Posts
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Race Across Scotland nearly here (and looking back at the Cateran)
17 days until the Race Across Scotland, 214 (ish) miles coast to coast along the Southern Upland Way. This is what this year has been building to without exception. But first. Cateran 55 The Cateran was meant to be a training race, but after a good Fling I... -
Highland Fling
As usual my race report has been delayed, but as I’m up against the next race (Cateran 55 on Saturday) it’s time to get around to talking about the last one. The Highland Fling is a 53 mile race along the first half of the West Highland Way, from Milngalvie... -
2018 Part 1
It’s been so long since I wrote here that I didn’t even get around to doing a 2017 recap. The headline story of 2017 was being able to race all year after doing sod-all running in 2017 due to injury, and races of note were D33 (March) Stirling Marathon... -
A Tale of Two Ultras
89.3km72.6kmOne One Monday in July I entered a race: the St Cuthbert’s Way Ultra (100k). I had the map sitting on the bookcase, after all, and had considered running it before. Luckily entry was still open: the race was on the same Saturday. St Cuthbert’s Way Ultra... -
Edinburgh to North Berwick, Stirling Marathon
68.6kmSo bad at updating this, so I’ll pop out a brief update. Surely a marathon deserves a few words. Edinburgh to North Berwick By my estimation I was not in my best ever form, but the fitness had picked up a bit, maybe not so much on shorter distances... -
D33
Posting much belated, what has been in part sitting in my editor buffer for months. Last Saturday was the D33 ultramarathon, 33 miles out and back on the Deeside Way from Aberdeen. With an easy week going in, I had a race head on. A few good long runs... -
Krakow and some long runs
108.1km71.3km95.9kmJohn Muir Way run Went for a bit of a long run with a difference, longer and slower. From Falkirk back towards Edinburgh via the John Muir Way. It’s always nice to run through Callandar park, then it’s a fairly nice section of canal over to the Avon aquaduct,... -
Consistence in distance
96.7km39.2kmThe last couple of weeks have been aimed at consistency, having hit a 50-mile week I wanted to stay above that mark and get in decent long runs around 30k. I’m trying to work out how to build up my running without stopping cycling, a 30-minute (indirect) commute twice a... -
Getting back, Broxburn XC
I’ve been happy to get back to some consistent weeks of running, something I might go so far as to call training. Finally last week I made it along to the club long run. I thought I’d be falling off the back of the group, but got a good run... -
2016
Despite the title of this blog, I never intended to stop writing after running a 100 mile race. It just happened that way. And once the chain is broken, it’s easier to just stop… Wrapping up 2015 Looking back to the rest of 2015 on my Strava, I raced... -
South Downs Way 100 Mile Race
Start I had a ridiculous number of alarms set in the morning. Somewhat justified paranoia. The taxi was booked for 5am, when I needed to be at the start ~1mile away by 5.30 for the 6.00 start, with the thought that in the worst case I... -
CAAC5 and Portobello beach race
I asked myself, how many races is it sensible to run in the 10 days before the year’s big target event? You may be surprised to know I passed on some - the Haddington 10k on Saturday afternoon, and the Meadows 5k next Wednesday. CAAC5 Wednesday turned out to... -
Incorporating EMF relay
Tuesday Long run which made me realise my mojo was still not returned. Disjointed, stopping, sluggish, slow. Sore ankle, knee, sluggish legs, and generally feeling drained. On the plus side, a great route, firstly over Corstorphine hill great as always, then my first visit to Cammo estate, some nice... -
Silly Mile Race
The week after a 55-mile race. The legs are hurting. It hurts to jog easy so I run hard as it hurts the same. Although hard doesn’t mean fast as it feels. The Self-Transcendence Meadows 1-Mile race is on Wednesday, 4 days after the race. The seed was planted beforehand... -
Cateran 55
Cateran 55: Saturday, 07:00. I travelled up on Friday, arriving in time to catch the start of the Cateran 110. The 55 is one large clockwise loop starting and finishing at Spittal of Glenshee, and the 110 is two loops, but the first one being anti-clockwise, starting... -
Pre-Cataran
Not much happening this week either, mid way between recovering from London (and cold!) and tapering for Cateran. -
Pre-Cataran
Not much happening this week either, mid way between recovering from London (and cold!) and tapering for Cateran. -
Post-London
A nothing-week. I ran Monday-Tuesday: Monday around Croydon, on the London LOOP, which at that point takes in some lovely woodland trails. Tuesday back home, faster than would be sensible downhill back from work, peaking faster than Marathon pace. So Wednesday-Thursday I suffered from a tight/inflamed upper calf muscle and... -
Post-London
A nothing-week. I ran Monday-Tuesday: Monday around Croydon, on the London LOOP, which at that point takes in some lovely woodland trails. Tuesday back home, faster than would be sensible downhill back from work, peaking faster than Marathon pace. So Wednesday-Thursday I suffered from a tight/inflamed upper calf muscle and... -
London
London was initially my key race for the first half of the year. Ultras scheduled in after, sure, but this was to be a focus, my best prepared for marathon ever. Long chain of high mileage weeks, quality work, all focused. So anyway that wasn’t happening. But at least I... -
Portobello
Looking back. This week was the inaugural Portobello parkrun. With a good run the previous weekend and nothing on, I was eager for a fast blast. Also eager to welcome the new parkrun so close to me, closer than Edinburgh. Portobello is a 3-lap course, around a pond and out... -
Grangemouth 10k
Recovering after a hard week. The effects took a while to come on, I felt pretty bad, but it all came out OK in the end. Track Tuesday Monday I took off from running completely, doing very little as it was a bank holiday. I wondered how the Tuesday... -
Dunbar 10k
After the somewhat lacking weekend of the Road Relays and in view of upcoming events (London and more) I hoped I could get some miles in this week and start to feel a bit better. I had not hit a 100k week yet this year, which was not a good... -
Post-Canalathon
Started the week after the Canalathon 50k with a distinct lack of muscle soreness. Nothing. Some trouble sleeping, combination of tiredness and jittery lack of attention span during the day, general post-race stress I guess. Monday I took off running in case there were some delayed pains, walked to/from work... -
Canalathon
My run up to the Canalathon 50k this year was somewhat mixed. I entered well in advance as I enjoyed it last year. As 2015 plans coalesced, it came to be that London was the first big goal, so the Canalathon was going to fit in as a training run... -
Track weather is tougher than the trail
A week of some hard running but no races. Just 3 key runs and not much more on top of it: Tuesday: Track Thursday: Post work long run (slowish 29k) Sunday: Standard long run (35k) Tuesday Track Trial Tuesday was meant to be my 1st session back... -
Some rest, some re-Cupar-ation
Week 1: 50k, with 17k, 13k, parkrun+10k to/from Week 2: 80k, with 20k, 23k, and parkrun+Cupar 5 double-day My fitness has been coming back to me, I feel like over a short period I was suddenly able to run hard again. I’ve not been wanting... -
Getting back to running
Not being in proper training and having nothing much to say, it’s been a month since I wrote here. However, I’m happy to report that I’m now what I’d call “running again”. In the last 4 weeks I first got back to running a few times a week, building up... -
A Chilly Week
It’s been a chilly week. I’ve still been cycling to work most days, somewhat tentatively on snow and ice on occasion. And a few decently long rides after work, down to Musselburgh, up past Cramond. I’ve never got around to ordering cycling bib-tights, but I’ve discovered the joyous warmth of... -
Getting on the bike
Still not running. However as I finally got my bike into some semblance of shape, and cycling felt good, I’ve been getting out on the bike. Riding for Pleasure I got a few good rides in between Christmas and New Year (longest ride about 40k). In fact the weather... -
Year in Review 2: PB Hunt
I’m not sure when it happened, but it was clear at the start of 2014 that I was taking running a little more seriously and getting generally faster. My stated goal was ultra-marathons but I was training more, longer long runs but also greater overall volume and adding in speed... -
Year in Review 1: Magic Month
As I sit here in a run-free state it’s time to take a look back over the year. The first defining aspect of my running year was the month of March, specifically the first 4 weekends. I was training for the Highland Fling (which eventually didn’t happen for me), so... -
Nothing doing
Sadly I seem to have injured my left back/hip/glute/something and have not only been unable to run for the last week, my walking around has been in the manner of a comical hobble. Starting to get better but still not really run ready so giving it a rest over Xmas…... -
No race (for a change)
This week has largely been defined by the weather. The media have enjoyed sensationalist reporting of the “weather bomb”, but in reality the UK has been in the grip of a (fairly strong) low-pressure system in the atlantic leading to cold weather, high winds and precipitation, as we expect to... -
Down-Dee
I was a bit down this week. I had planned to take it relatively easy rather than continuing with as hard a training week as the previous one, but it seems the winter darkness stole my mojo… Tuesday was a decent session at least. It was getting chilly, so much... -
Finally a 5
A high mileage week, some good sessions, and a 5 mile road race. Monday As some kind of make-up for my missed long run the day before my usual easy Monday became a 22k post-work run + lunchtime gym session (not necessarily in that order). Thus... -
Alloa XC (or: Mud Mud Mud)
A solid week of training despite an inauspicious start; a “proper muddy” xc race to get stuck into; a bit of a failure of spirit. Bumpy start to the week I decided to start the week with a short run to work via Inverleith park, which was a new... -
Braid Hills XC
After the blip of last week, back to solid training, 2 sessions, a race and a long run. Training A couple of good sessions this week. Track session - bleep test (pointless) followed by 7x alternating 1000m & 200m. 1k’s - 3:25, 3:25, 3:21, 3:20, 3:20, 3:21, 3:22. Wednesday,... -
Unstruck (and Bellahouston XC)
The aftermath of a good week and a few steps too far. Streak broken Apparently I landed badly on my right foot in the Lasswade XC race, as it was a bit tender afterwards. So perhaps the post-race extension run was a little mistake. Monday through Wednesday I was... -
Solid training week and Lasswade XC
My calendar shows a race planned every weekend from about September to December, lots of short sharp cross country races. With racing each weekend it can be hard to get some decent training in, so this week’s plan was a “training week” with the Lasswade cross country race less of... -
Cumbernauld
Another week of cross country, with a 2 race weekend scheduled of the 4k National Relays at Cumbernauld followed by the Forth Road Bridge 10k on Sunday. At least that was the plan. The week Tuesday saw a good training session on the track at Meadowbank. 200s and 600s.... -
Stirling Cross Country
Back to some good sessions and some more racing. This week was more like the reverse of last week, starting slow and piling on some miles through the week. Sessions Good track session on Tuesday, first session which has felt really good for a while rather than just struggling... -
Peebles Cross Country Relays
This was a week of recovering from the Great Scottish Run and then racing the East District Cross Country 4x4k relays. Recovery I hadn’t particularly targetted the Glasgow Half, and just like I didn’t plan particularly much of a taper I didn’t plan to take any recovery time off.... -
Glasgow Great Scottish Run 1/2 Marathon
Sunday morning a little before 11 and I was lined up at the very front line of the “White number” section of the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon. The other side of a piece of cord was the “Faster Club Runners” section, and in front of that the Elite section,... -
Linlith-GO or Linlithg-OW?
This week was the aftermath of the not ridiculously long but still quite long run on Saturday. You don’t want to see my toenails. Monday Still feeling sprightly in the 2-day post long run period, quick evening run. Tuesday Since I didn’t race, I decided that the taper... -
I can't believe it's not the St Oswald's Ultra
Much like my run yesterday this post may be slightly shorter than intended. I took Friday afternoon off work and travelled down by train and bus to Rothbury for the St Oswald’s Way Ultra. The race didn’t start from Rothbury, in fact it was the 100k finish (the race being... -
St Oswald's Taper
Not much to say this week as I haven’t done much. Recovery from the Highland Perthshire Marathon segues into taper for the St Oswald’s Way Ultra. First two days post-marathon the legs felt quite perky, the two days after that rather sluggish. I wasn’t doing a session early in the... -
Highland Perthshire Marathon
The last week of training before tapering for the St Oswald’s Ultra. I had entered the Highland Perthshire Marathon some time ago, and after entering the ultra it was designated as the ‘last long run’. After the Hawick 10k on Sunday, it seemed to make sense to skip Tuesday/Thursday speed sessions in favour of a 5k in the Meadows on Wednesday, so this week we have 2 race reports for the price of one.
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Hawick 10k
The St Oswald’s Ultra is in three weeks yesterday and the plan for the last few weeks looked like this:
- Hawick 10k (full out PR seeking race effort)
- Highland Perthshire Marathon (steady run not racing - 3:00-3:15)
- Tapering
- Race week
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The easy week that wasn't
After my highest ever mileage week the plan was to ease off this week. Still off work, I resolved to run less (well, leave out at least 1 double run) and not try to make up mileage. I usually end up adding a little unnecessary distance before/after sessions, so not doing that should let me naturally ease back a bit.
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Big distance week
This was the week after a bit of racing, and a week off work, so was always going to be a bit of extra easy mileage.
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A week of racing
After 5 weeks of decent mileage since 7 hills, the last 2 just over the 100 mile line, this was to be a week of racing. A number of EAC club-mates were going to the Haddington half-marathon, so I signed for that, and unlike last year I noticed the North Berwick Law race was coming up, having enjoyed this in 2012 I didn’t want to miss it.
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