Update and Race Announcements

It's been a mental few weeks for me, but now I am getting to settle back into things quite happily. Just moved office, we aren't totally sorted with that yet but not far off. Hours at work are somewhat more stable to allow for a better training schedule which is one of the key things for me in terms of sleep.

I'm slowly getting up earlier and earlier, this morning I managed a record breaking 7:30, alarm clock free. The aim is around 6-6:30 am, this gives me time to fuel up, run (or crosstrain, or strength train), get back, sort out my stuff for work, including the food i'm going to need and then head off to work. Normally I would just be getting up around 9 or 10 and lazing around before work but things are a lot more focused now. Though there is a margin for Fifa etc before work.

My diet has vastly improved, not just from what I was eating at springfair, but also what I was eating before that. It's a much more balanced and varied diet, including my current favourite sweet treat Soreen. I do have to spend a little bit extra on it all, but I spend nothing on snack foods from shops now, and I don't have a cheeky greggs before work. I'm looking to increase the amount I make as fresh and next week i'm going to try by making sweet potato ice cream. That'll be an interesting one no doubt!

As for training, I ran 6 miles yesterday and 12 miles today. Those are my two biggest distances of the week, I will be doing 3 more runs for the rest of the week, all 4 miles. These will be when I do my speed training, and hope to combine them with swimming and strength training, if not this week then definitely in the near future.

Here's a few race announcements on where you should be catching me in the upcoming months, though some races may change due to entry being decided on ballot.

Next race will be the South Yorkshire Half Marathon and races after that include the Great Manchester Run, the Great North Run and the Jane Tomlinson Leeds Half Marathon. I am hoping to fit in 1 marathon distance (26.2 miles) by the end of the year.

I am currently working through my issues of Runners World to put all the best bits into a document including recipes, training tips etc, so i don't have to constantly sift through them all for that thing I remember seeing but don't remember where. I also bought a gymsack today, so I can chuck it on my back as I run on to the swimming pool.

I have increased how much money i am investing in this as I know it will all play off.

John

Update

Hey,

So as you all know I was away last week and have spent most of this week working! It's been tiring, I am very exhausted, and with 1 last shift at work to do this week I plan to do little more than rest properly.

I was hoping to compete in this weekends road race in Barnsley but tiredness, coupled with being unable to train for two weeks, has made me come to the conclusion that it's better to delay it, recover and start training. I start training again on Monday, and will be building up to half marathon distance this time. As Spring is approaching I am also going to be much tighter on the diet, so hopefully my race times will come tumbling down over the summer!

I will be building on my fundraising attempts now too, starting with getting in touch with British Heart Foundation to ask for as much help as they can give to me. I'm particularly looking for publicity where possible in order to at least get more people giving a few quid here and there. If you keep an eye out I will be updating the justgiving page later!

Best,
John

Two Quiet Weeks

Just a quick update for you all really.

Next week I am exhibiting at SpringFair with my business JollySmith which means my training for this week has been cut right down and that I won't be doing any next week. I'm taking this time to tweak the other things, like sleep quality and diet. It's a really big week for me ahead, but i've had a challenging few weeks with this prep, last weeks 10k and, the week I come back, I am running the 10k in Barnsley.

This week i've written a new exercise plan that will see me tweak a lot of things and improve in many areas, perhaps not before the next 10k, but after that.

So I will see you all in about a week!

Best,
John