Winter Blues

It's that time of year again.  February is a brutal month. It's so tantalisingly close to summer, with it's vest and shorts weather and seemingly endless daylight.  It's so close, yet so far.  The never ending days of long, endurance training, building the base of fitness to allow all that quick training that is to come, start to drag by and the apparently ceaseless wet, windy weather starts to dampen both the spirits and the trainers.  For one brief, glorious afternoon last week I was convinced Spring was just around the corner, but the harsh reality is we're still pretty firmly entrenched in Winter.

I'd love to jet off to a warm training camp somewhere, maybe Majorca or Lanzarote.  A 10day escape to warmer climes would go down a treat right now, but the harsh reality is I'm all tied up in University work, other commitments and the financial destitution of student life so won't be jetting off anywhere anytime soon.   The greater climbs of Surrey will have to do for now, but there's always the hope of a cheeky last minute trip once exams are done and work is yet to re-start.

As I do almost all my training solo, the motivation to go out and do planned sessions has to be entirely self derived.  There's no safety net of teammates urging you to come along, braving the frankly disgusting weather.  This places an awful lot more pressure on me mentally.  It's a new form of pressure as I've only previously been involved in sports where that safety net of teammates was there to encourage me should I falter.  I used to row, a sport which is notorious for sticking to planned schedules and training plans, despite all forms of protest from the crew.  Now I'm training solo, without a coach, I have to be the one to tell myself to get up and pull my kit on.  I find its easier to try and convince myself that a session is a good idea as I get changed.  That way, even if I still don't want to do the session, I'm already changed and its silly to get changed and not train.  Having my kit laid out ready also helps, especially if there's a pice or two of it strategically placed across the radiator.  A nice warm t-shirt before a run is a small luxury, but it's the little things that make all the difference.

I know I'll look back on this post in 6 months and wonder why I was complaining. It's putting in the effort at this time of year that will pay off come race season.  Every session I do which my fellow competitors decide to sleep through is one session I'm fitter than them, technically better than them or better prepared.  

I've only raced one so far this year, but in less than perfect conditions I PB'd comfortably.  I know that this Winters' efforts are paying dividends.  I can see it in my training and how I feel.  Excited about the summer?  Oh you bet.  Happy to battle through a few more wet, windy sessions until then?  Yeh.  I think I can do that.