A good start

I've had a good start to the year with training, although had a bit of a cold for a few days so I had to have a bit of a lighter start than I had originally hoped for. This in mind however, I have already managed a few PBs with airborne running and weights and have already started running with my full XL vest weight of 4KG. This in itself is good news as I haven't ran with this sort of weight for a long time. I feel like my head is in a different and better place and where as I have been guilty in the past of going through the motions of training (especially in the last year), I am now trying to push myself beyond what I have been capable of for a while.

I got a new Garmin and love it, but it has made me realise a few things that I was unaware of... When I run on the treadmill without weight I run at about the speed the treadmill says... when I have the weights vest on although the treadmill is on the same speed I run slower, my cadence is slower, my ground contact is longer and vertical oscillation is lower (the last one probably being the only good point!). I've started using a heart rate monitor and am already amazed at what results I am seeing... they aren't that good at the moment, but there again I haven't given training enough consideration over the last few months so I shouldn't really expect anything else.

Shaun contacted me yesterday and said he has a few changes for my training programme anyway (which start after Helsinki) but this week he wants me to start doing a farmers walk. Excellent... I like the look of that exercise! Apparently William is going to contact me about my taper for the 24 hour race too. Unfortunately I've got myself back into the correct frame of mind a bit too late to do Helsinki justice, but I should definitely be able to get to at least 20 miles in training by then. What with all of the other stuff I do alongside the running, I'm confident I'll be in half decent shape. If I can jump 50 or 60 fences and stiles and run/walk over churned up fields after 8 weeks of barely any training and still get to 82ish miles then I'm sure I can do better than that on an indoor track after 8 weeks of good training!!!! We shall see anyway!