Back to the Drawing Board

I’ve got myself into a bit of a rut recently, both with work and my running. Confidence is a bit low, as are ideas and inspiration. Hopefully it doesn’t show in my work, but I think I need to address it and come up with a plan to get things back on track. On both counts.

The commissions side of work has been really busy lately, which I’m really grateful for. It’s been a privilege to work with clients on a really varied group of projects.

However the side projects have been a bit inconsistent. There’s a new series of world marathon majors maps in progress, which is coming along nicely, but there are various others that despite best intentions, have yet to get off the ground or have just ground to a halt.

Time management has never been a strength of mine, and I feel like I don’t know what or when I should be working on these side projects. Just getting started is often the biggest hurdle.

A proper plan is needed, and get back to basics. Stop trying to reinvent ideas before they’ve even started, and go with the initial gut feeling when the idea first came to me.

A bit more structure and planning ahead will help I think.

🔲 Monday – make a plan

I was intending to go ahead with Wendover Woods 100 in 2 weeks time, and just let it just be whatever distance I could manage, as I’ve not been able to get myself remotely close to actually be able to contemplate finishing something like this.

I seem to have lost a lot of confidence with my running in recent years, and have a tendency to hide away from dealing with it in the sensible way of just getting out and running more. So the consistency and form I had a few years back have taken a hit…

Starting an ultra that I know I’m not ready for, and likely breaking myself in the process, is probably not the way to go about getting out of this rut. I’m thinking and hoping that setting some realistic goals, and following a structured plan, are the way to get back on track. So my focus for the rest of this year will be a solid training plan for a November marathon, which one of my club mates is kindly helping me out with. Keep the goals achievable, and adjust if necessary. Then if that goes well, it should provide a good base perhaps for Country to Capital in Jan. I won’t think beyond that for now, will be happy to just get some consistency back above anything else.

🔲 Monday – go for run (unless it’s supposed to be a rest day…)

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🔲 Next month – write a more positive and interesting blog post

Owen 🖌