10K tempo

In the morning I went back out along the seafront, faster this time, heading towards Montjuïc. I turned back shortly after Barceloneta and arrived back at the hotel just inside 42 minutes. I estimated the distance at slightly over 10K.

5K slow

Went out before breakfast for a slow 5K along the seafront with Natasha. The beaches were deserted although there were a few other people out running. There was a 1500m trail marked but it was hard to see exactly where it ended. We ran as far as some kind of anchor monument thing before turning around.

5.5 miles tempo

In Barcelona for a few days. In the late afternoon I went out for a fast run up Avinguda Diagonal from the hotel. Part of Diagonal had kilometre markers for runners on the pedestrian zone. At Glòries there was a sign marking the start of a 4.4K circuit, apparently down to Diagonal Mar and back. There were a few inconvenient crossroads on this part of the route, but on the other side of Glòries there were far more and the pedestrian zone was not continuous. I turned back at the intersection with Passeig de Sant Joan. When I had reached the route marked for runners I picked up the pace a bit and used the kilometre markers to gauge my speed at 6:00-6:10 per mile. Total distance was probably about 5.5 miles.

7.25 miles tempo

The club's fast pack was depleted once again and was combined with the next pack. This also meant they set out a bit earlier than usual and had disappeared across the Kelvin by the time I got out of the car. I caught up with them on the canal after about a mile, by which time I had a stitch on account of drinking too much Powerade too quickly and then running at about 6-minute mile pace. The pack was running at a steadier pace when I caught them, so I was able to ease off a bit, although the stitch never really went away.

Just after the halfway point on Great Western Road, the pace picked up a bit and the pack gradually fell apart. I stayed just off the front apart from when I pushed forward going up Cleveden Road and then Cowal Road after we got the route slightly wrong, which added maybe 200m. Finished in about 48 minutes feeling quite comfortable which was a pleasing outcome as I had been half-expecting to blow up again.

4 miles easy

I planned to run the club Hogmanay Handicap route (although starting and finishing at Bearsden Asda) inside 45 minutes but blew up completely after a mile and a half, just past the rugby ground. Walked/jogged up to Milngavie Station and back down the road.

5.25 miles moderate

As a recovery and to get a few miles in I ran Maryhill Road - Cowal Road - Dorchester Avenue - Great Western Road at a comfortable pace of just under 7-minute miles. Time was 36:12.

4 miles slow and hills

Went out in the morning for the usual 4 slow miles around the West End with Natasha. All up Maryhill Road there were signs advertising a road race on Sunday and the 1K mark was on the road across from the fire station. It turns out the race is the North Glasgow 5K which appears to circle Ruchill Park. It's described in the literature as a fun run, and the photos I found of last year's event show that it might be slightly inappropriate (or indeed hilarious) to turn up in racing gear and blast round in 17 minutes or so - in any case entries have already closed. Still, the t-shirt would have been nice to have.

In the afternoon I tried hill reps in Gardner Street which can be reached in a 15-minute jog and is therefore slightly more convenient than Cleveden Drive. The hill is also tougher. It's not quite as long as Chesters Road but a lot less hassle than driving to Bearsden. Today there was a headwind which grew in strength from the halfway point onwards. I ran 4 reps in 50-53-53-54. Afterwards I didn't have quite enough energy to jog all the way home and had to walk part of the way.

7.5 miles tempo

Went out before dinner for the same route as Monday except extended up to Canniesburn Toll rather than through the Science Park, intending to run 6:45 miles or better. I was slightly ahead of schedule for most of the circuit although my pace seemed to slip during the second half. Towards the end I picked it up again when sub-50 minutes looked like a possibility. Finishing time was 49:43.

Hill reps

The club had scheduled a double hill rep session which I expected would be at Westerton but instead started on the fairly tame hill of Dawsholm Road - six reps with a jog recovery back to the bottom. Felt quite fatigued as I tried to catch up with the others along Maryhill Road. I didn't get much of a recovery after the first rep as it looked like some local neds (who had been shouting abuse earlier) were tampering with people's clothes, so I sprinted back down to find that the situation was under control. After the six we jogged round to the road up to the Vet School and ran another six reps as far as the first proper speed bump on an equally tame hill. I felt a lot better by now, was running the reps almost flat out, and could probably have done a couple more.

7 miles tempo

Went out before dinner to rack up a few miles at a moderate pace, on the Maryhill Road - Science Park - Anniesland Cross - Great Western Road triangle. My legs were a bit stiff for the first couple of miles (not sure why as I've effectively had two days off) but as the first mile went past in 6:30 without too much difficulty, I tried to keep this pace up for a bit. After 5K I was only about 30 seconds behind my PB split for the route and still quite comfortable. Over the next few miles it got tougher, but I still felt like I had something to spare and tried to strike a balance between really pushing it (which I didn't want to do, with hill reps on the schedule for tomorrow) and easing off too much. By the Botanic Gardens I was looking at sub-45, and by Kelvinbridge it clearly wasn't going to be a problem unless I got stuck for ages trying to cross Maryhill Road, which I didn't. Finishing time was 44:41.

5K slow

We were at a wedding in Strathpeffer at the weekend, so I went on the usual slow 5K around the West End with Natasha when we got back on Sunday evening, just to stretch the legs a bit after hours of driving.

On arriving in Strathpeffer on Saturday I had noticed yellow start/finish signs for a race, and some red and white tape marking a course along the old railway line. It would have been ideal to take part in whatever it was before the wedding, but I hadn't brought any running gear. Then when we went to visit my relatives in Dingwall on Sunday, there was a "CAUTION RUNNERS" sign at the end of their road. I wondered if it had been from the previous day's race which would have made it some sort of half marathon at least, but it turned out there was the Knockfarrel hill race in Strathpeffer on Saturday and the Cioch Mhor hill race in Dingwall on Sunday. It sounds like it would be a great weekend of hill running, although I have no idea whether it's practical to run two races in two days.

5.25 miles tempo

I had planned to run my usual 7-mile route in racing shoes, but time was short, so I had to cut down Cowal Road from Maryhill Road and head for Great Western Road via Dorchester Avenue, trying to maintain a pace close to 6-minute miles. I passed all the landmarks in the first two miles on schedule, but it became tough on the legs, particularly after the previous night's run. Finishing time was 33:24 for a distance somewhere between 5 and 5.5 miles.

7.5 miles moderate

Tonight's club training session consisted of 7.5 miles around the West End, via the Kelvin Walkway as far as Kelvinbridge, and then back to the Science Park along University Avenue, Clarence Drive and Crow Road. The two fastest groups were combined due to low numbers and upcoming races. The pace was fairly steady to begin with but gradually increased without ever becoming a struggle, although the pack did begin to disintegrate with a couple of miles to go.

Medium reps

The scheduled session was 650m reps in Dawsholm Park. I felt quite lethargic as we jogged up to the park, even before I knew where we were going - I don't like running in the park, so if I had known I would have done something else. I had also been expecting road reps so was wearing shoes without any tread which made it fairly treacherous in the rain. I thought I would give it a go anyway but after running two reps in a fairly pedestrian 2:06 I couldn't continue and ended up walking most of the way back to the car. Probably not recovered yet from the weekend.

10 miles steady

I went out in the afternoon to run the decreasing loops I had failed to complete about a month ago. It started to get tough coming up to the three mile mark as I headed down Cleveden Road, and my hamstring felt a bit tight, no doubt on account of yesterday's race - no knee problems though. After finishing the long loop on North Woodside Road I headed back up Maryhill Road and this time ran back to Great Western Road via Garrioch Road. Natasha went out to run the short loop via Queen Margaret Drive around this time and I picked it up a bit (with some difficulty) to try and catch up with her when I ran that same loop to finish, but she got home a couple of minutes before I did. Time was 1:12:13.

National Road Relay Championships

This is probably my favourite relay of the season, although the course in Livingston isn't conducive to fast times. I was on the second 3.15-mile leg for our A team, the third leg overall, and my tapering seemed to have done its job as I felt absolutely 100% before the start, although I didn't want to say so in case I ran poorly. We were 27th when I took over, and shortly after the first sharp bend I was overtaken by a runner from Central's B team. He made up some ground on a couple more runners but didn't get very far ahead of me, and I took advantage of a spiral footbridge to go past them all after about a mile. The footsteps behind me started to recede and over the next mile or so I picked up another two places, and closed to within 20m of a runner from Metro Aberdeen, which is where I stayed until I went past him on the final uphill straight. Finished in 17:33 and handed over in 22nd. The runners on our next three legs brought us up to 9th place which is our best finish in all the years I've been taking part.

I knocked 35 seconds off my time from last year, and I think 17:33 is my second fastest after 17:17 in 2005, although I can't find any results from 2004. (Update: it looks like I ran 17:30 in 2004.)

4 miles tempo

I gave the scheduled club 6-mile session a miss as I would inevitably be dragged along at too fast a pace for my liking so soon before a race. Contemplated doing nothing at all, but two days' rest seemed excessive, so instead I went out earlier in the evening for 4 miles around the West End, this time a bit faster than usual. Finishing time was 25:51 so it may actually be slightly under 4 miles. Legs were a bit stiff from football on Wednesday and possibly even the time trial on Tuesday, but apart from that I had no trouble maintaining a fairly brisk pace.

5K time trial

I had been expecting a pyramid session so was a bit surprised to find the scheduled training session was actually a 5K time trial. I didn't have my racing shoes and most likely wouldn't have done short reps on Monday evening if I'd known. Marco was recovering from a long run at the weekend and had no intention of going flat out, so I went off at something like race pace and expected to slow down later on, either through ennui or tired legs, most likely to the extent that I would be caught. It didn't work out too badly, though, as I managed to keep it going fairly well and coped fine with the hills in the latter half of the course. Towards the end I wasn't sure of the route, not having done it before (and having misheard the instructions) and ended up taking a 400m shortcut. It had been a straight choice between cutting the course and setting what would inevitably be an improbably fast time, or running too far, having a disappointingly slow time recorded, and being overtaken into the bargain. A finishing time of exactly 16 minutes showed I had cut it short.