2013 Review of Aspirations

This year has been one of focus, and of meandering wanderings. I set out with eight goals, as follows:

#1   Run 10km in under 50 minutes
#2   Run Glossop to Hope in under 3hrs 45mins
#3   Run Herod Farm fell race quicker than last year's race.
#4   10 chin ups
#5   Box jump onto big box
#6   Complete my Walking Group Leaders Award training
#7  Successfully achieve my Walking Group Leaders Award
#8  Handstand press-up

These are my thoughts on each one in turn:

#1   Run 10km in under 50 minutes
I achieved this one much quicker than I anticipated, at the Salford 10k race at the end of March. Woop Woop. The lasting memories of this are that 1) I needed to do a decent amount of speed work and dedicated training to be quick enough; 2) It Hurt. A Lot. And continued to do so for some hours afterwards. I reckon that the residual lung capacity most of us don't ever tap into was well and truly expunged from me; 3) I didn't need to do any more road races, this pleased me lots; 4) I'm never going to be really quick, but with focused blocks of training a decent mid-pack time on the flat is possible.

#2   Run Glossop to Hope in under 3hrs 45mins
This hasn't happened for various reasons. The main one being that I never quite got enough umph to just do it. In my mind I was planning to do it late summer, around the same time of year as last time. We holidayed in late July in the Alps, came back and then work took over, weekends were busy with other things, long runs happened and I moved the target date. Then it just got too wet underfoot, and while I'm no where near a fair weather runner I don't want my repeat of this route to be in total opposite conditions slowed down for sure by the bog monsters on Brown Knoll. Excuses I know. I have had a serious talk with myself over this one, and about the additional challenge I set part way through the year which was to run the Edale Skyline route. The latter was to be a long run over Christmas, no illusions of a fast time, but then the lurgy struck me down from Christmas Eve until last weekend. I've moved this onto next year's targets, but more on that in a later post.

#3   Run Herod Farm fell race quicker than last year's race.
I'd like to say I easily achieved this one, and on numbers alone it appears that way. Last year I ran the race in 40:12, this year 39:17. Happy? Yes. Easy? No. With about 350m ascent in two big chunks of climbing over just 5km, any race with that profile would never be easy. I'd spent a lot of time training on uphill reps, so when geeking out over the stats after the race I was disappointed to find I'd made up most of the time on the descent section. Oh well. Maybe I need to do more downhill reps to get quicker uphill?! I'll be on marshalling duties in 2014 for this Glossopdale Harriers club race, and that will suit me just fine. I've broken the 40min barrier and beat last years time; I'm happy with that.

#4   10 chin ups
Big fat Fail on this one. Things came and went, excuses racked up. But basically I didn't have the focus and determination to keep the momentum up on the specific strength work that I need to do for this target. I've got this one down for 2014 and am determined to get there. I've been learning about short, medium and long term goals so I've got this one nicely broken down into chunks of training. It all starts today with a new programme of stretching, isometric scapula work and lots of heavy lifting. More on this one to follow.

#5   Box jump onto big box
Another one not reached but I have done a fair amount of plyometric work. I'm not bothered that I didn't get this target; having good hip mobility, good back flexibility and a strong core are more important. I'll be working on those aspects much more next year.

#6   Complete my Walking Group Leaders Award training
I did this and got good feedback, giving me the confidence to go on and book the assessment days for early May. I also attended and passed a two day Wilderness First Aid Course which is a required component of the WGLA.

#7  Successfully achieve my Walking Group Leaders Award
Tick. The assessment was good, nothing I didn't expect or couldn't deal with quite happily. Since qualifying I've worked out on the hill several times teaching others about navigation, hill skills, and private guiding routes around the Peak District. I really enjoy working outdoors, teaching others how to be independent, confident with map reading and being safe in what can often be challenging conditions. There's a bit more about my guiding work on this page.

#8  Handstand press-up
Another target not acquired, another one I'm not bothered I didn't reach because the intermediate step was far more important and rewarding for me. That being, accomplishing the skill that had evaded me until this year - the handstand. I was really really pleased that I ticked this one off, so pleased I did a little gleeful dance around the gym. Have a read of this post here and you'll get what I'm talking about. I'm now confident enough with handstands that I can quite happily just do one without too much thought. See, the impossible isn't actually.

And so that brings me to the end of my review of my 2013 Aspirations. I've been mulling over targets/aims/resolutions/goals for 2014 for the past month or so, formulating a list. What I've ended up with is more like a calendar of events, things I'm aiming for and dates to tick them off by. I've got a plan for my longer runs, a few races I will enter and some others I fancy and may do. There's a few other challenges I want to do as well and a block of study/learning to fit in before April (more on that one later too!).