Monday 31 May 2010

Loch Ness 10k

Accepted the challenge! yep!
Entered the race! tick! yep!

125 days (~ 18 weeks) till race day.

Downloaded EndoMondo sports tracker software onto my snazzy new Nokia X6.
Need to get one of those fancy arm bands to hold the phone whilst I'm pounding out the miles... This is the prevarication stage which starts all great fitness challenges!

Football world cup is coming up along with my 40th birthday!

Thursday 27 May 2010

Challenge!!!! Bring it on!

Crikey!

It's been quite a while since I've thought about my fitness. Got into what I thought was looking like pretty decent form for the Melrose 10's... then got a horrible cold and followed it up with sinusitis. My sympathetic doctor supplied me with the anti-biotics and nasal spray to get me onto the pitch... and what an honour that was, to once again pull on the boots and chuck a ball about with good people. The boys won the plate, Graham Shiel gave me a black eye and I ended up in Border's general hospital for 6 stitches after an accidental clash of heads... money can't buy you that sort of fun!

The last few weeks have been a prolonged period of indolence mixed with over-indulgence though and it's time to start taking care of the physical again. Finlay has come up with the ideal challenge... We all turn 40 this year. The Loch Ness marathon / 10k happens around his birthday... so here it is... Run the 10k in as many minutes as you are old... Pay a forfeit for every minute over your age to your charity of choice.... how confident are you?

As I'll be 40 next month and am currently running 10km in not much less that an hour, it's a real hum dinger of a challenge, but 10km is a great distance. You don't need to be away running for more than an hour at a time when training. You can mix genuine speed work with hill work with reasonable distance work.

The solution is obvious. Lose weight, improve cardio, improve flexibility, improve leg strength and toughen up mentally... Simples!

See you at the start line!