Happy New Year 2026!

Happy New Year to all those that read my blog! I hope 2025 treated you well. I hope that 2026 blows your socks off!

It's actually the 2 Jan 2026 as I write this post and I figured I'd review my goals of yesteryear. I had wanted to complete a 'Rat Race' and I'm pleased to say this was achieved. Mr Orange and I completed this 100-mile coast to coast adventure in the Scottish Highlands which incorporated running, trekking, cycling and kayaking. This was awesome and a great way to celebrate our 50ths!

Breakfast on Marcher Castles Way adventure

Didn't cycle the Cantii Way. However, Jamie and I cycled similar events including our rendition of the Marcher Castles Way. We had a lovely trip that incorporated a section in Rhayader with the mountains on fire, this was a spectacle that will sit in my headspace for a while.

Grwyne Fawr Bothy

Lluest Cum Bach Bothy

Managed to sleep in a bothy. Not once, but twice. Phantom and I have spent a night in the UK's smallest bothy, and we met the knowledgeable Goblin King on our second bothy visit. Would like to continue bothy visiting and would love it if my other mates could join too - especially Mr O as he inspired me in the first place and gave me a book about bothy.

Did not complete my A-Z of ParkRun, but came close and only have the letter Z remaining. I ran my most ParkRuns ever in a year in 2025, completing 32 in all. I ran these mostly solo, however SJ, Spoon, The Phantom, Cass, Dan, the Jannaway's and even Flairio joined me for some! I also beat my 2024 fastest time (25:21) with a 2025 fastest time of 23:06. My PB remains 21:39 which I doubt I will beat this year.

Ran a total of 544k in 2025 that beat 2024's effort of 286k. My best year was 2016 (Iron Man year) where I totted up 1,204k. I wonder what I will cover this year.

I didn't cycle an audax 200k or over, though did cycle shorter distances. Cycled a total of 4,804k in 2025 which beat 2024's distance of 4,398k. My average yearly distance (since I kept records) is 7,926 so didn't do great here. In 2013 (LEL year) I managed to cycle 12,498k!

Last thing on 2025's plan was to drink some of the Phantom's nettle tea. This didn't happen. I'll try improved motivation tactics this year! Hmm.

So, what are my plans and goals for this year? Well, they're quite simple really. I just want to love and support my family, work hard (yeah yeah) and cycle, run and wild camp. I have some cycling events that I've entered and asked AI to help me prepare.

My training plan actually started on the day of my last post - 29 December 2025 to be precise. It was easy creating a training plan, I just told some random AI machine that I plan to cycle the Snowdrop Audax in February, the Dirty Reiver not long after and the Solstice Sprint in June and hey presto, it created an action plan for me to follow with options for a shorter or longer week depending on hours I have to spare. Perhaps the plan is a bit optimistic, first suggestion was for me to complete a 90-minute Zwift session targeting my threshold sweet spot. I completed a shorter version, 50 minutes but had to stop twice to get my breath back, lower my heart rate and try to compose myself. Not a good start to a training plan. I weighed myself afterwards and it was clear that I put on a couple of kg during the festive period - sure this hasn’t helped either.

Following couple of cycles were much improved. I cycled a robo-pacer session on Zwift, following Maria who doesn't kick out huge watts - this was much easier. The second ride was on my fixie where I conducted a test. Basically, I was just checking if the current 48 x 18 teeth gearing suited me well. AI suggested I find a flat 30k stretch, cycle same, and feedback my time, distance, elevation, feel and it would work out my RPM's, likely watts etc. The results stated that 48 x 18 'is a great fast endurance' gear for me. It also suggested I swap to a 20t rear cog if I want to be kinder to my knees and cycle hilly routes. I'm going to follow this advice and replace my redundant 18t free wheel with a 20t cog and use same should I start commuting to work again.

Tonight, I have a planned Zwift session. Saturday will hopefully see my first ParkRun of 2026. After that, well, I guess we'll all have to wait and see. I'm sure adventure awaits.