Under starters orders.....

I kind of feel I'm back at the start of something again. The last 6 months have been fantastic and have delivered me back after a wild, circular ride, hopefully at a higher base fitness than I started with. I did "kind of" a schedule to prepare for the 3in3 and Snowdonia, but it was all good fun, LDWA events and fell races for long runs. Thursday speedwork with club, not caring what I did just wanting to keep my finger in and enjoy the banter. The other runs are just a blur, some weeks I probably only ran 4 sessions but was doing 30-50 miles. I've run new parts of the country, met new and interesting people, had some of the best carb-reloads ever and now its all over....

Targets met.....
what now?.....
Sit around, get fat, work too hard?
Nooooo..... though I have piled on a few pounds this week whilst layed off due to an aggressive cold. Lets call it winter layering.
So?....... what?

I may be short, slow and untalented, but otherwise I'm just like Usain Bolt. Right now I'm just loosening up, doing strides along the first few yards of the track, thinking about the next race, my target, then its in the blocks and I'll go for it. Not 100m mind you, comparison ends there, but it will be bigger, better, maybe faster than the last. How else would I be satisfied?

I'll get around to updating my Hit list soon and hope to catchup with many a member of the off-road community this winter. Afterall, we don't take winter breaks do we? I'll be doing Rudolph's Romp, a speedy little LDWA event in my nearby, this December. Then I'll see if I can improve last years mark in the formula 1 event of the English Fell racing scene, the Auld Lang Syne, hopfully sharp from regular cross country races. Then a rare excursion back onto the roads for the Brass Monkey Half in January. Is a PB (92mins) now beyond me or can I build speed on my solid endurance foundation? Then its back to endurance and I want to really push it in the first few months. I have eyes on the Woldsman as my first 50. However, even before that I quite fancy the Hardmoors 55 - look it up, sounds great. If I don't do that I'll probably do the Jurassic Coast Challenge - another 3 mara in 3 days. One thing I defiantely want to do is the Yorkshire 3 peaks race. I've wanted to do that since before I even ran! Its a great feeling that the qualification of to long A/B cat fell races (or med A) that scared me more than the race I bagged in a few short months this summer.... and enjoyed them enough to do more.