What shall we do next?
That was the question I've been pondering over for the last three months really.  Yes that long!  The reason for that is mainly due to a knee injury that took 12 weeks to recover from (the same knee injury that I thought would only put me out of action for 2 or 3 days until the swelling went down lol) and then moving house which has been stressful and tiring, and top it all off I've had 'The never ending cold'!!!!!

So what's next?  Well it was meant to be 'The Hardwolds' last November but I pulled out of that as only just felt like had recovered that weekend.  The purpose of that race was the build up to 'The Viking Way' but since I've still not been training I'm going to have to pull out of that too!  I find it really hard to pull out of an event but I've done next to nothing in training I still haven't quite got rid of my cold so my body isn't functioning properly yet so my endurance levels are minimal.  So to go and attempt to run 147 miles in January would be ludicrous.

So what's the plan now?  For me to pull out I feel I need to replace it with another race further on in the year.  So I have a new plan if I can get the go ahead from the boss!  I have the 'Hardmoors 55' on March 17 so I'll do my own long runs and training to rebuild base levels extra for that and to build on my strength and conditioning whilst still trying to get down to 13 and a half stone which I am well on with now, as just dropped under the 14 stone mark, yippeeee! Then a slight rest before pushing on with my training before having a go at 'The Fellsman' which is the end of April and would be great training for the LL100 in July.  My real dilemma though is I'm super keen to do the Hardmoors 110 at the end of May which I want to be possible.  A tough ask but fancy having a crack providing I'm injury free and feeling strong.

This now seems like a great plan and the disappointment of pulling out of the Cockbain Events race will be overcome as very excited about the prospect of my new adventures.  Sarah (The Boss) and I have now bought a house near the Yorkshire Moors which is amazing.  Apart from the house being amazing and everything I ever dreamed of, I am now in great training environment.  Can't wait!
I'm actually starting to feel re-invigorated and excited about the next phase of my training, I'm going to be putting extra effort in the new year, with getting my weight down or should I say fat percentage and working on my speed.  This is now important I think, since I know I can last the distance its about moving faster initially in the races.

Motivation! Motivation! Motivation!

What's it all about?  I get motivated by the desire of achieving success in these long distance races and the more I do of them my motivations and goals change.  Its not just the distance now, because the longer tougher races I've actually got to start being quicker over the first half of the race to achieve success and this sort of distance is around the 50-80 mile mark.  So my new focus is on getting faster at completing a 50 mile event.  This should be possible, as I have more knowledge and experience now, and I'm fitter and lighter than ever before.  Its going to be the mental battle of pushing myself between 30 and 50 miles.  This will be fun! Love a challenge :)

Push yourself and set challenges that once were unimaginable but are now just touching distance away!