Merry Christmas and a Happy new year!!

As the Christmas period and New year are now over, mince pies and chocolate have been eaten, now is the time to start thinking about starting a routine training programme and healthy eating.

On Christmas day I always do two runs. This is a decision I make based on the fact that all my competitors will be running only once on Christmas day, therefore I will have that slight advantage. This also makes you feel better after eating your bodyweight in food!! The first run is a challenging hill sprints session. I find a long steep hill and run up and down 12 times, followed by a 20 minute jog. The second session is a 30 minute flat run later on in the evening. Luckily for me I have a heart rate monitor so that I can track where my heart rate is the whole way round the route. For long slow runs you want your heart rate to be within zone 2, so on average this would be between 120 and 140 beats per minute (bpm). For hill or sprint sessions your heart rate will peak at the end of zone 3 to zone 4 which would be between 160-180 bpm.

My last run of run of 2014 was a 7 mile run which took exactly 1 hour with a mixture of flat ground and hills with an average heart rate of 151.

Today will be my first run of 2015! I am beginning training with a short run which is a 5 mile loop round my town of Buntingford and surrounding villages, which I am hoping to do in 35 minutes. Starting off slowly to build base fitness as I have done throughout winter and then gradually increasing intensity, time and distance as it gets closer to race day. 

Bring it on 2015!! Lets hope it's a good one, as there's a long journey ahead and a lot to fit in!

Becky :)