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Comments
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hillsiderunner wrote: »I didn't have to look until after the silver-cars-turn today
, that's been done.
Am not meaning to sound quite that aggravated (though I was a bit fed up on the Braid hills). A couple more weekends and I should have it off by heart.
Had a few smiles from other runners who probably understood the significance of the printouts in my hands.
ah no, you didn't sound aggravated... intrepid i would say!0 -
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Bungy Girl wrote: »So I guess there's no chance of turning up to Edinburgh for the weekend next year and trying to run this ? Sounds a bit like the Wicklow Way Relay where runners get lost all the time if they don't recce their route properly.
unless we had a guide! sort of a group effort
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Bungy Girl wrote: »So I guess there's no chance of turning up to Edinburgh for the weekend next year and trying to run this ? Sounds a bit like the Wicklow Way Relay where runners get lost all the time if they don't recce their route properly.
Emmm.. the thing with the 7Hills is that there are 600 doing it, so unless you are massively fast or massively slow you could probably be mostly ok by following other runners (and of course doing lots of hill in training). I'd just feel better knowing my way and since I need hill training and I'm local I might as well train on the route itself.unless we had a guide! sort of a group effort
Would work ok for yourself and myself I think FD. BGs time would be destroyed if she was hanging around for me! (though maybe next year I'll be a bit faster)Bungy Girl wrote: »Or 2 weekends in Edinburgh!
If you were thinking that way, I think the best thing would be to do it as a 'long week' and do two (slow) recce's the first weekend, then have a holiday in Scotland and race the weekend after. Easy to forget the route details over time I have to say.0 -
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hillsiderunner wrote: »If you were thinking that way, I think the best thing would be to do it as a 'long week' and do two (slow) recce's the first weekend, then have a holiday in Scotland and race the weekend after. Easy to forget the route details over time I have to say.
Tempting...I just love the sound of it. Will see how you get on first
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Nothing too exciting this past week, but a decent number of miles and another assault on the hills still to come tomorrow. Was wrecked on Tuesday after the hill run the night before, and continued for a couple of days ... for sure the hills made themselves felt ... so Tuesday's and Wednesday's run were both pretty simple.
Tuesday, 12th May: 5miles easy-ish @9:35 w 5x100m strides
First time doing strides in aaaaages, but want to get back in the habit as they are a light-way of letting the legs speed up a bit. Strides were mostly 7:15 with one around 7:30 and another sub-7
Wednesday, 13th May: 5miles w 1 mile fartlek; Pilates later
The Garmin messed-up a lot on this run, tree cover might have been partly responsible but the swings in under/over-estimating were ridiculous. Anyway I know this loop well, and its distances. (in reality) I did roughly 2miles @9:30, fartlek mile @8:30, 2miles @9:15.
Nothing on Thursday. I really needed the day off at this stage but it did the trick.
Friday, 15th May: Black Rock '5' .... 4.31miles in 39:06 (9:03 pace)
A road/beach medley race ... expect I didn't really race it :rolleyes:. The race is in an fishing village in Fife on Friday evening, so I headed out on the train after work with friends. On the approach into the station there was a great view on the beach and the Black Rocks and we could see that the tide looked really low, maybe even clear around the back of the rocks. So good conditions. Lined up alongside some friends which in hindsight was too far back, and out we went for the 1st mile - a bit of uphill, then a decent downhill and then toward the beach. I was too fast for the people around me and had to do a bit of hopping round people in the first half of this mile; then once I was clear I was a bit over-cautious in picking up pace because I didn't know what to expect on the beach. Last bit of this mile was onto the beach via a short patch of loose sand and the mile beeped at 8:36 which is a bit too slow for me and this distance. Mile 2 was direct out towards the Black Rocks over firm sand ... this was the bit I'd been unsure of. Anyway the sand was firm but had a ripple effect with quite solid bumps, and it wasn't as easy to run on this, it seemed to interfere with the natural running rhythm .. we also had a bit of a headwind. This mile was 9:34
. Just after this we came to the Black Rocks and as we predicted we were able to run round the back in very shallow water of just a few inches ...a big advantage because some years the water can be a foot high. Anyway after the turn mile 3 was a bit easier because the wind was now behind .. and towards the end of the mile the sand was flat ... anyway this one 9:12. Then mile 4 starting on the beach, up the loose sand, and onto the road to work our way back. The best part of this was towards the end of the mile when we came back up the hill ... and there was a row of 4 or 5 houses to the left with the owners out in their gardens roaring the most incredible cheers. They were brilliant (this is a small village and I'd guess the race, with over 1000 runners, is probably a highlight of the year's calendar). Mile 4 in 9:06. Then down the starting hill, left and up a short sharp hill to the finish, with loads of spectators there from the many runners who had already finished. This section at around 8:30 pace I think ... overall 39:06 on the watch but I didn't hit the watch on time at the start line so probably 15secs more or so when the results come out. Then into the queue to get our chips removed, round to more queues to get our beer and banana, and a bit of hanging round town with curry chips after ....
To be honest I felt that I didn't really "race" this one and overall it felt more like a steady run than anything else. Partly it was over-cautiousness when I backed off in preparation for the sands, and maybe also partly because it's a weird distance/terrain so hard to compare with other races. It's described as being more-like-a-5mile but even with the more beach section 5miles is over compensating... bit of a cross-country effect with the bumpy sand (though apparently some years the sand can be flat). Anyhow I only really felt like I was pushing on that second mile out to the rock.. otherwise I was holding back a bit for the various reasons and (for example) overall pushing less than last Saturday's parkrun. If more proof was needed I felt absolutely fine today in contrast to last Saturday and Sunday when I was pretty wrecked after the 8miles with parkrun.
I have friends who adore this race and it is very cute but I'm not so blown away .. I'd run it again but would push harder and not worry so much about what was coming. Cute-ness in a picture here (not anyone I know):
https://twitter.com/jmctaberdour/status/599328021074583553
Saturday, 16th May: 5.45miles @9:07 pace
Quite comfortable run on the flat round the neighbourhood. More proof that I did not push things yesterday. I'll line up a parkrun next weekend to do another time trial.0 -
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Sunday, 17th May: "6 hills of Edinburgh", 13.48miles @11:25 pace, then 2.11miles @9:40 pace (15.6miles total)
Was meant to head out for this at 4pm, but prevaricated a lot and it was after 5pm when I got started. Would have loved to dodge it but at this stage that would be close to admitting defeat in 5weeks time, so got myself moving. I'd had a review of the printouts earlier in the day to identify my "problem-turns" so was hoping things would run more smoothly. Turned out quite positive in the end though - for the first few miles I was using the trick of adding each extra mile to my weekly total in my head to keep myself motivated, but after 4miles or so I was able to stop doing that. Am going to resist the urge to write an essay for once, but the highlights were:
- Bit of walking on the way up the first hill (Calton Hill; hill 7) ... and there's never any walking on Castle Rock (hill 1) and that went as usual ... but there was progress on the ascent to hill 2 (Clermiston) . The approach to that is first a long drag, then a short dirt path with some steps up a steeper slope, some undulating terrain, and finally a short drag up to the trig point. In my past attempts I've been stopping at least 3 times on the ascent, and always a couple of times on that first long drag. Today .... backed off a bit and managed to get all the way up the first long drag without any walking, *did* do a section of walking on the steeper bit, but only once, and after that I got all the way to the trig point without any other stops.
- I was able to run the first 10miles without ever looking at my printouts - basically I got all the way to the top of Braid Hill, and down (though there was a hiccup
) without checking them once.
There was one change to the route and I shouldn't even type it because Anna is going to have a field day with this one ... when I was looking through the printouts before going out I noticed mention of a Left turn being taken before the "silver cars" landmark. And the picture shows a path I've never been on. I'd never taken a left turn at this stage and was wondering if I'd descended from Clermiston hill a slightly different way. I kept my eyes peeled when I came off Clermiston hill around the 5mile point, and there was the left turn.... and I took it and got over 500m of lovely soft descent on a trail with purple flowers and bluebells under the quiet sun .... then after I came to the end of that *there* was the "house of the silver cars", *not* back up where I'd previously been taking the exit. The trail is a parallel to the road I'd taken so there was no harm done to directions or mileage (I took the road when I recce-ed with my friend) but the silver cars I'd noticed were the silver cars of a different house ....
Only other detail on the directions is that I hit mile 10 around the top of Braid hill (hill 4), which was the final hill I hit on Monday. And although everything went perfect up to this point, I got lost coming down the hill *again*. I didn't pull out the printouts at this stage because I thought I knew it all from the previous time ... and there's gorse everywhere to confuse .. but I had followed the correct path some of the way off the trig point unlike last time - so possibly a quick look would have resolved matters. Lost up to a mile coming off the hill and moving towards the next one, so next time, I will fish the printouts out - First 8miles (including the first 3 hills) came in under 84mins which although not fast for road running, is a lot better than my previous attempts. Mile 6 with the lovely new downhill trail was around 8:30!! The Garmin beeped for 8miles just at the stage where I was about to climb up the steep slope on the way to hill 3 (Craiglockart) grabbing onto tree roots. And of course mile 9 was very slow at over 14 mins, and the same was true for at least two of miles 10-13 which also involved ascent. But overall the pace is quicker from today.
- Got in an extra hill, Blackford Hill (hill 5), and found the route up from the printouts without too much trouble. Maybe not the exact route of the printouts but it was close. A cruel set of steps on the ascent to this one, but a lovely gradual grassy descent on the other side .
BG, I know the still-getting-lost does not sound so positive but I was reading a blog where the owner (admittedly an Edinburgh resident with some basic knowledge) used the "just follow someone" strategy very successfully at the race. This was someone towards the faster batch of "challengers" so she wouldn't have been in the throng... I'll send you the link by pm.
About half mile after I came off the final hill I spotted a chip shop across the road.. and the wise owner had a stock of the original Lucozade ... so I bought a bottle and stopped the watch at 13.48, and walked for about 10mins drinking that. Could have taken the bus after that but was thinking of an event in late-October, so I ran the couple of miles back home.
weekly total: 35.5miles
Rest day tomorrow! (maybe Pilates but no running)
PS Maybe not an essay, but not short either I admit. Will try to sort myself out next weekend and the report might be shorter ...0 - Bit of walking on the way up the first hill (Calton Hill; hill 7) ... and there's never any walking on Castle Rock (hill 1) and that went as usual ... but there was progress on the ascent to hill 2 (Clermiston)
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Monday arrived and I was only a bit flattened from the hill run, which is progress having been totally wrecked the week before. Unfortunately it started a blister towards the inside of my left big toe, probably from the downhills. I've had a compeed plaster on it since Wednesday morning but it seems to again be a bit bigger again after today's run. Not sure what to try next. Have never done surgery on one before, and don't really want to, but need to do another hill session on Sunday.
Monday, 18th May: Pilates
Tuesday, 19th May: 1.6miles warm-up, 5x650m repeats on a 6-minute clock, 1.4miles c/d
Hit my nadir this evening in intervals resistance. *Really* did not want to go to this session and was thinking of just doing a few easy miles instead. I was thinking that Sunday's hills were still in my legs too, which would make it even tough. Anyway I made myself go. 4 people doing the 650s, and two of them were ahead of me, and the other behind (admittedly he had a good few years on me ). Tried to take the early sections a bit lighter to have a better push for the end, and then worked to narrow the gap to the two ahead on the last stretch. Quite motivating ... the result was [2:49, 2:48, 2:50, 2:49, 2:48] which as it turns out is the fastest set this year by about 5secs . I even got a "well done" from the man with the stopwatch after the final one .
Part of the reason for not wanting to head out was dread of these not going well, especially after the flaky attendance over the past 6 months, and attracting attention with the coughs recently ... though of course there will have been some of the basic dread-of-intervals there too. Was a relief for it to go well & looks like I'll be able to make the next two weeks, so there is the opportunity to consolidate.
Wednesday, 20th May: 4.4miles @9:09pace, Pilates.
Done on the flat and was very consistent.
Thursday, 21st May: 6.4miles with 2 big hills, 10:38 average pace
The plan was to run the 1mile to Holyrood Park, then 3 times round the Radical Road loop, then back to base to make about 7miles total. Did two laps of the Radical Road loop, with about 5-6 stops on each ascent. Have done this loop better in the past (not necessarily consistently I admit) so this was a bit of a surprise after the nice session on Tuesday. Of course even jogs-with-stops is hill practice, and I badly need hill work, so I made myself start the 3rd loop anyway, only to grind to a halt after only about 15metres. It wasn't going to happen so I decided to finish the run on the flat.
I had taken a detour that would bring the total distance up to 7miles, but felt myself grind to a halt again on a much shallower hill on the road back, so stopped and walked the rest. Don't know what was going on ... It wasn't the blister (didn't feel it on the run, only after). It had been 5hours since I'd eaten, but I've done my last two parkruns on no breakfast and they went pretty well, so I doubt food is the reason. I'm going to mark this up to the mysteries of the "bad run".0 -
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The army method I see, I'd been googling before I read your post. Bought a needle and thread at lunchtime and the deed is done :cool:.
It's the same toe I dropped the glass on at xmas and the black splodge is halfway up the toenail with the front of the toenail peeling away... generally looks a sight.
I see you are off on your holidays, hope it is somewhere *hot*. Am sure you will have the runners along with you but don't forget the first priority of holidays which is eating and drinking of course. 0 -
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Great success with the aquinn/army method on the blister, so no interruptions to running this weekend.
Saturday, 23rd May: 5.83miles @9:21 average pace
Had wanted to get a parkrun in today. Forecast was *perfect* with cool sun predicted, and no wind. Anyway kicked myself out of bed on time ... sun *beating* down outside, and was most of the way to getting ready when I realised I'd left my sunglasses at the office. And couldn't find the spare pair anywhere. It's a rare day here where you can say sunglasses are needed, but it was true this morning. So no parkrun. Went out late for the run in the end, and by then it had to be fairly easy in advance of Sunday hills.
Sunday, 24th May: "7 hills of Edinburgh (and a bit)", 16miles @12:15 average pace
Late heading out for his one, but the motivation was a bit better... I was not kicking-and-screaming today. Plan was to do the entire route of the "seven hills" and since I always run up the back of Calton hill to start, this is even a bit more than 7. Anyway the result:
- Did manage to finish the entire 7 Hills route, plus the extra ascent to Calton hill at the start. When I got up to the top of Calton at the end the overall time was a whopping 3hrs 16mins, and the distance just over 16miles. I could have ran the extra .6 miles or so back to the flat but by then I couldn't be bothered ... so I walked it.
A bit disappointed with my time. The first ascent to Calton took about 8mins, so the net time for the route is about 3hrs 8mins. To be honest I was hoping to get it in under 3hours, and then work out how to prepare to bring that down on race day. On the other hand 16-0.6 gives 15.4 miles which is well over the estimated distance of 14.5miles for the route... If I'd done that number of miles at 12:15 pace, I would have been under the 3hours. So route-finessing still to be done as well as hill-work. - The first 8miles covering Calton, Castle Rock and Clermiston (the easy half of the race) went fine and in 83-84mins like last week. No looking at printouts, I know the route now. Got up Calton hill without walking at all which is progress from last week . Castle Rock - there were barriers going up when I arrived so I couldn't get right to the very front of the castle like usual (I guess the military Tattoo is starting for the season), and had to take a different route down as well. But fine. Bit of walking up Clermiston like last week but I think I am close to being able to run this one entirely... will try for that next week.
- Traffic ... a yell of "careful" from a French couple towards the West End of Princes St (bit after doing Castle Rock) ... and when I looked, not one but two trams heading in my direction . So I've got to be a tiny bit more careful .... The most annoying traffic was on the Royal mile and was not due to trams, nor cars, but *tourists* wavering and wandering, looking at maps and bumping into each other. At least the race is at 9am and they'll still be in their beds at that time.
- Second stage of the run is from the ascent to Craiglockart through Braid and Blackford hills, finishing at the chip shop after Blackford hill. Mostly went fine. Scaled the slope at Craiglockart, and then walked the grassy section to the trig point eating 4 jelly babies as I went. This walking was *mostly* deliberate - it's been happening in recent attempts anyway, and I was thinking to save my energy for a better attempt on the Braid hill this week. I did make progress on the ascent to Braid as it turned out, especially on the long upwards drag on the roads before I run up the trails. Definitely better this week.
Used the *printouts* to find my descent from Braid hill and this went according to plan ... I overshot a tiny bit before finding the narrow channel down through the gorse, but realised very quick and went back and took it down to the road. Was a nicer descent this time as it hasn't been raining much, so there was no muck ... and I arrived out on the road directly in front of the path towards Blackford hill.
Plenty of walking on the horrible steps up to Blackford but otherwise nice, and I ran most of the nicer grass section to the trig point. Then ran down from Blackford ... to the chip shop. Can't remember the exact details of the watch but at this stage the total average pace was very similar to last week. Distance was shorter because I hadn't got lost on Braid hill today. - Bottle of lucozade from the chip shop and I stood outside for 5mins drinking half the bottle, and checking the route to Arthur's seat. Stopped the watch for this break (the only time...)
- Today for the first time: the *third* section, running from the chip shop through Newington, then through University halls into Holyrood, then up and down Arthur's seat, and another more gradual ascent to the finish at Calton hill. Verdict on this is tough and slow, but not as tough as I expected
Went into the University halls to try the locked-gate that runners climb/limbo through ... took a wrong turn in there but eventually found the gate .. anyway "limbo" is a *massive* exaggeration - I slid through the widest gap without any delay. And the wall looks lower than in the photos so I'm sure I'd have no problem climbing that either. Will probably take this route in the race unless there are huge crowds around me.
Ascent to Arthur's seat was mostly walking, which I expected, but there were some sections where I could run a little bit. Drank the other half of my lucozade on the ascent. Then a small scramble at the top, a bigger scramble coming down, and a long descent on a wide clay/gravel path. I'm almost sure I didn't take optimal routes up *or* (especially) down so will be reading some blogs and checking my map to see if I can work out which paths I should be aiming for.
Walked/ran the final ascent to the finish line at Calton hill. This is more gradual than from the other side, and there was more running than walking. A sign that I wasn't wiped out or anything. - The extra mile or so was mostly lost on (i) taking an alternative route from the bottom of Blackford hill to the chip shop. Used to work near here and thought the alternative route might be quicker, but definitely not. (ii) finding the gate inside University grounds (will know this for next time). (iii) ascent and descent of Arthur's seats. Will be planning to tackle all of these issues next weekend . Directions/printouts-wise, will only to be bringing the page of pictures for Braid hill, and some details about Arthur's seat.
weekly total: 37.5miles 0 - Did manage to finish the entire 7 Hills route, plus the extra ascent to Calton hill at the start. When I got up to the top of Calton at the end the overall time was a whopping 3hrs 16mins, and the distance just over 16miles. I could have ran the extra .6 miles or so back to the flat but by then I couldn't be bothered ... so I walked it.
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super stuff, it seems to be coming together week by week, great that you got all 7 hills in today too
ThanksGreat running - and am starting to look forward to the race report. If the training runs (and reports) are a warm-up for the big day, I think we can look forward to an EPIC report! .... was meaning this week's to be shorter but the new section that I added on created some extra thoughts. The aim for next week is to attain perfect routing, so if I succeed that will compress things quite a bit . Am going to have a break from the hills in 2 weeks time as I am in Dublin, and am looking forward to testing what a normal 15-mile run feels like these days (it's been kind of halfway to orienteering in recent weeks!) 0 -
hillsiderunner wrote: »like last weekend I hardly met anyone attempting this route. Either they're all heading out earlier in the day or are a lot more-chilled out than I am! I'm glad to be getting the practice in though. Really wish I had an extra month to work on my hills....
You'll probably win, you know the route so well
If you have time for a parkrun when you're in Dublin do Ardgillan - great hill practice!0 -
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Great going on the hills yesterday! You will be well ready for the race.
For completing it, yep, definitely. For hill-fitness I need many more weeks! Would love to be able to run all uphills except Arthur's seat and the Blackford-steps, but doubt I'll be able to manage that by 21st. It's been a learning experience .... but enjoyable ... I think I'll keep some of my long runs on hilly trails when I get into marathon training.Bungy Girl wrote: »You'll probably win, you know the route so well
No, you *can't* make jokes like that about races, BG ... especially not the 7 hills. The winner of even the challenge will do it around 2hr 15, and in the race the leader will be around 1hr 45. Route-knowledge is a drop in the ocean compared with hill fitness and speed and I need a *lot* of work on both. But the recces are a good way to get hill training done and also to understand what the height/incline of the various hills feels like :rolleyes:.Bungy Girl wrote: »If you have time for a parkrun when you're in Dublin do Ardgillan - great hill practice!
The climb and the course profile are very similar to the road that goes round Arthur's seat - which I often run but have never raced. Would not be a PB course I think! Bit of an expedition to Ardgillan though but "fortunately" the 33 runs early on Saturdays. Will see how I go ....
Best thing about yesterday's run is that I wasn't tired this morning even on 7 hours sleep only 0
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