If Running Was Always This Bad, I’d Give Up!

14:35 8.25 miles 59:29

1 6:55 2 7:06 3 7:13 4 7:17 5 7:14 6 7:04 7 7:17 8 7:32 8.25 1:51  Average 7:13 min/miles

This was one of those bad runs that you need to have from time to time to have something to compare the good runs with!

The fact that this run had an average pace of 7:13 min/miles is laughable. It was truly awful! Like yesterday I was hungry from a couple of miles into the run, and I just seemed to have no energy at all. I should have postponed this run for a couple of hours and had something substantial to eat first. Instead I ran with concrete legs in a sea of treacle! It’s been a long time since I was so slow over the last couple of miles of a run without doing 18 miles first. Believe me, I was trying to run faster, it just wasn’t happening. I finished feeling dizzy and sick, and had to hold myself up against a lamp post for a few seconds before the short walk down the street to home. Rubbish! …and to think I’m supposed to run 44 miles more than that on Monday, I think I need to taper!

I was searching on-line to pass some time this afternoon and came across the following article on the Drymen News website:

Protests are planned by local environmentalists at the deemed, unnecessary ‘blue-line’ painting on the West Highland Way. Organiser of the West Highland Way Race, Dario Melaragni, explained, “a new official rule states that all races must be accurately measured for the purpose of records, and all runners must be shown this measurement by way of markings on the course. With 95 miles to mark-out, we need to start early”. This is something that has been practised in marathon races throughout the world, but is new to ‘off-road’ racing. Protests are planned to commence from the Village Hall at 2pm on Saturday 3rd May, with at least 12 people and a dog expected to turn out.

       
     Environmentalists Are Outraged As Race Preparations
              Begin For June’s West Highland Way Race

Sorry! I had a bad run… I needed to cheer myself up with some randomness!

Sodden Weather!

14:51 5 miles 35:32

1 7:06 2-3 14:37 4 6:58 5 6:51  Average 7:07 min/miles

I forgot to reset the auto lap feature on my GPS again after last night, so the splits are worked out from my memory of the shown time at the end of each mile.

It was a beautiful day today. That is until two o’clock when I had a two hour gap in lessons and had penciled in a run. I’d been looking forward to running in perfect conditions, sunny with no wind, all morning, but hey ho! We live in Glasgow and the rain won’t stop me… golf ball size hail does though, so I waited until two thirty when the storm had got the worst of it out of it’s system. It was still warm enough for shorts and T-shirt though.

I started out feeling quite good, but it didn’t last long! My slower pace wasn’t through good pace judgement, but more down to fatigue and hunger. From 2.5 miles my stomach was actually rumbling! I’m pretty surprised by the last couple of miles, although I don’t know why. I have been recording miles at this pace when feeling tired for long enough now. Maybe it’s time to start being surprised when I hit sub 6:30’s!

I’ve decided to follow in Mrs pacepusher’s shoes and ditch my paper training diary. I like trees, so I suppose I should try and save a few! Despite this environmentally friendly move, I’m going to continue using electricity and updating my blog. It is for this reason that I have added a new page this evening entitled, ‘…And Now For The Science!’ It’s designed mostly for my benefit, but some of you may be interested to see my PB’s and monthly/yearly mileage. Sadly, you can also see how many miles I’ve run in each of my pairs of trainers… What can I say? I like to know when it’s time to go shopping! Anyway, feel free to have a look if you’re interested.

Save The Planet Folks… except maybe for Ferguslie Park!

Acceptable In The 80’s

19:10 8.75 miles 1:09:19

8 minutes (1.26 miles, 6:21 pace) 2 minutes
8 minutes (1.26 miles, 6:23 pace) 2 minutes
8 minutes (1.23 miles, 6:33 pace) 2 minutes
6 minutes (0.94 miles, 6:23 pace)

First of all, I have just seen that I have now achieved 3000 hits on my blog since starting it in January. Thanks to all of you that read this waffle on a regular basis, and to those of you that have come across it accidentally and either enjoyed it, or left it straight away having discovered that it wasn’t actually a site about Britney Spears or whatever tag I’d used to get hits on the site!

Last nights speed session was a tough one for the second week in a row. Having run 7 minute intervals last week, 8’s were always on the cards for tonight. Again this means doing reps of over a mile on each interval. I was really pleased with my consistency in each split, and despite being really tired on the 6 minute interval, I managed to push it and maintain my pace. A few months back I would have hated this session and would probably have trailed at the back by the third rep. These days though I am much stronger, faster, and perhaps most importantly, confident in my ability.

However, given that next week will move from 8 minutes to 3 x 10 minute intervals, I’m pleased to say that I won’t be able to make it to the session. Instead I will be running from Milngavie to Tyndrum (The Highland Fling route) with Marco. A distance of about 52 miles. We both missed last weeks race (the aforementioned Fling) but are keen to do the route, and the distance, as we build up to the big West Highland Way Race in June. So bring on next Monday. When do you know that you are becoming an ultra marathon runner? When you would rather run 52 miles than do three fast intervals of 10 minutes!

Congratulations to all those that did run The Fling this weekend. Some fantastic times and lots of PB’s too! Also congratulations to John M of Kilbarchan AAC on his time of 3:04:10 in the Lochaber Marathon. Another PB and another fantastic time. Bring on the sub 3:00 next time John!

A final word from last nights session goes to Gordon. Standing there in bright green shorts, he had the cheek to say, “nice running shorts” in the direction of my NYC Marathon, grey and orange pair. He followed this comment with, “did you borrow them off the wife?” Nice one, but seriously, the bright green is so 1980’s!

That’ll be one less hit to my blog from now on!

No F Fling way!

11:11 23 miles 3:28:16

The run went like this…

1 7:50 (too fast… no surprise!) 2 8:31 (better!) 3 8:23 4 9:13 (included a short stop at Spielberg Towers. As Musical Adviser to JK Productions, I had to drop off a CD) 5 8:08 (State. That’s a 1988 musical joke) 6 8:01 (matching the beat of the bass drum of Graham Coxon’s Freakin’ Out with your right foot is not going to slow anyone down!) 7 11:01 (Tescos, Barrhead – chocolate milk and sports drink) 8 7:52 (chocolate milk power) 9 8:00 10 8:07 11 8:29 12 8:09 13 8:55 (walked up a hill!) 14 8:27 15 14:34 (Bellahouston Sports Centre – emergency stop!) 16 8:16 17 12:28 (Tescos Express, Glasgow Road – chocolate milk, chocolate donut and water) 18 11:41 (met a fellow club member, stopped to chat and provide said runner with refreshments) 19 7:58 20 7:55 (getting a bit fast here…) 21 8:57 (see Ferguslie Park story below) 22 8:41 (had a short walk at the start of the mile due to a sore foot that I didn’t want to make worse) 23 8:39 (as per mile 22!)  Average 9:03 min/miles …and that’s about it, except that…

Today I decided to ‘yo! drop it Karno stylee!’ Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean I wore my cap backwards and talked in rhyme, it means I copied ultra marathon runner Dean Karnazes. I should never have read his book, it’s going to end in tears… and they’ll be mine! So, I set off with no route or distance planned, one bottle of sports drink in hand, two gels, and most importantly, my switch card. I can tell you now that you cause much intrigue and hilarity when you buy donuts and chocolate milk whilst wearing running gear!

I really enjoyed the run. No pressure over pace, and if I wanted a break, I had one. I also like not having a route planned. It gives a real sense of freedom. My only disappointment was that Pizza Hut was closed, thus, I couldn’t go all out Karno stylee!

I was stupid enough to be taking a walk break as I entered Ferguslie Park (once earmarked as Scotland’s most deprived area in official figures!), and was forced to remove my earphones to speak with (I don’t know if speak with is right, perhaps ‘decipher comments by’ would be more appropriate!) some locals. The two ladies (adorable women, shell suits, nasty gold jewelry, skin moisturised by smack) just wanted to say ‘nice legs!’  I was quite surprised by the lack of abuse, especially when the good looking one of the two guys (shell suit, gold sovereign rings, a symbol of one of the old and infirm teams tattooed on his body, and facial scars sponsored by Swiss Army knives!) asked how far I’d gone. My answer of “20 miles so far” received the official Fergie Park seal of approval, “Bloody hell, you mad B*****d!”

Having survived this meeting, I decided to exit Ferguslie Park as quickly as possible and take the longer, but safer, back road home!

Now home, I’m tired. My legs struggled in the latter stages of the run, although the pace didn’t really, and the London Marathon is clearly still in my muscles. Thus, I am glad that this weekend I will be drinking lager at a wedding, rather than running the 52 mile Highland Fling! I don’t think I would have performed too well! However, good luck to all those who are running it (John K, Davie, Brian, Ian, Tim et. al.) and to John M who is running the Lochaber Marathon on Sunday. Special Luck goes to the person JK tells me is running both races. Rather you than me!

Fast Is The New Slow

17:08 5 miles 34:18

1 6:59 2 6:41 3 6:48 4 6:46 5 7:05 Average 6:52 min/miles

It was another gloriously warm sunny evening for a run. Which begs the question, why was I wearing a thermal base layer? I was roasting (like a little chicken!) and found the heat quite draining. It’s hard knowing what to wear at this time of year. One minute you’re faced with cold, wind and rain, then suddenly it all turns to glorious sunshine, like you’ve suddenly been teleported to Australia in your winter running gear!

Anyway this was too fast again. I set out steady, it’s just that steady no longer seems to be over 7:00 min/miles anymore. I did try and slow down over the last mile as my body was being slowly microwaved, and managed a 7:05. The problem is that this included a stop of at least 10 seconds at some traffic lights, thus it was actually sub 7:00 pace. In actual fact, the same thing happened on the first mile, so we can knock 20 seconds off the run, and therefore 4 seconds off the average mile pace… apparently 6:48 min/miles is the new easy pace for me! I think not!

Short and sweet tonight. I’m off to bed to dream of running on Bondi Beach in leggings and waterproofs!

Oops!… I Did It Again

15:29 3.75 miles 26:13

No splits, forgot to reset the auto lap on my GPS after last night!  Average 7:00 min/miles

In the words of a crazy woman who once dressed up in school uniform to sell her single, ‘Oops!… I Did It Again’. I really have to learn to run more slowly on recovery runs!

I have noticed a change in my running style of late, and I think this is to blame for my consistently faster pace. I seem to have shortened my stride (It must have been down to you Davie Mewes!) and increased my cadence. This is something I have certainly not done deliberately, but think that my body has automatically done it to increase economy as I’ve begun to run longer distance. This is a good thing. I reckon I now take more strides per minute than a Kenyan! Will I win Olympic Gold one day!?!?!?

Anyway, not much to report. The weather was great (too hot actually, I’m never happy!) and I used my ipod again and really enjoyed the tunes. I used to hate listening to music whilst running… what’s going on? Still I would never wear it during a race!

Well I’m off to eat beans on toast (Mrs pacepusher is away for the night!) and watch the football, ‘mon the ‘pool!

To Hell And Back!

19:12 8.25 miles 1:07:53

7 minutes (1.16 miles, 6:04 pace) then 2 mins recovery
7 minutes (1.12 miles, 6:14 pace) then 2 mins recovery
7 minutes (1.07 miles, 6:33 pace) then 2 mins recovery
7 minutes (1.07 miles, 6:34 pace) then 2 mins recovery
2 minutes (0.34 miles, 5:52 pace)

As we ran towards the cycle track on our warm up last night, a group of kids stood near by with little else to do but annoy people. One shouted out, “where are you running to?”, to which I replied, “to hell and back!” Little did I know how true that was.

Last nights was a tough session. Especially on legs that completed a marathon only eight days ago. Doing seven minute intervals means doing mile+ repetitions, but without the target of the distance to aim for. I always find it harder to run for a time rather than a distance. I was doing the watch last night as well which meant I was looking at my watch more often, and thus each seven minute interval felt like nearer twenty minutes! A couple of the faster guys joined our group last night too, so a hard session was on the cards from the start.

I ran well for the first couple of intervals, but midway through the third I began to feel the effects of London. Still I battled on and am pretty pleased with my splits. After the fourth rep we were all shaking tired hands and patting ourselves on the back, when some bright spark remembered we were supposed to complete the session with a two minute burst. Thankfully, I found my 25th wind and put in a really good last effort. Never before has the 1.3 mile run back to the car seemed so far though!

The Headless Chicken confirmed his status as the clubs laziest trainer, by jumping to an easier group after the second interval, doing a few two minute reps with the girls, then running faster than those of us that had done the full session over the last rep, thus making us look bad. THC, you are now the proud owner of a ‘How Annoying?’ award. It will be presented to you on the occasion of the first time you actually complete a full Monday night speed session… that would be never then!

Too Much, Too Fast, Too Soon, Two Hills!

I really didn’t feel great yesterday. I think that (I can hear the ‘I told you so’ from Mrs pacepusher) I over did things a little on Thursday evening. I really enjoyed my run, and had I of stopped there I would probably have been OK. In Body Pump though,  which I haven’t done for a while, I went psycho! I was in one of those moods were you start to get tired, and rather than easing off, you push yourself even harder. I think I’ve just stayed on a training high since getting the time I was looking for in London. Talking of that time, I checked the Boston Marathon website, and they allow 59 seconds over the given time. So, 3 hrs 10 was the qualifying time, and thus, at 3:10:39 (did I mention my time?), I’m in with 20 seconds to spare! …unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to run it until after the 2 years is up, and I’ll have to do it all again!

Anyway, you may have gathered that I didn’t run yesterday. I didn’t run today either, but I did cover 12.5 miles on foot! Myself and Mrs pacepusher have taken the opportunity of a weekend away from running to go walking in the hills. Today we climbed Cruach Ardrain (3432ft, 87th highest Munro) and Beinn Tulaichean (3104ft, 220th highest Munro) in the Crianlarich Hills. It was a great day for it, although very windy. We haven’t been hill walking for a while, but I’m keen to incorporate it into my WHW training as I struggled on the hill climbs during the last long run.

                     On Top Of The World (Cruach Ardrain 3432ft)

As it’s been a while since we were up in the hills, there’s a couple of things I’d forgotten about. Firstly, myself and Mrs pacepusher are not professional hill walkers! We tackle the hills with enthusiasm, but (Marco, cover your ears Mr Mountain Rescue!) without map or compass! We don’t know how to use them so it’s unnecessary weight to carry! This means we generally make several false starts before finding the right path! Secondly, I’d forgotten how, whilst it takes a while to reach the top, it takes at least 34 times that amount of time to get back to the bottom!

We, unnervingly, discovered two dead sheep early on in the climb. Mrs (vegetarian) pacepusher reacted to the first half-eaten carcass in a way that can only be compared to Brad Pitt’s discovery of his wife’s head in the box at the end of the film Seven …sorry if you haven’t already seen the film as I’ve just ruined the end for you (it’s one of my favourites incidentally!)

I wore my trail shoes, a bit silly with the wet ground and wee bit of snow about, and didn’t carry my walking poles. I wanted this to be as close to WHW walking sections as possible. My legs felt fine after the 6.5 hours on my feet and I was really pleased with my efforts on each climb. Being uber competitive, I had to beat Mrs pacepusher to the summit each time (not that she was racing), so that kept me climbing hard.

                       At The Summit Of Beinn Tulaichean (3104ft)

Anyway, enough. We had a good day, didn’t need to call Marco and his buddies, and, despite five attempts, I didn’t break my left ankle. I did however go A*** over T** towards the end, as did Mrs pacepusher. It was slippy, we were tired, and falling was NOT funny. Except for anyone (and that would be mainly dead sheep) that saw us!

Finally, despite now three visits to the dentist, I have toothache again. This time it hurts when I bite on it (so, eating is no fun), and it hurts when I touch it. So what do I keep doing? Touching it obviously. Just to check it still hurts!

Bloggers Suck

16:30 7 miles 47:56

1 6:54 2 6:58 3 6:59 4 6:42 5 6:46 6 6:56 7 6:41  Average 6:51 min/miles

Oops! Once again I failed in my quest to do a nice steady recovery run. I was booked in for Body Pump tonight at the gym, so I decided I’d do a run around Pollock Park before hand. As I’ve said many times before, I love running around this park. I haven’t done so for a while, and really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the company of my ipod again, which is starting to become a habit I’ve been trying to avoid!

Incidently, said ipod selected a bit of Gangsta Rap on today’s run, Ice Cube’s ‘You Can Do It’. Much to my surprise, I noted the lyric, “Life ain’t a track meet (no) it’s a marathon”  …well said!

I felt slow over the first mile, especially into a fairly strong headwind, but I wasn’t, and then I’d settled into a nice rhythm after a tailwind assisted second mile, so I just kept on going! I was fine until about two miles to go when the wind got up a bit and I was heading up a steady incline. However, a wind assisted final mile got me home in a, sustained throughout, sub 7:00 min/mile pace. I then proceeded to work almost as hard as normal in the Body Pump class straight after my run.

I’m amazed at my recovery. My legs feel relatively fresh despite how drained and sore I felt after Sunday’s efforts. I think the shopping fartlek on the Monday helped. It seems to have acted as a recovery run!

Anyway, enough running talk… and, speaking of shopping… I bought a T-shirt in London on Monday. It was in a small shop in Covent Garden and was just waiting for me (…it was meant to be and all that!), it was even in the sale! I think you’ll agree there’s a certain irony.

            …and so say all of us!

 Blog on friends. We’re bloggers and we’re proud of it!

Powered By The Planets

Don’t eat a pack of Mars Planets, just before a recovery run because…

17:56 3.5 miles 23:52

1 6:53 2 6:52 3 6:49 .5 3:19  Average 6:49 min/miles

…they make you run too fast!

Still you don’t want to read about this run. You don’t have time. You have my London Marathon report to read!