Back to Work and Back on Track! :)

It's amazing how quickly things can change. Since being laid off from work back in October last year, I have been applying for endless jobs but nothing was proving fruitful - no interviews, no  phone calls, nothing. It was starting to get me down, but I was able to keep myself busy by focusing on my running, walking the dogs for a good hour three times a day, and making videos for my YouTube channel . Whilst I was having fun with all this time on my hands to do all the things I was enjoying doing, I didn't really have a sense of purpose for quite a while, and some days I did wonder why I was even bothering getting up in a morning. I had to keep telling myself that other people were in the same boat or an even worse position, so I should quit complaining.

Then out of the blue, I ended up having three interviews within a matter of days of each other, and then I received two job offers - both a similar job, both similar pay, both with good reputable companies. It was a hard decision, but I eventually opted to accept the job closer to home, and so it was that on April 19th, I was back in the workplace.

My first week back working knocked me for six, and I was definitely feeling more mentally tired than anything. It's so hard learning a new job with all this Covid stuff going on and most people working from home, but I am very happy to be persevering, and whilst there is still a whole host of things to learn, I do feel like I am making progress and started to pick things up.

Of course, working full time does mean that I am back to running later in the evenings, whilst my weekends have once again become very precious to me as I make the best use of time fitting my in runs, in between dog walks, dog snuggles, and just generally doing things with the family.

Now that my 100k is out of the way, my focus has moved back to the track, and the past couple of weeks have seen me completing my longer runs at the local high school. I've been really happy with how things have gone, and despite a blip last week when attempting a speed session which I later abandoned due to just not being in the mood and feeling somewhat exhausted, I'm starting to feel more confident about my 24 hour race in June.

My first track run was a 10 miler. It was meant to be easy, but I was curious to see what my comfortable pace was on a track, where I could just focus on my momentum, and zone out as I just ticked off the laps. I ended up running around 1 hour 17 mins at what felt like a comfortable pace which averaged out at around 7.43  minute miling. Of course that is much faster than what I will be doing in a 24 hour race, but even so, it did give me a little confidence.

It was also good practice that Saturday in that I had had less sleep than normal. A red alert for the aurora borealis the night before, saw us heading out after midnight to see if we could capture sight of the northern lights. We arrived at our secret spot by about 12.30am, and within 20 minutes, we were treated to the most spectacular showing, and probably the best we have ever seen since moving to Canada back in 2012.

Come Sunday, I did take things much easier and caught up on some of my sleep before heading out to nearby Devon to run some trails. It would be my first day back in the office on the following day, so I decided to take Wilson with me for a nice and easy 10k. The trails were pretty muddy in places with snow patches still remaining in others, but both Wilson and I had so much fun and we ended up muddy, stinky and somewhat wet, and both of us had huge smiles on our faces! I've said it so many times, but Wilson really is an amazing dog, especially given that he is now 10 years old. He's not as fast as he used to be and he does stiffen up sometimes, but that love and joy he has for everything he does is infectious, and he always brings a smile to my face :)

Having been to see my coach recently for a good sports massage - it had been almost 6 months since I had last been! - we had a chat about where  my training would be going over the coming weeks, especially with me doing a track race in June, and a mountain race in August. I needed to make sure I trained on both track and trails, so we agreed that my longer runs would be on the track whilst my Sunday recoveries would be on trails. It sounded great, and I was ready to crack on and get going.

Last Saturday was my first real long run on the track again with 2 and a half hours planned. I was told to aim for 8.03 minute miling which would give me between 18 and 19 miles. I was a little concerned that maybe that would be too fast for me this week, especially due to the tiredness I was feeling with being in work and not sleeping too well, but I was really chuffed to hit the nail right on the head - I ended up with 18.7 miles for an average pace of 8 minute miling. It had again felt relatively comfortable but then I do find track running far easier as  I can and do just zone out, get into a rhythm, and don't really think about things. I did change direction every 45 minutes to ensure I didn't overdo things on one side, and I'm pleased to say that so far, the old body has been coping with things pretty well.

This coming weekend I have to complete 3 hours and I am actually looking forward to it again. It's 6 weeks until Survivorfest 24 hour, and I am getting excited about the thought of racing again. Of course, there is still the possibility that it will not go ahead - much still depends on the Alberta Health Service and any restrictions still in place due to Covid. But even if not in person, I will still be doing the race virtually, and I'm really hoping that having been chasing that elusive 210km, I can finally hit my goal this time.