Short and Sharp week

At 22.4 miles, this has been my lowest mileage week in some time. But what it lacked in quantity it certainly made up in quality. I have done many weeks this year where 6 miles would be the minimum length run I would do. This week not one run even reached the 6 mile mark.

So on Monday I was feeling pretty tired still after working the Sunday. So as well as having Sunday off, I had Monday off too from running. But I did do a small circuit session which felt good. I'm thinking over the winter I am going to try and do a circuit session once a week.

On Tuesday I headed for Langside hill. After a mile warm up I was gearing myself up for my first rep when I saw a group of runners just about to do the hill too. One of the runners shouted my name and it turns out it was David from Bella harriers. We had a chat and it turns out we ran exactly the same time at the National Cross Country relays the previous week.  He did invite me to join them but they were heading back to their club at that point and I was set on doing this hill session. Nice thought though. So after the first rep, I was by myself trying to power up this short sharp hill. I managed ten reps before heading back.

On Wednesday I did a 4.5 mile loop. Just as I was turning the first corner, a car flew round through a big puddle, soaking me up to my waist. Most people would be ranting and raving. I actually found it really refreshing and had a big grin on my face. Then Thursday with the club we were back beside the roads beside Roukenglen park for 5 times 1km reps. I started with the B group and kept with them for the first 1/4 of the rep as it was a gradual up hill. The rest of the kilometer is down then flat so they were all pulling away. At the finish I was a good 20 seconds off the pace and thought that I couldn't really go that much faster as I did it in 3.55. So I dropped down to the C group. I did the second rep and myself and Andrew were out ahead doing it in 3.51. Third rep Andrew took off and I was behind in 3.47. 4th rep I was beginning to feel it so decided to hang back and go for it in the last rep. So I did the 4th in 4.05. Then the last rep I managed 3.38! I really did nail it. When I asked Jim from the B group what they were averaging, he said 3.37. Hindsight as they say is a wonderful thing. In this case even though I was 20 seconds off, I was thinking after its probably best to stick with the B's than be out ahead in the Cs.  This night was the first outing for my sister in law who was trying out the club for the first time. She seemed to enjoy it, and was already scoping out the other sessions they do! So good news.

Then Friday Alex was feeling a lot better. So we did our 2 mile loop round Gogarburn. This week it had been raining a lot and we were kicking up loads more mud than usual so it was great fun.

Another Saturday working. I was tempted to do the Pentlands again but I wanted to save myself for Sunday's adventure. I met up with Jill and Gary from the club and we drove down to Muirkirk to run up the Cairn Table hill. The idea of this was to get a good training run for in for Tinto for Gary and me, while Jill came along for the fun. And fun it was!  Gary and Jill are well better runners than me. So Gary took off while I kept with Jill till about half way up.  It was extremely boggy, although quite a bit of it was runable especially in the first mile. Then it starts to have steep bits which then turned into quite a rocky section before the top. It was just over 2 miles to the top which Gary did in 25 minutes, Jill 27 minutes and I was 30 minutes. I forgot how tough running uphill was. My calfs were burning and heavy breathing after the first mile. Then even the power walking was sore. So it is all good practice. We had a wee jog about the top looking at the amazing 360 views. It was such a nice day, no wind, cloudless sky, so you could see for miles.  Then we jogged down to where the path splits and ran the long way back down. It was again really boggy but great fun. Gary absolutely hammered it and is looking in great shape for Tinto. As I say it is just constant bog and I nearly fell 4 times but somehow managed to stay up right. When we reached the path we kept it steady and were running through all the puddles to wash our shoes and soaking Jill who was trying to avoid all the puddles. ha!

So a fun Sunday outing and looking forward to Tinto in a couple of weeks time.

National cross country relays - plus the rest

This week started off good with an easy 7.5 miler on the Monday.

Tempo Tuesday was back with a nice 1 mile warm up, then 7.5 miles at just under 8 min mile pace.

Wednesday I started to feel a niggle in my right hamstring so just did an easy 4.5 mile.

Went to the club on Thursday thinking just see how it goes. It was Milverton loops of 0.4 miles times 7. After the warm up my hamstring felt fine so I decided to go with the B group and try and hang on.  This loop is uphill for the first half then down hill for a quarter followed by the last quarter which is flat. I was so happy with how this session went. I averaged between 5.50 pace and 6.08 pace for all reps. Plus I was round about the middle of the group for most of the reps and at the back for a few of them. So without doubt this is a big step up for me and hopefully I can gradually get better at the longer reps and stay with these guys for them too.

Friday, Alex was ill but I still went out for a short jog round gogarburn which was nice and springy as it had been raining all morning.

Then for Saturday's showcase: the National Cross Country relay championships in Cumbernauld. I arrived in plenty of time and reported to Camp Giffnock. Where Alan dished out the numbers. I was running the second leg for the D team. We only had 3 runners in the D team as there was a drop out. No big deal in these things though as when your in the lower ranked teams in the club, I was told its really a race against yourself. Of course your still wanting to beat other people though! I met quite a few new people who I have not met before including Neil who I went on a warm up round the course with. We did this to do a recky and quickly realised just how hilly the course was. Of course being the final race of the day it was quite chewed up in places too.  Its good though to know the course before running as you know whats coming up.

When returning to Camp Giffnock, Alan gave us the news that one of the guys from the C team hadn't turned up so one of Neil and I would be running in the C team.  So Alan said to me to take off my number and I was now Alaistair McCallum for the day running leg 3 and Neil would be me!

So after joking with some of my clubmates to call me Alistair. The gun went off. Our first leg runner was Gary who came in 67th in a time of 15.38. Michael took over and ran a stormer too running 14.57 and made up 18 places.  I knew I was going to be overtaken a lot because these guys times for 5ks are 17-18 minutes, so people setting off after me were always going to be a lot faster than me. But I was focused on just running my own race and giving it my all.

I started off down the gradual slope then it was hill after hill, mud after mud. I was really enjoying it and pushing it where I could and just letting rip down the downhills. As expected I was getting overtaken regularly. Just to show you how good Michael and Gary did. Our Vets men team who are also well good, George overtook me about half way round. Up the last hill I noticed I was finally closing in on a runner from Westerlands. I then realised he was really, really struggling. If I wasn't racing I would have checked to see if he was ok but I think he must have just gone out too fast. Meanwhile down the last down hill is where the Giffnock folk were shouting encouragement and I heard Alan say "Keep pushing it right to the end". So I did, round the last corner I felt a runner breathing down my neck. I thought, he ain't getting past and just put the foot down into full sprint mode for the last 100meters and I manged to hold him off finishing in 17.50 which is 6.53 mile pace. This to me sounds like the right kind of time to be doing the cross country compared to my 5k road time as CC is meant to be slower. So I handed over to Gerry in 71st place, so I got overtaken by 23 people and overtook 1.

Photo by Chris Upson - The final corner!

Gerry led the C's home in a time of 17.26 and only lost 2 places so we came 73rd.

Our A team came 18th, B team 59th, C team 73rd and doubling up the D teams time would have come in 105th. The women and the juniors did really well too. So overall a great day, nice weather and awesome course.

On paper you would think I should be disappointed (getting overtaken) but I am not at all. I gave it everything and I am happy with my time. Not only that but I've really got the cross country bug now so will be doing the 'solo' cross countries over the next few months.

Easy does it - well maybe not!

I was expecting an easy week after Mugdock.  I felt I could have gone out on Monday but decided just to have a rest day.

Tuesday I thought I'd just do my 10k route at an easy pace, which after 2 miles turned into a tempo run and felt strong at the end of it.

Wednesday I did the 10k route again but this time at an easy pace.

Thursday I went up to the club and we did 1.04 mile reps times 4. I paced this session perfectly. The loop is a gradual downhill/flat for the first 3/4s then a steady slope up for the last quarter. Started off with a controlled 7 minute rep. Then the next one did 6.48 followed by 6.35 and 6.31.

Friday I did a 2.5 loop round Gogarburn with Alex.

Then Saturday I had the unusual experience of working. This meant not getting my park run fix. But to get me through I decided to spoil myself with a run in the Pentlands at 5pm.  I started off doing the Red Moss Revolution course backwards round the reservoir. I found a nice trail through the trees and up to the foot of Black hill. The race route goes right (in reverse) and round Black hill. But I went left and found a trail which gradually went round and eventually straight up Black hill. I ran probably half and walked half of the climb. I kept going on trails that would disappear and it took a while to find the main trail. But I knew where I was as it was such a clear night. Watching the sun go down, combined with the views over Edinburgh made this one of the best training runs I have done this year. When I got off Black hill I followed the path round Hare Hill and back down the road to the car park, making it a 10k loop.

Today I am exhausted from a very busy week, so just been chilling. Next week I am doing the National Cross country relays in Cumbernauld which I am looking forward too. I am also considering/almost definitely going to do the Run of the Mill hill race in Alva on the Sunday. I have never attempted 2 races on consecutive days before but it is quite common amongst runners so I'll see how I get on.

I have had a think about my training over the next few months. I have decided to stick with shorter distances since I am training for races of shorter distance. Then in December start to ramp up the long runs, ready for a full on assault on Highland Fling training starting in January.

10/10/10 - Salomon Turbo X trail race, Mugdock Country Park

Well today I was back at the Salomon Turbo X trail race and this time I was going to go for it!

I met up with Jim and Stuart from my club and we drove up to Mugdock, getting there in plenty of time. So grabbed a coffee, got changed and headed over to the start where I also bumped into Carlos from Park run and a few of Jim's hill running buddies.  Last year I started right at the back of the pack and cruised round. This year we were about 10 metres back from the front.  Jim and Stuart took off as expected as they are both 1.30 half marathon runners.  I got into a pace I thought was not too fast, but comfortable enough to save myself for the good stuff.

This year the start on the paths felt a lot shorter distance to where it turns off and starts on forest tracks.  I remember the burn which you dive in and out of and then it was really fun trails with a good mixture of light mud, steep up and downs, burns and bouncy grass. I liked this section more this year because it went in a different route meaning we spent longer on the trails. Then we turned on to the WHW just where the road crosses and headed down that till pretty much just before the Mugdock exit on to the main road. So it was a long stretch but it was quite nice breaking up the bits where you had to really focus on your footing.

So that was the first half of the race in the bag and time really was flying by. We turned right up the steep hill which was a hands on knees job. This is where my decision to wear my Inov8s paid off as you could see where people had slipped down the hill with the mud. Once on top it was great running through the forest trails again. Then we were back on a path and then I remembered the bit just before the Turbo X last year and it was like a river of mud. This year it was a deep puddle so mud must be more expensive this year.

The Turbo X started which is the most extreme bit on the course which took a while to get started and it was no where near as muddy as last year but it was still fun trails and when you got out of the forest there was some proper good muddy bits and also a mega steep descent which I tried to quick step down and ended up just sliding down it. That was the Turbo X complete and back on to normal paths to the finish. The route back was longer this year, but I felt really good and felt like I was flying. A lot of people were really struggling, some even walking. So I was overtaking quite a bit. The route also goes near the finish and you can see the visitor centre. Then it turns back and does another half mile loop.  My garmin made it out as 11.15 miles but if you have one, you'll know they go a bit mad in forests so who knows what it actually was.

What I do know is I stopped my watch at 1 hour 38 minutes! So knocked 25 minutes off last years time. Jim and Stuart were both around the 1 hour 30 mark and both enjoyed the course. We picked up our quality T-shirts and I spent the rest of the day feeling drunk! I think its due to all the physical energy excerpted and the mental energy that goes into off road running planning not every step but quite a lot of them.

Overall even though there was less mud, it was, like last year, a really fun race. I just hope I remember the route so I can do it as a training run over the winter.

The start of Mudfest

This week has been fun a week so far and it is just going to get better.

On Monday I was off so headed down to Tinto as I have just entered the Tinto Hill race in mid November.  I did this last year and had a really bad descent so I wanted to get some practice. So I power walked up it in 40 minutes with no running. Then just tried to relax as much as possible going down. I managed to take 3 minutes off my descent from last years actual race! I think it was a mixture of having proper fell running shoes giving loads of grip instead of the trail shoes I wore last year and also not thinking about it as much. So I was up and down in 57 minutes which was 5 minutes off last years time in a training run. So I'm thinking a Sub 50 minute run will hopefully be on this year. Even better thing about today though was that I actually got amazing views from the top as the last 2 times I was up there it was really cloudy.

Tuesday I was off again but had appointments during the day. I was sore from yesterday but from previous experience I can do flat sessions after a hilly session. So I went up to the track and did 12 times 400 metre reps with the club. This is one tough session! I was averaging about 1.28 for each rep peaking at 1.25 which is a time I have never ran faster than for a 400 and 1.32 was my slowest rep. So a good effort and again our group was extremely close together.

Wednesday I had a day off to recover from the previous 2 days. Then Thursday I was up at the club for long/gradual hill reps up Davieland Road. Again I started off with the B group and quickly realised they were going at a pace I wasn't going to be able to sustain. So somehow a group of 4 of us - Stephen, Jacqui and Hugh, formed a kind of bridge group between B and C. We were pushing each other along like Tuesday and had a really good session.

Friday I did an extended loop of Gogarburn with Alex which was probably about 3 miles and we found some more great trails round the building.

Then today I cycled down to Roukenglen for the West District Cross Country Relays which Giffnock were hosting. So I was down helping out with marshaling.  It was good fun and was amazing seeing all the fast runners. Its a 2k loop which the seniors do twice each. 3 women in a team and 4 gents in a team. The field gets so spread out that guys who would run 20 mins for a 5k look almost average. Where in fact if they were running bigger races you would see that they are in fact the best in Scotland.

Looking forward to tomorrow, as its the Mugdock trail race. I should easily beat my course best as I did it in 2 hours 3 minutes last year and that was taking it easy as I did 12 miles of the WHW afterwards. This year I'll just have a small warm down afterwards!

After that its more cross countrys which although won't be quite as muddy as tomorrow, will still be good fun!

McAndrews Road Relay plus a few hills

Well Last week I said I wanted to get some more hills in with the road routes I do.

This week I can safely say I delivered on all counts!

Monday I took my usual 4.5 mile loop and turned it in to the equivlent of a Running half pipe. If you've seen snowboarding half pipe on TV they go down this half pipe going up on either side doing tricks. I wasn't doing tricks but basically turning up every hill either side of my 4.5 mile loop, turning it into a fun 7 mile loop with 10 nice hills.

Tuesday I went back to the Merries to dwarf the memories of the previous Thursdays session. I took it easier at about 8.10 pace and really enjoyed it. It is slightly different to the session last week as I include more hills near by so its got more flat bits in between but still covers 13 hills.

Wednesday I had a night off, then Thursday I was up at the club which seemed pretty busy. But when we got going I realised there was only 4 people in the B group tonight. We were doing the Asda loop which is a 6.5 mile tempo run. I stayed with the group for the first mile then Jim bombed off as he is a natural up the hills. The first 2 miles is a gradual hill and I managed to keep Billy, Gerry and David close but on the down hills they would pull away. I still managed to keep them in view though for the whole session which was pleasing.

On Friday another day off as Saturday it was the McAndrew Road Relay in Jordanhill which is West of Glasgow city center. We had 3 male teams in from Giffnock and I was in the C team which I was not surprised about at all given the amount of talent at the club. I took over from David running the second leg. I got into a good stride for the first mile as it was really flat. The second mile from what I can remember was ok beginning to get more undulating. When I looked at my watch expecting to see not long to go, it said 1 mile 1/4 and I didn't have much left. But I gutted it out and found I was overtaking pretty much the whole way round with only one overtaking me. I passed over to Gerry who finished for us. We were meant to have 4 people but the guy we had stepping in from Inverclyde managed to get a run with another team so we were stuck in a three. No big deal. Funny thing is though looking at my pace per mile it was 6.35 over a 3.3 mile course. My 5k PB is 6.42 per mile over 3.1 mile! So if it was a 5 k I would have got a PB. Also the hills in the last mile were tougher than park run as they actually slowed you down a lot where as the park run hills bar 1 are more gradual.

Today I went back to the Windfarm up in Eaglesham and did the same loop as last week. I was expecting it to rain and be windy, but it was just cloudy. But they were high so I could see quite a lot. I took the garmin this time and turns out the loop is 8 miles and I know last week I said it was undulating, I ve changed my mind to it is hilly!

So a really enjoyable week and looking forward to the Mudfest that is is Mugdock Turbo X trail race next weekend!