What can I say, its nearly a year since I wrote anything here.  What does that tell you? The Virus I wrote about in my last post is still plaguing our society and the death toll is now in excess of 100,000.  This has truly been an awful time and we are still battling with it now.  I am currently back spending my days at home as we are in lockdown 3 which means no work, no school, no travelling, no days out, no nothing.  My training has continued and I'm feeling pretty good about it a the moment I'm back in training for the Hardmoors 160 and on my 3rd attempt now as I tried in August after the date had been rescheduled, more of that later though. I have quite a lot to catch up on really but I'll try do drop bits in as we go.  My intention is to keep this going even if it means short catch-up most days.

Currently I am planning a long run as I entered a virtual race which requires me to run 30 miles.  This was meant to be today but I weakly opted out and got my tax returning finished instead, phew!  So the new plan is to attack this on Sunday, so in a few days time.  One of the things I have taken from these lockdown situations is home workouts.  I use a myzone heart rate monitor just to help with motivation as I can accumulate points from my workouts and challenge on leader boards.  The points system really appeals to me, being fairly competitive ha ha, so therefore I push myself harder.  This really has worked as I've done this much before and actually enjoy the process and its in my own garden or front room.  What have been putting in the workouts that make a difference?  Well, unfortunately and I say unfortunately because I don't enjoy them, I've added BURPEES!!! They are horrible but my conclusion is that they have really helped me, amongst other things like press-up's, squats, lunges, walking lunges etc etc.  Burpees seem to not only improve strength but they are helping with my core muscles and strangely my breathing.  I seem to feel stronger and cope better when running and putting myself under more physical stress.  So I now know that I'm training hard enough if I'm not including the burpees.  I try to set mini challenges that involve doing a certain number a day or repeating the workout every day for the month etc.  Ok so along side the burpees I've decided stair reps help considerably too especially since I can't really get out into the hills.  They are a good form of resistance training and I get a good cardio workout from it too.  I feel the benefit when I'm running and pushing harder for longer. My lung capacity seems to cope better when I've got this as a regular part of my workouts.

Recently I've had some pretty miserable runs in the dark and cold.  The alarms goes off unappealing early so I can get out and back to then do the home schooling.  I shuffle down stairs and find my prepared kit in a pile on the stairs so I don't wake Sarah up or the kids whilst I'm falling all over the place getting dressed and waking up.  I quickly throw some granola down me and maybe a small cuppa before off.  Head torch on and a warm set of kit!  My route is all road and is a bit like an ice rink first thing at the moment which can be dangerous if your not concentrating which is hard at 5.30am! Skidding one way then the other, a quick recovery step with increased heart rate "but its all good training I keep telling myself" ha ha! I work hard at getting round the route in a reasonable time and with half an eye on my heart rate and which zone I'm working in and weather I need to up it a bit or just maintain pace and work rate.  I fall almost through the back door and I'm home, press stop and rest.  Its a great way to start the day I love it but its hard in the dark cold mornings of winter.

Hope your training is going well.  Stay hard! Stay safe!