Guest Post: The vital 5 weeks ...by Pat Walsh

 ** The vital 5 weeks **

Just a few weeks left in the Year and who knows what 2024 has in store for us?

Something nice I hope.

From now until the end of the Year can go a long way to starting on the right foot in January.

It is always a difficult time to train with bad weather and a post Christmas hangover can lead to a very poor January if you have been totally inactive.

How to counter it.

Get out now. Run a few miles whenever you can. Set a target of 2, 3 or 4 runs a week. Don’t be worrying about distance or pace, just get out there.

What you are trying to achieve is maintaining some base level of fitness that can then be worked on in January. 

This is far easier and will have much better results than a start from scratch, where are my running shoes hidden approach...!

Little and often also helps with the inevitable Christmas binge that most of us indulge in. You are not trying to improve your fitness, all you are doing is stopping it falling off a cliff.

You can enter a Spring race knowing that it is achievable with some speed work and specific distance runs. 

You can have optimism and confidence about the Year ahead.

You will be keeping the body in some sort of shape and not lose the routine of running and training. 

We cannot go hard 12 months of the year but it is good to just maintain a decent level of fitness. That can mean so many different things to different people, but apply it to your own situation. 

Get out but go easy. 

Be January Ready.

Am I a killjoy, Am I a scrooge, Am I a realist hoping to help?

#pwr