Winter miles bring Summer smiles

I can't remember exactly where I saw the above quote recently but when I did it certainly resonated with me and stuck in my head. I'm hoping it will bear fruit for me and you over the coming months.

The festive season is now in full swing and this time next week it will all be over as our thoughts turn to the New Year and I'm sure for a lot of us it will be a time of resolutions to stop doing something, or to take up something new, a new challenge or a new goal for the year ahead.

It doesn't mean we should do nothing until then and for me training has been continuing pretty well for the last couple of weeks. Fitting in the key sessions, a couple of decent long runs with friends. Just trotting along worrying more about dogs than paces, embracing the hills and recovering on the downhills. Being lucky enough with the mild weather we have been having mostly, the rain only serving to dampen the brow and not the spirits.

December has brought about 19 days training out of 22 so far. 6 days a week has become a ritual at this stage, some days are easier than others. Planning around other things, moving days around but generally there is always room at least somewhere for a short run. It's all adding up to the point where I'm now at just over 40 miles a week. For me this is a good place to be as I look towards starting Marathon training in early January.

I have taken the time for the last 3 months to first getting back into running regularly, then slowly building the mileage and re-introducing some sessions to the point where the body and mind hopefully will be able to handle the further demands of marathon training. Marathon training through the winter at that. All of this is aimed to lining up at the start line in London on April 26th 2015. I won't win that race, the time I hopefully run won't be impressive to a lot of people. That doesn't matter to me, I'm not running to impress anyone else, just to do the best that I can on that day. If I do that I will be more than happy.

To everyone that reads my ramblings thank you very much. I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and look forward to running with some of you during the holidays and a lot of you in 2015. 

Juggling Everything

December is a busy month isn't it, a lot going on, catching up with people, preparing for Christmas, extra nights out and all that that brings with it. It's a time where normal routine stuff can fall by the wayside if you let it.

With me it takes a lot of planning to keep everything on track and having to be flexible with others time as well. Training has been continuing as planned with just one missed day this month caused by a stomach bug. We had our work Xmas night out last Thursday which led to a very early morning run. The hardest part is getting out the door but it can be done. I had planned the same this morning for a short run, but when I saw the frost I decided otherwise. As Emma has her work night out tonight I got into work early so hopefully I will get the run done on my lunch break. All about planning, preparing and adapting if needs be.

It feels like so long since I had a race and it has been but I hope to sort this out over Xmas with either a Parkrun or one of the other options available. Will be interested to see how the legs get on.

Last weekend was the last weekend for my Nutrition course before Xmas as well but there are a couple of assignments due early in January so it's not time to down tools just yet. Below are some pointers which may help you. They do not require massive effort or changes, which most people are not going to make at this time of year anyway.

• Water: This makes up around 70% of the human body. Even while you are sleeping your kidneys are still working away so you will most likely wake up with some type of dehydration. If you drink a pint of water first thing in the morning this will re-hydrate your kidneys and also signal the body to kick-off the digestive processes again. Again this can be repeated with a glass of water 15-20 mins before each meal to trigger the body to release the digestive juices needed to handle the food it is about to receive.
• Chewing: This really is a common problem, but a simple one to fix. Your teeth are very important in the digestive process to break food down to it's smallest form before swallowing. It takes a lot of pressure off the rest of your digestive system. Remember your stomach doesn't have teeth, so you need to help it. So slow down, enjoy your food and at the same time you will probably feel less bloated after a big meal.
• Vitamins & Minerals: There are a lot of essential vitamins & minerals that the body needs to function at an optimum level and all of these can be found in a range of whole foods. A lot of health problems can be down to a deficiency in some these so it is important to try and get them from your food. This is why you will always hear people telling you to eat plenty of fruit & veg etc. You are really not getting a whole lot from processed foods other than empty calories but that's for another day. At this time of year if I was recommending to take one Vitamin that we do not get enough of it would be Vitamin C. This is a great way of keeping colds and Flu's at bay. Personally I dissolve a capsule in a pint of water each morning and take it that way. If you are feeling a bit run down or something coming on then double the dose. 

Nothing too ground breaking in the above but just a few simple pointers that might help. I'm still looking for a couple of volunteers for the new year so if your interested give me a shout for more information.

Do you have Nutrition problems? Can I help?

November was a good month for me with just under 150 miles clocked up, good consistent training with only one planned days training missed. Hopefully December can go as well with all the distractions it can bring ;-)
I have just finished my current block of training and started again at the weekend on the next block of training, this 10 day cycle repeats itself 4 times over the next 40 days with the 3 sessions in each cycle becoming more progressive. An example of this is the long run which yesterday was 90 minutes. This will be 120 minutes by the end of this block of training. The long run has now been adapted to include a few strides (6x45 seconds) in the 2nd half of the run to get the legs turning over and working the muscles differently.

For the end of November we had a lovely morning yesterday to run in shorts and tee-shirts, taking in all the challenging hills around the back of Stamullen & Balscadden.

The 10 day cycle works well for me at the moment as well because I am in college some weekends. I started a course in Nutrition & Health Coaching a few months back and am really enjoying it so far. It has given me an eye opener as if we didn't know already how important what we put into our body is to our overall health, and how it can lead to lots of digestive problems and diseases.

Maybe in future blogs I can put in some advice or relevant information if people are interested in that.

As part of the course we have to work on some case studies in the New Year. That's maybe where maybe some of you can help me to help you. I'm looking for 4-5 volunteers to begin working with in the middle of January.

I know most people that read this are probably healthy & fit individuals but if you suffer from any digestive or food related problems, or general health problems that you think can be improved by better Nutrition then maybe I can help you. Please send me a PM on Facebook or e-mail to pete.slevin@gmail.com if you are interested in discussing further.