Time flies when you’re having fun… or so they say... and January has flown by despite it not all being fun!
I’ve managed two good weeks of training but took a five day break due to a mild chesty thing and a second five day break due to life and work busyness.
The focus has firmly been on gut training with seven long runs (around sixteen to eighteen miles) with elevation gain between two to three thousand feet with deliberate attention to kcal and carb hourly intake. I’ve been hitting 250kcal/hr, mostly without issue and was quite encouraged when, towards the end of the month, I found that really wasn’t enough and I was needing more.
Jon explained in the comments of this activity that it makes more sense to measure carb intake rather than calorie intake, so that’s what I’ll be doing going forward.
I also managed a flat ten mile effort at 7:28/mi pace, which is quite quick by my standards and considering all the people-dodging I had to do along Bognor Regis promenade.
I spent a lovely couple of days with family on the South coast: I got in a walk at Kingley Vale, which is one of my favourite places on the face of the Earth and also spent a wonderful afternoon with my Mum (pictured above with her dog) at Bosham (where I spent a lot of my childhood years). These places are filled with happy memories, they're special to me and restore my soul every time I visit.
I also attended the Bowland Fell Runners Annual Dinner and Cèilidh... a very fine evening indeed. I was surprised not to find Cèilidh listed among the activity types on my watch so I recorded it as Roller Skating, it's a very similar activity after all... spinning around until you're entirely giddy and can't stand up!
In terms of races, I've nothing booked yet. I didn't put in for the CCC lottery this year (mostly to avoid the crushing disappointment of the rejection email) and I'm nervously watching the South Downs Way 100 sell out before my eyes... It's a fantastic race but if I enter, I'll regret it and if I don't enter, I'll regret it... I am, however, going to enter as many of the Bowland Fell Runners Champs as possible with the exception of the Bleasdale Circle Fell Race, as I'm volunteering there again this year and in terms of middle distance races, the Lakes Mountain 40 in April looks good (40 miles and 8,200ft of elevation gain)... It's an event organised by NAV4 who put on the Tour de Helvellyn that I did in December, so I know it'll be good.
I'll continue with the gut training throughout February and with any luck I'll get a more consistent training load spread across the month.
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