Saturday, January 27, 2007
lovely weather continues.....
More wind and more difficulty in running. Thursday
the 18th we had 10 x either 600m or 400m in 4 mins.
So a bit more consistent this week I did the 10x400m.
Each one was a relatively ok time (2mins or under
mainly) but was a bit knackered by the last one. It
was pretty cold and windy which made breathing
difficult. Also we were running more than 400m as we
had to take a diversion across the tracks (further
than last weeks) due to the soggy, marshy conditions.
I swear if you added a couple of hurdles on the way
round we could have trained for steeplechase instead
of doing intervals!
On Saturday I just went out for a wee run later on in
the day after spending time in town hunting round for
a dress to wear to my work ceilidh on Fri 26th. I
started from East Links and ran a loop round the
trees, and West Barnes. It was getting dark and I
couldnt run my first choice of route as the tide was
very high, so couldnt get over one of the bridges
without getting very wet. My legs were agony after
Thursday no idea why but every bit hurt
..
Sunday Sheila, Val, Fay and I headed out for a bit of
a longer run. Well I say we all headed out but Val and
Fay soon disappeared off into the distance. I
struggled along running better than I had done the
previous Sunday but still finding the head wind parts
difficult. We ran from Belhaven along the dump road,
into West Barns and along the old A1 to the
roundabout, where we then ran round Hedderwick the
opposite way to usual. From Hedderwick we went along
a track for riders/walkers that takes you onto the
road to Biel. The headed on up towards Biel, taking a
right at Biel so we cut along to the road from East
Linton up to Stenton. From there we ran down to East
Linton and along the A1 back to Belhaven. I was
pretty hungry and feeling pretty tired towards the end
but kept it going. I have no idea how I ever managed
to run a marathon finding all the distance runs
tough going and they are probably half marathon
distance max!
Tuesday night I ran round town with Lindsay. We ran
round some extra houses at the beginning so we didnt
feel quite so bad cutting out West Barnes at the end.
Also took a sneaky short cut so we didnt have to go
up the really steep hill at the swimming pool. We
met up with Alison at the pool and ran down the back
road with her, but did skive West Barnes, instead
running up to Jet station and down to Halhill. Legs
still hurting think Ill need to book in for a
message pretty soon. (and actually ensure I stretch
after I run)
Intervals on Thursday we were back to a choice of 600m
or 800m again in 4.5 mins. Again we made use of our
clever little idea of running 500m and then back 100m
towards the start it means we got to hear our time
each go and also it meant we could sort of race Ian
Sills and Grant (ok so they were running 200m more
than us but a bit of competition is still good!) The
last one we ran the 800m so did run 5km at speed.
(although fairly distressing that if you add up the
times of all the intervals they are still only about
the same as my best 5km time will I ever get any
faster? Will I ever make under 25 min for a 5km
again?????)
And today, Saturday, I went out for a wee run at about
12:30. Did ok given that I had a few drinks at the
ceilidh last night, got home quite late and didnt
sleep very well. Oh I was sort of tripping up over
nearly every little stone, tree root, rabbit hole,
undulation etc in my path but otherwise it went well
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Wednesday, January 17, 2007
don't try to run in a head wind!
Well what have I been up to this week? After last
Sundays not so good run I decided to take it easy on
the Tuesday it was good though as it was Karens
first time back at the club after having Aidan and
also Lindsay was back to trot round after rehab-ing
due to her dodgy knee. (see shes sensible and takes
time off I just stick my head in the sand and hope
itll go away!) We ran round town taking a few wee
short cuts here and there but the run itself felt
quite enjoyable.
On Thursday we had the choice between 600m or 800m in
4min30secs. We had to do 8 reps. Karen made the
sensible choice of doing 400m. Clarissa and I made it
up as we went along. I did 2x600m, 1x400m, 2x600m,
2x400m, 1x800m. I totally made it up. Also instead
of running 600m around the track and then walking to
the start, I ran approx 500m round the track, turned
round and ran back to the start to cut out on the
walking across the track bit. Cunning huh? (not sure
Ian thought so
..)
At the weekend I didnt have such a great time with
the running
wind, wind and more wind. Im sure it was
some conspiracy the weather reports (I know I
shouldnt believe them) said Sunday would be nice and
calm and dry so I thought Id leave my long run until
then. So Saturday I headed out for 6 miles or so in
the last hour of daylight so did a wee bit of country
(round Eweford and into West Barnes, along Biel and
the dump road and then up Back Road and round town).
It was very, very windy when running around Eweford,
but managed to get a bit of shelter when running
through town.
On Sunday I wasnt very well organised so headed out
at about 1:30 after having breakfast about 10:30 and
nothing else (well apart from about 6 toffifees that
I have left from Christmas). My pre run fuelling
proved to be far from ideal
.I ran from East Links
through John Muir to West Barns, up to Eweford. From
there I ran up to Wester Broomhouse, down the closed
road, up to Spott, round to the second ford and down
to Pitcox. Nearly all the way was a very strong head
wind, which almost blew me back down the hills I was
struggling to get up! For some reason I decided to
struggle ontowards Stenton, head down towards Biel
Mill and across via Beesknowe to come out at the Biel,
Hedderwick and North Belton Road. Then I crossed over
the road and ran through the John Muir Park back to
East Links. I think the route was about 13 miles but I
certainly didnt manage to run all of that I totally
ran out of steam just about Biel Mill I was
starving! Stomach rumbling and slight sick feeling
hungry not just my normal level of could eat a huge
plate of pasta hunger. I was soooooooo tired after as
well I nearly conked out at about 6:30! Running into
strong wind is just not a clever idea. Must plan my
route the next time to head out in a sheltered route
with the wind behind me for the run back!
And then Tuesday. I was having a bit of a transport
difficulty having had a cancelled train at South
Gyle I then made my way to Edinburgh Park and got a
train to Edinburgh. I got into Waverley to see the
5:30 train heading out of the station. So then I got
the 6.05 train, which would mean that I would have to
drive home, change very quickly and head back down to
Dunbar. I texted Sheila so she could let me know if
anyone would hold on in case I was late. Then sods
law the 6.05 was about 10 minutes late and then
followed a slow train out that stopped at every stop
on the way! How annoying. Anyway made it to club in
time to catch Sheila at about 7:10 and went for about
a 4.5 mile run round town at a nice easy pace. At
least it worked to reduce my public transport rage
(sort of).
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Sunday, January 07, 2007
still out of sync
Well I guess my first new years resolution has to be
to remember to write in this diary. I cant believe
Ive forgotten again
..must be something to do with
getting older. I need some of Vals memory mints!
Anyway the last time I wrote anything was last year,
Christmas Eve. So Ive got a few to update you all on
then
Clearly on Christmas Day I did the traditional thing
of getting up, opening presents, eating far too much,
spending time with the family, watching telly, staying
up late. No thoughts of running then. But on boxing
day something strange came over me and I decided to
run in the Ayr Turkey Trot. A 5k and 10k down in Ayr,
and for some reason I opted for the 10k. The route is
pretty flat out along the sea front, along by the
river and up round a housing scheme before heading
back along the river and then the sea front. I made
the mistake of thinking it would be nice and mild by
the sea front, and according to the temperature gauge
in the car it was a fairly decent temperature.
However, that is not what my ears were telling me as I
stood out to watch the 5k race they nearly froze
off. I started the run with the thought of just
having a nice easy run, but had to catch those folk in
front that I thought I should be faster than
.it
wasnt my fastest 10k of the year (ok it was the
second slowest) but Im glad I did it. Splits that I
recorded were 5.31, 5.36, 5.39, 5.19, 5.47, 5.25,
5.26, 5.41, 5.37, 5.02. Official time was 55.13.
Actually serves to show how consistent my times have
been this year pretty much all 10ks around the 55
min mark, with the exception of my pb run in September
of 52.52.
On the Saturday 30th I headed out with Sheila M, Val
and Sheila K. We ran from Belhaven through John Muir
Country Park around East Links farm park and through
the first farm, back through John Muir Country Park
along the beach for the majority of the way, but as
the tide was in we cut back over to the dump road and
back along to Belhaven.
Due to my lack of running through the week I also had
to head out on Sunday 31st. I ran from home round the
bottom of Doon Hill, up behind Spott Farm, down
Starvation Brae and into Spott. From their I ran to
the second ford and round to Pitcox (running up all
the hills). From Pitcox I headed down to the A1 and
to the Belhaven fish farm where I got a handy lift
from Brians mum and dad back home. Then we ate in
keeping with the season we ate far too much, which
proved to be a bit of a crazy thing given that I had a
mile and a half sprint to run that night. Brian
seemed to think a sprint would be a good idea after 4
glasses of wine so we both headed off to run the
Black Bun run. Anyone who remembers the weather
that night will understand how crazy the 17 of us who
turned up must have been to run in the wild weather.
I quite like Emmas view though that this run is our
annual punishment for all the bad we do in the year
its quite fitting. Anyway of full stomach I set off,
quite sure if I pushed it too hard my lovely lunch
would be revisiting somewhere in West Barnes so tried
not to go too hard. I finished in my slowest ever
time of the three years that Ive run this, but with
weather conditions and trying not to puke I guess I
did ok.
Anyway now we are into the new year, the first club
session was on the 4th of January. I thought Ian was
giving us a nice session but no, we ran the handicap.
Fantastic I hadnt spent all day worrying which
meant my adrenalin wouldnt have been quite at the
right levels for a fantastic performance. (well
thats my excuse). I ran (after a fashion) and it
felt hard but actually produced my slowest ever time.
And I got a stitch. After reviewing recent
performance at the handicap I note that my late
2006/early 2007 times are all slower than late
2005/early 2006. Wonder whats going on there then?
Frank won well done.
On Saturday I headed out on my own for a longer trot.
I had to drop the car down to the garage in Dunbar so
ran from there to Spott roundabout and on up to Spott.
I ran up Daniels Brae (because Sheila Ms done it 3
times in the past fortnight I thought Id better
bloody check if I could still make it to the top too
and I did). Then I headed onto Pitcox, along towards
Stenton and then down to Biel mill. I thought I was
running quite well, trying to stay relaxed and enjoy
the run when a guy passed me at Biel mill running at
least twice the speed I was going. Only slightly off
putting
..
Then I crossed over the A1 and ran through John Muir
Country Park to Belhaven where Brian was waiting to
pick me up. I passed Hannah in the park all gadgeted
up with the GPS on, off out on her long run.
And because everything is still not quite in sync
after the holiday period, I headed out again today but
it felt much more of an effort than yesterdays run. I
ran from the house down to Dunbar, round the harbour
and the cliff top trail where I bumped into Jim and
Val. I stopped to walk with them and have a wee chat
and then headed round the golf course again to meet
Brian at Belhaven. This time he was joining me for a
wee trot round John Muir, which by this point I would
have been happy to do without. We ran round and
through a bit but Brians calf was niggling so we
stopped short and walked back something to do with
no runs for 4 months and then running a mile and half
sprint with no warm up, no cool down and after 4
glasses of wine maybe? Anyway heres hoping a return
to form happens for both of us soon
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