The Long Road to London

Happy New Year!  2014 is here, the year for new targets, new starts, new experiences and new goals!  The festivities have been fantastic, giving me the opportunity to catch up with friends, family and over indulge in food and drink as well as taking a New Year dip in the sea on the 1st at Westport Beach - that wakened us up!!  Despite having a really bad cold for the first week, I've allowed myself to have a good rest, eat some good food but have continued to keep up some form of training including taking part in the Slog in the Sand 10k on the 28th.  6.2 miles of tough beach running but I loved it!  Even managed to add on another 3 miles as Jocelyn said that we were down for 9 miles according to the marathon training plan :-)  I've still only had 2 days rest in the holidays which is pretty good going for me! 

The London marathon is one of my goals this year and is only 14 weeks away - argh!!  I also want to keep up my speed despite upping the mileage as I'd love to get a PB in the MOKRUN this year.  The MOKRUN is a race that I helped set up and organise way back when I still lived in Glasgow in 2006 and it's grown and grown.  So much so that it has veen voted as the best race in the UK 4 times by Runners World readers AND with me only putting entries live yesterday it's almost full!  Organising the MOK can be very time consuming and stressful but it is very rewarding and want to make it better than ever this year.  It's not normally a race that is one of my own targets, sometimes not even getting to run it but I'd really like to do well this year.  Check out our new website MOKRUN for info on how to book if you are quick!

I plan to use this blog, more frequently if I can, to track my progress of training and diet in the hope that it keeps me motivated and use it as a log to notice any trends of injuries or scunnered-ness!!  I aim to be more careful with my nutrition, fuelling my body properly pre, during and post-exercise to hopefully improve my performance and keep me healthier and fitter than ever.  Of course, that's the plan at the start of the new year so we'll see how it goes....

##### Breakfast Snack 2 Lunch Snack 3 Dinner Snack 4 Exercise Comments Monday Muller light greek yoghurt and almonds   soup and bread Clementine.  Mince pie. Chilli con carne and rice Tea.  3 lindor chocolates 6 miles easy with Ems around town and down past ship yard (bit muddy). Followed by extreme circuits. Shock to system! Felt good today with hip pain minimal which was good.  Weather was ok but is due to get worse. Tuesday Banana Green tea and toast with peanut butter and jam! Soup and bread. Mince pie.  Tea. 3 course meal at Royal Hotel for hoggers!  Haggis spring rolls, chicken breast with goats cheese, lemon posset.  Small portions tbh but delicious.  Copious amounts of wine - fabulous night! Wine.  Finger food at some point after midnight.... Took last spin class of the year at 8am.  Very sweaty. Weather horrendous - high winds and heavy rain although cleared a little to allow me to do a 5 mile easy run.   Garmin miraculously working again - hurrah!  Hip a little sore.  Didn't get much sleep either so knackered.                     Wednesday Tea and toast! mince pie     Steak pie - the works!  Forero Rocher cheesecake. Tea.  Crisps.  Chocolate. Horrendous weather or would've ran.  A quick dip in the sea at Westport beach woke us up - awesome! Happy new year!  Busy organising launch of mokrun entries tomorrow! Thursday Banana   Toast and scrambled eggs.  Favourite post-run meal :-) Mince pie.  Tea. Leftover steak pie and trimmings from the inlaws - delish! Too many lindor chocolates to admit to. 7 miles to sheep fanks with Jen.  Lovely calm day.  Enjoyed an easy run.  Did another 3 slow miles with my cousin Mark who is just starting to run - he did great! Hip is a bit sore today, will try a few stretches.  MOKRUN entries go live and selling fast!  Decorations down and tidy up started - festivities officially over :-( Friday Banana and fruit loaf slice (thanks gran)   Lentil soup and bread. Fruit loaf and skinny cap Chicken and pancetta carbonara made with lightest philli Chocolate orange and tea 1 mile swim.  HIT class.   Felt good, no hip pain.  Enjoyed a lie in too.  Too windy and rainy for a run, Campbeltown flooded a little today, scary!  Created new spin routine with new music - starts Monday!