Well, we’re midway through the second week of the new year. I hope you’re training is going well. Nine weeks until this year’s Cara Bundoran Run. No pressure then….
Compared with this time last year, the weather has been great. Where last year you were trying to run with a bit of skating thrown in for good measure, this year the weather has been great. Having said that I probably have now jinxed us all.
So what have I been doing this week? Monday and today I went to Rossnowlagh beach to run its 2mile or so length. On a nice day there is no place finer, on a bad day it can be rough. Today was a kinda rough day. The comedian Billy Connolly said it best, there is no such thing as the wrong weather, only the wrong clothes. Today you could see the wall of rain coming in from miles away. I didnt bother with some form of jacket. Just my usual wooly hat due to having less thatch on my head these days.
It was nice though, in its own sadistic way. From a beach that is occupied by thousands during the summer months, today it was empty, and clean. No rubbish, dog poop, random holes left in the sand by youngsters building sandcastles. What there was though, was water. Lots of it. With drains and ditches overflowing from the recent rains, it was running down onto the beach, which has been carved down several inches from also recent stormy seas. A receding tide and heavy rain had left the beach with a layer of water. Great fun trying to navigate to run on the ridges of sand between the shallow puddles between them. Cold wet feet and cold wet sandy legs was the result. But its worth it to know that another 4 miles or so has been added to the spreadsheet (yes, I’m one of those people)
Another great place for a run is Castlecaldwell, just outside Belleek, County Fermanagh. Its still right on our doorstep, and gives the chance of a sheltered walk or run at this time of the year. Last year I went out there quite a few times. Its a beautiful place, and with a criss cross of paths and roadways, provides lots of variation to those who want to do more than its 3.5K length. With gravel paths most of the way it provides decent traction in frosty weather. We haven’t had any real frost this winter so far so we are probably due some over the coming weeks. I took a walk there on Saturday with my daughter as she wanted to try out her new hiking boots. The pathways out there looked like someone has swept them clean before we’d arrived. If you fancy a bit of variation from running on the roads or beaches, its worth a visit.
Having now made the semi-successful transition from running on treadmills to running outdoors under my own propulsion, my goal is to now add an extra mile a week to my runs. At the moment I can comfortably do 4 miles, on Friday’s run I’m going to try 5 miles, which should bring me to the point where I can join Paddy Donoghue’s training without making a show of myself.
Til next week….keep on truckin’
This time last year I set up a blog on Google’s blogger platform, with the intention of sharing my exploits as I tried to get fit. I updated it often for the first six months and then stopped, firstly because I had reverted to my old ways, and secondly because no one was reading it. So here we are a year later and I’m trying again. This time my blog is built using WordPress, which gets way more visibility from Google, so there may be a chance that somebody might actually read it this time around. Having failed to enter any races last year probably put paid to my motivation. This year I’m going to try establish a baseline of fitness that will allow me to enter many of the smaller races that are on around Ireland. While I didn’t lose a huge amount of weight last year, my weight compared to this time last year remains the same. Beloved and I do walk with the kids a lot and I suppose that does go to show what a little exercise can do to maintain your weight.
Professionally last year was good, I accomplished quite a few projects and learned a hell of a lot more about business. Being self-employed brings a whole separate set of neuroses and worries, and if unchecked these can take over your life. Yanky Faschler said a very smart thing about being self-employed ” its working 80 hours for yourself in order to avoid working 40 hours for someone else”. You regularly have the worry that you aren’t doing enough.Last year I spent a ridiculous amout of time working, to the extent that other interests were left by the wayside. This year I feel more confident in my abilities to designate work time and leisure time. I’ve reitired from my side-line business of more than 10 years, so my weekends are now free. I now have a steady stream of clients coming to me for my day job and I have no excuses for not taking leisure time.
Business Consultant Paul Davis ( you never know who I’m gonna reference in this blog, so pay attention) says that you should have three sets of targets – an easy target, an achievable target, and wildest expectation target. Hitting the easy target keeps you motivated eg I’m going to go for a run after work. The achieveable target is one you have set out as well within the realms of possibility eg. running 3 miles on your Saturday run. The wildest expectation target is the one you really would love to achieve, but is gonna take determination, drive and commitment eg I’m going to run the Dublin Marathon in 2012.
Here is my first achievable target – the Cara Bundoran Run on March 05th 2011. A ten mile road race around the seaside town of Bundroan. The achievable target is to be able to do this race with 6 weeks training. I think its achievable, I managed to cover 3 miles on Monday night mostly jogging. If I add a mile per week for the next 6 weeks I can surely manage ten miles on the 5th of March.