It doesn’t always go to plan

After finishing the season so strongly last year I didn’t think I find myself sat here searching for motivation.  It’s fair to say these last 3 months have been a chore, a grind, pathetic the list could go on!

After the A100 I took some time off anything serious to let my body recover fully before I set about the next block.  Rest, easy running followed the mileage build up.  Well, a temporary change in job location during November put extra stress and hours on to my days meaning most of my plans went out of the window, which added to my grumpy runner state!  Still, I battled through taking mileage where I could some of it good some of it bad, but most of it in the dark and wet but I was at least 30% behind where I wanted to be.  In the spare time I did have over Christmas all I wanted to do was be around the mini Brookman’s and spend hours ‘helping’ build the boys lego!

I took some of my own advice and decided to look forward, not worrying about what I’d missed out on, just concentrating on what I could do here and now.  With the C2C less than three weeks away this was all I could do, I had a 30-mile day out planned on the course in early January.  This would usually get my mind back into frame and looking forward to the race.  It was an absolute bogfest, cold and hard going, which usually I would thrive on, but this just added to my misery and lack of enthusiasm for the upcoming event.  I returned from the recce knowing my heart wasn’t in this one but I did what I could (more like wanted) to get my mind set.

Race day came and I stayed in the mix for the first 15 miles or so but the combination of a minor ‘niggle’ and ‘I just don’t want this’ meant I sat back, gorged on torq gels, sang along to the iPod and jogged the last 25 miles at 8:20’s until that finish line finally appeared along that sodding canal!  I finished in 5^th place, 5:24 which was eight minutes slower than last year.  Not a performance to be repeated if I want to compete at a level I set last year.

So I’ve learnt if you don’t really want ‘it’ there is no point in trying to compete at the top end of the field when its strong, it makes you more depressed!

Time now to reflect and put things in perspective for the next week or so.  The progress I’ve made during the last 18 months has been good, a couple of wins and podium performances last year have taught me ‘how’ to race when it counts and aside from the broken ribs it’s been relatively trouble free and enjoyable. I need to build some consistency into my training, increase the mileage slightly and focus on some speed ahead of the marathon in April.  Back to basics with the strength and conditioning work, my trainer is going to seriously kick my arse when she gets her hands on me next week.

 

Next up it's Transgrancanaria which I'm really looking forward to - 125k, 8,000 meters of climbing, in the warm!  Hopefully I'll find the mojo out there somewhere.