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Well done on the 7 hills, great to read that you enjoyed it.
The very best of luck with the training for DCM.
Thanks. Hope my marathon training will go as well as yours.career move wrote: »Congrats on the 7 hills. I always read your log and think to myself I would love to do that race.! Maybe next year
. I have been trailing it a long long time now, glad to have got it over the line at last and maybe I'll race-it properly next year myself! 0 -
Thought I might find a report in here
although I was expecting it to be longer!!! Congrats Mary, was delighted to see this on Strava. Great that you've been injury free and finally got to do the race. Best of luck with your DCM training and fingers crossed for an injury free 4 1/2 months! 0 -
Annie get your Run wrote: »Thought I might find a report in here although I was expecting it to be longer!!!
The thing is that after training for it two previous years. with detailed recces, there was not a whole lot left to write :pac: (and I more-or-less know the way by now)Congrats Mary, was delighted to see this on Strava. Great that you've been injury free and finally got to do the race. Best of luck with your DCM training and fingers crossed for an injury free 4 1/2 months!
Thanks. It is coming up to 12months of mainly injury-free running which is amazing. I am hopeful for DCM as the structure/mileage is not increasing all that much but I will be watching things closely :rolleyes:0 -
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17th-23rd Jun:
Monday: Pilates/Yoga fusion
Legs and body feeling good.
Tuesday: lunchtime Yoga
Little bit tired today so didn't do a run. Still in pretty good shape, to be honest I had been more tired the early days of the previous two weeks (had higher mileage of ~40 miles those weeks).
Wednesday: 5.7miles @10:31 avg pace
Run round Holyrood Park with the legs feeling fine.
Thursday: 6.3miles @10:06 avg pace
Flatter route this evening and the legs moving well.
Friday: 5.9miles @10:18 avg pace
Had thought about doing some fartlek today (didn't really feel like a post-race week) but took a lazier option round Holyrood Park.
Have still been noticing bits of the right-knee niggle on these runs, so the race was not a cure after all. Was not sure I should do the Saturday hike, but I didn't have trouble apart from noticing the knee in a few sections.
Saturday: 16mile hike with 3000ft ascent
A very early start to drive North to Newtonmore to do this hike. One of the group has finished over 150 munros (3000ft mountains) by now and hence the remaining ones are farther away. The advantage was that the route allows you to get in three munros - Carn Dearg, Carn Sgulain, A'Chailleach - for the ascent of one. The climbs weren't bad but there were a good few boggy sections and it was a looooong walk. And the section between munros 1 and 2 fairly boring. We met a family doing the same route and they had a little border terrier with them, 5years old and she has 100 munros already done.
Along the way saw Deer and Hares (and a little leveret ...) and Ptarmigan birds, and lots of frogs, wasn't fast enough with my camera for the leveret even though it came very close.
Sunday: 9.7miles @10:17 avg pace
Feeling a bit knackered after yesterday and not-brilliant sleep, but managed to push myself out for a flat route, just enough to get the mileage up to 27.6miles for the week. Quite specific I admit but it brings the miles-for-2019 up to 750 exactly just as I start into marathon training.
Still a bit of knee-ness but I am not worried about it for now.
weekly total: 27.6miles, 1 hike (16 miles and 3000ft ascent)
(and two Yoga classes of course)0 -
week -18 of DCM training (24th-30th June)
The plan: 36miles with 11mile LSR, and a raced parkrun
Monday: Yoga/Pilates fusion
Tuesday: 6.2miles easy @10:02 avg pace
Post-work run on trails.
Had taken my mat and my pilates-wear to work, but forgot to go downstairs when the Yoga class was on.
Wednesday: 5.9miles hilly social run @10:47 avg pace
(though there were about 4 stops to wait for the group to catch up, I had plenty of breaks on this run). This was in the Pentlands with "foxy Trail runners" and the weather was wonderful. Huge attendance of about 80 people.
A lovely route, mostly (nice runnable) trails and the sun shining down. We did just under 900ft of ascent but nothing was too steep. There was a long stretch of descent which was just steep enough to pull you faster than controlled pace, but not so steep as to cause accidents. *Wheeee*. Was great fun and good to get a bit of downhill practice. I will definitely be back out to do this route again, and will probably add in some extra sections.
In the second half of the run we were being surrounded by flying insects, probably attracted by our sweat. Didn't notice anything at the time but over the next day I found a bunch of itchy bites on ankles, legs and neck. Not ticks or anything worrying but I will need to buy some spray for the future.
Thursday: 4.45miles easy @10:28
Did this in the evening from my house, plan was neighbourhood loops but got diverted half-way through as there were a load of policemen and police vans halfway round the loop. I never found out what it was about.
Friday: nothing (as planned)
Saturday: 6.2miles including raced parkun (24:23 official time), 30miles cycling
It was a nice warm morning, 17C-18C or so, when I set out on the bike for parkrun. Arrived at the promenade in enough time to do a mile of easy w/u. Although the weather was warm, it was cloudy more than sunny, and I had already noticed the absence of wind which is usually noticeable on the cycle out (same direction as the return leg of the parkrun).
After the disaster 4weeks ago I was thinking I had to go out fairly conservatively - was not thinking I would be under 24mins today (though yes, I was hoping it
) and was thinking to keep the first mile at 7:45 or so. Was not quite as fast as that and the result was 7:49, 7:44, 7:41 with 7:39 pace for the "bit". As usual I was finding mile 3 difficult and even did some slight backing-off a couple of times, but despite this I was overtaking people I'd been running with from the start - a young boy in a red top with his Dad, a woman in a purple top, a few others. And even sightly improved my pace. I got re-taken by the boy in the red just before I went through the funnel.
Definitely a better experience than the previous one, I did two miles c/d and then cycled back home via pancakes at my new favourite cafe (The Haven), 13miles cycling for the morning. Not tired after this parkrun which is another good sign. I did another 17miles on the bike that evening as I was heading out to Tyninghame beach for a BBQ (supposedly), got caught in rain/thunder/lightning about 8 miles in and turned the bike round and went home ....
Sunday: 13.3miles Long run @10:31
About 1/2 on grass/trails, half hard surfaces.
Very reluctant this evening, also busy with other stuff, had thoughts of just pushing it to Monday but it's a bad sign to be dropping the mileage in the 1st week of training. And demands (both running and otherwise) will be more next week. Eventually I went out around 7pm and did this round Holyrood Park and surroundings. Fairly hilly with just under 1300ft ascent.
For the purposes of honest logging should mention that I had ball of foot soreness on the left foot twice during this run, 1st around 8miles as I was going up a steep bit of trail, later on around 10.5miles going up a hilly bit of the road. Wore off quickly each time but I noticed a little bit that eve and once or twice this morning. Will continue to watch. Have been planning a few days of hiking in the Swiss Alps for mid-July so a bone stress injury is not what I am looking for right now
The knee seems to be on its way back to normal.
weekly total: 36miles with 13mile LSR and raced parkrun, 30miles easy cycling
Exactly as the plan for once.
Oh, yes, monthly total for June is 156, highest ever of my running life. And another warning marker for bone stress tbh .... we will see.
Month|2013|2014|2015|2016|2017|2018|2019
January|55|85|70|49|29|55| 145
February|69|9|96|30|44|76| 138
March|53|57|134|61|98|106| 136
April|85|61|85|40|118|55| 92
May|65|71|145|26|116|48| 118
June|51|43|89|7|0|93|156
July|25|99 |79|76|7|127|
August|84|120|26.5|97|15|107|
September|18|131|0|85|47|116|
October|83|0|15|95|49|114|
November|78|3|62.5|103|2|130|
December|53|56|86|111|29|131|
Total|719|735|888|780|554|1158| 786
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1st-7th July: DCM week -17
The plan: 45miles to include 15mile LSR, 7miles with 5MP, 2fartlek
Monday, Tuesday: nothing
Think I was booked in for Yoga on the Tuesday and forgot all about it.
Had kind-of planned to run from the house on Tuesday I think, felt some ball-of-foot soreness at some point on the way home, and between that and some basic inertia I skipped the run.
Wednesday: 7miles with 5 @MP
Did this on the meadows trails after work and it was warm, could feel the effort a bit harder than the previous time I did MP. Was aiming for 9mpm for the MP and I got 9:07, 9:02, 8:58, 8:55, 8:56 but I was working for this.
Thursday: 6.4miles easy (10:12 avg pace)
Just your basic plain average miles-in-the-legs on a flat route.
Friday: nothing
Not sure why. Think ball-of-foot had been a minor concern this week but the trouble was mainly motivation. Target mileage slipping well and truly away ...
Saturday: 7.6miles @9:46 avg pace
More basic plain average miles-in-the-legs on a flat route, except I did strides in the final mile. Had been planning to do the LSR today but didn't get out in time.
Sunday: 15miles @10:39 avg pace
Did this in Holyrood Park on a fairly hilly route with around 10 of the miles on grass and trail and was happy enough with it, esp after the start to the week.
weekly total: 36miles
9 miles down from the target, and no fartlek either. It could have been worse though. Not a disaster at this stage as long as I am more consistent over the rest of the training.
8th-14th July: DCM week -16:
The plan: 30miles to include 10mile LSR, 8miles with 6MP. And lots of hiking.
Monday: nothing
Tuesday: 10miles @10:21 avg pace
Getting the long run in early this week, did this round Holyrood Park as usual, then back to the flat to finish packing!
Wednesday: 6miles @10:40 avg pace
Took the plane to Basel this morning, then a bus, then some trains to make my way to Grindelwald, a Heidi-esque town in the Bernese Alps. Yippee! Over 1000m high, and my hotel/hostel a couple of hundred extra metres up the hill. I sought advice from the owner about flatter options for running and took his suggestion - was not really what you'd call flat but at only 790ft ascent I think it was likely the best option. Gorgeous sunny evening and felt like being in a fairytale.
Had decided I would not do the MP miles this evening, and after experiencing the "flat option" in Grindelwald, now pretty sure I would not be doing any MP miles this week.
Thursday: hiking 10.4miles (with 2300ft ascent), "Grindelwald 'First' to Schynige Platte"
Had found this route recommended online and printed out the instructions. The owner of the hotel had confirmed this was the one to try first and it did not disappoint. I took the cable car up to the start point. Then a gorgeous route walking up around 2000m-2800m height with spectacular views of much higher mountains all around. Lovely broad well-made trails to walk on. The climbs were mainly in the first 4miles or so, and I felt them a bit more than expected, maybe the altitude contributing here. Loads of wild flowers at the feet. Cows with bells towards the end of the walk, and then I took a train doing some hairy turns down the hill ...
Friday: hiking 8miles (with 3000ft ascent), Tanzbodeli, from Gimmelwald to Stechelberg
The forecast had been looking mixed for today, with a fair chance of bits-of rain and potential thunderstorms for the afternoon. Officially 'bad weather' though from the Irish/Scottish perspective this was not seeming too bad to be honest ��. Was to be over 20C anyway.
Took something called a "gondola" up the hill, *yikes*, narrow enough cable pulling a giant lump with 70 people up the side of a cliff, then we arrived up to a fairytale village with wood houses, horses, cheesemaking, no cars in sight. This was Gimmelwald. An easy mile first and then a tough climb up Tanzbodeli over 2 and a bit miles.... felt this quite challenging but can't say whether it was just the steepness or altitude contributing too. I met a few groups along the way, complimented the Swiss walkers on their luck to live in such an amazing country ... also had a bit of a laugh about the bad weather forecast with some Americans I met. Loads of little flowers on the steepish descent, and lovely crisp smells from the flowers mixed with forest. More cows with bells.
I was down the mountain and sitting outside a cafe having hot chocolate before the rain/hail hit (for about 20minutes ....). Got a free piece of cake from the server as they were closing up soon. Later on after getting on the train I realised I didn't have my wallet and I started wondering could the free cake, polite service, help taking photos, etc etc ... have been a trick?? (shame on me
). Got off at the next stop and after various dramas with my phone/data-allowance/call-permissions I talked to the railway staff and they called the cafe. It was 30mins past closing but they were still there, and so was my wallet. I took the next train back to that village and my server brought the wallet down to the platform ....
Saturday: 6miles @11:02 avg pace
Another lovely day but took the day off to sleep a bit and eat a bit. This run was on a similar route to Wednesday night, little bit of extra climb. It felt a fair bit harder after the two days of hiking.
Sunday: 9miles hiking from Grindelwald up to Bäregg (3300ft ascent)
Hiked directly from the town today, so was a bit lower in altitude and maybe that was why this felt easier. Loads of flowers and butterflies everywhere. Halfway up passed a house with a fridge outside it with goats cheese and ice creams to buy, with an *honesty box* to pay into. The goats themselves were outside in a neighbouring field. Hiked up to a viewpoint of the Grindelwald glacier, though it was looking a bit miserable... and suspect it will melt away entirely in the years to come.
Views incredible, everything incredible. When I came down I had to retrieve my bag from the hotel and go to catch my train *sob*. But I will be back. Nicest place in the world.
Sunday evening: 7.1miles @9:44 avg pace
The main reason I was in Switzerland at all was a conference in Zurich. I had taken the train from Grindelwald to Zurich and made my way to my Airbnb. Strange experience nearly collapsing at the ticket price, but also not minding at all. To my surprise I was still feeling motivated after making my way to Zurich, and after settling into my Airbnb I went out around 9:30pm and did some "neighbourhood loops". Had not checked out the neighbourhood online but had noticed loads of bikes parked out on the street so assumed it was probably ok.
Let myself off one mile to be nice to myself.
weekly total: 29miles as 4runs, 27miles of hiking (as 3 hikes)
Very happy to have managed to nearly hit the planned mileage, and some good hikes too.
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Grindelwald looks and sounds amazing. Added to the list.... a very nice advertisement for the rural mountainous idyllic that Switzerland can be.
Now now, no need to all go rushing there at *all*, that was not my intent;) People have done a good job of keeping it relatively quiet I think ....Wubble Wubble wrote: »Photos on Strava looked great.
Don't think I'd have been so keen on that "gondola" either :eek:
It was nearly full when I arrived into the platform and I was dithering on the sidelines. Fortunately the 'driver' was coming through and he gave a firm wave of the arm, he was taking no nonsense.0 -
Very productive week Mary .....Well done on getting the running in too ....
Thank you both. Now the following week :pac::pac: ....
15th-21st July:
The plan: 45miles to include 16miles LSR, 8miles with 6MP
I did know that this was going to be a challenge. Was at a conference all week, talks running from 9am to past 5pm most days, not to mention the need to finish my own talk before I'd have to deliver it.... And still emails coming through from work. Did not expect to fall off the rails quite so spectacularly though.
Monday: nothing as planned
Definitely giving myself a day off after the previous week.
Tuesday: 1mile race (4x400m) on the track @7:23 pace
This conference has a tradition of doing a "random run" on the track, with the number of laps decided on the fly. The conference was started decades ago by a group from Poland and I think a couple of them were keen runners. The tradition continues. Still quite a few keen runners and I knew well who was going to win it as he has some really good parkrun times. I travelled on the tram with him to the track and he was discussing strategies and his interval training from previous weeks.
There were about 80 of us participating, we all grouped on the track and waited for the host to throw a dice before we start - today it came up with "3", so that's the starting number of laps. Off we went. There was to be a second dice thrown when the leader came to the end of his 3 laps .... that second dice came out as "1", so 4 laps total.
It was very warm so I started running fairly conservatively, but was passing the odd person here and there, likely people who'd gone out too fast. As I came to the end of my 2nd lap I felt the leader come along to my right, and the host held up the "1". So at that stage I was able to increase my pace a bit, and then properly increase it on the final lap. Was not playing any particular tactics except trying to pass people, especially female - and I overtook a decent number as I went. When I came near the finish I stopped the watch at .99 but it came as .98 on Strava ... pity as I might have got a mile PB.
I walked back to the campus with one of the ETH Zurich MSc students and he only had good things to say about it, and life in Switzerland. Although Zurich is expensive for living, the fees are really tiny. I will keep it in mind and recommend to people in the future.
I had every intention of doing a proper run from my Airbnb. However, I did not.
Wednesday: nothing
Talks during the morning, then we had the afternoon free for possible excursions but of course I still had my talk to work on. Stayed in the grand surroundings of ETH Zurich main building to work on the slides, then I went home and did a bit more prep. Was actually pretty knackered from sitting in talks and concentrating all the time.
No run.
Thursday: nothing
Destroyed again this morning. Talks all day, then in the evening we had the conference dinner. At this point the talk preparation was finished so I was able to relax a bit.
I won a prize for winning my category in the Random Run, I did quite well in fact - a over-the-shoulder bag with a line drawing of Zurich, an ETH Zurich water bottle with Maths on it, an ETH Zurich mug ... and best of all a nice wallet/smartphone holder with a special pouch for your bike lock key, as is only right for life in Switzerland. I had no smartphone holder to date so this is really useful.
There was a bit of an anticlimax as it turned out I was the only competitor in my category (F 40+). So there had been no need to work to pass those other runners ....
Later on they put up the full listing, and it turns out I was 3rd F overall, so I would have got a prize even without being ancient (they'd given 3 prizes out for the <40 categories) ....
Friday, Saturday: nothing (6mile hike)
Not even going to type an excuse here. Was no longer destroyed from the talks. In fact had taken the Saturday afternoon off and gone for a hike up Uetliberg, should probably have done a run instead.
Sunday: nothing
Had a flight from Basel at 10:15 so needed an early start, was slower to get out than planned and ended up racing to catch bus, catch train to Basel ... then needed another bloody bus to the airport. Kind of knew I was going to miss the plane. When I got to the airport it was 45mins before takeoff and they refused to let me do the "bag drop" for my large bag, I got directed to the Sales desk. Fortunately at the sales desk I got given some unofficial advice to take the large bag through security, so I did. Lost a large tube of suncream and eventually E60 at the boarding desk, but much better than having to stay in Basel and buy another flight (though I was also thinking it would be no tragedy to have to work from Switzerland for a day or two ... )
I caught the flight with a minute or two to spare. All the staff very kind and helpful, the woman who searched my bag at security checking the screen to give me the boarding gate as she looked through my items, the pilot saying he had waited a couple of minutes extra for me. Had been thinking of Switzerland in the vein of Scandinavian countries because of the high quality of life, the expense, the environmental policies, the honesty etc ... but they are missing that adherence to "The Rules" you have in Denmark etc. Everyone was really nice and willing to help over my 10days. If it's not already clear from my posts to date, I would love to live there!
I got back home by lunchtime and there was every opportunity to do my LSR even though the rest of the week had been a disaster. However, I did not do it, I wrote off the week instead.
weekly total: 1mile, one 6mile hike
Hope I have got that out of my system, can't have any more weeks like that. Never have any problems getting the runs done when visiting Dublin, but for trips to see friends and/or work things it's more difficult. Will have a couple of 3-4day trips in August and September and will need to make sure to plan well, and make sure to get LSRs done before/after leaving.... And also to make sure not to carry undone work along with me.0 -
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22nd-28th July:
The plan: 45miles to include 8 with 6MP, run with 2miles fartlek, 16mile LSR
Monday: 7miles with 5 @MP, Yoga class
Yoga at lunchtime, it was quite an easy class (as there'd been no classes for a few weeks).
Went out in the evening to do my MP run on the meadows, it was still quite warm when I went out. The legs were fresh (to put it mildly!) and the paces a bit quicker than MP, coming in as 8:49, 8:50, 8:49, 8:55, 8:53. Despite the extra zip in the legs I felt these get harder as I progressed, was feeling the effect of the heat. I let myself get away with 5MP instead of 6. This was done mostly on trails.
Tuesday: nothing
Now there should have been a run in here..... but I went home and couldn't push myself out.
Wednesday: 6.1miles @10:01 avg pace
Was having the same trouble as yesterday and this was nearly another night off, but came to a compromise with myself - I would do my usual 5mile loop, take a little detour at the end to the fish+chip shop, then a little bit extra running back with my fish+chips. Had hardly any food in the house after being away.
The fish+ chip shop was closed for holidays when I got there, but never mind, the run was done.
Thursday: 6.5miles @10:21 avg pace
Scorching forecast today, was to hit 29C in the evening. I was aiming to get out as early as possible but the soonest was early lunchtime and it was already quite hot. The aim was 10miles but from 2-3miles I was getting warmer, and in the 5th mile I even stopped and walked a little bit on a hill (which I usually run up no trouble). Was back near work at 6miles and it was even hotter and I had to pull up and stop for 20secs or so. I cut the run short and went back to the office and washed all the sweat off.
Friday: 5.2miles @9:57 avg pace
My standard flat coastal/LeithLinks loop, done from home in the evening.
I still had the fartlek session needing to be done, but I also needed to kick myself out the door, so I took that off the table and did an easy run.
Saturday: 1mile w/u, 1mile fartlek, 1.2miles easy, 1mile fartlek, 1mile easy
Exact same route as the evening before, today I was hoping I would do the fartlek. Got stuck into the 1st fartlek and this went well, it's a slight descent along this stretch anyway, was showing about 7:30 avg pace as I came towards the end of the mile. At .87 I had a beep from the watch and it had lost the GPS signal, I ran on as fast as I could hoping that it would kick in again, it didn't, continued until I was 100% sure it would be over a mile. Only then did I stop and search for the GPS again. Stats on Strava look wrong though! The second fartlek mile was a slight incline, I had to work harder, but got it done in 7:52 which is fine.
Glad to get this one done at last! Was not sure that would happen.
Sunday: 16.2miles @10:30 pace
As usual I was setting out later than I'd like, it was past 6pm. On the positive side I was not as reluctant as usual. I was doing this in Holyrood Park as usual and was thinking to include a decent amount of hills, mostly laps of the circuits. But I was going to play it by ear as I wasn't sure how legs or lungs would feel.
It went off mostly as planned, did 9miles on grass/trail and about 7 on tarmac. About 1650ft ascent in total, though no big climbs. The grass has grown longer and as a consequence there was a bit more effort lifting my legs. Was able to keep the effort up throughout the run, pace was (relative to hill factor) fairly consistent, though the last few miles were a bit tough. Had a bit of worry from the right knee on a descent 4miles in, but I was able to continue running and it eased off (though I can feel it a bit today).
I took the trail across the interior of the park for one lap and it was waterlogged after the recent weather. Noticed in Yoga class today that I my shower didn't get all the mud off the inside of my ankles :rolleyes:. Also have noticed some chafing on the inside of my thighs, which is rare, and am hoping it is from Saturday not Sunday as the Sunday shorts are the only ones which have a little zipped pocket on the back. Did not notice anything after Saturday's run but those shorts have given problems in the past.
weekly total: 46miles including 16mile LSR, 7 miles w 5MP, run with 2miles fartlek, yoga class
My first good week of marathon training. Have 1 miles over the plan, got all target runs done, only small change was to do 5MP not 6MP.
Next week's mission: not to drop back again. Am aiming to do a bit more than the original plan and hope to start with a few easy miles this eve.0 -
29th-4th August: DCM week -13
the plan: 35miles to include parkrun time trial and 11mile LSR
Was thinking of adding a few miles extra to the 35 because of what happened two weeks ago.
Monday: Yoga class
Definitely in need of the day off running, the 46miles had made an impact.
Tuesday: 8.1miles easy with 5 strides (10:20 avg pace)
Had initially had some thoughts of making this a 8 with 6MP run because of the missed week two weeks ago. If I did it on the Tuesday that would be early enough to keep it away from affecting the parkrun. I went out still thinking of this as a possibility but I was only just back to normal after last week's mileage, and I just left it and did an easy run with strides ....
Mostly tarmac this one. Had to come off the trails after a couple of runs as it started raining and the ground was already a little bit slippy to start with.
Wednesday: 7.7miles getting-some-miles-in run (10:48 avg)
Another week, another futile run-to-the-takeaway. Was having trouble pushing myself out and decided I would set it up as a lap or two of Holyrood and ten head to the Thai takeaway. That got me out the door at least. And now this takeaway was shut! Went to the Tesco next door to buy a pizza then ran the last little bit home.
This was quite slow and it struck me probably had been wise not to do the MP yesterday.
Thursday: 6.2miles easy with 5strides (10:22 avg)
Mostly trails except for the last mile when I did the strides. Done after work. Probably a bit slower than usual for this route/kind-of-run but it was done.
Friday: nothing as planned
Saturday: 1.5 miles w/u, parkrun in 25:33, 2.4miles c/d (7miles total)
Woke up on time but feeling too tired to get out of bed.... turned over. Was thinking it over and doing calculations of what other weekend I could fit in a parkrun and it wasn't seeming hopeful, so I changed my mind and got up. At this point it was too late to head out to Edinburgh parkrun (at least if I wanted to warm-up), so I decided I would go to Portobello instead - closer but a slower course. I walked some of the way there, then ran the remaining 1.5miles to the start.
The parkrun itself is three laps of a narrow circuit of about a mile, the circuit having a few turns including one at 180 degrees. The paths are quite narrow too so other runners can be an issue. Bit congested at the start and wasn't able to take advantage of the downhill there, as I continued through this 1st mile the pace on the watch was improving, but slowly, and even as at the end it was only 8:18. I had perhaps been playing it a bit safe as I was getting used to the route (it's a couple of years since I've done this one). I tried to increase the effort a bit for the 2nd lap but only really got going on the 3rd lap, and was able to push on the "bit": 8:18, 8:17, 8:07 and @7:21 for the "bit". I'm not sure exactly what happened there, this parkrun is slower than my usual (by about a minute maybe) but I did expect to be sub-25 at worst. I didn't have the suffering phase this time though, so maybe I was just off the effort level a bit.
It's all training anyway :pac:. Ran home for my c/d
Sunday: 11.1miles Long run (10:25 avg pace)
Had a giant sleep this morning and was late out of bed, think it was due as I was relatively low on sleep the previous couple of nights (compared to my usual that is!).
Nice feeling to be heading out for "only" 11miles, today there was no reluctance. I did this on a hilly-ish route in Holyrood Park and surroundings (surprise surprise) but I mostly stuck to the tarmac because the ground was a bit soft. Was wearing a jacket because there were thunderstorms forecast (which never happened) and the sleeve was covering my watch ... decided I would ignore the watch/paces and try to run by feel. Interesting that the pace is very similar to last week's, but I think the tarmac helped and "essentially" I was at an easier effort today (which I probably should aim for on future LSRs).
Anyway, an enjoyable little run (it felt little) and don't think it will have taken much out of me, especially with the extra sleep last night. Expecting to jump out of bed tomorrow morning which is very rare on Mondays.
weekly total: 40miles with 11miles LSR, parkrun time trial
Another good week. Good bit less grass/trail than usual due to weather conditions.
monthly total: 128miles for July
Quite a lot lower than planned. The main reason was the missed week two weeks back.
Plan for next week is 46miles and I will be trying to pull the mileage early as I am signed up for a hillwalking/wild-camping weekend in the North next weekend. This is weather dependent, and with work very busy right now, will not be devastated if the mountains are cancelled and I get to stretch the running out...0 -
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