well it has turned out to be another good week for several reasons 1) i did what i'd said i would do (take Monday and Friday Off) that was easy 2)complete my first 5 hour run since the stride 3)run at least the distance of the Speyside Way 4) no niggles, job well done, so my week went as follows:
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 12 Miles - Robroyston /Lumloch
Wednesday - 6 Miles - Run to Gartcosh
Thursday - 8 Miles - Robroyston
Friday - Rest
Saturday- 37 Miles - Falkirk Wheel
Sunday - 12 Miles - Hogganfield Loch via Robroyston
Total Miles 75
Average Miles 77
Sunday 29 August 2010
Saturday 28 August 2010
Tales from the riverbank
I had missed the opportunity to run the Speyside Way today so i decided that as i was training for the RAW i would attempt to at least cover the same distance now after last weeks training i wanted to change the way i train so i had downloaded the Comrades Training Plan but all i took from it was to ditch the Monday And Friday allowing me a proper rest before a big mileage weekend followed by a recovery so i put it to the test and today proved that taking yesterday off made me feel better,back to my run off i set at 05:40 and headed for the Forth & Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch i decided to head out to the Falkirk Wheel and back,so off i went, only a few guys out fishing ,the sun was just coming up and it seemed just perfect, the times per mile were looking good apart from my toilet stop so i arrived at the wheel 2hrs and 30 minutes later (ideal) and i about turned, i checked in at Marathon distance (3.25) and then at 35 Miles (the distance for the Spey) and the watch showed 4.38, so when i got back home at 37 Miles with the average pace just under 8 min miles,i felt fine and low and behold a few hours later and even my legs feel good, so i will continue to see if this is the case over the next few weeks.
Monday 23 August 2010
week 3 build up to RAW
Week 3 was a nice steady week of training as i managed to get to the 90 mile mark, the week went as follows
Monday 12 miles running around Robroyston and Hogganfield
Tuesday just under 12 miles out via Gartcosh and into Drumpellier Park
Wednesday 9 miles out through Robroyston
Thursday REST
Friday steady 11 miles out through the old railway path to Kirkintilloch
Saturday 4 hour run (28 miles) on the Forth & Clyde Canal
Sunday 3 hour run out through Kirkintilloch with the guys from the Nicholson Centre
Total Miles 91
Average 77 Miles
Entry accepted for the Devils for 2011, roll on next year
Monday 12 miles running around Robroyston and Hogganfield
Tuesday just under 12 miles out via Gartcosh and into Drumpellier Park
Wednesday 9 miles out through Robroyston
Thursday REST
Friday steady 11 miles out through the old railway path to Kirkintilloch
Saturday 4 hour run (28 miles) on the Forth & Clyde Canal
Sunday 3 hour run out through Kirkintilloch with the guys from the Nicholson Centre
Total Miles 91
Average 77 Miles
Entry accepted for the Devils for 2011, roll on next year
Monday 16 August 2010
week 2 Build up to RAW
This week i was looking for consistency but i had a slight niggle in my knee and i knew was working all day Saturday and Sunday so it was going to be difficult
Monday 10 Miles over Robroyston at around 5:15am
Tuesday 14.5 i did a long looop round the house into Gartcosh,Bargeddie along Edinburgh Road and back up Cumbernauld Road, i could feel that niggle back in my Knee
Wednesday 11 Miles again following Mondays route
Thursday back to Gartcosh for usual 7 Miles
Friday 12 Miles along the old Railway Path from Muihead to Kirkintilloch Swimming baths
Saturday and Sunday no run as i decided to rest my Knee
Total for Week 54.5 Miles
Average 76 Miles
we'll see how week 3 goes
Monday 10 Miles over Robroyston at around 5:15am
Tuesday 14.5 i did a long looop round the house into Gartcosh,Bargeddie along Edinburgh Road and back up Cumbernauld Road, i could feel that niggle back in my Knee
Wednesday 11 Miles again following Mondays route
Thursday back to Gartcosh for usual 7 Miles
Friday 12 Miles along the old Railway Path from Muihead to Kirkintilloch Swimming baths
Saturday and Sunday no run as i decided to rest my Knee
Total for Week 54.5 Miles
Average 76 Miles
we'll see how week 3 goes
week 1 Build up to the RAW
I decided that i would have the train of though that if i double my race mileage then my body will adapt to the later part of a race so week 1 was completed with the following:
Monday 14 easy at 5am prior to starting work
Tuesday 12 again easy over robroyston after work
Wednesday a 7 mile loop through Gartcosh
Thursday again another 7 miles this time Hogganfield Loch
Friday back into Gartcosh (7 Miles)
Saturday 22 Miles on the Forth & Clyde canal starting in Stepps and heading into Lenzie and then Kirkintilloch
Sunday 19 Milngavie out 9.5 on the WHW and back
Total For week 88 Miles
Average 88 Miles
Monday 14 easy at 5am prior to starting work
Tuesday 12 again easy over robroyston after work
Wednesday a 7 mile loop through Gartcosh
Thursday again another 7 miles this time Hogganfield Loch
Friday back into Gartcosh (7 Miles)
Saturday 22 Miles on the Forth & Clyde canal starting in Stepps and heading into Lenzie and then Kirkintilloch
Sunday 19 Milngavie out 9.5 on the WHW and back
Total For week 88 Miles
Average 88 Miles
Friday 6 August 2010
Has the Bug got me
I get home from work one day and Stuart has been on from oz,just to a note to bring you up to date, i ran the North face 100k the other week and won it so i read the report, he's becoming a celebrity down under, appearing on morning television along with being picked to represent Australia in the 100k at the end of the year in Gibralter, this just confirms that this is the direction that i want my training to go so i am now building up for the RAW, the last race of the season in the SUMS championships, this time i will try to train better now that i have an understanding of the distance, so its a cut down on the wine or maybe not,but i will try too get a six week schedule under my belt ,nothing fancy as i am not doing any speedwork just steady running and i'll taper off the week before.
Thursday 5 August 2010
My first Ultra
It was a summer of volcanic ash cloud when my phone went,it was my training partner,Stuart
Gibson now living in Melbourne,wots happening,i said where are you as the call did not sound like it was coming from Oz, i'm in Glasgow visiting my parents and i am stuck due to the ash cloud, do you fancy a run tomorrow, sure i said, so next day i pick him up at 7 and we head out to Strathclyde park and during our run he tells me that he has just returned from a week in the desert after doing the MDS,wot i reply ,yep finished 11th and top Aussie (he's got dual nationality now), so we finish the run and Stuart tells me,all the details,inc photos and the medal,then before i know it its time to go.
A few nights later,a bottle of wine and surfing the web and i see the latest addition to the SUMS series,the Clyde Stride, the quote says (It also provides qualifying status to newbies (that's me) in the ultra scene who are looking to tackle longer Scottish ultras like the Montane Highland Fling and the West Highland Way Race),so the cheque was in the post, wot have i done!.
Next day i decide i need to take this serious after all my last Marathon was 1987(Glasgow) and i vowed never to return back to that distance until i was a vet(not the animal kind), but of course i am now 45 and doing nothing more than 10k distance along with the odd race at my club, i tell my self i have six weeks to see what i can do, how hard can it be?.
I start of sensible but think to myself on the first week, I'll throw in a three hour run,well help ma boab,I'm dying and end up walking back home after 2.20 on my feet, so i start using the old cliches no pain no gain,onwards and upwards,and all the crap that you use to gie your self a kick up the backside.
It's week 3 (time flies) and i start to feel better,i keep telling myself, your doing alright,by week 4 i throw in a 28 miler (Kirkie to the Falkik wheel) and again at the end i am dead on my feet, again i tell my self two weeks to go and then your on your holiday's, so i need to get the time on my legs up to 3:50 (that was my last marathon time) and then i stop for holiday.
On holiday i decide to throw in two weeks of light training and we'll see wot happens, so its back to 10k every day, as you can do much more in Florida without sweating buckets before i know it i am back home and on the countdown to the stride,so i rested all that week.
CLYDE STRIDE
It's 7.30 and i decide i better move as registration opens soon, i have no idea what to expect, so i register and chuck my bag in the finish pile,have i done the right thing!,before i know i meet some guys i have run with in the past,John McLaughlin(we ran at Springburn Harriers) and Les Hill of Dumfries RC, so then we all listen to Lee explaining to the runners the low down and before i know it were off.
The first ten miles i settled in and think this is just fine,so i get chatting then before i know it we are approaching Strathclyde park,19 miles,still i am settled in a small group, then as i pass John Kennedy, who tells me keep working away your well up there,i think surely not,theres a lot of people out there who eat this distance for fun.we approach 30 miles and i decide to fill my hydration pack up when i get talking to Lucy Colquhoun briefly, she offers a bit of banana, but i say no thanks and continue on before i know it shes past me on a hill and disappears into the distance,i know i have not much left as my training only got me up to 30 miles,by 33 i am struggling, the last ten seems an eternity as i get passed twice, before i know it i can see the heritage site, by this time i am walking, i know its not far but i can't see the finish,then someone shouts keep left only a mile to go,well that was the nail in the coffin, i could hardly walk,never mind run,my thighs bursting at every step i went down,finally i get near the finish only to see more steps, i have a small moan,then i went for it crossing the line in 5.41 and finishing in 6th place, wot a feeling i got i could hardly stand, but inside i felt over the moon.i thought to myself this is better than club running and during my day i have met some great people on the route, this has given me a buzz do more (i am mad now) John Kennedy kindly offers me a lift home along with John McLauchlin and John Donnelly, I'll definitely be doing more.
Gibson now living in Melbourne,wots happening,i said where are you as the call did not sound like it was coming from Oz, i'm in Glasgow visiting my parents and i am stuck due to the ash cloud, do you fancy a run tomorrow, sure i said, so next day i pick him up at 7 and we head out to Strathclyde park and during our run he tells me that he has just returned from a week in the desert after doing the MDS,wot i reply ,yep finished 11th and top Aussie (he's got dual nationality now), so we finish the run and Stuart tells me,all the details,inc photos and the medal,then before i know it its time to go.
A few nights later,a bottle of wine and surfing the web and i see the latest addition to the SUMS series,the Clyde Stride, the quote says (It also provides qualifying status to newbies (that's me) in the ultra scene who are looking to tackle longer Scottish ultras like the Montane Highland Fling and the West Highland Way Race),so the cheque was in the post, wot have i done!.
Next day i decide i need to take this serious after all my last Marathon was 1987(Glasgow) and i vowed never to return back to that distance until i was a vet(not the animal kind), but of course i am now 45 and doing nothing more than 10k distance along with the odd race at my club, i tell my self i have six weeks to see what i can do, how hard can it be?.
I start of sensible but think to myself on the first week, I'll throw in a three hour run,well help ma boab,I'm dying and end up walking back home after 2.20 on my feet, so i start using the old cliches no pain no gain,onwards and upwards,and all the crap that you use to gie your self a kick up the backside.
It's week 3 (time flies) and i start to feel better,i keep telling myself, your doing alright,by week 4 i throw in a 28 miler (Kirkie to the Falkik wheel) and again at the end i am dead on my feet, again i tell my self two weeks to go and then your on your holiday's, so i need to get the time on my legs up to 3:50 (that was my last marathon time) and then i stop for holiday.
On holiday i decide to throw in two weeks of light training and we'll see wot happens, so its back to 10k every day, as you can do much more in Florida without sweating buckets before i know it i am back home and on the countdown to the stride,so i rested all that week.
CLYDE STRIDE
It's 7.30 and i decide i better move as registration opens soon, i have no idea what to expect, so i register and chuck my bag in the finish pile,have i done the right thing!,before i know i meet some guys i have run with in the past,John McLaughlin(we ran at Springburn Harriers) and Les Hill of Dumfries RC, so then we all listen to Lee explaining to the runners the low down and before i know it were off.
The first ten miles i settled in and think this is just fine,so i get chatting then before i know it we are approaching Strathclyde park,19 miles,still i am settled in a small group, then as i pass John Kennedy, who tells me keep working away your well up there,i think surely not,theres a lot of people out there who eat this distance for fun.we approach 30 miles and i decide to fill my hydration pack up when i get talking to Lucy Colquhoun briefly, she offers a bit of banana, but i say no thanks and continue on before i know it shes past me on a hill and disappears into the distance,i know i have not much left as my training only got me up to 30 miles,by 33 i am struggling, the last ten seems an eternity as i get passed twice, before i know it i can see the heritage site, by this time i am walking, i know its not far but i can't see the finish,then someone shouts keep left only a mile to go,well that was the nail in the coffin, i could hardly walk,never mind run,my thighs bursting at every step i went down,finally i get near the finish only to see more steps, i have a small moan,then i went for it crossing the line in 5.41 and finishing in 6th place, wot a feeling i got i could hardly stand, but inside i felt over the moon.i thought to myself this is better than club running and during my day i have met some great people on the route, this has given me a buzz do more (i am mad now) John Kennedy kindly offers me a lift home along with John McLauchlin and John Donnelly, I'll definitely be doing more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)