Category: Inspiration

Somebody said that once.  I googled it to find out who, but after a (not very thorough) search, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly who it was.  So suffice it to say ‘thanks!’ to whomever it was, and I’ve now stolen it.

The future is indeed now in a whole ‘don’t put life off because one day it won’t be there‘ sort of way.  Happily though, the future is also in the distant, well, future.  So some things you can put off because they’re not going to happen for ages and ages.  Some things like races you may have signed up for some time ago, when there are still a few months left to ponder training before the fateful day arrives.  Or holidays.  Holidays are always in the future until suddenly, almost before you realise what’s happened, they’re behind you, and you’re left with nothing but a groaning credit card and a booze-addled brain.

I must say I do like planning for the future, especially since that’s the fun part, and it’s easy to look at everything with a rosy tint, picturing the fun bits and the laughs that are sure to follow.  Of course reality then sets in and you wonder what the fuck you were thinking, but before I reach that point, I thought I’d write on here about what my future plans are, so it’s real and I can’t back out when I realise I’ve actually gone insane.

I’ve been mulling this idea about for a while, mainly because for some frightening reason the suggested posts on my FB timeline started showing me beautiful pictures of a white sandy beach with the title ‘Tiree Ultramarathon’ tagged on to it.  One hesitant click later, after reading some epic race reports and watching an amazing video (they always get you with the videos!!!) I had my heart set on running around the beautiful island next September, racking up my first ever ultra at 35 miles.  However, living in the South of England as I do, it’s a bit of a faff to get to, but probably more importantly, the date is likely to clash with next year’s Bacchus race, so I kiboshed that idea.

Of course the idea was now firmly planted in my big bawheid, so before I could utter ‘what the fuck are you thinking???’ I found myself googling ‘Scottish ultra marathons’ as I still fancied running in my homeland, having read a fabulous blog about the Glen Lyon ultra, put on by the brilliantly named ‘Bam Racing‘ (you need to be Scottish to really appreciate that).  The date for that didn’t suit my plans (I was still thinking September) but they do run the Glenmore 24, a lapped race where you complete as many 4-mile laps as you can in (you guessed it) 24 hours.  However, they also do a 12-hour race (for jessies as they put it, haha!) which seemed less insane and therefore more appealing.  Awesome, sounds good.

Until this weekend.  A bunch of my Pirate shipmates had taken it upon themselves to enter into the Equinox 24 (can you see a theme here?), some as solo runners, but most in teams.  Here you run as many 10k laps as you can in 24 hours.  Annoyingly, despite the rain at the start, a hill or two, some mud and a few comments of how hard it was getting at points, a kind of ridiculous bravado came over me and I thought SIGN ME UP!!!  The fact it’s only a couple of hours away from me too is great, and as much as I’d love to do the Glenmore race, that means more leave from work and a substantially bigger drive up the road.  One day though….

So that’s it.  Decision made.  Despite not yet actually having run the two marathons I’ve signed up for next year, and despite still having a fuck load of timber to lose, I’m officially declaring my intent to do the Equinox 24 as a solo runner next September.

Shite!  Insert terrified face smiley.

Right, I’m off for a lie down….

As I said in the last post, I want to use this blog to track progress.  When I first started this blog, I guess I did so in the thought that if I stated my goals publicly, then it would make me do everything I said.  If that had been the case, then I’d be typing this as a fit, skinny (well, everything is relative…) Ironman.  Of course we all know that’s not the case!  Accountability is so important though, so while publicly listing goals can and does have its place in trying to keep me on the straight and narrow, it will only work if it’s backed up by a real desire to achieve a goal, and for the right reasons.

What does that even mean? Well to me, there are a few ‘wrong reasons’: changing for someone else (i.e. to make them like you); thinking the change will make you happy; changing yourself because you think you’ll only be better if you’re different.  The right reasons include wanting to get more out of life, understanding that health is important and you can’t take it for granted for ever (i.e. you can’t keep dodging that bullet), and knowing that even though you’re happy anyway, changes can still be warranted.  Or to put it another way, in the words of Shunryu Suzuki, ‘each of you is perfect the way you are…and you can use a little improvement’.

To that end, the main improvement I need to make is to my diet, or rather my nutrition.  Despite trying to do this for years, you can’t out-train a bad diet.  Even the word ‘diet’ is so loaded these days, and often implies impermanence, a temporary strategy to be employed until a target is reached.  Well, when I talk about diet here I really mean ‘what nutritional strategy I intend to use, permanently’.  I should state upfront that I’ve tried every fucking diet under the sun.  Newsflash – they don’t last.  Who knew?!  The handy thing about having tried everything, however, is that over time, your body starts to really complain when you feed it something it doesn’t really like.  Even when you’ve been eating it for decades, the impact it has becomes more and more pronounced before you get to the point where you can’t really ignore it all the time.  Well, you can, but it means feeling shit and living with it.

Last year I employed a nutritionist to work with, and while the majority of her clients saw a lot of success, honestly, it just didn’t work for me.  It was initially a very high protein diet used to kick-start my metabolism, but I found I could never manage to maintain the protein levels, I started to hate counting every gram of everything I ate, and it became a chore.  If I’m made to do something I don’t like, I turn into a twat and do the opposite, even if I’m the person making myself do it.  I’m not saying this to apportion blame or as an excuse, but it just wasn’t for me.  Also it was very expensive and I couldn’t justify the cost of carrying on just to see if one more month would be what I needed to crack it.  So it was back to the drawing board.

I might not have any nutritional qualifications, but I do know my own body better than anyone else.  I love to read up on stuff and try to find answers for myself, so that’s what I’ve been doing.  Prior to going to Lanzarote with my pals in May, I’d been talking to some of them (i.e. triathletes) who were employing a low carb, high fat strategy.  I was fairly sceptical because as we all know fat is bad for you, and we need carbs to exercise.  Or do we?  Well, there’s a growing body of evidence to show otherwise.  I’m not even going to attempt to go into the science here (although I may pull some referenced information together for another post) but ultimately in large part it’s about managing insulin levels and burning fat for energy. Voila!

So will this be the panacea I’m looking for?  Time will tell.  I started eating a LCHF lifestyle in around May this year, and was doing well (I lost 1 stone) until someone kindly brought me a Victoria sponge and rather than just not have any and appear rude, I ate some of it, then PMT reared its ugly head and I started eating lots of sugar again.  Turns out habots do die hard.  Result was a couple of pounds of weight back on, but more importantly (or should I say worse), I started to feel like shit.  Physically my joints ached, I was getting headaches and I rarely get them, my skin was itchy, I wasn’t sleeping well and mentally I’d been feeling pretty ‘meh’.  I started worrying about stuff that had stopped bothering me, and started over thinking everything.  So last week I had a word with myself (for the umpteen billionth time) and started eating LCHF again.  A week in, I’ve lost those re-gained pounds again and so far I’ve lost 1st. 4lbs in total since I got back from Lanza.  I’ve been sleeping like the dead (though still feel a bit tired generally), my knees have stopped hurting, my mood is MUCH better and I just feel in a much more positive mindset.  Tomorrow I’m off to run the Bacchus Half Marathon with my sister, and fully intended on having wine on the way round (yep, a race with wine. Result!).  So that’s not ‘on plan’ but it doesn’t mean the whole thing is kiboshed either.  I’ll enjoy the event I signed up for and get back to it on Monday.  No biggie.

I know some folk will read this and think ‘FAD DIET ALERT’ and that’s fine – I’m not telling anyone else what to do or saying it’s what will work for everyone.  I don’t even know if long-term it will work for me, but i’m willing to give it a go.  I’ll report how it goes on here, as much as a record for myself than anything else.

Have a great weekend folks!

 

 

 

It’s fair to say I’m easily bored. Or maybe just easily distracted. Probably both. I like trying new things, and the more you try, the more you find out about other new things and before you know it there are so many new things to try that….in my case apathy takes over and I end up either doing nothing.  Either because I don’t know where to start, or i find excuses not to try in case it all goes tits up. At other times, I start lots of things and never finish them. I am nothing if not consistently inconsistent, and as such, extremely annoying, especially to myself, and undoubtedly to others. Often I wish I was different because I frustrate myself, but then again who else would I want to be? I’m also known for starting down some rambling path towards an important point before going off on a tangent and forgetting where I was heading for in the first place (which is pretty much the motto of this blog).

Anyhoo, I like a challenge, and I’ve been thinking about this lately as I’m soon to embark on the second the three courses for an online PgCert that I’m studying. I love learning, and while I’m not the brightest spark there ever was, I know that if I apply myself and spend time assimilating information, and reading around it, I’ll figure out what I need to and be able to write essays or sit exams and pass them. That’s not to say I’ve never failed, but I can usually do fairly well if I set my mind to it. 

For me, facing a mental challenge like that is so much easier than a physical one. Somehow it feels as though I know my brain is capable of a lot more than I usually demand of it, so if I spend time mentally exercising it, it’ll see me right. The thought of physical challenges fill me with much more trepidation. When you’re always the fat kid in class and get slagged off because of it for years, I guess embracing your physicality is never going to be high up your list of priorities. So I’ve never really pushed myself physically. I’ve finished two marathons but the time of the last one was so slow that I think if set off now at a fast walking pace I could complete the distance in the same time, maybe even a bit quicker.  Those days of getting slagged off (to my face at least! Who knows – or cares- what folk say behind my back?) are far back in the past now, but the idea of never pushing myself because  “what’s the point? I’ll never be sporty…” remains, even if most of the time it’s a subconscious thought. 

I do go through periods of being fitter, when I get into a good routine of going to the gym and (funnily enough!) feel the benefits so then I keep at it. Knock out a week though, for whatever reason when life gets in the way, and that lack of toughness when it comes to  pushing myself physically kicks in, and suddenly weeks have gone by and I’ve not been to the gym. 

This year I’ve managed to get back into running, and because I’ve stopped worrying about times, I’ve been enjoying it a lot more. I’ve finished 5 events this year (5 or 10ks) and my 6th is coming up this weekend. I love the feeling of being in amongst a pack of runners (even if they’re all in front of me) and getting a medal makes it all worthwhile. On the downside though, I’ve slacked off totally on the gym work, and it’s come back to bite me in the ass, or should I say the knee, as my left knee has been bothering me lately. Consistent inconsistency rears its idiot head again. 

So the upshot of all of this is that while my mental muscles will soon be getting a good flexing, it’s time I started to embrace the same focus for my body. Body and mind are so linked of course, and recently slacking off the good food/exercise has left me feeling shit and moody and just generally a bit bleurgh. I need to push myself physically, even if that just means increasing daily movement, nailing the weekly run and gym targets to get the consistency back. Once that’s in place and the weight starts coming off again (it has plateaued) then I can start to think about improving speed in my running, weights at the gym etc. 

When I monitor everything it works better, so I figure I might as well use this blog to track progress, use it as a record of what I’m trying out (diet wise etc.) to monitor what works, what doesn’t and plan out ideas for the future. So be prepared for more frequent ramblings in the future 🙂 

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I’ve got a lot going on, I find it increasingly hard to keep on top of what the hell i’m supposed to be doing week to week. Inevitably I find my work calendar (on which I record what I’m doing outside of work too) bears only a scant resemblance to what my personal diary says, which is always massively helpful. As a result I often end up double booked. I hasten to add not because I’m so massively popular that my social life is awash with invitations, more that I’m a fanny and despite having a fair few free weekends I still manage to avoid half of them by booking everything on the same date. 

So in a bid to sort my shit out I managed to purloin one of those calendars that families use to plan their lives, with a column for each person. Well, greedy bastard that I am I’ve managed to use up all the columns on myself! No, I don’t have a multiple personality disorder (I think), but it’s quite handy splitting everything out. I’m currently training for a half marathon (short term) and two marathons (medium/long term), I need to get back in the gym more consistently, also I start the second of three courses of a distance learning Postgrad Certificate next month (final course starts next January) and have other bits and bobs & commitments that fill my time every week. So I managed to sit down and get it all into the calendar today. 

The upshot is that fuck me the next few months are quite busy! I always manage to do this – after months of not too much going on I cram it all in and end up too busy. However, since I also want to finally clear all my debts in the next year, by the looks of it I’ll have the best shot ever because bar a couple of pirate holidays coming up in September & the first half of next year, I’ll either be working, sleeping, running, gym’ing or studying from now until next May, so hopefully will have zero chance of actually spending any money (other than at the bar on holiday).  Hurrah!

Now that the planning is done, it should make it easier to manage everything week to week, so that I get all the training in that I need to and get back to some consistency at the gym. The next few weeks are pretty busy so there will still be a bit of juggling, but at least I know that and can look ahead more easily to manage it. 

Also I have to say if I get every session done that I’ve planned in I think Tokyo 2020 is a shoe-in 👍🏻 Who’s with me?! 

Despite having lived in Scotland for the majority of my adult life, I’ve rarely ever been camping there.  Save a couple of days at St Mary’s Loch, where a planned swim was kiboshed upon dipping a toe in the water (FREEZING), I’ve not spent much time under canvas in my beautiful homeland.  Of course rarely tents are now actually made of canvas, but still.  So when I realised i’d be driving half way up the country to spend a weekend in the Lakes, I thought I might as well take the rest of the following week off and carry on the rest of the way up and over the wall into Scotland.  Normally if I make the trip home, I want to cram in as much as possible, catching friends and family when I can, and doing a lot of touring about.  However, I just really fancied some time in one place, so I set upon the idea of camping for the week.  My last camping foray resulting in my tent being ditched due to prolonged exposure to torrential, pissing rain (Outlaw last year, for those in the know!), so a new one was purchased this year.  Fingers crossed for good weather.  Never having camped for more than 2 nights in a row, this week would either be a wonderful success or a totally miserable failure.  I’m happy to report it was the former!

On the recommendation of friends who had previously stayed there, I booked up for the Monday to Friday in Comrie Croft, a lovely wee working croft in Perthshire.  You can camp there in a field, or on one of their woodland pitches.  Initially I opted for the woodland pitch, and it was lovely.  I’ve always loved forests and for some reason feel really safe in amongst the trees, sitting under dappled light while listening to the wind rustling the leaves.  I managed to get the tent up no bother, but the only minor issue was that the pitch sloped in two directions, so there was a bit of to’ing and fro’ing trying to get the tent level.  I didn’t succeed, and spent a couple of nights waking up to find i’d slid half way down my camping mat, only to slither, like an angry, bloated caterpillar back up to the top, knowing i’d be repeating the task an hour or so later.  Despite also waking up with the feeling that all my bones had been slightly broken, that soon wore off after a wee walk about, so I knew I would likely survive the week.  I spent a happy couple of days walking about, going exploring in my car to the Highlands and surrounding areas, and just relaxing and reading my book.  It was so nice just to be out in the fresh air, nothing in particular to do, but with the day ahead open to whatever took my fancy.

Midway through the week my best pals all turned up with their kiddies, for a planned get-together.  After not much cajoling, I succumbed to peer pressure and moved my tent up next to theirs on the high meadow.  No more sleeping on an incline, woo hoo!!  Ah what a fabulous few days we had.  The kids became newt-obsessed and spent the majority of their time at the pond, fishing about with their wee nets, and getting the odd shoe or hat wet.  Some folk went off for bike rides on the MTB trails that surround the site, while some of us did not much at all (that’d be me.  It was fab).  There was even time in the busy schedule to fit in tea and cake at the on-site cafe.  It’s all about supporting local business of course.  Evenings meant campfires, marshmallow toasting, chippie teas, star-gazing and boozing.   Despite a few weeks off the grog, I managed to rally and imbibe some of the hard stuff.  It is tough, but someone has to do it.  So despite deciding not to do a whirlwind tour of Scotland, I was so lucky to have my pals come to me.  Friends made the trip what it was, just fabulous.  So much so we’re on for next year 😀

After being cruelly abandoned on the Friday, and left to my own, solitary devices, my final day was spent doing absolutely hee haw.  I managed to get a campfire lit (despite never having actually lit one myself before.  Bear Grylls eat your heart out), and then spent the next 6 hours just staring at it.  Wonderful.  When it was time for me to finally say goodbye to the Croft on the Saturday, I have to admit I was quite sad to leave, so stopped for pot of tea and a giant scone in the cafe to drown my sorrows.  Luckily though the holiday wasn’t quite over, and I had a night in Edinburgh with my fab wee pal Ironbaws to look forward too.  Big G paid a visit too, which was braw.  What a week!  Honestly I feel as though I was away for weeks.  Somehow it feels as though I did very little, but packed loads in at the same time.  Not sure how that’s possible, but for sure it’s a sign of a great holiday.  It’s renewed a love for camping, and for the outdoors, and I can’t wait to get back out there 🙂

 

 

I love the outdoors, and every time I go on holiday (piss-up trips to Lanza aside…), my resounding memories of the trip are inevitably of the time spent outside, the walks taken, time spent breathing in the air, absorbing the smells, sights and sounds of the environment around me.  Yet while at home, I rarely make the most of the beautiful country I live in.  I’m not sure why that is; apathy or laziness?  Or maybe an unconscious acknowledgement that it’s always there and I can go whenever I want.  Except I rarely do.  Anyone that knows me also knows that I love reading, and can lose myself in a book for hours.  One of my favourite authors, Ed McBain wrote over 80 crime novels in his lifetime. most of which I’ve read.  I started reading his 87th Precinct novels when I was 12 (thanks to my Mum who said “I think you’ll like this” while handing me a hardback book entitled Poison!  Hahaha, she knew me too well!!).  What immediately struck me about his writing, even back then, was his ability to bring the landscapes of the cities alive, his descriptions of the environment another character to become acquainted with.  He drew me in and made me feel as though I was there.  Recently I’ve realised I’ve been hiding in the vast worlds inside books instead of getting out an enjoying the real one outside.

That wasn’t my intention for this year, but sometimes life gets away from me.  A few months ago I was lucky enough to be able to go to two different screenings of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour of the UK & Ireland.  Every year in Banff, Canada hundreds of films are entered into the November film festival, a stunning array of short and long films that celebrate every aspect of the great outdoors.  For the last few years a small number of the films have been chosen to go on a world tour.  I went last year so was determined to get tickets to the two programmes showing this year.  The films vary from those just a few minutes long, to those over 40 minutes, and cover themes from skiing, photography, climbing, mountain biking, kayaking, running and lots more.  Some films made me laugh, but a few more made me cry – put a dog in a film that you know isn’t going to make it, and hello flood gates.  Weep-o-rama.  What all the films have in common, however, is an overwhelming ability to inspire.  I left both screenings feeling thrilled, full of optimism, excitement, and  a feeling that I needed to do more.  To get outside and create my own adventures.  A few months have gone by, and although I’ve not capitalised on those feelings, they’ve certainly not gone away.  Life will always get in the way if you let it.  There will always be something else to do, some mundanity (new word!) to steal the minutes and hours away from you.

The last couple of months have reminded me more than ever that life is only ever going to be what you make it.  You can choose to let life get you down, or pass you by, or you can choose to embrace it.  It doesn’t mean jacking it all in and hitting the road for the foreseeable (as nice as that would be); little steps are all good too.  I do have some big dreams, but right now, I just need to start with something small.  So that’s why I’ve decided to take a week off and go camping in Scotland.  Happily some fabulous pals & their kiddies are going to join me for a couple of days, so I can’t wait.  Just getting out, going for walks, truly relaxing and embracing our beautiful landscape is exactly what I need at the moment.

It’s time to rekindle some dreams, and start planning some adventures 🙂