So planning another short run tonight, then hopefully it will be back to hard training tomorrow.
Famous last words! After eating loads this turned into a 2 1/2 mile run...to the gym. Then weights, then 2k on the rower, then 12k on the bike.........and then a 4 1/2 mile run home. So what started as sluggish Sunday turned into a great Sunday.
On Monday I was feeling stiff but after the first half mile I was loosening up. So I did the 4 1/2 miles first this time to the gym. Then did weights, 2k row, 20 minutes on the cross trainer then the 2 1/2 miles home.
On Tuesday, not surprisingly still stiff. But decided to go out again anyway. So went to Linn Park and did short hill reps up various hills.
Wednesday, I decided to take the day off to get rid of the stiffness. So when I went to the club on Thursday, I felt like I had press the re-fresh button on my legs. It was long miles (1.14 miles) at Roukenglen again and it felt just as good as last time. The first rep I took easy and just let other people go if they wanted to speed up. Then the next 2 I just relaxed the legs and they just took off. I did the second one at 6.30 minute mile pace then the next one at 6.20 pace.
Friday I did an easy jog at lunch time round the Gogarburn estate with Alex H.
Then for today. I met Alex W, my mate from uni at Crossford to get in my last Clyde Stride recce before the race 2 weeks today! So we met there at 7am, put supplies in Alex's car then headed for Bonnington Linn. I had tried to find this on Thursday night but ended up along every back road imaginable round that area. So I thought the only road I didn't take must have been it. Wrong! We still couldn't find it and ended up parking at New Lanark, so no big deal as we could still cover that section.
We headed off at 7.45am up first to Bonnington Hydro electric power station. I can't remember much of this section but must have been up hill. When we got up to the power station we crossed over it, then headed back. More because we wanted to make sure we weren't going for more than 10 miles in any section. So it was just under 2 miles to get up there. So we ran back down and headed towards Crossford. We did make a few mistakes here. The first was after New Lanark, going through the forest. There was a point where the trail switched back on itself but there was a path going straight ahead which looked ok. So after going up, down a few times we realised we were on the wrong track and back tracked. The thing is coming the other way (the way the race goes) you wouldn't make this mistake as you would be coming down from the switchback and turning left up the river. The second mistake was at Kirkfieldbank. I looked at the map before leaving thinking it was all the trails were on the north bank not noticing that here you were meant to cross to the south bank for a bit. But although it was a lot hillier, luckily the nice people at the council had put signs up for getting on to the walkway at Stonybyres powerstation. The organiser Lee has said that there is a diversion at this point so it would be funny if we did accidentally go the right way!
Throughout the day, Alex and I got chatting about various things. One of which was one of the comments on Clyde stride s facebook page that someone was planning to run Clyde Stride 40 miler in under 4 hours 10 minutes which is just less than 10 miles an hour. With the amount of stairs and climbs on this bit of the course we looked at each other and wondered how it would be possible for anyone to run at that speed on average on this section. Don't get me wrong I'm sure this pace would be more than do-able on the early section of the route. But the last 6 miles particularly and various bits before will slow people down. Going by results earlier in the year I would presume it is Grant Jeans. If he does manage it, I take my hat off to him.
Anyway after the power station it is nice rolling trail till we reached Crossford. We left the trail, crossed the bridge and headed to the public car park, to refuel at Alex's car. We were off again and the trail was a lot flatter leaving Crossford. The one thing which does slow you down a wee bit is the gates. I named this section Gatefest as there must have been about 5. The trail then turned away from the river and headed upwards, these hills were steep but there was some nice long downhills since we were heading down river at this point. We reached the bridge just after Rosebank and ran for a wee bit until we hit 15 miles on the garmin. I wish I had looked at the map because I had no idea we were so close to Cardies bridge which is meant to be a really scenic bit. But I suppose I won't have to wait too long now to see it!
So we turned back and there was one climb in particular which was a killer and lasted quite a while. There are even some steps on this section which again put the 10 mile an hour thought back in our heads. Alex started to struggle hear with his ankle/back of his leg and I somehow managed to stay upright after tripping over a root. But we made it back to Crossford, so we were just short of 20 miles at this point and refueled again at Alex's car. Alex was still struggling as we left but just told me to run when I wanted to and he would just keep going and he did well as he never told me to stop as I told him to do if he did want to walk. This time when we got to Stonybyres power station we went the proper Clyde Stride route across the dam/bridge. On to a narrow road which took us to the A72. Here I started to hurt, I have never had this before but the soles of my feet were hurting which made the rest of my legs hurt. But we battled on down to Kirkfieldbank. Now Alex was struggling to run down the downhills but was ok on the flats. Once we got back on the trails I felt better. I still can't believe how far the trail goes above the river at points, it really did make some cracking views. I just wished my camera wasn't out of battery! D'oh! We just went into New Lanark and walked back up to the car park and that was job done. 25 1/2 miles in just over 6 hours which is easily the hardest parts of the Clyde Stride course so a very good one to have in the bank.
As you can imagine I am thinking about the race more and more. Initially and crazily I had this race down to tick me over between marathons. But it has now become my focal point for the whole year. I really can't wait. After running the last 6 miles in particular, I now think I would be doing really well to do it in 8 hours. The only way I think I could do it is if I chip off enough time in the first 30 to compensate for the hills in the last bit. In saying that I am not going to 'go for it' in the first 30. I really want to run it like a 30 mile training run, then do the best I can do in the last 10. Finishing is definitely more important to me than time, especially since it is my first ultra.
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