Oops! I did it again…

I originally wrote this post in September of 2013, two months after completing the Outlaw in July. At the time I’d pretty much not done any swim/bike/run related activity since crossing the finish line – I was desperate for a new challenge, a new focus. Just going for a run, or for a ride didn’t seem like it had a purpose without a goal to aim for. Anyway, I signed up for Outlaw 2014 – wanting to give it another go and to see if I could do a little better than my first attempt. Fast forward 4 months to early 2014, and for one reason or another I withdrew. I’d been unable to run for the best part of two months due to injury, and just wasn’t finding the motivation to train – add to that the pressures of a new job and I wasn’t realistically in any shape to punish myself come the July.

To cut a fairly long story short, I kicked myself out of my exercise malaise and signed up for Outlaw 2015 in August last year and will be on the start line (injury permitting) on July 26th to try and better my previous performance. I’m at the end of Week 11 of a 30 week training programme and (touch wood) everything is going well so far. My target this time is not to “just finish”. I have a goal in mind which is going to be a challenge, representing at least a 10% improvement in my time. In real terms that will mean more pain and a lot more training up to the big day. But that’s what’s kept me going through the winter and will hopefully keep me motivated through to July. Hopefully.