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!

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!