Rebel Against JK!

The blogs have been quiet of late, so, JK asked that we all blog over the weekend. Hence, I waited till Tuesaday!

In the words of Eminem… “Guess who’s back, back again?”

After my last post, I continued with my post Fling recovery. The Wednesday night (6th May) was the Troon 10k, a race I usually run even if not at full pelt, but this year I decided it would do me no good. I was still going over for the evening to watch my Mother-in-law run, so to make sure I wasn’t tempted to try and sign up on the night, I took Harvey for a wee 5 miles (not timed) around Pollock Park before meeting up with everyone and heading to Troon, where the weather was pretty wild. Me and Harvey had a great time in the rain on the beach though. Harvey chased Seagulls in and out of the sea for about 15 minutes, I stood getting soaked (I might as well not have been there) but I was constantly laughing at him. That’s the joy of having him, he makes me smile every single day for one reason or another. The photo below of my father-in-law about sums up the weather though…

 

Shelley had a great run, and the post race fish and chips were great! Anyway, after this I rested up until the Saturday (9th May), when my one week Edinburgh Marathon training Schedule was to begin! To save you, dear readers, from boredom, I’ll list what went on in said one week training plan…

9th May – 20 miles, with Harvey, Average 7:54 min/mile pace.

10th May – 5 miles, with Harvey and Crazyboy, Average approx 7:10 min/mile pace.

11th May – 8.65 miles, speed session at the club.

12th May – 5 miles easy with Harvey, not timed

13th may  – 9.75 miles, Wednesday club run, Average 7:35 min/mile pace.

14th May – 5 miles easy with Harvey, not timed.

15th May – 5 miles easy run on the trail with Harvey, not timed.

16th May – 13.1 miles (Average 7:52 min/miles), not the planned 20 miles I was hoping for but after meeting PC Plod(der), my Edinburgh Marathon partner, who was only aiming to run for about 1hr 45mins, and dying a slow and painful death from 6 miles onwards, I too stopped. I felt ill all afternoon so something had clearly not been right!

PC Plod(der), as she will now be known, is fellow Kilbarchan runner Lorrain (a member of them that do us for speeding and stuff) who is aiming for a sub 3:15:00 in the Marathon to attain elite lady status. I’ve decided to just go for a sub 3:10:00 (PB 3:10:39) so she’s going to join me for the race. The way things are looking though, she’ll be pacing me!

And so endeth my training plan, let the tapering begin…

I’d planned to run on the WHW on Sunday (17th May) but felt rotten after the Saturday, so instead I settled for the role of support to Mrs pacepusher (Harvey joined her for 11 miles).

Now I know all them support crews moan about the role they do, and I know them moaners have just cause, but today I realised the real problem in being support… FOOD! It’s everywhere, and you constantly want it!

I fell at the first hurdle in Milngavie and stopped at Tesco for my second breakfast of the day. But the subtle hints that you might be hungry are never ending…

Leaving the Tesco car park, I saw my first sign. A Chinese restaurant offering ‘Charming Cuisine’ – Blimey! How can you not want some charming food. If the place had been open, I’d of been off in search of some charming chicken satay, or sweet and sour pork balls or something. I’m sure they would have been presented with a charming parsley garnish, serviette, and cocktail stick/toothpick to help you get every last bit of that charming meal into your stomach!

Not long after this, as I headed toward Drymen, I see sign number two… “Credit Munch”.Yeh, I’m skint and yeh, I’m hungry, tell me more! Drive on says the wee voice inside my, Stop says the other! but on I head toward Drymen.

Next stop, waiting for Mrs p, I’m looking at the Buttercups in the grass below. Do they really taste of butter? They look good, I should have stopped for a credit munch! Onwards ever onwards, and sign number three! The place proclaims a, “fine food larder”. Now even if this is a foreign car filled with fine food, I’m interested! Fine foods, and a larder full of them, seriously… Yes please!

But no, I must get to the next meeting point in time. I’m seeing things now, Hot dog bushes, burgers that look like dogs (or was it the other way round?), Hot Chocolate rivers, and then the “Magical Oriental Cafe”. No I’m not seeing things, it really says that! I’ve got to stop, it might be like a Harry Potter buffet where the food never ends and the roof turns into the night sky. No, stop it. Get to Drymen, then eat your egg sandwiches. This support role is tough!

At Drymen I see the wee guy below…

…I couldn’t. Could I? He looks tasty!

Anyway, Mrs p had a good run (too fast for the camera), and I remained just about slim!

Monday night I headed to the club for the usual speed session. I was supposed to meet PC Plod(der) for a marathon speed training session designed by coach DP. However, her PC-ness, cried off with some typically woman like excuse and I joined the usual crowd for the session. I was very pleased with myself though as I stayed steady, trying not to let the GPS drop below 6:20 min/mile pace throughout. I finished feeling fresh, although knowing I’d worked hard, and was happy to return to the club having followed DP’s orders! Nothing much happened on the run, unless you include one of the guy’s getting a knife pulled on him by a wee Ned… Oh the joys!

Back to Drymen though. Ever fancied getting some free running kit from a clothng bank as shown below?

Well, if the answer’s yes, heed the warning below…

…and so to today. No running, but a wee swim. 50 lengths at a nice steady (lazy arse) pace. Tapering has begun, and now that I don’t have so much running to do, you might be subjected to some more frequent waffle and/or wind-ups on this blog as I have nothing running related to discuss! Stay tuned folks, and stay away from those banks!

Caught By The Trap

17:47 3 miles 22:07

1 7:39 2 7:15 3 7:14  Average 7:22 min/miles

After weeks of trying to hit the magical 7:15 min/mile pace on a run, I set off tonight with no thoughts other than to run a nice slow three miles, and what d’ya know…

I decided on the company of my ipod shuffle for the run. I have 250 songs on there and, being a shuffle, obviously any of those tracks could have been the first to play. Call it fate, but the first song to play was Ron Goodwin and his Orchestra’s, The Trap. For anyone that doesn’t know,  that’s the (thanks to the BBC) theme tune to the London Marathon. It made me smile hugely, and suddenly heading out for the run was the easiest thing to do in the world. Being a nice slow tune, I also managed a nice slow first mile!

It was a lovely evening for a run, and I decided that I would go and trot around the Woodland path in Linwood. It’s been a while since I’ve run around there and last time  the council were out ‘gardening’ the paths, so I expected great things. I’m glad I didn’t hold my breath! They have placed a large tree stump across the gate area to stop the Dumb Dumpers, but this will also prevent the council coming back to clear up the mess they have left behind. Unfortunately, when they have cut back all the trees, bushes etc, they havn’t cleared away the rubbish, thus the path looks terrible, were as before the massacre, it looked great. There’s all sorts to see around the path, and on the way there (the road to the path appears to be used as a dump for people that missed the right turn to the er… dump!). You don’t have to look too hard to see such sights as, the abandoned telly, the random shoe (two of them together actually, different ones, not a pair… does this mean some idiot is walking around in odd shoes?), car tyres and wheels (so many that when I got back I checked my car to make sure I still had some), and my personal favourite, the babies dirty nappy… lovely! 

Just as I was starting to feel annoyed at the state of the place, three deer bounded across the path ahead of me, before splashing through a small pond to my right. It would have made a wonderful photo… and if I was a talented runtographer like JK, I would have a photo to put on my blog!

The rest of the path is a bit more dense and was far more pleasant. So, after weeks of trying to run at 7:15 pace, today I managed it… without trying. After a slow first mile, I found a bit of a rhythm (especially as my competitive nature took over in the presence of two other runners) and suddenly there it was, like Harry Potter suddenly finding the missing Horcrux, a 7:15 min/mile on my GPS! 7:14.98 to be precise! …and then a 7:14… close enough in my book!

Anyway, I’ve set my heart on 7:10’s now so it doesn’t matter!