January Review

Really pleased with how January progressed on the fitness side.

I managed 84 miles of cycling (all offroad), not a bad achievement considering the weather! A lot of them have been wet and wild nights where 10 miles through bogs is like a summer 80 miler on the road!

I am only able to really cycle once a week on a Wednesday night so averaging 20 a week isn't bad. I would commute more (only 2 miles each way) but its pretty heavy traffic and I feel quite exposed in the dull light and crap weather.

I've bought a new turbo trainer so will start back on Zwift soon which will be good to boost fitness, I found it a great tool for fitness and avoiding boredom.

The big thing for January has been a return to running, I have set out with the small target of running Mon and Fri and cycling Wednesday and up until injury that was going well. 4 miles on a Monday and building up to a longer run on Fridays.

I ran a total of 46.5 miles in January, missing 2 Monday runs due to a hip injury. I pushed out a fast 9 miler but picked up some hip pain and so rested for a week before going on a 12.5 mile cross country run (and bus back), by the end of that run my hip and gone bad again and so I missed another Monday night run. I am now away in Africa for a few weeks with no running....you can't just go for a run in the Serengeti! I will try an rehab my hip back to full strength in that period though, I consulted Dr Google and we think it is bursitis so rest and massage should see me back on form to build up.

Sadly I think the 20miler I had planned for early March is a no go with this enforced break, but we'll see how it goes when back from Africa. If it is fine and no issues then I may just enter and go steady...but don't want to injure myself again when I am really happy with my progress.

It felt really good to be back over the pain of running and into the enjoyment side of it again.

Aside from fitness, we got through the mega stress of redoing the kitchen, fire and other building work in the house, lots still to do but the major bits all done at last!!

...and picked up my new van..T5 Kombi sport line...the dream van!