And I was just pondering posting a "How the hell are you all?" thread over the weekend.
Looking back at my intended goals, I've had an astonishing year even by my own low standards:
2015 plans:
1. Lose weight (better diet, less booze) :
FAIL2. 10 and 25 TTs :
FAIL3. forget about a time target for OD, just turn up to a race in good shape and feeling I have prepared properly then see what happens :
FAIL4. do Swashbuckler again :
FAIL5. get a PB at Southampton HM :
FAIL6. do some parkruns... :
FAIL...but mainly I want to go back ten years and do some of the small local pool-based sprints that first made me love this sport. :
FAILI'd like to say many of these are targets for next year but health problems mean that next year is rather up in the air.
Given that I can hardly run 5km at the moment I do not see London Marathon as a realistic prospect unless I
really want to injure myself
2015 Excuses
1. I'm a fat, lazy, old boozer. Losing weight by improving diet (both solid and liquid) is ENTIRELY within my control and WILL be addressed. I have some stuff in place for the coming weeks that will hopefully help here.
2. TT's... well... I did some pretty hefty procrastinating and eventually convinced myself that a fat "all the kit, full of sh*t" idiot would just be the subject of derision so didn't bother.
3. Doing an OD with adequate preparation and just seeing what happens: there's no way I have been fit enough or prepared enough this year. And to be honest the prospect of an OD terrifies me... my swimming is so shit it scares me.
4. Swashbuckler.... Ha ha ha ha... not a hope. Nor next year, which cuts me up a bit as I still think I can do a sub-5:30 on that course (but I don't want to die trying).
5. Southampton HM: can't remember, think I may have been injured or more likely just fat and unfit and making excuses
6. Parkrun: No idea why I've been talking about this for years yet have still never done one. Other than it being a Saturday morning.
From this, let's put some targets for next year:
0. Get health problems sorted. Specifically, get the heart issue diagnosed & fixed and a health/recovery plan in place by the end of the year. This is entirely feasible, thanks to private medical.
0.1 Lose weight by improving diet (Better food, no booze) and getting some exercise done.
Bonus targets:
Parkruns, long sportives, TTs, maybe a late season OD, some sprint races, catching up with some of the massive.
As above, I think London Marathon is not going to happen now, although opinions are welcome. But mainly it is about goal zero and see how I go.