Start as you mean to go on!

We're into a new year, and what a time to get back in gear! Many of us will use today as an opportunity to get out for a run, to start that new years resolution, and to make a change to our lives in one way or another. 

Start as you mean to go on!

For those of you who have missed a run today, or that kick start for a new year, every day is an opportunity to begin. With Runathon, we're aiming to reward runners and walkers of all abilities for getting active. Just sharing your activity is enough to enter, and enough to take part. You can start on January 1st, or January 31st, we want people to involved!

So that's the party political broadcast out of the way, I suppose the next thing is to talk about the first run of 2019! A simple thing when coming back from injury, is having a milestone for distance or pace.

Regardless of how fit I am, I have always set my target at 4:30 min/km. It's a threshold that I'm happy with for my basic level of fitness. While I'm not there yet, I hope to be by the end of January. It will take a lot of hard work, but with hard work comes rewards.

There are some things I've noticed which I can work on to get there a bit easier. I find during a 5k and above, I seem to struggle with my core. That is to say I almost feel queasy, unable to push harder even though I know I have more pace in my legs.

Now this strength will come with more training, but having a few core exercises will help get my core stronger. They will include some simple things like planks, sit ups, and similar body weight exercises.

Even though there is work to be done, I found being out and about to be refreshing. To find that the cold over Christmas had not really impacted on my fitness levels. Pat Daly in the running group I run with said you lose about 2% fitness per week you don't exercise.

Somewhat refreshing then that the amount to be caught up isn't that much. The first loop (2.5K) was a little cumbersome, but I found a bit of pace during the second loop to be easier. Hopefully tomorrow's run is a bit better! The goal for this week is to get a 10 mile run under the belt!

Over Christmas back in Tipp, my sister asked me if I had ever considered doing Yoga. Bizarrely, I hadn't. There is almost some sort of blocker, or stigma, associated with Yoga. Sure I know there are benefits for flexibility, but I always considered it was a soft touch exercise with no real benefits for endurance running. So I checked out some videos on YouTube to see what it was all about.

After trying 3 exercises, I was surprised by how difficult it was. So a plan for the next few months as well as getting my core and base speed back up to where they should be, I am also going to give Yoga a go. Some of my blogs will be about how each session goes, and what are the best exercises are best for runners!!