Onwards and upwards

So tomorrow (3 Jan) sees me officially re-start my proper running, with the small task of 14 km to enjoy. Just to make it that bit better, its supposedly going to be -3 degrees. Woohoo!

I still question why I keep putting myself through this - I'm sure one day I will look back and give myself a pat on the back (assuming I survive) but not sure when that day will come and how much agony I'll have to go through to get there!

On a positive note, I am glad there is no ice on the ground at the minute - just means I won't be slipping and killing myself in the immediate short term.

I'm in the process of planning out my next few weeks. 14 km tomorrow, 16 km on 9 Jan, 18 km on 16 Jan, 20 km on 23 Jan and 22 km on 30 Jan. I've got all my routes up to 20 km planned out and just need to work out something for 22 km. Then in February I will probably 20, 20, 18 and 16. If I have my calculations right, that will leave me with one long-ish run in March (on the 7th) which I will probably cap at 10k. Then 14 March is the big day!

Obviously torturing myself once a week wont be anywhere nearly enough - I will need to get out there a couple more times a week, with the added joy of them being first thing in the morning, in the darkness, before work! Once a week interval sessions to build up some respiratory/cardio fitness, and once a week tempo runs to build up some speed!

With a clean diet, a couple of weight lifting sessions and the above combination, I should be a lean mean running machine in no time, right? Actually don't answer that.