2.5 miles recovery

Went for a slow 2.5-mile run via Queen Margaret Drive after playing football.

Mixed session

The club training session was billed as a "mixed session", which started with a jog along Maryhill Road, up Ballater Drive and back into Garscube Estate. We were then split into three mixed groups for 10 minutes of steady shuttle runs up and down the road beside the rugby pitch. This was followed by 12x140m sprints on the warm-up trail with 1 minute recovery, after we had been divided into packs of differing speeds. I ran them more or less flat out to begin with and thought of easing off while recovering after the 5th rep, but I managed to persevere as it didn't seem too bad while I was actually running - I was just feeling progressively worse during the recoveries.

4.6 miles moderate

In much colder conditions I had another go at my 4.6-mile Monday evening route around Bearsden and Milngavie. On reaching Stockiemuir Road I suspected I was well ahead of previous attempts, probably helped by a day off on Sunday. I finished in 28:46 for a 6:15/mile average on a hilly route.

Allan Scally relay

I was on the first leg again and set off at a pace which seemed comfortable enough to begin with and still kept me in sight of the leaders for a while, although I had forgotten to memorise any mile or kilometre markers and therefore couldn't keep an eye on my splits. Shortly after reaching Edinburgh Road I was passed by a runner from Glasgow University, who also went past a runner from Irvine, and I stayed behind the two of them for the next mile or so. By this point I was fairly confident of beating my 2007 time, and Thursday's time trial didn't seem to be having much of an effect. I began to gain on the Irvine runner and passed him while we were still on Edinburgh Road, although after a few hundred metres he started to come back and overtook me just after the lane off Buchanan Street, but didn't manage to get away. I moved ahead again during a sprint finish to the line where I handed over to... nobody, because our second leg runner hadn't turned up and the others were still out warming up. He did eventually appear and Shettleston Harriers kindly allowed us to rejoin the race later on with a time penalty.

My finishing time was 26:31 which was the fastest time for Garscube on the day, once again by just a few seconds. It was after last year's race that I started this blog and my goal for this year had been to finish inside 27 minutes. I was 14th after my leg, although the official results placed me behind the Irvine runner, probably because we had nobody to take over. We were 15th overall. Natasha had turned up only to find we had no women's team, so she ran with the first leg runners and stayed on the main road at the start and finish to avoid crossing the line.

5.5-mile time trial

The scheduled club training session was a hard run of somewhere between 5 and 6 miles, but with the last relay of the season on Saturday afternoon I was planning on taking it a bit easier. However, it turned out to be a time trial. Not everybody in the fast pack was aware of this and some participants said later they had wondered why the pace was so fast from the start. The route was via Maryhill Road, Queen Margaret Drive, Great Western Road and Crow Road, finishing back inside the sports complex at the barrier. I kept up with the leaders for the first half of the course but dropped off the pace after three miles, with Saturday's race in mind, and slipped into fourth place, although as some of the others started to flag a bit over the next mile or so, I moved back into second and held that position until the end. Finishing time was 33:37, about 6:06 per mile.

2.5 miles recovery

Went for a slow recovery run around the West End after playing football.

Hill reps

The club training session was hill reps on the gentle incline beside the Vet School - three sets of three short reps to the speed bump at the top of the first hill and a longer rep right to the gate. I would have preferred a steeper hill but the session ended up suiting me quite well. I coasted a bit on the first two short reps in the final set. Numbers in the fast pack dwindled slightly as the session went on.

2.5 miles moderate, 4.6 miles moderate

To take advantage of the clocks going back, I managed to drag myself out before breakfast for the first time in ages, although only for two and a half miles via Queen Margaret Drive, completed in a reasonably brisk 16:13, 6:29 per mile. I made it to the corner at the Botanic Gardens just inside 10 minutes and eased off a bit after that.

In the evening I had another go at the route from two weeks ago via South Mains Road, Craigdhu Road and Stockiemuir Road. This time I was a few seconds slower at 29:25, 6:23 per mile. I could have pushed it a bit more on West Chapelton Avenue but had really heavy legs by then.

3.2 miles slow

Went out in the morning with Natasha for 3.2 miles via Shakespeare Street and Great Western Road. I had planned to go out later in the afternoon for a longer run but felt so tired that I abandoned that idea.

National XC Relays

The weather for this race was terrible, with howling gales and driving rain. If it had been just a couple of degrees colder I might have had second thoughts. I was first off for Garscube and settled into a reasonable pace although the conditions made it hard to judge, and there seemed to be a lot of runners in front of me. After what might have been a mile, some of them were clearly slowing a bit and I managed to go past quite a large group, although this left me exposed to the elements. There was a long uphill stretch in the second half of the race where it was almost impossible to move on account of strong winds. I lost a place on the subsequent downhill section but made it up again within the last couple of hundred metres. I had been expecting to finish in just over 15 minutes, judging by the the previous year's results, but my time for the 4K course was 16:34. This did however compare fairly well with other times on the day, and I posted the second fastest time for the club. I opted for my trail shoes again and I don't think spikes would have been any better as the going was very heavy. Several hours after the race, it felt as if I had run a marathon instead.

5.5 miles tempo

The club training session was a 5.5-mile run around Hyndland. I wasn't sure if I'd have to pull out as I had slipped and landed awkwardly on some steps at lunchtime but after the first steady mile it seemed OK. The wind on Crow Road made the going quite difficult although it got easier on the way back in, over Cleveden Road and along Temple Road. The fast pack started to split up halfway round but I stayed on the pace all the way round and finished somewhere inside 39 minutes.

2.5 miles recovery

Went for a slow run around the West End after playing football.

Hill reps

As the club training session didn't suit us very well, I jogged to the top of Queen Margaret Drive with Natasha and tried a few hill reps up Oban Drive while she continued up Maryhill Road to the Science Park. Each of the three reps took just under 80 seconds at a moderate level of effort, with a 3-minute turnaround which included a jog/walk recovery back to the bottom.

4.7 miles steady

I felt much too lethargic to do any running but when the weather improved I convinced myself to try the Craigdhu Road loop from the previous Monday, except this time via Park Road instead of South Mains Road, although it turned out I had run the correct route the previous week after all. I took it a lot steadier and finished the revised 4.7-mile route in 32:46, just inside 7-minute miles.