No Choice But To Pedal: January 2014

Thursday, 30 January 2014

So what's with my running for 2014?

I haven't ended a year with my running in a bad state as at the end of 2013 in many, many years. This means I haven't started a year with my running in a bad state as at the beginning of 2014 in many, many years.

2013 was not a great running year for me. 2014 will be much better. It is starting slow but will pick up and end on a high. That I know. I am keeping the goals for 2014 simple and achievable.

I will probably miss out on my one goal at the end of March but will see how February goes and take it from there.

The first half of the year will then have only one major goal. The Cradle Mayhem stage race on 16, 17 & 18 May. This is a 3 stage trail race in the Magaliesberg and I am building up towards that. The total distance is 65km with the first stage a 10km night stage. Nothing enormous but I want to be in good shape for this.

The second half of the year have a few more challenges including an 18 hour circuit race in October that I might be gunning for.

As you can see I am not putting out a list with goals as I usually do. I will use this year to return to the form by the end of the year that I can have a proper list up for next year again.

In the mean time training is going well and the mileage is picking up. I am currently getting back into my routine of running 6 days per week and doing upper body exercises 4 times per week. All is well and I just need to keep it all going.

Happy training everyone!

Monday, 27 January 2014

My Beach/Coast Runs In Mauritius

Over the past few years I've realised that I absolutely love running along the coastline. This means following the coastline on the beach or trail or over rocks or whatever the coastline offers. I love this!

In Mauritius these runs were so good I can hardly blog about it. There is just too much to share. I took hundreds of photos during these runs.

I ran between the trees above the beaches a bit but mostly on the beaches itself. This was spectacular!

There are pieces of coral everywhere. Some places are impossible to tackle barefoot. I always ran with my Nike trails shoes.

The color of the water is amazing and you can swim safely anywhere. When it was really hot I often dipped into the sea to cool of and then carried on with my run. Yep, I did this with my running clothes and shoes and everything on. Didn't even get any strange looks. :)

I got a good idea of what the hotels and resorts are like.

I also did a lot of rock hopping. I enjoy exploring a rocky coastline the most of all the coastal runs.

I saw some amazing things on my runs in Mauritius. If I didn't run I would have missed out on a lot of what the island has to offer. I also burned off all those extra nibbles and bites we had during our stay. Yes, I actually lost weight while in Mauritius. I bet not too many visitors can say that. :)

Have a brilliant week everyone!

Thursday, 23 January 2014

My Road Runs in Mauritius

I ran 6 times while I was in Mauritius. Two times were on the road and the other on the beach/rocks/trail. It was extremely hot and extremely humid. If you want to run properly there, run before 6 AM.

I did some incredible exploring while on my runs and used the time more for the explore part rather than for training...bad runner!

Here are some photos from my road runs...

The roads between the villas are narrow and generally a lot smaller than what I am used to here in SA.

Lots of coconut trees.

There are numerous building styles. Some modern and some not so modern...:)

Roads like these were incredibly hot! I was permanently soaked!

I cooled off in this pool immediately after each run. Heaven!

Next post I'll share my off-road runs.

Happy training everyone!

Monday, 20 January 2014

Inspiration For The Week

Some inspiration to get out there and run this week!

Bobbies 22km/10km, Edenvale, Johannesburg, 19 January 2014

Have a super week!

Thursday, 16 January 2014

Back from a wonderful trip.

Hi Everyone! We are back from Mauritius after a wonderful trip. I decided to do the "unplug from technology" thing while there and it was wonderful.

I will post full reports with lots of photos but for now here is a quick summary.

From the time we took off from Johannesburg...