I don’t know about you, but watching other people “climb their own mountains” is one of the biggest sources of inspiration and motivation for me. Usually I am referring to “striving toward their own goals” but this time I really mean mountains. I watched 14 Peaks on Netflix and it was just mind-blowing. My brain was whirring away and I just feel so pumped to get out in the mountains again. The Cairngorms aren’t my usual stomping ground but I’m looking forward to checking them out.

I started December by finishing off Week 7 of the Couch to 5k (C25K) with two runs along my new route. Now that the runs are just single blocks of 25 minutes, I can start to compare the pace. I can see that I’ve run further on each run this week – it’s about 2.8 miles plus 5 minutes warm up and cool down, so it’s starting to ramp up.

With just over 2 months until the trek, I’m building in more core exercises, with planks and press-ups. I’ll probably start running with a bit of weight again soon to help build up my core stability and boost the workout to my leg and glute muscles.

My swimming is really going well too – I’ve managed 80 lengths in 55 minutes three times out of four swims!!

I feel like I had a really good Run 8.1. It was 28 minutes and I decided to do a loop instead of an out-and-back. Made it round nicely which was great. It was about 12 degrees so if anything it was a bit too warm given the other runs lately. Google reckons the run was 3.6 miles, which is a pleasant surprise, though I’ll switch to Strava soon seeing as there’s no run/walk mixtures these days.

I just got an email from the trek organiser as early December draws to a close and it was a bit of a shock. Looks like the trek is even more hardcore than I had anticipated. So I’m going to have to up the tempo of my Training and get some time out in the hills with heavy gear. Lots of planning to be done as there isn’t very much time left for training!!