Starting Where You left off?

Well it’s the start of a new year.
I’m not going to say ‘New Year – New Me’, because infact I’m just carrying on where I left off albeit with new goals and targets.
This year is going to be a big one for us both.
To give you a brief insight we have the following coming up:-

1) JAN – Bath Skyline 10k
2) FEB – Lanzarote
3) FEB – Bath Skyline 10k
4) APR – London Marathon
5) JUNE – Around The World Trip
6) OCT – Bristol To Bath Marathon

In terms of keeping our fitness to cope with the adventures this year holds, we’ve really looked at it from another angle.

We both had Gym memberships for the last 3-4 years and recently looked at exactly what it was we did at the gym and what our goals were. We are both mainly runners and do a lot of home workouts to supplement this.
In order to up distance and intensity of running we needed to push our endurance levels and saw a way of doing this would be to cancel our gym memberships in Winter and get out in all weathers and log some miles.
This has set us in good stead.
We’ve embraced the all weather running which wasn’t too difficult as we are all weather adventurers anyway. So far this year combined we have put in 50+ miles and coupled this with core workouts, upper body and leg exercises.
This by all means ISN’T a new us. This is us taking off where 2014 had left us and pushing things further.

We’ll be tackling our next 10k race with full steam ahead and then taking a well earned adventure break to Lanzarote in February. (I’ve googled running races in Lanza – There aren’t any in Feb! )

We’re well equipped for our around the world expedition….. Christmas saw to that and we’re full of excitement for our Marathons.

Food wise we’ve expanded on our fresh food eating and started making a lot more homemade snacks and of course we’re both on the dryathlon wagon 😉

Set a goal and chase it. Whether at work, fitness, love, or personal. Without a goal there’s no need to chase.

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.

Fair weather runner?

There’s something about all weather running that’s exhilerating and also a bit ridiculous.
I, myself like to run when the weather is at it’s most extreme. I’m a shorts and vest man. When its raining, snowing, sleeting or blistering sunshine, i’m a shorts and vest man.
I once wore a t-shirt to run in. It was earlier this year. I woke up and it was about 2 degrees. I thought a t-shirt would be a good option but 2 minutes into my run I instantly regretted the decision.
You’ll only be cold for about 5 minutes and then you’re hot. My viewpoint however is all relative to the weather the UK gets.
Running in awful weather is much more of an adventure than running in comfortable conditions. It’s out of norm.

When we were kids I bet you all loved getting muddy. That was because you could, you were a kid and that’s what we did. These days it’s if it’s torrential rain, thunderstorms or a blizzard we tend to put the heating on and get on the sofa. If we’re outside we avoid puddles, step over muddy patches on fields and get in the shade when the sun is too strong.
Not me. The thought of pushing my physical and mental strength that bit further is what drives me on to push myself mentally and physically in life.

The comfort zone is not a good place to be. Nobody ever made a difference staying in their comfort zone.
Now don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t advise anybody runs in a thunderstorm, that’s just one of the stupid things I like to do.
Life is a big adventure, and experiencing what nature can throw at us makes that adventure all that bit more exhilerating.
Next time it’s chucking it down, get your running trainers on and get out there. You’ll only get wet once on that run.