3.9 miles steady, 6.4 miles moderate, 3.4 miles slow

Went out before lunch for a predominantly flat route via Garscube Road, the path behind Abercorn School, the canal towpath as far as Shakespeare Street and back down Maryhill Road, 3.92 miles in 28:11. In the afternoon I had to make a minor shopping trip to Parkhead Forge so ran there and back via Dobbies Loan and Duke Street, 6.4 miles in 42:49. That would have been enough for one day but after I got home I ended up accompanying Natasha on our usual 3.4 mile route.

9 miles hard

The club's Thursday session wasn't listed on the web site and turned out to be a choice between 6 and 9 miles. Most of the faster packs went for the longer run. I had driven up as Natasha wanted to come to Thursday training for once. The longer route was up Rannoch Drive, over Mosshead Road and down Drymen Road, along Station Road and over Pendicle Road, then along Canniesburn Road to Blairdardie and back to Garscube Estate via Great Western Road and Bearsden Road, finishing at the bridge for exactly 9 miles. The fast pack consisted of three to begin with and held together until Blairdardie, where we joined up with the previous pack and a couple of them tagged on, although we were down to four shortly afterwards, then three at Anniesland Cross. Finished in 56:10 for a 6:14/mile average.

3.9 miles steady

Went for an untimed recovery run via Shakespeare Street, Cleveden Drive and Napiershall Street after playing football.

Hill reps

The club training session was hill reps on Crarae Avenue and Murrayfield Drive, six sets. We were halfway through the session before I was able to take advantage of the longer hill. Distance was around 5 miles including the jog down to Westerton and back.

6.6 miles moderate

Ran the same route as last Monday. I had some leg stiffness after Sunday's long run and felt quite slow over the first mile but it gradually wore off. Distance came out this time at 6.6 miles, time was 43:13 for a 6:32/mile average.

5.3 miles slow, 18.4 miles moderate

Went out in the morning for a longer run with Natasha - up Maryhill Road to join the canal at Lock 21, down to Dorchester Avenue and home via Great Western Road and Napiershall Street. It came out at 5.32 miles. I calculated that I was about 18 miles short of 50 for the week and had already been thinking about having another go at my Newton Mearns route, so despite feeling vaguely lethargic in the afternoon I set off in that direction, this time without taking anything to drink. I felt better once I had passed Shawlands and was just short of Whitecraigs station after 50 minutes, maintaining a reasonable 7-minute mile pace. The GPS-measured 9-mile mark was where I turned right at Mearns Cross in marginally over 63 minutes, well ahead of my fastest previous attempt. I made up more time down Capelrig Road and Thornliebank Road and was around 1:30 at the half marathon point. Got back home in 2:07:28 for a 6:55/mile average, distance was actually 18.42 miles. Weekly total: 50 miles.

Scottish Masters Indoor Championships, 3.4 miles steady

I jogged down to the Kelvin Hall in the morning to declare for the 1500m and 800m. I expected to do better in the former as I had hardly done any speedwork in ages other than the club's Tuesday training sessions. Warmed up in the gallery and felt in quite good shape. The 1500m was combined M35/M40/M45. One other M35 had entered although I couldn't identify him at the start. After about 300m I felt comfortable enough to take it on, and I led for several laps although there was somebody right behind me all the way. The clock was at the finishing line, which was halfway round every lap, and I soon gave up trying to calculate my pace. With maybe three laps left I started to fade slightly and was passed twice, albeit by runners I suspected were in a different age group, but I held on for third and finished in 4:25.03 which is my fastest 1500m for several years. It turned out that I was the only M35 in the race, so I won by default. I coughed for ages afterwards due to the dry air and at one point thought I would have to withdraw from the 800m, but after 15 minutes or so and a couple of trips outside for fresh air I was fine.

The 800m was just M35 with three entrants this time. I went through 400m in second place in a disappointing 66 seconds, a couple of seconds off the front, and not sure how far ahead of third I was. I didn't manage to make up any ground or even muster up any kind of kick and finished in 2:11.72, which did at least show a consistent pace and was also somewhere around my best time from last year.

After I got home I went out for a few recovery miles via Shakespeare Street and Napiershall Street, measured this time at 3.36 miles, at a steady 7-minute pace.

5.9 miles hard

I drove up to training for a change, in order to start tapering for the Masters Championships at the weekend. The route was via Anniesland Cross, Anniesland Road, Southbrae Drive, Crow Road, Dorchester Avenue and Maryhill Road. We started off quite slowly but the average pace had dropped to 6:16/mile by the end. I found the pace quite comfortable over the last mile. The distance came out at 5.91 miles.

2.5 miles easy

Went out for 2.51 miles recovery via Queen Margaret Drive after playing football.

Mixed reps

The club training session was a mixed rep session involving a paarlauf (actually dreilauf) around buildings in the Science Park for 15 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of 200m shuttle runs and 5 minutes of 100m shuttle runs. It came out at about 4.5 miles in total, including warm-up.

6.6 miles moderate

Repeated last Monday's route. By the time I got to Kilmardinny Avenue I had an outside chance of breaking 6:30/mile until I was interrupted by a phone call and ended up finishing in 44:30, although for some reason the distance came out at 6.64 miles this time which gave me the same 6:42 average as last week.

3.4 miles slow, 9.3 miles hard

Went out in the morning with Natasha to repeat the previous day's route. In the afternoon I had been thinking of running 18 miles or so to make it up to a reasonable total for the week, but I felt too lethargic and was worried about running out of energy halfway round. Instead I tried an old route via Great Western Road, Lincoln Avenue, Danes Drive and Clarence Drive which I used to attempt to run inside an hour. I made good progress along Great Western Road and had reached the other side of Bearsden Road, not far away from the 3-mile mark, just inside 18 minutes. I crossed the railway bridge at Scotstounhill at around 30 minutes which was far ahead of my previous attempts, and was approaching the old Crow Road railway bridge at 40 minutes with my average pace inside 6:20/mile. Sub-60 minutes was guaranteed so I extended the route by about half a mile, via Queen Margaret Drive and Maryhill Road. Finishing time was 58:21 for 9.31 miles, average pace 6:16/mile. Weekly total: 45 miles.

3.4 miles recovery

Wasn't feeling too great so I only managed a steady run via Shakespeare Street and Napiershall Street at lunchtime, 3.4 miles.

2.4 miles steady, 7.1 miles fartlek, 3 miles easy

With the Tuesday and Thursday sessions being swapped, the usual packs were combined into larger packs for a fartlek session, so my usual pack left Garscube Estate a bit earlier than expected and I met them coming down Maryhill Road. The route took us down Cowal Road, over Cleveden Road, down Hyndland Road, Clarence Drive and up Crow Road, then along Southbrae Drive for part of the McAndrew course and onto Great Western Road via Munro Place, finishing at Anniesland Cross. We jogged the last mile or so back to Garscube Estate. Total distance was 7.13 miles.

3.9 miles steady

Went out after playing football for a steady run via Shakespeare Street, Cleveden Drive and Napiershall Street, which came out this time at about 3.9 miles. Average pace was 6:56/mile or so.

5.6 miles tempo

For the club training session, the fast pack was joined by Hayley Haining, who had been invited along to give us a presentation on running. Tuesday was her usual recovery evening so she joined Ben, Toby and me for the run. We set off steadily enough down Maryhill Road and gradually picked up speed down Queen Margaret Drive and back along Great Western Road, then up Crow Road and back to Garscube Estate. Total distance was 5.57 miles in 35:26.

6.6 miles moderate

Went out from Bearsden Asda in the evening for a longer version of my usual route, extended via Clober Road, Craigton Road and Hunter Road. It came out at 6.55 miles, completed in 43:51 for 6:42/mile.

13.6 miles moderate

I went for a swim in the morning and when I went out for a longer run in the afternoon it took a few miles to shake off the feeling of tiredness. I ran an old route along the canal and up Balmore Road to Allander Toll, and had originally planned to head straight along Auchenhowie Road but instead took a detour onto the Hogmanay Handicap course to add an extra couple of miles (of hills). On the way back home down Bearsden Road and Maryhill Road, I tried to keep my average pace inside 6:45/mile. Finished in 1:31:34 which gave me 6:44/mile. Weekly total: 54 miles.

4.9 miles slow, 10K steady

Went out in the morning with Natasha for 4.92 miles along Great Western Road, down Hyndland Road and Hyndland Street, along Sauchiehall Street and home via Charing Cross and Maryhill Road. In the late afternoon I set out from Drymen to run a loop partly on the West Highland Way, once I had managed to find it. The path was covered in snow but it was OK to run on. It started to get quite dark and without the snow I wouldn't have been able to see where I was going. As it was, I wasn't familiar with the path, didn't have a map, and had to stop at every junction to check the signpost. I meant to follow a road down to Milton of Buchanan and run back along to Drymen from there, and I found quite a wide road which seemed to be leading down the hill, but it soon turned in a different direction and started to get narrower, although I could tell from the position of the moon that I was at least heading back towards Drymen, as long as I didn't come to a dead end. I eventually came out of the forest onto Old Gartmore Road which took me back to the centre of Drymen, and was almost entirely downhill, allowing me to make a drastic improvement to my average pace for the run. Total distance was 6.22 miles in 44:37, 7:10/mile.

2.9 miles steady, 7.8 miles hard, 3.2 miles easy

Ran up to the club training session as usual. Although the snow was mostly gone and it was fine to run in ordinary running shoes, numbers were well down and the fast pack consisted of just me and Alex. The route took us through Drumchapel where we reached the 2-mile point in exactly 13 minutes, and by the time we got to the 4-mile mark on Alderman Road our average pace had dropped to 6:12/mile, which meant we had averaged 5:54/mile for the previous two miles. Eased off very slightly to maintain a 6:12 pace quite comfortably, along Southbrae Drive and up Crow Road. I stopped at the usual finish, after 7.76 miles, although we were apparently supposed to continue to the bridge over the Kelvin to make it up to 8 miles. Time was 48:15 for a 6:13 average. Ran back down the road afterwards.

7 miles moderate

With football cancelled due to the snow, I went out in my cross-country shoes for my usual 7-mile route via Garscube Estate, although I should probably have chosen a different route as there was no snow cover for long stretches. Distance came out at 7.02 miles, time 47:06 for a 6:42/mile average.

Long reps

The club training session consisted of 6 1K reps in a loop on the other side of Switchback Road, with a 90-second recovery. I kept up for the first couple and pushed ahead on the others - wasn't timing them but I'm pretty sure it was faster than when we did the same session in November. Total distance for the evening was about 5.5 miles including the jog from and to Garscube Estate.

3.2 miles steady

Went out from Bearsden Asda for a loop of the old Garscube 5-mile course around Kessington in the snow, wearing my cross-country shoes which suited the conditions perfectly, although I had to work hard to maintain even a steady pace. It came out at 3.16 miles, 23:14.

6.9 miles slow, 7 miles moderate

Went out in the morning with Natasha for a longer run along Great Western Road, down Crow Road and back via Clarence Drive and Great Western Road. As this was only going to come out at 10K we took a detour up Kirklee Road and Shakespeare Street to make it up to 6.93 miles. In the late afternoon I ran my usual route via Garscube Estate in 45:50, 6:35/mile. Weekly total: 62 miles.