A Late New Year

Coming back home a week after the new year began has slightly discombobulated me. Of course, as the Gregorian calendar has been adopted by/forced upon the whole world, the new year happened at the same time in Mumbai, give or take a few hours. But I couldn’t just begin a new regime in the middle of my holidays.

Do I have any New Years Resolutions?

Yes. But I may have to co-opt the Chinese New Year to get them firing.

I’m going to state them here because then I won’t forget them given my perimenopausal state.

1. To finally finish a first draft of my novel.
2. To get a half marathon done in under two hours.
3. To keep practising that front crawl

Not the longest of lists but they’re all big things. 

Let’s start with the first one.
I’ve only managed to write a quarter of this even though I’ve been talking about it for a couple of years, and although I feel like I know where the story is going now, I have to actually knock out the words and get that first draft done.

Problem: 
Aside from the obvious lack of discipline, I have now become fearful that the longer this frigging thing takes me, the worse it will get. When I finally finish it and get it to a state of readability, I fear that people will think ‘why has this drivel taken you so long to write’? 

Solution: 
As Susan Jeffers said: Feel the fear and do it anyway. 
I am trying to just have a go at a mildly amusing crime novel. It’s not supposed to be Dostoevsky or Proust, it’s supposed to be Richard Osman light. If it’s pants, I’ve still learnt stuff: about building a long narrative structure, about sitting and working away at something, about whether I’m built for this kind of endeavour or not.

And now for number two.
Once upon a time, back in 2015, I ran the Warrington Half in 1:56:04. Scroll forward ten years and I am currently lucky if I get to the end in under two and a half hours. 

Problem: 
I’m older, heavier and slower. I spent last year going long and slow, with one 50K and two marathons. Great to achieve but I did virtually no speed workouts at all Plus, I’ve not begun this year very well by selling on my Helsby Half Marathon. That would have happened today. And instead, I’ve been in my pyjamas for most of it, writing and reading.

Solution:
Sprint Work/ Hills/ Long Run. One of each, every week (or most weeks). I have another Half in nine weeks’ time and (assuming the weather is not crazy) I’d like to be under 2:20 for that. 

Time goals aren’t always the best thing, and people can obsess over them. Luckily (or unluckily sometimes), I’m not an obsessive person, and a little time-tracking for a period will not do me any harm. It will keep me focused. 

To that end I’m going to do a weekly blog to share my training over this period. It might or might not help others, but it will be a useful record for me when I’m back to my slothful ways. 

Finally, number three.
I did get a little practise of this during my holiday as there was a lovely outdoor pool that we used quite a lot. Still, it is an extremely frustrating stroke. 

Problem:
Every now and then I think I’m about to crack it and get my breathing comfortable, and then I swallow water or don’t pull my arm up properly and the synchronicity between arms, legs and breath goes to pot.

Solution:
There is nothing I can do with this but practise, practise, practise. I know what I should be doing. I need to keep the stroke slow and mindful, and just keep getting in the water and having a go.

So that’s my lot. My belated list that I will belatedly begin. So let’s see what happens.