The calm before the party.... it's all part of this years training plan - honest :O)

Those of you who followed last year's training blog will know that I am a great believer in planning. In fact most people who know me are used to my being the butt of perpetual jokes about my need to plan, and the various lists and spreadsheets that I use to stop things running away from me. So I find myself in the rather pleasant experience of knowing I'm having a rest fortnight, chilling out having a cup of my favourite Apple & Mint tea, whilst waiting for someone else to clean the car, and knowing it's all part of my training plan.... honest!
You see when we sat down and decided to apply to enter the Highland Cross this year we knew we were wanting to get married and were trying to arrange for the wedding to be at a sensible time of year that it would have some possibility of being sunny (!), not be midgy (?!), and that we wouldn't be at peak-training watching our diet and worrying about taking a break. We therefore decided that we wanted to aim to be almost at maximum distance just before the wedding so that if we took some time off for a couple of weeks it would be easier to get the mileage back up again; in fact it would probably do our muscles good to have a rest from high mileage runs.
So it is with much glee that I can relax, as planned, a couple of days before the wedding and let my body recover a little. In fact we are bang on schedule for the runs, though I have to admit that the fact I've only been on a road-bike once this year so far is starting to worry me. No worry, have I mentioned the bikes are coming on mini moon!!!
Last weekend we enjoyed (yup we really did enjoy it!) a lovely 13 and a bit mile run round Glen Lednock above Brig O'Turk. The sun was out, we were feeling fit and even the snow couldn't cool our spirits. Colin was sprinting ahead up the hills but I was still able to pull the stamina trump card at the end after the long downhill section, just coming in ahead of him. It's not that we're racing you understand (?!) but it's great to see such an improvement in Colin's running after just a year. The last time we did that run was much tougher, though granted the weather was much friendlier this year.
So this week it's all been about prepping for the wedding knowing we're on track for The Cross. I've been back to see Angela Mudge to get that niggling pain tended to again, it seems there is much improvement but I still need to keep stretching for the week; we've had a lovely few days walking with friends in Glencoe; I've been for a pamper session to try and see if I can make myself beautiful and now I'm just waiting for the car to be 'made ready' so I can load it up with gear for a wedding and mini-moon holiday. How exciting is that? In fact, sat here with my cup of tea it feels very much like the calm before the storm, though if course I would rather my storm came in the form of a big party at the weekend rather than anything involving rain!
With that in mind here's a toast: to training, to weddings and to chilling out in the sunshine. Hope you have a lovely week or so, as I'm sure we will, and I'll tell you all about it when we get back...

CHEERS!