use these more in my training in future.

However, all of this has meant that the momentum I was building up before Xmas has been lost, and as many of you probably know, it's the first steps back on to a structured programme which are the hardest. 

But not to fear. It begins again this week. Tonight a hilly road run with a weighted pack, tomorrow I am around for my club run over Pendle, Thursday I might be hitting Pendle for an early one. A bit further down the line I've put together a big 25mi run round Pendle (Sun 21st Feb), I'm still hoping for a place on a High Peak Marathon team (which to be honest has been a bit of a spur to get out of this funk), and am toying with the idea of a double FTOP in March.

So it all begins again. Bring it on!!