30%

That's what I felt my lung function has been since the weekend. The cold I've had since Christmas has finally caught up with me.  Despite my best effort to ignore it and crack on, the chesty cough, previously an annoyance has finally showed its strength.

Last week I ran 10 miles, 10 miles through snow and strong wind, it appealed to my love of tough conditions and I ran happily, even though I was tired I felt reasonably strong throughout, getting home my legs were tired but after a few minutes I felt refreshed.. definitely a good sign.

Saturday I ran again, even though my schedule advised a rest day and my arms ached enough following my swim Friday night to keep me awake.  Considering I managed a 10 miler only a few days previous I really struggled, 2 miles in I was reduced to walking for a minute or so at a time.  We had a hugely busy weekend, with several birthday parties requiring drives in between, during a brief respite on saturday I snuck off to bed and immediately dropped into a dreamless sleep.

Sunday was a struggle and my cough seemed to be getting worse, with monday came my planned 30 minute run;

Getting up took willpower but I'm determined this year to avoid excuses and easy get outs, through the door and I tried to get into my normal rhythm without success, by the time I had covered 1/4 mile I was questioning my 'no easy outs' policy, another 1/4 mil and I was stopped, bent over and struggling for breath, realising the futility of my situation I headed home, within minutes of getting through the front door I was in bed and asleep.  When Kate's alarm went off I failed to surface.  Deciding I just needed to rest I stayed home, I slept huge amounts with little improvement and settled for a second day at home.  When walking to the kitchen from the lounge left me out of breath I decided that maybe I needed a second opinion. 

The doc has diagnosed a chest infection which explains the breathlessness and general lethargy.   A course of antibiotics will hopefully have me back on the road before long.

Small Steps

My post at the start of this year laid out my plans, I have to be honest that whilst I am good at making plans, my ability to dot I's and cross T's can leave a little  a little to be desired, hence the name of this blog I guess.

The first step is always the most difficult, that doesn't just go for a training plan I know but I generally find that once started I am able to sustain an effort.

Since deciding what I want 2013 to look like from sporting perspective I have felt a pretty high level of motivation to get started.

I know that inspiration can come from strange quarters but reading sports biographies seems to do it for me these days, given the triathlon slant this year has taken I've added a fair few tri books to my Kindle reading list and have had a massive motivational mainline.

The one thing that we can't create more of is time, this means that I have to make use of the standard 24hrs we  get in a day, as before, my preference is early morning training, I seem to have more energy and a higher willingness to get out and push myself before most people hit their snooze button.

During the last few weeks I've been doing at least 3 runs a week, running is my weak point but I'm starting to get the pace back, I've even managed a 10 miler in under 90 minutes, a level I attained only after several months of pre half marathon training in previous years.

I was in Manchester a couple of weeks back, the hotel had a pool so I decided to start my swim training.  A mile on two consecutive days was a hell of an introduction, but I was pleased with my speed through the water..both miles ticked off in just under 30 minutes, not bad for a starting point.  Since then I've been swimming in the local pool and again knocked off miles in each session.

Cycling is another matter, time weather and opportunity have conspired against me so far.  Distance for the year is disappointing.   A road ride and an off road trip through hub deep snow pretty much sums it up.  The off road ride was fantastic,  hard work though and each of the 20 miles were haard fought for.

Overall though, I'm pleased, I think the year has started well, now, I just need to keep it up.. and keep this blog up to date too!

Week One

As is always the way, as soon as I make a plan and commit it to virtual paper something comes along to kick sand in my face.  In this case it was the cold which I managed to hold off throughout the Christmas period.

Multiple cold and flu capsules and enough Vitamin C to shock a fair sized elephant appears to have worked so far.

With a return to the day job, poor sleep and the aforementioned cold, training has been lacking this week.  I did get out for a 3.5 mile run Friday but my legs and body grumped enough afterwards to make me question whether the run was not 5 times that amount.  A rest of sorts over the last two days (if two days looking after dash whilst Kate is at work can be considered any form of rest) should see me right for a restart tomorrow.