30/12/10 - S.O.G.U - (Southside of Glasgow Ultra) report + video

You probably haven't heard of this ultra because I made it up about 5 days ago! Well it's really a training run but I thought SOGTR didn't have the same ring to it.

The Idea


I was making up a list of all the things I wanted to do when I was off work and one of them was to go for a long run to celebrate completing the Marcothon. I thought doing 31 miles on the 31st December to finish with would be a fitting way to complete the challenge. So I set about devising a route round the southside of Glasgow. I had thought about the WHW but I quite liked the idea of starting and finishing at my flat and not having to travel to get to the start/finish. So I thought about all the routes I have done and some of the clubs long runs and combined quite a few of them. I also liked the idea of going into the Fling having done one long run on my own because in the race I could be running on my own for long periods of time. So it was to test of mental strength too.

Over the last few days I thought about it more and more and decided to move it forward a day, so I wasn't too knackered for New Year (or at least have a days rest before it!) and I want to do the parkrun on New Years day. So I knew it would be a wee bit of a gamble doing 30/30 days for the Marcothon then having to do a run on the 31st with potentially extremely sore legs. But I thought I could get round 3 miles even if I have to crawl so 30th it was. When planning the route I also wanted to make sure I had plenty of opt out points along the route so if things weren't going well I could cut it short but in the end I didn't need them.

Here is the route I did, which was near enough to plan with a few exceptions:

1st stage - Cathcart to Tescos in Newton Mearns (10 miles)

The first 8 miles was all pavements and pretty flat with some undulations. I headed off towards Hampden, along Aitkenhead road which heads towards town. Then heading west along Calder Road to Crossmyloof before heading along beside Pollock Park. I had thought about going into Pollock Park but its difficult to work out mileages on the trails on mapping software so I just stuck to the roads. I then headed through Thornlibank and along to Darnley. That was the longest stretch of urban areas I would do and it was good to get it out the way early on. I was doing 13 minutes running, 2 minutes walking for the whole stretch. This is when I turned up Corselet Road which I had never been on before and it was awesome. It was more of forest track than a road and after about half a mile no traffic was allowed beyond that point. Waulkmill and Ryatlinn reservoirs were so picturesque as they were still iced over and the mist was really low. I remember passing a road which said no unauthorised entry which is the road I thought I was meant to turn left at, at the time. But looking at the map now, it was right in between the 2 reservoirs and I must have been so distracted I totally missed them!  No big deal though I just came out a junction after the one i thought I was going to come out at. So I turned left and headed down the road to Tesco.

2nd Stage - Tesco Newton Mearns to Mearns Castle High School (21 miles)

Bought some water and doubled back until I got back to the junction. This is the bit I was looking forward to the most which was a 5 mile loop round countryside backroads. I had made a point when route planning to avoid going along 60mph roads for as little as possible and for starter I was on one for maybe 50 meters. Then I turned right and the next 5 miles were really quiet single lane roads and I must have seen about 4 cars and 3 walkers. It was great and really undulating. I had changed tack with pacing and just walked the hills and run all the downs and flats (WHW style!). I finished the loop in no time which took me out at the top of the Ayr Road. The next section was suburbia along my old running stomping ground and I still use the area for some of my longer runs (or middle distance runs nowadays!). Next pitstop was at my parents where I re-fuelled and chatted to my Dad for a bit. Then it was onwards to my next checkpoint, Mearns Castle High School.

3rd Stage - Mearns Castle High School to Cathcart - (32 miles)

From Mearns Castle I took a track which I use to mountain bike down a lot when I was younger. There were a lot of puddles, showing the thaw had totally kicked in. It's a nice track going through fields and along beside Earn water. I then turned up Humbie Road which is a 60mph road. It is no where near as bad as it use to be though since the Southern Orbital got built right beside it taking a lot of the traffic off Humbie. I was only going to be on it for a mile though and there was a grass verge to run along anyway. I then took a sharp right on to the Bonnyton moor road which starts off with 1.5 miles of continuous uphill. I walked a lot of it. Usually on a good day you can see right across Glasgow from the top but not today as it was so foggy. I was surprised when I looked in the other direction the fog had lifted and I saw the wind farm motionless in the distance. Then it was onwards to Eaglesham where I dropped in at Spar to get another bottle of water. Just 500mls this time as from this point it was just 6 miles to go. It was mostly downhill though, but by this time my legs were sore and I just ran as much as I could, walked for 2 minutes and repeated until I eventually got to Cathcart. Finished! What a high I got from finishing.

After thoughts

Mentally I really nailed this run, I always thought I was going to finish and just enjoyed the ride. Overall I covered 32 miles in 6 hours 2 minutes which I'm also really pleased with. It was so nice too, to get straight in the door after the run and have a bath. I'm feeling good now going into WHW training next year. Tomorrow's run is going to be interesting!

Video

I don't normally do a video for training runs but since I was running by myself I used it as a weapon to keep my mind occupied. It's amazing how much time it does take up. It's not just the actual filming as you are also thinking - where I am I going to take the next video and what am I going to say etc. So again I found it useful. So here it is and I promise it's not all pictures of food establishments ;-)


S.O.G.U - Southside of Glasgow Ultra from Stuart McBeath on Vimeo.

Marcothon - the end is in sight

This has definitely been the toughest week so far, maybe not physically but for sure, mentally. I was in two minds at the start of the week whether to keep going with the high mileage or have a more relaxed week after 3 big weeks. That in the end was dictated to me.

On Monday I got home from work at 8.15pm, taking me 4 hours to get home and that was after getting rescued from Holytown where the train stopped and we were all told to get off. Luckily my Dad said he would come and pick me up as I had no idea where I was and not many trains stopped there. My parents cooked me dinner and by 9pm I set off for a run and ended up doing just over 4 miles. I wore my microspikes but didn't really need them as the pavements were well gritted and it was harder to find good stretches of ice to run along. In bed by 10pm back up at 7, this time it took 3 1/2 hours to get into work. By the time I got home it was 7.30pm.

This was Tuesday and already things were starting to take its toll. I set off for a run as soon as I got home, then half way round I actually felt myself falling asleep and by the end I think I may have been sleep running for small sections! So in bed by 9.15pm, this time up and out the door by 6.30am to try and get in at a respectable time, and ended up getting in at the time I usually got in but took 40 minutes longer. Got home at 7.30pm again and set out for another very tired 4 miler.

Thursday and the holiday begins! I have never been so relieved to be on holiday. I had a long lie and went to the club at night. Not only that but we did our first proper session in over a month. There was a back road which is about a km in length we used to do km reps. Its a long gradual uphill, followed by a short but not too steep downhill and we just went back and fourth along it. It was the first time in a month I dipped below 7min mile for 2 of the reps so a good session.

Friday I still had to buy Christmas cards so I did my 4.5 mile run stopping off on the way.

Saturday I went up to park run in Pollock Park and had great fun marshalling, as I had some good banter with the runners and everyone was in a good mood being Christmas. Even better was that Giffnock won the mens and womens races this week. Afterwards there was drinks and baking which people brought to celebrate Christmas which was fun. I had planned to run up to my parents but after skidding along to park run I decided just to go on a short run round the block.

The main road pavements which I have been using a lot as they have been in good condition had now become ice sheets. It was a very stop/starty run as i pretty much had to skate across ice patches and hop on and off roads which were a bit safer in terms of less ice but of course more dangerous because of the cars. The problem with the ice was that it was such a thin covering over the concrete I didn't think spikes would be much good and could end up damaging them. The run was my slowest ever at 48 minutes for 4 miles but this run was all about staying up right which I managed.

Today I decided to do something I've wanted to do in ages and that's to do a full golf course run. I headed off to Linn Park and as soon as I reached it put on my spikes. My brother had been there yesterday and said it was fine in terms of ice. Today was a different ball game as it was just sheet ice but thick enough for my spikes to sink into. The golf course was good fun, although I did lose track of which hole I was on and I think I missed out a few as the hole numbers weren't clear. I then headed down some good trails before heading home. It was just a relief after yesterday to have a safe run away from roads and the dangerous ice.

So good news is I am still on course to complete the Marcothon 26/26 and I'm up at 30 days consecutive running which is a new record for me.  I can safely say I probably would have run about 2 days this week if I wasn't doing the Marcothon!

The Master plan

For 2011 I am planning a big year, that touch wood having no injuries, is going to be bigger and better than 2010. A challenge in itself, but one I am relishing. 2010 was about times, experiences and just having fun with my running. For 2011 I am going for experiences and fun but dropping the times to a certain extent. This is because my aim for next year is more of a stepping stone to 2012 which is to qualify for the West Highland Way race. I don’t just want to qualify, I want to get more experience in running shorter ultras which will give me the confidence, that all going well, I can go to the start line in Milngavie in 2012 as ready and prepared as I possibly can - mentally and physically.  The reason I said I am dropping times to a certain extent is because obviously I need to finish below the cut offs in the races to qualify. This doesn't mean I will be pacing myself to finish just within the cut offs, that to me would be madness. But whatever time I do finish in and if it’s under the cut offs will in turn be all I could want and more.

I have spent a lot of time going through all the potential races and have spent a lot of my runs thinking through what I want to do and now it seems to be all coming together. Next year I will have 4 main races with other races thrown in, in the other months. I have worked out some of my other races but I am waiting to see what the club championship races are first.  So my first main race will be the Highland Fling. I have already had a couple of training runs on this, in the last few months and will probably end up spending many more weekends on the run up to the Fling in April.

In June, Stephen from my club and myself are going to do the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon. After the Fling I’ll be spending time refreshing my navigating skills in the mountains. There are 5 classes in LAMM, and we are down for the “easiest one”, D class as neither of us have done something like this before. 

Next will be Clyde Stride. I enjoyed this race so much this year and will always be special as it was my first ultra. Once you have done a race once, it’s always tempting to go for a better time next time. I think by then I should be nearer to 7 hours but we’ll wait and see.

I spent long and hard trying to find a race for later in the year. I wanted to do 100k/60ish miles to give me a confidence booster ahead of WHW training. But I couldn’t find a race apart from the CCC in Mount Blanc in late August. As much as I would love to do this race, I feel it’s a big step up in terms of the ascent gain and is a long way to travel when I am still a rookie in ultra land. One day though! But then the Hardmoors 60 was created which is the last 60 miles of the Hardmoors 110. Ideal! In the run up to this I am planning to do a weekend recky of the course.

I realise that I might not even get into WHW race 2012 as its filling up quicker and getting more popular. I have thought about this and really the only other options I can think of in the UK are Hardmoors 110 or Lakeland 100. Obviously I am just going by what I have read and the results I have seen. But to me these seem like post graduate 100 milers, as the winning times/peoples times generally are a lot longer than WHW. At the same time I could probably be talked into trying one! I am not trying to say the WHW race is easy. Any race of which covers these kind of distances are going to be difficult. It’s just the other two look even harder! So if I didn’t get in, I would probably apply for the CCC or find something else and try the WHW the year after.

So there’s the Masterplan and coincidently here is my favourite Oasis track:

Club Christmas Handicap/WHW/and the rest

What a week! Full of ups and downs.

On Monday the pavements were getting really icy, so I decided to stick to main roads all the way round. This meant extending my route round to include Shawlands. It worked well and the pavements were fine on the main roads.

On Tuesday I had a really fun run. It was one of those I thought to do a 10-11 miler but at the same time I didn’t plan my route till I got to junctions. I ended up going up past Hampden which I liked because there are some good hills round there before heading off to Kilmarnock road and following the roads round. Somehow it came to exactly 10 miles door to door!

During that run though I was beginning to get a niggle on the inside of my right leg at sock line. I have had this before but usually ice does the trick. So I iced it that night and decided on Wednesday to do 3 miles to let it recover. By Thursday it was fine again so went up to the club and did the Handicap route. We started off fairly easy until just before the first mile, when I could feel Kevin who I was running with increase the pace. We pushed each other all the way round and ended up finishing the 4.6/4.7 mile run in 35.38 which was just a minute slower than last year’s time.

On Friday it was my Christmas work night out. So I had a choice, run early in the morning or run late at night. I set the alarm early but couldn’t get out my bed so it would have to be later. I was planning on doing the park run on Saturday and doing runs elsewhere to get some mileage in until I got a phone call on the way home from Edinburgh from Ann from my club asking if I was up for doing a bit of the West highland way, so I didn’t need much persuasion! I thought this was off due to the weather but turns out it wasn’t. So I got home at 9pm and had to go to the shops to get food for tomorrow. So I turned that into my run, doing 1 ½ miles out and back, 3 miles in all, stopping in the shop on the way back.

So Ann and Sue picked me up at 8am and we met Alison and Mandy at Balmaha. I know Ann, Sue and Alison well from my club but I didn’t know Mandy so made the point of running with her early on to get to know her. The first section towards Rowerdenan was icy in places but they could easily be avoided. I decided to wear my inov8’s today as we were going along beside the loch, I thought it wouldn’t be too bad and we saw Conic hill it hardly had any snow left on it.  When we got to the road section, and the last trail bits before Rowerdenan. The trail got a lot icier in places. You had to go on the grass beside the path just to get some grip. We already made the choice just to go on the road for this section on the way back. When we got to Rowerdenan, Sue went into the hotel to make a booking and the rest of us used their facilities.

Mandy and Alison headed back to Balmaha. While Sue, Ann and myself headed for Invernaid. This was the first time I have been on this section and I’m not likely to forget it.  The first mile, the road was just sheet ice and we were running on the edge of road on the snow covered grass which was a lot better for grip. Then there was the long climb up, followed by some short steep single track which had bits of ice but was easily avoided. We then got to a house which we couldn’t see any way to get there apart from the path. Sue reckoned it must be a bothy or something. We continued on and I really enjoyed being on good trails. We got to 14 miles from Balmaha and looked at our watches. We were about 2/3 miles from Inversnaid but it was 12.30pm so we decided just to head back as it had taken 3 hours to get out and we wanted to be back before it got dark. Then the snow started which we really weren’t expecting but we were all wrapped up enough. 

Then things got dangerous.  On the long descent down the forest track, the snow covered all the ice which was so easy to avoid on the way there as you could see it but now you couldn’t at all now. About 3 miles out from Inversnaid I had a fall, coming down on my left arm which took the full impact. It was agony! Sue and Ann were great and calmed me down. I had a seat as I was feeling a bit light headed. This is when we saw another runner (who was the only person we’d seen on the WHW), turns out it was Jamie who came 3^rd women at the WHW race this year. She was running from Bridge of Orchy to Milngavie. She stopped and said hi as she knew Sue then on she went.  I sat for 5 minutes just eating and drinking. 

When I got up it took me a while to get going and my confidence had gone so was just taking it really easy. Irony is I had brought my micro spikes but left them in the car as I thought I didn’t need them. Lesson learned!  My arm was sore when running or walking. At the time I thought I’d still make it back to Balmaha but with a mile left to Rowerdenan, my sensible head took over and  I said to Sue I was stopping at Rowerdenan. They seemed happy to do that too. Luckily for us we knew Alison and Mandy were hanging at the Oak Tree in and came and collected us. I couldn’t thank them all enough! I did really enjoy the run despite this. The company and the scenery were brilliant and it was good to get back in one piece! So 20 miles in 4 hours 38 minutes (including all stops and falls!) and it was my longest run since August. Other positives for the day was that I tried fruslie cereal bars and ride shots which worked well. Also I put NUUN in my water bottle, something I haven't done since Loch Ness training/race 2009 and that was fine too.

I put savlon on my arm and after assessing the damage it was just cut. It’s still sore to touch but I can run fine feeling no pain.

Today was the Club’s Christmas handicap where I completed the 4.6 miles in 33.42. My handicap was 34.00 so pretty close. To be honest I thought I had a chance of winning when I caught Gordon with a mile to go. But when I looked up Kilmarnock road and the 3 in front were out of site and filled the podium poisitons. With a about  ¼ mile to go Luke past me and ended up getting the fastest time of the day, then a few others followed. The handicaps did work out really well this year (for me anyway!) with many of us within 3 minutes of each other. Will be interesting to see the final results. Most of the attention was on my Hokas which worked well today and was a good laugh seeing people’s reactions to them.

So overall a great week and my 3^rd consecutive 50 mile plus week. Still on course for Marcothon and the arm is just sore to touch now.

Marcothon 12/12

Well I can honestly say if it weren't for Marcothon, there is no way I would have run every day so far this month!

Why?

Because there is no way I would have even thought of putting emergency running gear in my draw at work just in case I got stuck in Edinburgh. That is how much I want to complete this challenge. So on Monday, you guessed it, the snow came. I could have tried and got home but the advice from all corners was against travelling. Alex my running buddy from work kindly let me stay at his in Edinburgh and even then it took 2 hours to get to his and that was 4 miles away!

I was all prepared to go out running and it was actually quite nice by evening as it wasn't too cold. Alex is a member of a gym and fancied going so he said he had a free pass for the month that I could have.  So we headed for the gym and I went straight on the treadmill, knocking out 10k while Alex did a mixture of things. I was so appreciative just to have a bed for the night and getting in a run. At the same time, I don't miss the gym and would much rather be outside in the cold than battling the heat and a forced running technique on the treadmill.

Tuesday I got home ok and the tempreture plummeted. I went out and the first mile and a half was surreal. I think I saw 2 cars, busy junctions empty, cars that were out were going very slowly as the main roads hadn't been properly cleared at this stage. The pavements were compacted snow because of everyone having to walk home the previous night because all public transport to the southside was stopped. When I got on to the Ayr road, I was keeping pace with buses. From here to the end it was all main roads and there were tonnes of cars parked all the way along these roads, i counted 20 along a 100 meter stretch. As people wouldn't dare drive up any side street they lived on as they were just too dangerous. Me? I was bouncing along quite happlily in my new Hoka trail shoes. I still can't believe I own a pair. I thought the only dealer in Scotland was the other side of Edinburgh. But I went to Blues Ski shop in Tisos beside Caley uni and by chance they sell them there too! These shoes probably look like I'm making some sort of fashion statement. But anyone that knows me, would know I m not really into fashion at all! The reason I bought these shoes is because they are meant to last a lot longer than usual running shoes, you can use them on roads and better cushioning. I first found out about them from Karl Meltzer's blog and he raved about them along with many other stories I have read about them. I tried them on the treadmill and was sold instantly.

Wednesday, it got even colder. I wore 2 base layers, a fleece and a jacket! It was a lot icier and I was glad to where my Kathoolas as it was litrally sheet ice in places but they gave me so much grip as they just puncture the ice.

Thursday went up to the club to find there was just 9 of us tonight. The 3 speedies went on a trip round the club handicap route while the rest of us did 5 times 0.7 mile reps of Newlands Park. They were all well impressed with my Kathoolas, while they were slipping about even in Inov8s  while I was flying gettting down to 7.20 pace for a few of the reps and 8.00 min mile pace for my slowest.

Friday was a novelty for a different reason. The first time in about 2 weeks I wore shorts outside! The temperature was great. I just did 3 miles easy at night as I wanted to save myself for the weekend. I just got away with my crampons tonight as there was still enough ice.

I was thinking of doing parkrun on Saturday morning but it was rightly cancelled because of the ice. So instead I did my usual 6.7 mile loop but turned off up a lot of the side roads to get more mileage in. I didn't want to go too far south as it is higher up and probably still quite icy. I didn't take my crampons because most of it had gone and you could make a concrete path through most of it. So I ended up doing 12 miles with quite a few hills thrown in which was good as I am missing the hills at the moment.

Then today it was back to being cold again so it was one base layer, fleece and jacket. I did a change of tack and headed towards town first then joined up with my usual route. The ground was frosted over but even on road shoes tonight and didn't slip once.

Next week, as long as it is on, will be my race for December which will be the club's christmas handicap. Last year I came last by along way and from the half way point I had been overtaken by everyone, so will be interesting to see what my handicap is this year and how I get on.

To celebrate my emergency running gear coming to the rescue and the fitting line "Don't make me go home" here is a video from the Pigeon Detectives:

The Other Side of 2010

After reviewing how I got along this year in terms of meeting the targets I set myself at the start of the year. I thought I’d do another post about the other side of my running in 2010. I’m talking long distance adventures/relays/cross countries and hill races.

I’ll start in order and really the first real experience of the year was the start of May where I headed to Tarbert for the Kintyre Way relay. To be honest before this I never had any interest in doing relays. I always thought the only the thing I would want to do with running was beat my PBs. But this day changed everything. I met some truly inspirational and enthusiastic people who I will never forget. When I look back at the buffet/ceidlilh at Tainyinloan Town Hall. The amount of talent in that hall that night was absolutely ridiculous. Looking back I don’t think a room anywhere in the world that night could match the amount of miles covered by the people in that room throughout their lives. Unless of course Scott Jurek was holding a party with his ultra friends!  But there was something magical about this event. 17 teams and 7 ultra runners.  I felt fortunate to be able to run 2 breathtaking legs and support all our teams and everybody else the rest of the way.  We really couldn’t believe that we came 3^rd and to get my name read out at the Cedlih was awesome and will go down as one of my best running achievements to date. I don’t care if I never get another podium position and really don’t expect to but it was nice and very special to get on that podium once. As well as opening my eyes to the world of relays and the comeradarry between all the teams; it was the first time I viewed ultra running up front and seeing them complete such a long journey was mindblowing.

I’d already commited myself to Clyde Stride at this time but I also wanted to help Stephen from my club achieve his goal of running 50 miles for his 50^th birthday. We went on training runs on the WHW which was my first time over 26 miles. I had an absolute blast! Then on the actual day I was only down to go from Fort William to Bridge of Orchy. But I knew right at the start that I didn’t need much persuasion to do the full thing. In the end we were just short of 50 stopping  just at the river crossing after Auchentyre so it was probably about 46 miles but Stephen had only ever planned to get to this point so his kids and family could finish with him. But that did not overshadow the sense of achievement – far from it. It was the furthest we had both ever run and until the last few miles where I got shin splints it went so well. But by that time it was in the bag. Then spent a great night in the Bunkhouse at Bridge of Orchy with other members of Giffnock North and I still don’t know how we managed to party into the night with what we had done during the day but we did!

I did 2 hill races this year. Kilpatricks was the first one. I just love this race and just generally doing training runs in these hills. There are bogs, burns, great ascents and kind descents. The second was Tinto where I absolutely destroyed my course best and had a great run. I have improved on my ascents this year but even more so the descents which has been most pleasing.

Now onto the other relays. First of all there was the McAndrew relays in Jordanhill. Just a simple course around Scotston on the roads.  Again I really enjoyed just being part of a team and really pushing myself. Even with the hills at the end I averaged 6.35 per mile and my 5k pb is 6.42 average miles and this course was just longer than 5k. It is amazing how I have that extra push when I’m part of a team because you really feel like you are contributing. Funny thing was we didn’t even have a full team for the team I was in but it just seemed irrelevant to me. For me it was all about wearing the vest and doing the best I could do. National Cross Country Relays were the same and I really enjoyed that course as I had been doing so much hill work that this would really suit me.  I don’t think I have ever been overtaken as much apart from on downhills in hill races. But because the guys on the first 2 legs for my team were so good that is just the way it panned out. I felt mentally I coped well with this and just ran my own race. There is especially no shame in getting overtaken by one of the guys in my club who just ran 2.44 in New York!

Park run is another aspect of my running this year. I have helped out quite a lot and really enjoy the chance to feel like I’m giving back to the sport.  I do enjoy the 5k but to be honest if it wasn’t free I probably still wouldn’t have done a 5k as I just prefer longer distances. I do just love the whole concept behind parkrun – the fact it’s free, open to everyone, it’s a distance anyone can cover in an hour and it’s on every week. You can see people improving and you make friends across the board who share the same passion of running. I have managed to run it quite a few times too whether it was going all out, with my brother or just for an easy training run.  I know a few people now who have reached 50 parkruns now and got the t-shirt including Ian, John and Martin from my club is almost there. When they got the t-shirt I thought to myself I would quite like one of them. But then afterwards, on reflection and looking at the big picture, I just don’t have any desire to run a 5k every week. I would rather go longer, into the hills and on the trails. I probably will eventually reach 50 but it will be over a long period of time. I would rather hit 50 volunteer days which I know you don’t get anything for but for me it would give me more satisfaction knowing I’ve helped a lot and to be honest it feels like I’ve been rewarded already! At the moment I’m at 28 and most of them were this year so next year hopefully I’ll reach 40 at least. It was nice to get recognition for my help this year being made Park runner of the week in the weekly newsletter and winning the Sweatshop monthly prize (pair of running shoes!).

So all in all a ridiculously good year!

100th Glasgow Parkrun + Marcothon - the Beginning

Well this has been a fun week for all sorts of reasons.

One being the snow and ice making runs more interesting. Due to the cold, I changed from doing my 0.2 mile walk warm up/warm down to running straight away to get warmed up as quickly as possible. So a wee bit of extra mileage onto my usual loops. Marcothon also started on Wednesday and so far so good!

Monday - 6.7 miles easy

Tuesday - 6.8 miles easy

Wednesday - 7.6 miles easy

Thursday - Was club night and I thought they would be doing a short session given the conditions so ran the 2 miles to the club and back and we did the clubs handicap route which is 4.7 miles.

Friday - 6.8 miles easy. On Friday night it was my clubs awards. What a night, such a good laugh and was great to see everyone getting awards. I even got a mention when Charlie was reviewing Giffnock's year for doing updates for the website which was cool.

Saturday - Firstly I went down to parkrun. I decided not to cycle due to the ice and just park outside and walk in. Today was the 100th parkrun and 2nd Anniversay for Glasgow. What a day, they were using the alternative course which is basically a 3 lap cross country. Alan was doing the announcements at the start which were funny and fitting to celebrate this fine landmark.  In the Burrell afterwards, was the awards for volunteer of the year which deservedly went to Christine and also the points winners got certificates and alcohol too. We were a bit taken a back by the amount of runners who turned up in the Burrell! It was about 4 times as many people as usual with pretty much all the tables in the cafe taken. Richard did a brilliant job of going through the last couple of years, thanking people and with giving out the awards.

West Districts got cancelled so 4.1 miles up to my parents for dinner and a slightly longer route back of 5.2 miles. I'm glad in the end it was cancelled as I was planning on doing a long run in the afternoon but I ended up sleeping on the couch for the afternoon I was so tired from the awards night.

Sunday - I had wanted to do a long run and I got to Williamwood golf club, put on my microspikes which I just got through the post and ran round three holes. I was planning on doing more but felt really dehydrated so just called it a day. To be honest I didn't really notice the spikes when I did the three holes which can only be a good thing. They are also really easy to carry and put on/take off.

So a great week in all, somehow I managed 50 miles which I was not expecting at the start of the week but when you add it up and do an average of 7 miles a day, 7 days a week that is how it adds up!  I missed doing a long run which i really need to start building up now but at the same time I have got a good base so shouldn't be too hard to build up by the end of the month. As long as I am up about 20 by the end of the month that'll put me in good stead for the longer longer runs in January.

This weekend was also very successful for British ultra runners. Jez Bragg came 6th in the North Face Endurance 50 in San Francisco which really is a totally awesome result given the field. Another fantastic result was that Lizzy Hawker came 2nd female behind New Zealands Anna Frost. To be honest I knew she was good but I didn't realise Lizzy was this good. I knew she won UTMB many times and finished on the podium in the world 100k championships this year. But I thought Kami Semik was better (who came 3rd). This result to me shows that Lizzy is one of the best females in the business at the moment.

Another great result was William Sichel who came 2nd in a 48 hour indoor race in France breaking 10 age group records!

Targets 2010 – Review

Since I finally had to give up to the snow today in getting to work. Thought I'd post how I have got on this year since I don't think I'll be 'racing' much in December at this rate! I set targets at the start of the year – and here is how I got on:

Half Marathon (PB 2009: 1.45.01, overall PB 1.40.19)

Bronze: Sub 1.50
Silver: Sub 1.40
Gold: Sub 1.35

So close to gold as my PB is now 1.35.36. I know with a more even paced race, gold would have been possible but at the same time I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much. I always viewed my 2004 PB of 1.40, as my toughest PB from 2004 to beat. To get under 1.40 twice this year was just awesome.

Marathon (4.07.47)

Back up: Finish with a smile on my face
Bronze: Sub 4 hours
Silver: Sub 3.45
Gold: Sub 3.30

It was all going so well up to 15 miles, then the wheels started to fall off and by 19 miles where they well and truly fell off. By far my toughest race of the year physically and mentally but still 3.53 is a PB by 14 minutes. I was going to do Loch Ness but due to illness and not having done the long runs so decided against it. Looking back it would have been better to train for Clyde Stride with back to back long runs that way it would act as good training for Loch Ness too. But a good lesson learned and a great weekend in Fort William. I know I am capable of knocking lumps out this PB but at the moment I am not planning any more marathons but will get back to it one day as sub 3.30 is more than doable.

5K (PB 22.51)

Bronze: Sub 23 minutes
Silver: Sub 22 minutes
Gold: Sub 21 minutes

Was not expecting this at the start of the year, I thought it was quite an adventurous target like all my gold targets. But just shows you the difference running with a club makes. Totally smashed my PB twice, now at 20.43. Plan to do a flat 5k eventually to see how I get on as it would be interesting to see if I can go quicker on a flat course or whether I’m just suited to a hilly course.

10k (PB 46 mins)

Gold - Sub 43
Silver - Sub 44
Bronze - Sub 45

Probably one of my best performances of the year. 1^st 10k since April 2009 (only 3^rd 10k ever) and a PB by 3 mins. Still can’t believe I dipped below 43 at the time and having not done a 10k since May, I think I might be closer to 42 now.

Clyde Stride

Gold - Sub 8 hours
Silver - Sub 9 hours
Bronze - Sub 11 hours

I never thought I’d suss ultras before marathons. But so far (touch wood!), that seems to be the way it’s going. I know I am going to have a bad experience in an ultra eventually but that is where the real lessons are learned. Overall my first ultra was such a memorable day where I had a plan and executed it to perfection. Even more happy to complete my first ultra and run some fantastic trails.

So 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze! If you look down the right (if I have not deleted it), every race this year that I have actually raced, I have had a Personal Best or Course Best. Some might call it a freak year, some might call it hard work paying off, others something else. For me the difference has been running with a club and running more than I ever have. If I am healthy I will be running at least 5 times a week. I still can’t believe how this year has gone and how much I have enjoyed it. It is going to be challenging to top it in 2011, but I am trying to create a race schedule which excites me and at the moment it is certainly doing that. Race Schedule to come and also a summary of my running year outwith the targets above.