Too Hot For Fur!

11:48 5 miles 38:28

no splits  Average 7:41 min/miles

I didn’t run yesterday, I settled for a walk with Harvey, then I taught the Wii how to play tennis! So a nice easy run today, but I seem incapable of running at 8:00+ min/mile pace on shorter runs. I tried, but I just feel slugish and uncomfortable any slower than I ran today over the shorter distance. Not to worry! I might do another wee run tomorrow (no more than 3 miles) otherwise, that’ll be it till the Fling. 

In answer to WeirRunner’s comment about Harvey’s fitness, he’s looking good. No recurrence of that limp, and he’s been protein loading – Dogs don’t do carbo loading, they do protein loading. Think about what they would eat in the wild… meat, not pasta! I do have a concern though, he seems to be struggling with the heat, and the puddles/streams are drying up. He lagged behind me a bit today with his tongue sticking out of his mouth at right angles, and he took a big drink as soon as he got home. He’s been laid out since! I’m going to have to watch him carefully on Saturday, and if he’s really struggling, then I’ll withdraw him from the race. My support team have two girlie dogs so he’ll be happy enough!

The answer might be to have him shaved before the race, but unlike Ultra Running Collies dad, I just can’t bring myself to do that to my wee boy - I’d ruin his devilishly good looks!

However, if all goes well, he’ll be first dog home with me just lagging slightly behind!

It’s Been A While…

…since my last post, and what have I been doing… well…

A week last Friday, 10th April, I headed out for another easy 5 miles with Harvey who had already run 7 miles with Mrs pacepusher that morning. Again the run was not timed, and again, it was with the aim of getting my hip working better. It felt fine throughout and has been no problem since.

Not long after I returned from the run, Mum and Dad arrived for the weekend, so no running, but we did enjoy a walk up Conic Hill on the Saturday in glorious weather.

I didn’t run again until Tuesday 14th, when I decided I wanted to go and run on the WHW. Mrs p decided to join me so we headed to Drymen for an out and back. Mrs p would run to the top of Conic and turn back, whilst I would run to Balmaha before heading back.

15:20 14 miles 2:19:30 

Out – 6.86 miles 1:06:25  Average 9:41 min/miles
Break – 1 minute 
Back – 6.85 miles 1:12:04  Average 10:32 min/mile

Just reaching the top of the hill out of Drymen I saw two people (and Mrs p, who had set off ahead of me) ahead. They turned out to be Crazyboy and Boyracer. Boyracer is doing the Monster Bike and Hike and has been training hard. We chatted for 5 or 6 minutes before we headed off – hence my time out would have been considerably quicker.

I had a good run to Balmaha, but found turning back and heading back up Conic Hill really hard work. Once back at the top I soon got going again and could see Mrs p in the distance. It didn’t take too long to catch her but she really made me work for it!

Once back at Drymen, I ran a wee bit extra to make it up to 14 miles, although that’s not included in the timings above.

This run was perhaps not the greatest preparation for what me and Mrs p had planned for the following day… a walk up Ben Nevis!

We set off to Fort William a little later than intended as we were both really tired and just kept hitting that magic snooze button! On the journey up, the skies began to clear, and by the time we’d reached Glencoe it was a beautiful day – not a cloud in the sky!

We made it up Big Ben in 3 hours and 7 minutes, which included a lunch stop of 10-15 minutes. We were pretty pleased with that! Coming down took 2 1/2 hours – I was too fast, Mrs p was too slow – we’ll beg to differ! There’s a pub at the bottom of the Ben which serves real ale and it would have been rude not to!

 

So after a quick pint, we were off to the campsite to pitch our tent at the foot of the Mountain. Camping in Scotland in April? It seemed strange but the site was really quite busy.

The next morning I felt fine, but Mrs p’s quads were shot. Rather than bagging another Munro, we settled on stopping in Glencloe for a wee stroll up to the magical ‘Hidden Valley’. The weather wasn’t quite so great, but it was still a nice day and Glencoe’s Hidden Valley looked fabulous.

At this time of year, there’s a river that has to be crossed approaching the Hidden Valley. There are stepping stones, but Mrs p felt that she didn’t need to use them, much to my and another couples amusement! 

          

Stopping at Bridge Of Orchy for a drink on the way back, who should we meet in the carpark but our stalker Boyracer who’d been walking to Kingshouse and back!

Mrs p has continued to struggle with her quads which is not great, so on Saturday, when I planned another run on the Way, she offered to support me. The plan was to run from Milngavie to Drymen to check out the new gates. 

11:41 12.15 miles 1:38:12

Milngavie to Beechtrees Inn – 7.13 miles  Average 7:55 min/miles
Break 2:29
Beechtrees Inn to Drymen – 5:01 miles  Average 7:51 min/miles

OK, so this may have been a little faster than race pace, but it felt easy. The reason I was faster was largely due to the fact that I ran the entire way. I found the hills towards Drymen were actually perfectly runnable if I just slowed right down. I really enjoyed the run, especially given that the weather was continuing to be glorious.

Mrs p had spied a book sale in Drymen Village Hall, so we headed there after I finished. About 20 books and £14.00 later we headed home! One of the guys selling the books was the twin brother of one Tim Downie. We both had to look twice, and I now know how during the WHWR last year, Tim managed to be behind me going into Drymen, and yet ahead of me some miles later without pasing me – and we all thought there could only be one Tim! 

I had Sunday off, then me and Harvey went to the club last night to Join JK and WeirRunner for an easy run…

19:13 6.02 miles 46:43

no splits  Average 7:45 min/miles

We spent the whole way chatting about the Fling on Saturday (if you don’t know, that’s a 53 mile ultra race from Milngavie to Tyndrum that we are all, including Harvey and Mrs p, running). I told the guys my target time, although it will remain a secret on this blog until after the event. John felt I wasn’t being unrealistic, but I always aim high! We’ll see what Saturday brings.

So the plan from now until then – maybe an easy 3 miles tonight or maybe just another walk, then an easy 5 tomorrow. I’ll then rest until Saturday. Bring on race day!

More Frustration!

Having had a good run on the WHW a week last Sunday, I did the sensible thing and had some time off. I didn’t intend having a full week off but that’s what happened, and to be honest, I felt it would do me a lot of good. So it was on Monday night that I returned, not just to running, but also to the running club for the Monday night speed session… it’s been a while!

19:15 9.5 miles 1:15:03

1 min (1 min) 2 mins (1 min) 3 mins (90 secs) 4 mins (2 mins) 5 mins (2 mins) 5 mins (2 mins) 4 mins (2 mins) 3 mins (90 secs) 2 mins (1 min) 1 min

I really enjoyed the session, and worked as hard as I could throughout, but the truth is I should have stopped and headed back just after the first 4 minute interval started. My hip has been fine for ages now, and seemed fine again on Monday, but as the 4 minute interval started, something went ‘ping’ in the general area of my hip. It wasn’t a pain, just a discomfort, but I really should have stopped and headed home. On Tuesday morning I was struggling to walk, and once again I was unable to run… my knee was fine though if anyone from the Navy is reading this!

Anyway, for a change, here’s the stats… 

time in grey/pace in red/distance in yellow

1 5:54 0.19 2 6:00 0.33 3 6:03 0.49 4 6:08 0.65 5 6:10 0.81 5 6:16 0.80 4 6:08 0.65 3 5:56 0.50 2 5:42 0.34 1 4:55 0.20

JK always adds up the total distance for the 30 minutes, I never have before but did on Monday, and was pleased to see I managed 4.96 miles… almost there, and with a limp for 24 of the minutes!

So no running on Tuesday, and although I really wanted to go to the club, no running on Wednesday. My hip still wasn’t feeling good today but I wanted to try a run, sometimes with this stupid ongoing hip saga, it actually makes things better. Harvey was coming with me, his second run of the day after doing 4 miles with Mrs pacepusher this morning, so off we set. To the end of the street, where to Harvey’s disgust, I turned back. It was sore and I was being stupid… wasn’t I?

“Stop being a woos!” said a small voice in my head and we turned around and carried on through the discomfort… for 5 miles (not timed). After about a mile it started to ease off, and after about 3, I was pretty much pain/discomfort free. This evening I’m sitting here with a slight discomfort, but nothing to what it was before I ran. The solution? keep running!

A woos, incidentally, is defined in the Urban Dictionary as…

“someone who is a wimp; afraid to do something that he should do”

Never a truer word said eh? As for Mrs pacepusher’s Nintendo DS challenge on the Brain Training thingy… I don’t care! It’s stupid and it can’t read my writing!

Inerview News

Yesterday morning I was at the Royal Navy Careers Office in Glasgow for my interview and medical. The Interview went really well and after answering a number of questions relating to the submarines and the Navy’s training, the guy interviewing me asked, “how do you know all this?”. As I told him, the Internet is a wonderful place. He was clearly impressed with my research, and after my medical, I was informed that I’d passed.

However, back to that medical. I was fine with all the various checks performed, including the embarrassing standing there, pants around ankles, and being asked to cough routine, and all was well. The problem came from the initial questioning. “Have you ever had any surgery?”, “yes” I said, “only minor, but I had a camera in my knee for exploratory reasons when I was about 12 years old”, “What was the problem?” asked the nice Doc, “Chondromalacia patella”, I said. Well this suddenly became a problem. I have never had any problems relating to this since it fixed itself all those years ago, and, as you’ll all know, I run. Indeed, I run 95 mile races on this knee! The Navy guidelines state that my application be rejected as my knee might break down during initial training. However, due to my lifestyle, the Doctor is contacting the Head Medical Navy bloke to appeal, and hopefully get me accepted.

It’s doubly annoying as I was informed afterwards that it wasn’t in my records. Had I not been honest, they would have been none the wiser! I just didn’t think that a problem I had when I was 12ish, would be a problem now that I’m 33, and it’s never bothered me since. Aaaaarrrggghhhh! So now I’m playing the waiting game, and I could be waiting for up to a month. Without this little problem, I could have potentially started training in May, although I was informed that there is a chance that I still could!

So here I am, typing with my fingers crossed, and it’s not easy!