Life has been hectic for various reasons that I won’t go into here, but things are now slowing down to a mild gallop and so I have found a new blogging project. I am going to follow two people’s journey to Comrades 2021.
The first is one of my off-spring and I don’t like to name names on my blog so we will call her S - S for Super Strong. S has just had her first baby. She ran right up to the day of his birth so she is fairly healthy and fit but giving birth can stretch ligaments and turn muscles to jelly amongst other things. You can’t just go out for a quick time trial. You need to know what you can and cannot do or things will be forever off-kilter. She will be blogging about how to return to peak fitness starting from 3 weeks after a natural birth - what a postpartum mum can and cannot do - I won’t be indulging in that sciency stuff.
S has nine Comrades medals to her name so she is no stranger to the Big C and she would very much like to bag number 10 next year but has her doubts about the time line. I have no doubts - I’m pretty sure she can do it, unless of course she gets pregnant again.
She will start with walking briskly 45 minutes at a time until she feels ready to run a few steps without anything falling out or apart. It sounds easy but making this commitment every day when you are hugely sleep deprived is brave.
Person number two in this saga is me. I am also no stranger to Comrades - I have started four times, reached 75 to 80 km three times but have zero medals. I have seconded so many times that I could probably navigate the route in my sleep.
What is my problem, I hear you ask. Well, first of all I am FREAKING OLD. Secondly, I am asthmatic and have never been sporty even as a child. Thirdly I am RIDDLED with self-doubt. Fourthly, I believe speed work will make my eyes pop out, or, at the very least, bleed.
So what am I going to do about it? I am going to do ALL Coach Mo’s speed work, no excuses, at the pace he requires. I will do my gym work religiously, and I will stop worrying about bleeding eyeballs. The fact that S can follow me on Strava and will know if I have been a woes will help a lot.
The journey will be interesting and, with the lack of running races, will give me something to blog about again, at the very least.