New Goals and What I've Been Up To

I'm finally back to work full time (long story short.. Was on a leave of absence), and feel like I've been busier than ever!

So far, January has been jam packed with work, reading, spending time in Cape Breton and of course training runs and workouts!

Since finishing my January half marathon.. My runs seem to be few and far between.. Only reaching 62km so far for the month. I've been lacking motivation lately, as I had finished the half that I trained for since October, and then kinda thought.. "Well, what now?". So I decided a good way to kick that motivation up a notch, is by making a new goal.. 

Enter Spartan Race ULTRA BEAST!

By 26+ miles, that really means... 

"of course it's gonna be more than 26 miles.. Expect to die on the side of a mountain for atleast 27 or 28 long and gruelling miles."

Just paraphrasing here.

Having not officially registered yet.. Because the race cost the same as like.. 4 months of groceries for me (plus $40 parking? What an expensive lifestyle!).

Yup $235 is a steep price to pay to torture yourself for 12 hours.

Which, by the way, my goal is to finish in under 12 hours. Kind of because I think that's an appropriate time for my first one.. But mostly just because I don't want to be out there for absolutely any longer than 12 hours. Seriously.

**UPDATE (March) - So I Have purchased and Eastern Canada Seasons Pass for Spartan Race, and have officially committed to the Montreal Ultra Beast on July 31!**

Sure, for the typical marathoner who is doing 26 miles no problem.. 12 hours sounds INCREDIBLY SLOW! But! You must realize that we will be going UP and then down.. Then up and down again.. Then up and down AGAIN, on the side of a 2000 foot mountain, all while mixing in 50 different obstacles including monkey bars, barbed wire crawls, rope climbs, bucket/log carries.. And whatever other instruments of torture Spartan Race has up its sleeves.

SO, my point is.. 12 hours is a pretty decent time for a first ultra beast. As long as I do not miss the cut off time, I'll be a happy camper!

Next topic, what I've been up to this month!

Since finishing the half, and deciding on this big new goal.. I've been focusing a lot more on building strength for carries and monkey bars at races, and doing longer runs.

We did a nice 16km run, slow because of the ice, but a gorgeous day for it.

Afterwards we worked on some obstacles. The 8 foot walls are my arch nemesis.

Don't let the smile fool you.. Sandbag carries are harder than they look!

We also did a 10km run along the water, the snow was super deep which made the run a tad difficult. Gotta embrace the Cape Breton weather.

We also spent a couple hours snowshoeing as our cross training, a super fun way to get outside in the winter and be active!

This month I also was able to go out with my sister and friend Lee to The Middle Spoon. A local desert bar, and we stayed for lunch.. And of course cake!

I had the squash soup and chocolate cake for desert. 

Lisa and Lee shared the sweet and savoury platter in behind.

The hint of raspberry was delish!

Lisa had the peanut butter cheesecake and Lee had the lava cake (would totally get this one next time).. And yes, that says "spoon" and it's made of chocolate, too cute!

This month I've also been spending a lot of time reading..

So many books.. So little time!

This new year I had a personal resolution to read atleast one book a month, and so far it's going well. I've already read the book my sister Keshia gave me.. Girl on the Run by B. R. Myers and enjoyed that. Sometimes there's nothing better than resting the legs and getting lost in a book.

I'm currently enjoying Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. Such a great read so far and filled with plenty of laughs, also an interesting read being a mental health nurse with the book written all about how she handles her depression/anxiety.

Next up for light casual reading is The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I've watched the movies with Kirk and loved them, so he gave me the first book in the series for Christmas! I'm looking forward to beginning this series of books (4 total I believe).

I also have a new book that I like to refer to as my bible. It's called Relentless Forward Progress: A guide to running ultramarathons by Bryon Powell. There seems to be some great advice and tips in here that I'm hoping will help me with training, nutrition, etc during my race coming up in 3 months. There's also training plans within the book, and chapters on basically ANY question a beginner ultra runner like myself might ask. I'm excited to read this book, but will need to set aside a time where I can focus fully on it, and start to develop a training plan for myself, especially now that I have an official goal for April!

The other new book I have on my to read list is actually a big vegetarian cookbook. Which is great because I can simply flip through and find something to make for dinner. This cookbook, called Meatless has vegetarian recipes that range from simple quick snacks, to homemade soup, and even full meals! The pictures inside are absolutely gorgeous and detailed, and I can't wait to give some of these recipes a test run.

So that's how my January has been so far, a busy but wonderful start to the new year!

How has your 2016 been going? Any new goals for the year?

Cheers,

The Rural Runner