This year took a turning for the worst training wise due to illness in the first few months of 2015.  Apart from running the Alexander The Great Marathon I’ve only done one week of training a maximum 21.3 miles.  My goal for the year had been to beat last years weekly average of a poxy 9 miles and run 13 mile weeks.  Needless to say I’m a bit behind.  Apart from the marathon the longest training run I’ve done so far this year is a poxy 10 miles.

I’ve managed a few weeks at 13 ish miles but only a few.  However, it’s halfway through the year so there is still six months to turn it around.  It’s about getting back into the habit of running every other day like I used to when I first started.  Mixing it up with short speed training sessions and a long run.  So far I’ve been easing myself in to it, aware that too much of a sudden jump could cause injury, even if the amounts might seem small to other endurance runners.

Scheduling in short speed work sessions are easy.  All too often my training runs have been just over 5k (including the distance to work) so I’m surprised I managed the marathon at all.  It’s a pretty big jump from 5k to 42k.  I don’t want to keep repeating that leap.  I remember how hard those last five miles were.

It’s comforting to know that I’ve kept my marathon fitness throughout.  Now it’s about progressing it.  The long run to start with will be a minimum of 10k each week.  Once I get used to this I’ll start adding a hotch potch of speed of extra miles or speed work to keep up my pace.

Yoga has been helping keep my muscles feeling fresh throughout my new schedule.  I’ve promise myself I’ll do a 30 day yoga challenge.  I want to see if I can keep to a commitment of fitness just like with my schedule.  Especially when I know it benefits it.  Meaning I can go from one session to the next with the same intentions without tiredness from the intensity of the other.  This is important for enjoying the run and keeping fresh.

A phrase in the yoga flow I did on the weekend, “take a moment each day to pause and do nothing” something that resonated. I do so much. All the time. I need to allow myself a few moments of peace each day when I’m not focusing on what I have to do on my list and just appreciate being.

Namaste

Happy Running

xxx

Eleanor