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.