Short reps

I took advantage of British Summer Time to go out in the late evening for a short rep session in the industrial estate - thought I would aim for 12x80m and go up to 20 if I felt OK. When I started to get bored standing around after the first couple I reduced the turnaround from 60 to 55 seconds, to save a valuable minute (or more) and make the session a bit tougher. Felt fine after 12 so continued, although the session was interrupted after the 13th rep when a passing dog-walker stopped briefly to chat about what I was doing, as he had done some middle distance in the past. The 19th and 20th reps were probably the slowest. No hamstring problems, calf a bit tight towards the end.

13+ miles steady

Stung by yesterday's criticism, I was determined to get a reasonable distance in today, and the weather looked not too bad - apart from when I got soaked by a heavy shower after about 4 miles - so I headed for the countryside around Bearsden via Panmure Street, Balmore Road and Auchenhowie Road, followed by the route of the Garscube Hogmanay Handicap, then back home down Bearsden Road and Maryhill Road. Started off at a steady pace and was able to pick it up a bit in the undulating section after Auchenhowie, making it a hill rep session of sorts by going up every hill on the forefoot. Finished in 1:37:32, no knee problems.

4 miles slow

I was still recovering a bit from Thursday so could only manage the usual slow 4 miles around the West End with Natasha in the morning. Might have gone out again in the evening but there was a leaving do for a club member in the Esquire. While there I was taken to task, by somebody who will remain nameless, for the apparently high number of slow 3- and 4-mile sessions described here. (OK it was Alex Chalmers of Springburn Harriers.)

7.25 miles tempo

Dodged training on Tuesday in order to recover in time for a planned 600m at Grangemouth on Wednesday, then ended up not feeling well enough to do it. Having to drive 70 miles in the rain for such a short race wasn't much of an incentive either. However I felt much better after the extra day off and tackled the scheduled 8-mile club run although there were shorter options. Tonight there were only 3 in the fast pack. The pace for the first 3 miles was comfortable enough to maintain a conversation, but between 4 and 5 miles it picked up a bit, and I finally got dropped at about the 6 mile mark as we were passing through Westerton. That wasn't unexpected and would still have been a reasonable evening's work, but on the long hill at the top of Maxwell Avenue I managed to make up all the ground I had lost and moved back to the front of the pack, where I was able to hang on this time. The pace increased further over the last 400m or so but I picked it up well enough and finished a close second. Definitely not the advertised 8.3 miles judging by my finishing time (48:49) and confirmed by Debs' GPS.

5K slow

Feeling rather fatigued, and I have a race possibly coming up on Wednesday, so only went for a slow 5K round the West End with Natasha in the morning.

8.5 miles steady

Today's plan was to find a route which would take me about an hour at a pace intended not to aggravate a tight hamstring. I went for Great Western Road - Anniesland Road - past Jordanhill School - Westbrae Drive - a last lap of the track at Scotstoun before it closes until 2009 - Victoria Park Drive North - Clarence Drive - Hyndland Road - Great Western Road and home. Finished in 1:04:48 and was quite comfortable at that pace although I set out quite late in the afternoon and started to get hungry after about 5 miles. Hamstring no worse than before.

4 miles slow and short reps

Went out in the morning with Natasha to try an alternative 4-mile route, up Baird's Brae and along the canal to Lochburn Road, then back up Maryhill Road. There was a freezing cold headwind until we reached the cover of Firhill. In the afternoon I ran 12x80m sprint reps in the industrial estate, planned to do 20 but my right hamstring was playing up for the last few and I thought it best to call it a day.

4 miles recovery and hills

Went out in the morning for the same 4 mile circuit as previously, but at a steadier pace, finishing in about 28:30. In the afternoon I revisited a long hill session I hadn't run in over a year, from the players' entrance at Firhill up to the flagpole in Ruchill Park - uphill all the way at a variety of gradients with only a couple of brief dips. First attempt took 2:37 which wasn't bad as I had usually been just inside 2:40 in the past, with an all-time best of 2:29. I found the headwind tougher on the second attempt which took 2:46. Contemplated a third rep but I didn't even have enough energy to maintain a jog back down the hill, so I walked/jogged back home instead.

7.5 miles tempo

Braved the wind and rain to go training with the club tonight, a convoluted route of just under 7.5 miles around the West End including Gardner Street and the longer (although less steep) hill on Cleveden Road. The fast pack was stronger than in previous weeks although the pace wasn't too demanding for the first couple of miles. I got dropped after about 5 miles but managed to catch back up with the leaders about a mile later, albeit not for very long. Finishing time was 49:36.

5K moderate

I expected to have sore legs today and was a bit suspicious when they still felt OK on my way home. Football was cancelled tonight, so I squeezed in a few miles before dinner. The route was down St George's Road, North Street, St Vincent Street, Kelvin Way and back home through Kelvingrove Park - probably a little over 3 miles. My pacing was all over the place and once again I started feeling light-headed through hunger, although I think I achieved my goal of warding off any delayed stiffness from Tuesday's hill reps. Finished in 21:39.

Hill reps

Tonight's club training session consisted of 12 long(ish) shallow hill reps, maybe 300m or so with a dip in the middle and a steeper climb towards the end. Recovery was a jog back down to the start. I was back to full fitness, more or less, so I ran the first few reps at an ambitious pace and probably slowed down a little as the session wore on. Somebody tried to make a race of the last rep (after apparently not having tried too hard on the others) but I dug deep and managed to break clear after about 200m.

4 miles moderate

I toyed with the idea of making Monday my day off this week as I was still suffering from Saturday's race, but I opted for an easy day instead and ran the new 4 mile route around the West End before dinner. Finishing time was 27:06 although I was in no way running against the clock. Felt quite light-headed at points, probably due to hunger, but my legs seem to have loosened up a bit.

7 miles moderate

I had a vague plan to run a bit further than the usual 7-mile route of Maryhill Road - Science Park - Anniesland - Great Western Road, but I found it hard enough after the first mile or so and couldn't really lift myself much above 7-minute miles at best. Obviously not recovered sufficiently from yesterday's race. I arrive back home in about 51:20 with the knee problem starting to play up slightly. There's nothing on my race calendar until April so I may as well try to push on for the next couple of weeks and not take more than one day off unless absolutely necessary.

Dunky Wright 5K

I felt quite heavy on the morning of this race and wondered if two days off (or three excluding football on Wednesday) was slightly too much, but I decided to stick to my plan of trying to run 3:15 per kilometre, which I didn't expect to maintain for very long, but my goal was to finish inside 17 minutes and in any case there was almost no danger of failing to beat last year's time of 17:35. I made it to the 1K mark in exactly 3:15, and on the second lap of the business park the leaders were still in sight although my time at 2K was 6:37. I was making up a few places on the fast starters, although my pace was still slipping - 10:05 or so at the 3K mark. After we turned onto the canal towpath, with the footsteps behind me getting closer, the next kilometre was even more of a struggle and I had to fight for air coming up to the 4K mark. I went through it in something like 13:35 which gave me an excellent chance of beating 17 minutes. In the home stretch I didn't have much left for any kind of kick but crossed the line in 23rd place in 16:58, one second faster than my time from 2004. My PB of 16:06 was set in this race in 2003 and it's encouraging to be back in the same minute. (I notice the results from 2002 have me as DNF but that certainly didn't happen.) My time works out at 5:27 per mile. Might have done slightly better if I hadn't set out quite so fast.

After the race I jogged round most of the course again with Lindsay for a warm-down.

Fartlek

Did nothing at all on Monday other than some stretching to try and sort out the knee problem. It was still sore at lunchtime and much better by the evening but I gave it another 24 hours just to be on the safe side. Under normal circumstances I might have gone to the gym, but when I popped my head round the door after football last Wednesday it had looked exactly the same. I may casually enquire tomorrow about the projected reopening date as it was only supposed to be closed for two weeks.

I made it to Tuesday night training on time for once although still half-expected to drop out of the scheduled fartlek session early if the injury resurfaced. The group was much broader than normal and several of the faster runners were absent. We ran a 5.5-mile route around Knightswood and Jordanhill at a leisurely pace. I took the first couple of fast sections comparatively easy and still felt absolutely fine, so I pushed a lot harder on the rest. This is actually quite a useful session as I can practise my blast-and-hang middle distance technique without risking anything.

4 miles slow, 7 miles moderate

Having missed a day, Natasha wasn't against the idea of a slightly longer run so I extended our usual route via Cleveden Drive and Cleveden Road. (I have a vague recollection that the Glasgow Marathon went that way the year it was a full marathon.) I had started off with very stiff legs but was recovering quite well towards the end. In the afternoon I set out to do decreasing loops at a moderate pace: first loop is up Maryhill Road, over Cleveden Road, back along Great Western Road, then up North Woodside to Maryhill Road again; second loop is via Garrioch Road instead of Cleveden; and third loop is via Queen Margaret Drive. The outside of my right knee began to hurt inside the first mile and didn't get any better, so when I reached Queen's Cross on the second loop I decided it would have to be the final one instead. I would just have given up and gone back home except I was reasonably sure I can take care of the injury with a bit of stretching - it's bothered me a few times recently and been fine the next day.

Short reps and recovery

Still suffering a bit after Tuesday's session so I decided to try the same thing again, 20x80m with 1m turnaround, except this time in the industrial estate across the road. There's not much of a hill at all (at least not on the straight section I was using) but I had to deal with a stiff headwind on the odd-numbered reps and a corresponding tailwind on the even-numbered ones so it probably worked out the same. It was really tough on specific muscles. I suppose once I get used to this session I can start increasing the distance and the 1m turnaround should still be fine. Later on I went out again for a moderately-paced 2.5 miles or so in the hope that I might not be too incapacitated tomorrow.

9K fast

Tonight's club training run was supposed to be 5 miles - the shortest Thursday run we ever do - so I planned to try to keep up with the leaders as long as possible, at race pace if necessary. As it turned out, though, the fast pack was fairly depleted. I was still determined to put in a proper effort, and in any case we were maintaining a brisk pace up Milngavie Road and caught the next pack relatively quickly. I took it on as we headed up Mosshead Road and had opened up a fair gap by the time I reached Stockiemuir Road. After battling a strong headwind on the way down Drymen Road, the long, flat stretch to the finish seemed to go on for ever and I couldn't muster much of a kick, but I was fastest finisher (possibly for the first time in years) in 35:05. Debs's GPS doofer measured the course at 5.59 miles, another estimate was 9.2K.

Short reps

All signs of injury had disappeared by the evening so I ran my own short rep session, 20x80m up and down a small hill, with 1m turnaround. It was quite tough on the quads. The turnaround was just long enough to prevent me from packing it in on several occasions.

3 miles recovery

Legs were still a bit sore so I went round the West End with Natasha just to stretch them a bit. I had been looking forward all day to a run in the snow but it had gone off by the time I got home. Outside of the right knee hurts a bit, calves are tight, Achilles tendon seems to be fine.

14.5 miles steady

I tried to rack up a few extra miles today to compensate for recent inactivity. The route was along Great Western Road, up Kilbowie Road, along Duntocher Road to Bearsden and back home down Maryhill Road. Finished in 1:48:08. I had made it to the Drumry Road roundabout in 40 minutes which was probably slightly too fast, and as my legs tightened up towards the end I slowed down a bit - 23 minutes for the last 5K.

3 miles slow and hills

Went out in the morning with Natasha for a slow 3 miles round the West End. In the evening I finally managed to drag myself back out to Cleveden Road for some hill reps. It was about 33-34 seconds to the top of the hill so I thought a 1m45s turnaround might be OK but after the fourth rep I had to revise this to a 2m turnaround, and after the sixth I was feeling decidedly nauseous so jogged around the block and drove back home.