Happy New Year! While opening this blog, I noticed that the last post was end-of-February 2013. It is one of my New Year resolutions to keep this blog better maintained and more up-to-date.
2013 was a very busy year for both Nathalie and me. In 2013, we decided to stay in Colorado till at least the next Olympics of 2016. Nathalie has access to all required services and facilities to improve her overall strength and fitness. In addition, I changed my employment type from being a temporary "globally deployed" employee to a permanent employee of the US firm. Also, we bought our house in Colorado Springs in the summer. That house is a project on itself as it needs quite some renovation.
After joining the ADP program, my training volume went up significantly. In December-January, I felt I was in the shape of my life. However, that did not translate into remarkable race results. Main reason for that was that my awesome job - that I do with passion - requires weekly travel across the US and involved multiple project go-live dates this year. That made it very hard to get the required training consistency into my weekly schedule. I know that is a lame excuse.
Around the March period, I was able to pace one of the ADP buddies in a 5K. I paced for 3K on a 14:00-14:10 pace and the race was won in 14:03. It made me realize that - with the right amount of training - I should be capable of running such a 5K in the coming years.
The work-run dilemma resulted in the appropriate level of stress. In April-May-June, I suffered from an Achilles tendon issue. I was able to get my mileage in, but couldn't get execute any speed work without pain. If you cannot run fast, you cannot race.
When Nathalie and I came over for a summer break in Belgium, I paced her poorly and raced even worse. With a SB just dipping 4:00 on 1500m, it was very hard to motivate myself again.
I was only running for fun between July and November, without any schedule or goal. However, it made me realize how much I love this and I convinced myself I`m not done with racing. Since December, I train with the ADP group again. The fitness is not there yet, but I enjoy every single workout. I`m able to push myself again and you need that ability while being an athlete.
2014 can only be better from a running perspective. I`ll keep you posted.
No comments:
Post a Comment