It’s January and I’ve just ‘celebrated’ turning 44 with a few days of indulgence behind me. These are all decent enough reasons why now is not a good time to be talking about weight loss. And I’m not going to talk about it much on here – don’t worry, you’ve not arrived at a ‘new year, new me’ blog. But I am going to make a concerted effort to just do it. It’s not the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life but it is the heaviest I’ve ever been whilst trying to run. And I feel it. The last few runs I’ve felt myself sinking down into my hips a lot, the form goes and it all feels a bit labored (not that I’ve got a particularly impressive running style to start with). I’m also really feeling it a lot more in my knees and one of those is in bad enough shape as it is (I’ll introduce you to him another time). I know a decent commitment to strength and conditioning and building up the knees can help with that, but shedding a bit timber from the frame will too.

I’m not going to mention actual weights because I’m acutely aware that my current weight is someone else’s target. But I am probably a good double digit distance between current weight and the weight I used to race at. I’d like to get down to that in time for the start of my marathon training block that will kick off 18 (ish) weeks before October 9th. Plenty of time to do it sensibly.

I’m back training at my running club, Pitreavie AAC Endurance. I’ve missed it. It gives me a bit structure, focus and variety to my running and I’ve really missed seeing my pals. The club has continued to grow over the last few years which is even more impressive given the challenges of the pandemic and a lack of group sessions. There’s a lot of faces I don’t recognise…and I suddenly feel a bit like the new boy in the class. A mile into the session and I feel like I’m a boy that’s completely new to running, trying to catch my breath as I walk back to start the next rep.

This session was 4 x 1600m reps with four minute recoveries between each rep. Each rep should be run at a pace quicker than your 5k pace. I don’t think I’ve got a 5k/10k/half marathon pace just now. I’ve got the pace I get round in and a slightly faster gear that I can manage for a short distance. I managed to find that gear on Tuesday and stay in it for the 4 reps.

The location was a loop known locally as the Pan Handle and despite there being a healthy turnout of runners, I found myself running solo for most of the session. My usual training buddies are just quicker now and I didn’t have the speed in the legs to hang with the group in front of me.

I’m not looking for the tiny violins to come out here. Since I started running back in 2016 I’ve never compared myself to other runners. I’ve learned from them, I’ve been inspired and motivated by them but I’ve never ranked my progress based on how it compares with others. But it is understandable for a wee bit of frustration to creep in when you see training partners that you once used to keep pace with stretch off into the distance and you have nothing in your legs to do anything about it. But you just need to push those thoughts out your head pretty quick and focus on the session. If you let it become ‘a thing’, you’d never go back. And the discipline, structure, camaraderie and enjoyment I get from being a part of the club will be a big support and positive influence on my preparations for Chicago.

I closed the week off with an out and back session yesterday. I’ve built this up over the last three weeks, starting at 25 mins (50 mins continuous running), then 30 mins and yesterday was up to 35 mins. If you pace it well, you’ll finish back where you started within the 70 minutes…and I arrived home bang on time (a complete fluke and don’t let me tell you otherwise). I’ve used the same route, adding a bit on every week which, for the last two weeks, has included a decent sized hill at halfway. I’m not entirely sure if this was by accident or design but I was determined to give myself a wee challenge. I used to love hill running/training (I am still madly in love with the thought of it) and need to build more of this into the schedule.

But two decent shifts this week where I feel like I’ve grafted. Took this morning off from parkrun to give the knees a wee rest. Planning to go on a bit of parkrun tourism over the next few months, so if you have a suggestion of where in Scotland I should visit, drop me a wee comment on here.