Priorities

Feeling kinda low today - I'd recovered from the suicide Six pretty quickly but went straight into a stinking cold. I'm giddy, snotty, and generally feeling unenergetic. Not too bad - I could go out and run, but everything is telling me it's not a good idea and may well prolong things. Still - I rather like to stay active - so what do I do? I guess all I can do is to try to focus on study and other stuff until I can get back out there.

So - we're coming up to December, and I know my IM training has stalled somewhat. I was up to a fifty mile bike ride some weeks ago, but have let it slide. This isn't disastrous, but I know it's a slide I have to halt. So - with that in mind - what are my goals for before the end of the year?

Biking
I intend to get out there and have done at least three sixty mile plus bike rides before the end of December. No excuses about weather and stuff - I should be able to juggle stuff. I'm also going to make use of the Oxshott bike group and Greenie who is always up for a ride. I need to make biking a priority - if I can come off the bike feeling decent then I can walk/run the marathon

Running
I've been getting rather distracted by shoes and how I was gettign a tight quad and a sore ankle. TBH I don't have the answer as yet, maybe it's just all the training on the other disciplines as well - who knows? Anyway - I'm going to aim for a fifteen mile run for the end of December. Even if I get into FLM, this will be plenty, and if I don't, then it's still tons for a July marathon.

I also want to get the shoes issue settled. I think that I've got quite tricky feet right now! Still - the nirvanas are great on the tready, and I'm going to try them outside. The NB's will also get a good try out, and I can see just what's right for what. It's rather annoying to have to fit in "shoe trials" and stuff, but ultimately at the moment I'm not runnign enough. It's tempting to set a target of three runs a week, but then I may end up de-emphasising the bike - which I don't think is a good idea, so I'll settle for a consistent two runs a week for December and leave the three for later

Swimming
It's been too easy to say "it's fine - leave it to the new season and then do more OW", but I do fear my endurance will drop if I'm not careful. So - the goal for December is to do a mile session at least once a week. I'd also like to fit in some swim classes - but it's provign tricky as all the local classes seem to be on a Monday or Wednesday, when I have college. I'm going to keep looking!

Study
This is a tricky one - I'm doing it, and generally scoring well on homework, but I'm aware that I need to sharpen up on it. The first exam is January 10th, and it would be great to achieve over 90% in that. The more I can score in the AS exams, the less I need to score in the A2 exams to get the A overall - which is the goal. I may get offers of B, but I want that A!! AS exam is the 10th, A2 the 24th. AS is easier.

Hard to set an exact goal - but okay - for December I'm goign to schedule in six hours work a week on the AS, and ten per week on A2, not including the classes. This is because the A2 is harder, and also the A2 exam is two weeks later, so I should be able to focus on the A2 after the AS exam.

Social
Hmm - I do feel like I've rather neglected this of late - time to get out there and mix more! I might leave this a bit more until the new year, as I don't want to distract too much from the study. Still - getting down the running club at least once a week in December is a good target that combines social with training :o)