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 see at some point every winter.

I’ve managed to get out and battle the elements to run this week, but it seems the drive to do this has coincided with the ‘hard’ training days, skipping the easy entirely (even though the weather may be better).

Tuesday: Tempo running at the track. 15min, 10min, 5min with jog recoveries. Thought the 10min felt a bit fast, while it turned out to be bang on HMP (thanks Laura). 5:35 1600.

Thursday: Ridiculous weather for a morning run, blowing a gale, rain progressing through sleet and snow, and pretty cold. By contrast the evening was balmy, but decent session on the grass to avoid the icy pavements.

Saturday: Intended relay or parkrun session went by the wayside as I took until afternoon to get out. Severe lack of motivation turned into a fairly decent paced half marathon distance, with not too much ice to content with.

Sadly I seem to have done something to my back/glute/hip on that run so I had an excuse beside my significant EAC night out hangover for skipping the Queen’s Drive Race on around Arthur’s Seat on Sunday afternoon. That and watching the European Cross Country championships on the TV.

Race Streak

This week marks the first weekend in some time without a race (admittedly that was going to be the weekend after). So it seems appropriate to go back over the list of races, 11 weekends in a row:

  • Linlithgow 10k - 35:56, good effort but not at my freshest
  • Great Scottish Run 1/2M - 1:18:02, hard but steady going, good support
  • Peebles XC Relays - had a cold this weekend but good run
  • Stirling XC League - good hard running, moving up right through 3rd lap
  • Cumbernauld National XC Relay championships - short hard and hilly, wiped me out
  • Lasswade XC (& race effort parkrun) - good strong race moving through the field. Injured my foot a bit.
  • Bellahouston, Scottish National XC Short Course Championship - short fast and dull
  • Braid Hills XC - good run that quite suits me, leather it up the hill and then hang on, repeat
  • Alloa XC League - mud mud mud
  • Glasgow University 5 Mile Road Race - 28:07, solid run
  • Camperdown Park, Dundee, East District XC Championship - decently steady run, able to enjoy a strong 3rd lap