Well, it must be time for a catch-up

I didn't realise that it was so long since I had written on here. So much of nothing has happened really!
After January, things took a proper downturn. My stomach problem returned, and chased any fitness I had accumulated out of the window. It took a whole month, punctuated with desperate trips to the gym to try and at least to keep up the pretence of training but as the condition is quite debilitating this was never going to be a success. Grizzly time was fast approaching and odds were heavily stacked in favour of my going down there as a spectator, much to my dismay.
And then..in the first week of March I suddenly got better. Such is the way sometimes. I immediately got out and started to try a few runs in the hope that I could get round the cub run, whatever the pace.
On race day I decided to hang on to Mike for as long as I could; We were blessed with fine Devon weather after such a dreadfully wet Winter. It was wonderful on top of those cliffs.
I had no problem at all with the run, I had bags of energy and could probably have squeezed out a better performance but I was celebrating the fact that it was such a glorious morning and that I could run again (and of course I was running with my friend !)
The aftermath was filled with new plans, although in fairness I didn't make the best of the weeks following the race. I entered a couple of races but was unable to get in much meaningful training - although I was capable of revising plan after plan .. :))
..and then I came up with the idea of the early-morning run, combining my naturally early rising habit with time to run before breakfast & whatever else the day held. If I could get in a few of those each week it would form the core of my weekly sessions - everything else could be a tailored run.
All began so well, and then I became ill again. This time one of those chest/throat infections which if you are an asthmatic like me seems to takes ages to come to the boil and then longer to leave your system. Aghhh!! It's so frustrating. I tried running through it, but in the end was forced to take bed rest (well, settee rest) . I consoled myself with some good reads and sport watching on TV, taking in the London Marathon and the Paris Roubaix bike race. And all the while, the lawn was growing into an unmanageable state outside too..
I missed the Sexarathon race I was simply too ill to take part. I have entered the series though so I need some return on my investment. I also have to 'get fit' for a 60 mile bike ride in May. Now I am nearing the end of this bout of illness it's back on the roads and the hills again.
My other, maybe longer term target is to get back to sub-20 for 5k. I have no real idea of how fast I can do it (when well) but I'm guessing there is room for improvement.
But first, I need to do some running. One step at a time..

Nearly a month has passed; progress report time.

I entered all of the races I said I would in my last post.
I went along to Running Bear to buy a replacement wet weather top (I must have realised it was going to rain a lot in January!!) for my 1999 blue-purple model (of course, I haven't got rid of the original, silly of you to even think that was a possibility)
Late December & Early January was really about getting myself going again. This seems weird as I've just about carried on running all year, but illness and injury were common themes during 2013 and I felt that age was beginning to catch up with me. Things just don't work as well as they used to.
I also took on a new job and that has meant some changes, things are still changing so I don't know how this is going to pan out.
I set myself a target of getting back to my modest November level of fitness, trying to use a hill course as a tempo run a couple of times a week. At the time of writing, I'm probably back to that level, so that is nice and positive.
The only race to date has been the Blymhill 10k. This was a tough hard slog from beginning to end. I realised how slow and unfit I was, and given the deep mud everywhere, I was just glad to finish in one piece, and was very disappointed with my efforts. Hardly a ringing endorsement of my fitness levels but it shows I'm still moving I suppose.
Mileage for January has so far peaked at 38 in one week, but to make any real progress now I must maintain that kind of level, and worryingly mileage for the week after dropped to 30, it still doesn't take much to knock me off track. Also I have to sling in some faster work to lift the tempo a bit. And of course, I have to stay illness and injury free. So far, running with a Mueller knee strap has helped tremendously, I have none of the pre-Xmas problems with my knee cap.
I've just recorded a fairly good run up to and round the Wrekin, it's really time on my feet I'm after with the long runs at the moment, so all is very positive for the next month. And it's slightly exciting. If I can break the run/ill/injured cycle and actually start to progress then that will spur me on a little more.