Welcome to Christmas, pretty much the most difficult time of the year to train ! It’s dark, cold, and busy! Sometimes I wonder where the “busy” even comes from! 

The health issues one close to me had been dealing with are better. A very positive outcome, however before the good news the bad news finally piled high enough on my mind that it crashed down. Mentally I was a wreck. When I don’t want to run things are bad, especially if it’s a day off from work, no kids, and the weather is good. Two martial arts friends noticed and checked up on me as did my boss at work. These three understand or have been there mentally. In general my training has been really off and on. The only constant has been my long runs. 

Sent  a message out to a guy for a new used treadmill. He got back fairly quickly and we’ve got plans to exchange tonight. This could save my training. It’s easy to hop on for a hour at night and watch a movie rather than battle the cold, dark, and cars. Plus it’s a great way to get quality tempo runs in. Got it for the price of a new pair of shoes so very happy about that. I hope having this flexibility I can get back on track. I never realized how much I use that thing! 

Arc of Attrition is still up in the air. I really have no excuse not to do it other than the worry about my ankle. I’ve ran 100’s off less so would likely finish but I want under 24 hours. With the time left and the treadmill I should be able to ramp up tempo runs on the treadmill which I had great success with for North Downs Way. I still have yet to have a full on successfully executed training cycle for an ultra. Consistent long runs, hill repeats, strength workouts then transitioning from strength to specific tempo runs and a few back to back long runs. I guess that’s life though. I’d love to see how I’d feel. Something has always gotten bumped off due to time and life it seems. I guess that’s part of the fun and challenge in the journey. 

As always don’t write on here as much as intended! Time isn’t short, it’s just a taking the time to make something a priority to get it done. Blogging obviously hasn’t been a priority. 

Life has been crazy as usual. Health issues with a family member being the main thing occupying space which is still ongoing, I’m stay8 g positive as I do about the whole thing. The time change as well as the season change is always tough and helps nothing as far as motivation to train. Dark rainy and cold is anything but motivating.

Hit another speed bump a few weeks back. I older my ankle really badly. Not really sure how as I was on the canal! I think it was a rock I hooked my toe on. Did a full on Superman, so besides really tweaking my ankle I scraped the hell out of both knees, elbows, and tore my gloves! I managed to get home. I took a week off and it seems to be recovering well, I can run on it fine, but I’m worried about doing it again. 

Previous to my crash I was on a long run and came across a dead rotting fallow deer! It must’ve been hit by a car and ran off to die. It was literally directly next to an overgrown trail I run on frequently, someone had cut the grass back and exposed it! It had a huge rack on it! 18 points on palmate antlers! I separated the skull from the body, maggots everywhere, and ran with it for a bit to hide it near a road for recovery. It sat for a good ten days but was next to a private drive so access was questionable via car. A week or so later on my long run I ran it back the other direction for easier access, then returned with the car. I ended up giving it to my martial arts instructor, he was really psyched on it and it really doesn’t suit out house. I know it’s in a good place! 

So between my ankle and motivation to run at night my training has lagged a bit. My plans to fix the running deck on my treadmill failed. I couldn’t find the an appropriate piece of wood to replace it. I was disappointed because it was a fun project but it would’ve ended to costing more money than I paid for the treadmill, so I’m currently hunting for a new used treadmill. I’m really missing having it with the dark nights, why don’t I run outside? Cars, people, noise, is all off putting outside of the weather. I also feel I can get a solid speed workout in on a treadmill versus outside.

Foot through the running deck! 

My board fit but was a few mm too thick and I think the sliding surface was going to be too grippy.

Going forward I’ve been on the fence about running the Arc of Attrition in January. I do have plenty of time to train, I’m hesitant about my ankle on a technical course. So, I’ll keep training as I can and see how it feels. I can’t get a refund and I’ve ran it before so I’m not overly disappointed if I don’t do it. It’s a fantastic experience though and I’d hate to waste the money so I’d guess I’ll likely run it if my ankle allows not matter how training goes. I’d love a sub 24 hour time which I know I’m capable of. 

In non-running news I took my Dacayana Eskrima black belt grading in October. I passed of course! Grading went smoothly and it has a motivated me to up my at home training in martial arts. I’m doing at least 1 hour a day at home now. I see this stuff as a replacement for running in the future plus it’s really good for keeping my brain engaged as I age. Absolutely loving all of it! 

Good friend Steve, me, Russ

And of course a load of running photos from training:

Pub logo illuminated over the canal

Severn Way

One last thing to mention. I met up with my old friend Alex in Oxford. He was passing through London so we met half way. Great to catch up, really good friend who I met in Aspen. We wandered the Thames Path with a pub lunch stop half way. Great day out catching up!