Music, podcasts & looking at my own behaviour.

I am a musician and I love music. I take the most intense pleasure from compiling play-lists, searching out bands that I think will kick my running into the stratosphere. During the winter last year I only listened to running pod-casts. I had run a marathon in the autumn and decided to do another locally, very quickly afterwards. The euphoria of running my first marathon had gradually worn off and the prospect of the local  run was daunting. There was snow up to my ankles for the entire build-up. Training had taken on a very different feeling. One of the slog. I was probably looking for inspiration when I started listening to runners like Steve with Phedippidations and Nigel with Running From The Reaper. Their podcasts reignited my love for running, probably through identifying with their similarly passionate love of running and their use of narrow-casting. I am still amazed at the quality of content that a podcaster can create week after week.

I notice I'm doing the same thing this year, this time before the marathon. That is either a good thing or a sign of struggle. I really don't know which, though the audio books I am listening to are about running: 50/50, Once A Runner, and Born To Run, so I think I'm slogging again. I feel very positive, but one thing I know is that my training often mirrors my life. Out of sorts with the runs and I am always out of sorts with my life. Slogging in life is probably due to arriving home from a fantastic, restful holiday and getting back into life's normal routines again. What I want to would like to happen is that the marathon becomes an autumn clean sweep for my training which will reflect back on life ignite some passion there too. I have a few ideas, returning to the gym and working on core, mixing in some cycling and swimming to mix things up a bit or even just training for speed and see what I can do with 10 km over the winter. Training needs structure sometimes, and it needs to be a game after this marathon. I am ready to mix it up a bit, and see what happens. Rock on!