Monday was a nice easy 8 miler and I was really pleased that my average pace was 8.23 minute miles and felt really comfortable.
Tempo Tuesday was back. I was nervous going into this because the last time I did a tempo run was in my Lochaber training and was horendus weather, I went off too fast and had to cut it short. So tonight I decided to have a mile warm up then try a 10 mile tempo and try and average 8 minute miles. The first 6 miles of the tempo were net up hill so I wasn't too bothered about hitting 8 mins on the button. So this is how it went : 8.10, 8.11, 8.06, 8.03, 7.51, 7.43. So was pleased with the first half and I had plenty left so the last four I figured out I could potentially average 8 minute mile pace including the 1 mile warm up, so the rest went like this: 7.33, 7.23, 7.19 and 7.03!! With 0.23 mile warm down at 8.23 pace. So could not have gone any better as I averaged 7.52 pace for the whole run!
Wednesday was even better as I felt like I was fresh as a daisy even after Tuesday's effort. So did an easy 10k again managed 8.22 pace.
Thursday club night it was off to Roukenglen Park for near enough kilometre reps. It was 2 sets of 1.05km, 1.25 km, 0.73km. I found this session pretty tough from the outset but got through it. Average pace varied from 6.05 pace for the shortest one to 6.42 pace for the longest.
Friday day off. Then today...
What a day. Plan for the day was to run 30 miles from Cambuslang to Strathclyde Park, then Strathclyde Park out 5 miles then back..... to Cambuslang all along the River Clyde. So I met up with one of my uni friends Alex at Strathclyde Park at half 8. I put some supplies in his car which acted as a mini aid station for the 10 and 20 mile points. Then we both jumped in my car and headed for Morrisons in Cambuslang which is conveniently right beside the Clyde.
So we set off along the cycle track for a couple of miles before it turned off and we were on the grassy Clyde Walkway. This area is still under major development so will be nicer once its finished. Everything was going fine until we reached a point where the Clyde headed north and we were trying to work out how to follow it. We headed up a farm road and then down Blantyre Farm Road but couldn't work out where the walkway restarted. So although I knew that we weren't meant to be crossing the river till Uddingston. There didn't seem to be any alternative so we ended up going down roads until eventually we re-joined the walkway just where the steel bridge we were meant to cross was. So at least I knew where it was for the way back! Between Uddingston and Bothwell was really enjoyable. It was nice trail running covered in trees and the river as still as anything. Then we crossed a bridge back to the south bank, this is where there was quite a few sharp ascents and decents. Then the next bit of confusion came. We were still beside the Clyde but not right beside it. There was a big grey construction fence which went along but it was hard to tell which side of it to go on. We always went with the path that looked more like the right path and this time it was the right side of the fence and the path is still getting constructed. So we were going through the long grass which wasn't the easiest running but we did eventually come out at Hamilton so it was all good. We did see another path which went the other side the fence but I tried it on the way back and ended up lying flat to get under the construction fence! So it was over to Strathclyde Park for some flat running along the loch then had a pit stop at Alex's car at the Watersports centre car park.
We stopped for 10 minutes got some new supplies then headed south. Again really nice trail running through the trees. Then it all opened up to fields with cows and sheep. We reached the farm which is almost where the A72 touches the Clyde. Because we got lost a bit early on we did an out and back from Strathclyde park which added up to 8 and a bit miles to make it 20 when we got back to Strathclyde Park. As I knew it should have been 10 miles between SP and Cambuslang. When we got back to SP, this is where Alex finished as he hadn't done a 20 miler for ages so this was enough for him today. It was great to have company for the 20 and made the miles fly by. I went with him to the cafe and chilled out for half an hour having a corneto and hot chocolate before heading off on my own. I was wondering how I would cope but I was totally fine. When I got to the steel bridge at Uddingston this time I crossed it back over to the south bank. Then realised that there was loads of horses in the way where the Clyde went. So being a big wimp I decided to go left and around the field rather than following the Clyde which took me out at Blantyre Farm Road that we were on before so looks like we should have cut across the field, I'll just need to find out where's the entry point as it didn't seem obvious. The rest of the run went well, the last bit has also got some steep ups and downs but they are too short to be a problem.
So all in all, a great run and a great confidence booster ahead of Clyde Stride in less than 2 months. Especially the last 10 miles where I did it 1 hour 54 minutes as that is the kind of pace I want to do on the day. All in all I did the 30 miles in 6 hours 40 minutes which includes all the breaks. So if you take off the breaks that is exactly the pace I want to go at and I felt I could have gone on. So a record breaking 63.8 mile week and I really feel like I'm in a good place right now :-)
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