New Year - New Beginnings and New Possibilities!

Ok, the best laid plans and all that. Somehow I still haven't been updating my blog regularly. Since I last wrote in here I have been running more, swimming and did a four week bootcamp online. This involved a lot of tough exercises and  some cardio intervals to follow when I'm running. However, this finished on Christmas Eve and since then, oh dear me, the food intake has set me back a few kilos! There's work to be done! My 4 week program was interrupted when I needed to fly to NZ two weeks before Christmas as my sister's husband died after a short illness. It was a sad visit but good to be there. I did continue with the fitness side of the program but eating the right food was not so easy to maintain!

A few weeks before Christmas good friend Norma (aka Lucky Legs) drove to Canberra from Mittagong (about 3 hours) to run on the track at the AIS and try to beat the current W80 5000m track record. Well, she did that alright, she smashed it by nearly 5 minutes. It was so exciting to watch. Ewen ran behind her to keep her company and to lap score. I ran the 3000m at the same start time so was able to cheer her on for her last few kms. Her time was 31:11 - so fantastic. She is certainly an inspiration!

Another inspirational runner is Ewen who has been running every single day without rest for over twelve months and has decided to continue for 404 days. I wonder if he will actually have a rest day after that. He runs a minimum of 5km a day no matter what the weather!

And now to 2013. Happy New Year! I have started a training plan which I have downloaded onto my iphone from Runners' World. Currently my goal is the Canberra Marathon (again) in April but if I find it too intensive I will lower my heights to the half marathon on the same day. In the meantime I have to think positive. I have decided that even if I run Canberra slowly it will help motivate me for the New York marathon in November which is definitely on the agenda this year. Inbetween there are lots of half marathons to run and I will continue to cross train with swimming, cycling (yet to be done), strength work and body balance classes at the gym. As I said there's lots of work to be done! I have certainly noticed the loss of strength and speed since my long illness last year but I am determined that I will just keep working on it and maybe I can return to where I was in April at least!

So far I have stuck to the training plan but this is only Week 1 of a 15week program.

On New Year's Day, after celebrating with friends the night before, I managed to run 11km, take Teddy for a 5km walk and swim 1km. At least I was working off some of the excess indulgences! I ran 11km the following day too but only because I got lost running home. It was supposed to be 10km with 6km tempo but the extra km wouldn't have hurt and I did try the tempo run. Every day of course Teddy gets his walk of about an hour or so depending on the heat of the day. Sometimes we don't venture out until after 6.30pm when it's slightly more pleasant.

This morning I ran 22km which is my longest run since the Canberra Marathon in April! I was out the door before 7am as the forecast is for 37deg today - a real scorcher. I selected today instead of Saturday for my long run this week as we are driving to Sydney tomorrow for Mr B is taking part in a triathlon there. It was a hot, hard run and took me 2.5hours - not exactly earth shattering pace. By the time I arrived home I was dripping wet as the temperature had risen considerably from when I started and the sun was beating down. I consumed plenty of water but still lost 2kg in fluid which I'm sure I have since consumed. It's very thirsty weather!

Photos: Xmas nibbles 2012; LL with me after smashing the 5000m track record; celebrating with Ewen after 365 days of running without a break; running at the Vets' Handicap