Long time, no blog. Admittedly, it feels nice to finally be sat down at the laptop with the intention, and time, to start spilling my thoughts out into a new post. Over the past few weeks my personal life has undergone some drastic changes, namely a considerable relocation and starting my new job. Whilst this has brought a lot of excitement, it has also meant a lot of tiredness and early nights. Oh the crazy lifestyle of a twenty two year old graduate! Considering all of this change, running has understandably taken a bit of a back seat whilst I find my feet in my new position and my bearings in my new area. With my induction process now coming to an end, I am finally starting to find some sense of routine creeping back into my days, hence the return of the blog.
In view of this, my running diaries post this month may slightly lack the amount of running content usually present, since even keeping up with two short sessions a week has been a struggle at times. Having said that, getting out and exploring my new area on foot has been extremely enjoyable and definitely eased me into my surroundings. There appears to be many more off road routes I can use nearby, consisting of foot paths and wooded trails, compared to my previous local routes which is a massive bonus. Alongside this, I have just joined the local running club and am now officially a member of Avon Valley Runners. In all honesty, I was extremely nervous to try out the session last week. But, everyone was very welcoming and made me feel right at home. I'd also signed up for an interval track session, which considering my lack of miles recently I was equally concerned about. But, again, I found the session really manageable and even enjoyed pushing myself through the faster intervals. Writing this, I am sat coffee in hand gearing myself up for my second session with the club, this time filled with a much better balance of excitement and apprehension.
Although not directly running related, in other fitness updates I have finally re-joined a gym. After having not set foot in one since early March, I was quite nervous on how the new restrictions and Covid-19 measures would be implemented. There's always that fear of being the one person to get things wrong when starting somewhere new, especially in the current climate, so I made sure to have it all fully explained to me before signing up properly. Since I was happy with all the precautions they are taking and the amount of equipment available for use, I decided to go ahead with the membership. And, I am so glad that I did! I have absolutely loved being back in a gym. Looking back I was a very frequent user, spending a fair amount of my spare time there and always enjoyed making time for a session or a class. During summer, I did begin to really miss that time spent lifting weights or powering away on a spin bike. So now, although a different experience, I am enjoying being back. Neither session I have booked has been busy at all and everyone is obliging with the social distancing and cleaning down of equipment, which is reassuring to see. Personally, I am trying to use as minimal different equipment as possible whilst still having an effective workout as I currently feel most comfortable with this approach and find it means I make the most of my one hour slot.
Getting my strength training back in action will definitely further benefit my running, since the past month I have quite neglected even basic mobility and strengthening exercises. After being injured numerous times, I understand the importance of keeping both hand in hand to keep improving on running performance. Additionally, I find the same enjoyment in watching my numbers on the weights go up as I do from my PBs going down. So, this added motivation provides some good, varying goals to work towards.
Although this post has been short and sweet, I am hoping next months running diary post can resume in it's usual format with hopefully a lot more content to update you on. Settling into an entirely new location and routine is never easy, but I'm glad to finally be feeling normality somewhat resuming. As well, keeping a constant flow of new content on this blog is something I highly enjoy doing and love gaining a lot of new knowledge whilst compiling new posts. Therefore, I'm also hoping as life settles down into my 'new normal' I can get back into my regular weekly uploads. Apologies if this takes longer than a few weeks, but I'll try not to take any long hiatuses again.
Is anyone else from the Wiltshire area? I'd love some recommendations for lovely places to visit and run! Let me know in the comments.