New Year

It’s been a long time since my last post so I thought I’d remedy the situation. Training has been going very well, despite the beautiful (sub zero) winter we’ve been subjected too.

I had a race in Delamere Forest, a 10k X-Country job, at New Year. Was feeling strong, and sitting comfortably in 6th position (out of about 300), with the leader about 1 minute up, at the 6k point. Then we got sent the wrong way. Race ruined. It’s impossible to convey to someone who doesn’t race at this level quite how genuinely upsetting this is. As a serious athlete, I, and others like me, spend huge portions of our life alone and in the dark, putting in winter miles, so that we can do ourselves justice on race day. Friendships, relationships and family ties all get strained because of what we do, so race day is one of the few times we really get to reap some reward for our hard work. To see that thrown away because an event can’t properly organise is sickening. But, like my dad said afterwards, to be in 6th was a pleasing indictment of my fitness. I’ll just make sure I ace the next race I do. I was less rational at the time. Furious doesn’t even come close.

Swimming is coming on leaps and bounds. I frequently lead out in the club sessions, and it’s good to push the pace and see the fitness of other people improving as a result of tough sessions. The guys I train with are all good laughs, which makes it more fun when the sessions, as they invariably do, become hard. I’m miles off being a truly good swimmer, but as long as I keep on getting stronger it’s OK.

Riding outside has been near impossible in the ice, and last weekend in York was the first time out on the roads in a while. I did a 60k ride towards Helmsley, which included a nice 5k hill (length, not height!) up through Brandsby. Averaged just under 19mph for the two hour ride – relatively laid back but then that’s the point of a base session like that. Jargon buster – base sessions are ones we use to basically improve our endurance, not our speed. It was a good weekend in York, spent the evening on Saturday with a pub dinner and a film night at two of her friends’ house (I get on with them too, I hasten to add!). Always relaxing in York, even if Sarah does have to endure what must be one of the coldest houses in the entire world.

It’s also been 18 days since my last taste of booze. 5 o’clock on the morning of the 1st January saw my last drink for the next five months (until a post world qualification tipple in May), and 11 o’clock on the morning of 1st January saw my last hangover.

Looking forward to a holiday in Wales at the end of this week. Hopefully get a bit of walking in some of the smaller hills in as well, provided the weather isn’t too atrocious. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I hike up Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons the other weekend. Absolutely horrendous conditions – whiteout, sub zero with a serious windchill, and thick snow and ice the whole way up. Awesome conditions to hike in – I was the only person on my choice of ascent, a northern spur, and I didn’t meet anyone until the top (where some soldiers and ice climbers had also arrived). Tough work, but I love things like that. It’s one of the rewards open to people who really train hard – they can go out and explore the wilds when most people wouldn’t make it half way up without succumbing to the cold, the lack of visibility or their lack of fitness. Some might call that arrogance, but it isn’t. I work hard, and I’m proud of the goals that hard work lets me achieve.

Happy new year!

19/01/2010