Good Speed Session

5 miles with 12 x 1.5 mins and 2 x 1 min

0.88 mile warm up at 8.43 pace

6.15, 6.11, 6.40, 6.51, 7.02, 6.56  m/m pace

7.05, 6.25, 6.48, 6.18, 6.29, 6.42  m/m pace

6.50 m/m pace and battery ran out during the final minute

Felt it was a hard session but really enjoyed it and feel I am seeing improvements.  If I was struggling I kept telling myself to think about the Inverness 10km in 2 weeks and how much I want a pb at that.

am – 500m swim with 400m in 14.48 mins

Was at the gym for 7.20am this morning as I was going into a school this morning and so did not have to be so early.  I really enjoyed going for a swim at this time – the floor was still clean in the changing rooms!  Really want to keep this up a couple of mornings a week and see that time come down before the 1st of January!

Hangover and hills in Barrhead

Barrhead 10km, 54.21, ave pace 8.45m/m

8.38, 10.28, 9.35, 8.23, 8.45, 6.55 (7.27m/m for last 0.2)

I do not think I have ever run a race having had any alcohol the night before and what did I have last night  -a full bottle of wine and two vodkas!    This was not really the reason though for very nearly a personal worst, although the last mile may well be my faster ever!

I had a sore head but painkillers soon sorted that.  If this had been a pb course I would have been screwed as I would not have had the levels for it but as it turned out to be my hill training session for the week (or month) I did not feel I had let myself down by being out drinking the night before!

It was really tough but I enjoyed the run as I knew right away there was going to be no pb and just enjoyed the nice course and one of the few periods of sunshine I have seen since Malawi.   Loved the last couple of km with all the downhill, I think I passed about 20 people and no-one passed me; I have really learnt how to let go and power down hills.

I would definately do it again, and try to beat my time for the course, although if it was not a nice day I am sure it would not feel such a pleasant experience.

Well done to Leanne for retaining the ladies title!

I’ll get by with a little help from my friends!

3.56pm, 18 miles, 2.49.59, 9.27m/m ave pace

9.31, 9.31, 9.26, 9.32, 9.26, 9.27, 9.30, 9.38, 9.32

9.33, 9.39, 9.40, 9.35, 9.22, 9.18, 9.03, 9.01, 9.06

I was partly dreading this all day as I was so unsure I would be able to do it and partly more confident as Louise was running with me for part of it.  I kept trying to tell myself if I did it tonight then I could enjoy the rest of my weekend – which is involving my nephew’s 1st birthday party tomorrow afternoon, a night out with girls from school tomorrow night and the Barrhead 10km on Sunday (night out and 10km could be a bad combo!)

I did the first 5 myself and firmly telling myself it was only 5 miles and not thinking about the rest of it yet.  I carried jelly babies and had 2 religiously on each mile but did not carry a drink for this bit which felt good!  So I went from Bellhahouston Gym, along Paisley Road West, round Dumbreck Road, Nitsdale Road and back round Dumbreck Road and Mosspark Boulevard where Louise was waiting for me at the gym again and I got more jelly babies and powerade from the car.  Louise was determined to get me through this and to run as far as she could herself as she has not done distance in a while because of injury.

I had been allright by myself for the first 5 but only because I knew I was meeting her and I was just so much more relaxed the minute I started running with her.   Our pace was really pretty steady (we used to be all over the place) and although not fast it was fast enough to not feel like I was plodding but I could still talk the whole way round which really kept me going as it makes the time go so much faster.

So stamina wise I had no problems whatsover although my legs were feeling it from about 14 miles but not severely at all, as shown by fact we sped up for the last 3 miles.  I am really chuffed with the run, just wish I had managed to do it weeks ago!   Louise was really chuffed as well as she did 13 comfortably and we both acknowledged just how much easier it is to run with each other.  I could not have done it without her.  The number of times one of us has struggled and the other has dragged the other on is big, at least today I was not struggling, it was just a case of having good company!

I was so chuffed I stopped for a bottle of wine on the way home, which I have drunk while doing lots of cooking for the party tomorrow!  Really should have spent more time stretching though!

Hate long runs

And mine’s a short one compared to a 24 hour race!

Everyone has already blogged about Perth so I am not going to add much to it apart from that I had a great time watching races, I particularly love how you can see how much narrower the gap gets between males and females the longer the distance and what a great race the women had!

I was supposed to go long on Sunday after the race finished and pacepusher was kind enough to cycle with me but I have a total mental block now and only managed 12.8 miles, at a very, very slow pace.  It was hellish, I hated almost every minute of it.  The only bit I enjoyed, ironically enough, was when part of the cycle path became more like a trail path – an indication I am ready for a change of running I think!

Really s******* myself about Chicago now with only the chance for two more long runs!

Did attack and pump on Tuesday and really enjoyed them.  Meant to run Monday and Wednesday at the club and was looking forward to it but was helping to deliver courses at work and these last till 6.15 and it is after half past by the time everyone leaves, you tidy up, get changed in case you make it in time and then there is no way I can get from Blantyre to Johnstone in 30 mins!

This may cause a bit of a problem someimes and I will really have to plan my training week by week.

Long run gone wrong again

Saturday 13th September

3 miles run (crawl) 3 miles walk

I had been worrying about trying to do 18 and I don’t know if it was psychological or not but I felt rotten and just got slower and slower till I gave up.  I felt terrrible giving up on 18 miles when the rest of the weekend I am going to go and watch WHW runner and others run for 24 hours but it was not enough to keep me going.  It has been my highest mileage in a week (still not much though comparatively) for ages and ages and my legs were feeling it.  I am happy doing my long runs with others or on the WHW but by myself on the road is hard just now.  Especially as my run up has been so poor so I don’t have the same confidence I can do it.

Build up of long runs since returning from Malawi: (rather a contradiction)

3rd August - 13 miles

12th August – 9 miles (all went wrong)

16th August – 15 miles (WHW)

(No long runs for 2 weeks as in Cardiff for Madonna gig and then not well the next week)

7th Sept – 13.1 miles (Glasgow 1/2)

Total mileage for this week: 34 miles

Chatty 5

Friday 12th September

5 miles, 46.30, Ave pace 9.18m/m

9.21, 9.26, 9.14, 9.06, 9.20

Out with Louise after work for a nice easy 5 before hopefully doing 18 tomorrow.  I think it was the warmest I had been since coming back from Malawi!  It was good to be out with Louise on a Friday again as we had not done that in ages.

Benefits of club running

Wednesday 10th Sept, 8.55 miles, 1.17, 9.05m/m ave pace

9.57, 8.47, 8.45, 8.47, 8.42, 9.12, 9.09, 9.12, 9.16 for last 0.55

Average pace would have been faster I am sure if it was not for that slow first mile, but I did not mind it as it gave me a gentle start and a chance to chat!

I was determined I was going to the club last night and it did not even take too much self-persuasion to get out of the door although I was home much later than I thought I would be and so dinner was also late, which came back to haunt me a bit!

Before I start on a Wednesday I always wanted to do the shortest option as I am so worried about keeping up but then I am always fine once I start and there were a few different options last night.  I ended up going for the longer option as Lesley wanted to do that with the Inverness marathon in a few weeks so I kind of knew I should be as well with Chicago only the week after Inverness.

I got a bit carried away with myself and went a bit fast trying to keep up with Sandra etc but realised a) that I could not easily keep up and b) I would be better doing the longer distance a bit slower.  It did not feel like being out for 8 1/2 miles but it was a bit uncomfortable as my stomach was quite sore especially that last 2 miles.  I think it was very impressive that Lesley and I did that last 2 miles considering we were the only ones, we passed our cars at just over 6 miles, it was pouring and it got really dark really quickly at that point!

There is no way I would have done that myself tonight so really glad I pushed myself out of the door and hopefully I am getting back into the habit of running again.  That is 26 miles so far this week already which is more than I have done in a full week for ages and this one is only half way through!

scone with butter and jam, plain pancake, peach

cheese sandwhich and packet of crisps

gnocchi, veg and homemade sauce

bottle of powerade

Bad day’ s eating!!!!!!

Tuesday 9th September

Body Attack and Body Pump

As pacepusher explained there was no mike for most of pump, and there was not for attack either.  Funnily enough I did not mind in attack, especially since we did ‘everybody dance now’ for track 7 which everyones loves (well maybe not the guys so much!)

soup, salad, apple, orange, peach

spag bol and 3 pieces of bread

egg sandwhich

Excited about running again!

7.06pm, 4.71miles, 45.46mins

0.94 miles, 9.36m/m pace

1 min – 7.09m/m, 2 min – 6.31m/m, 3 min – 7.47m/m

1 min – 6.48m/m, 2 min – 7.30m/m, 3 min – 7.15m/m

1 min – 6.29m/m, 2 min – 7.09m/m, 3 min – 7.41m/m

0.83 miles, 10.03m/m pace

Was really tired tonight but was so determined to go to the club and keep up my motivation from yesterday.  My calves were really sore but managed a decent enough pace for the splits considering my tired legs and lack of training recently.  If that had not been the case I would have expected much more of them to be six something minute mile pace and that’s what I will be going for next week.

Am feeling really positive about running again now and if I can just keep myself like that for a couple of weeks I will get back into the swing of it.  Need to make sure I get my a*** out of the door on a Wednesday night!

My only complaint about tonight was that it was quite short so I may run up to the start next week to add some mileage on as I felt I had not even done enough of a warm up.

I came 2065 out of 7046 runners yesterday!

apple, banana, orange

small slice of sponge cake (celebration at work)

bagel with cream cheese

prawn pasta salad

Pacepusher wants to ban me!

Great Scottish Run – 13.2 miles, 1.48.14, 8.12m/m ave pace     (pb by 4 mins)

8.52, 8.03, 7.54, 7.56, 8.26, 8.16, 8.10, 8.16, 8.14, 8.25, 8.14, 7.54, 7.57, 1.31 for last part at 7.21m/m pace

I did my usual and went on and on beforehand about how I would have a rubbish run but I have to say that I did feel justified this time.  I was away for 5 weeks with little running, have done little running since I got back and of the runs I have done they have been 6 miles of less or longer and slower.  I have only been to the club once, that been my only speed session in nearly 3 months, I have had the cold for the last two weeks and hardly ran and I got my period, which means killer cramps, this morning and travelled to the start with a hot water bottle over my stomach!  Sorry guys reading this, but this are a significant factor for a lot of women!

The first mile was slow as it was pretty busy but after that I could not believe I was running so fast.  I then slowed down just before entering Bellahouston Park and thought that that was going to be me just get slower and slower for the rest of the race.  I has resigned myself to this and when I saw my sis-in-law and nephew I ran over to see him and give him a kiss.  Far from this slowing me down, it then actually gave me a huge boost and I went on to settle into a steady pace for all but one of the next six miles.  Even though I have not done much specific hill training recently I actually quite like racing on the hills as I have learnt to fly down them!  It was also a great boost to see both Lesley and Robert in the park, although Robert was definately lying when he said I was looking good!  I felt like I was really struggling by this time.

I was not sure if I was going to make under 1.49 so managed to speed up on the last two miles.  I actually quite liked this years route as it felt like less to go by the time you left Pollock Park and there was less to do in Glasgow Green this year.  Stamina wise I felt fine the whole way round but it was my legs that got tired.

I am more confident about Chicago now after that pb today but have to face facts that I still have long runs to do well and there is the small matter of the travelling etc which was definately a factor in New York.  Sure I can do much better than this in a half too, hopefully it won’t be long before I am running about 1.43, especially if you take away the above factors.

Pacepusher wants to ban me from racing as I seem to be getting pb’s every time I run nearly (Irvine a couple of weeks ago is my only non pb since London I think), despite my moaning every time that I will be rubbish!  Not quite sure how I am able to manage this, but I will have to start training properly again to see what I can actually manage to do!

1 1/2 bagel with margerine

medium skinny latte, light sandwhich, bread and olive oil and balsamic vinegar

homemade lasange, 1 potato waffle, 4 small bits garlic bread

One minute a mile faster!

i’ve updated my school blog if anyone wants to take a look!

5 miles, 22.29, 8.29m/m ave pace

8.30, 8.27, 8.30, 8.31, 8.25

Even pacing or what!  Much happier with this today although it was hard work!  Kept wanting to give up and go slower but managed to pick it up again every time.  I know I could not keep this up for 13 miles though and even if I did I would only take 1min off my pb!

Resting tomorrow, easy run Friday, rest Saturday and the half-marathon on Sunday.  Feeling much better about getting back into running now, so hope I don’t get too down if I get a poor time on Sunday.

I was really worrried about eating too much in my new job as there it seemed like there would always be sweets and biscuits in the room so I have not touched anything at work, as it is easier not to start!  However I have been feeling so sorry for myself I have been pigging out something rotten at home.  In an attempt to stop this I am going to record my food intake on here for a few days; feel free not to pay any attention but hopefully it will shame me into curtailing things!

Wednesday:

salad with homemade honey and mustard dressing

apple

banana

couple of handfuls of cheerios

salmon and veg stir fry with noodles and sweet chilli sauce

Now hopefully I can manage not to pick at anything else tonight – I am not hungry, it would be pure greed!

I did not manage not to eat again and had two pieces of toast and butter.  I don’t usually have butter in the house at all but this was in the freezer and I actually defrosted it.

Thursday 4th September

1/2 pineapple

1 cup of homemade vegetable soup

apple

1 1/2 rounds of sandwiches

couple of handfuls of cheerios