runography

After a bit of a program shuffle last week I managed to get back on schedule with my MHFS 10k Training Program

As I mentioned, I had to shift the 10 mile session to Saturday, but when it got to Friday night I had decided it would be best to get this out of the way so I can relax on Saturday. So when I got home I went out for a 10 mile run, leaving from my house.

It was an interesting run, not long into it I encountered a few 12 year olds walking towards me, clearly struggling with the idea of leaving me to run without abuse. As I ran past the little guys they didn’t move over, instead I had to run through the middle of them. The guy in the middle (who I knew was going to get smart), said “What you don’t trip!” as he stuck his leg out in front of me. What’s wrong with these kids? They not realise I am twice their size? I hurdled his leg and carried on with my run, giving them a bit of a stare as I ran on.

I decided to do a similar run to the one I had done with Ann, only doing 2 loops of Manse Brae-Hallside-Newton, to add to the distance. At the end of my first loop as I came up Manse Brae ( a pretty long and steep hill ) I approached a group of teenagers out enjoying the friday night sun with some cigarettes and Buckfast and said “Wish I could still do that”, with that they said I’d be more than welcome to, but I thought it best to keep with the program and get the run over. Besides, I’m not really a Buckfast drinker, I was talking more about the lazing around the country side smoking cigs and drinking beer aspect.

On my 2nd loop I came back up Manse Brae and could see the guys I’d been talking to before. This time they were waiting to talk to me so I took a rest and stopped to have a chat. They had been trying to figure out my job, and I said “computer programmer”, one of them said he had guessed that as to be able to run after work I must have a desk job. We chatted about running/smoking etc and how they could do it if they felt like it. They seemed genuinely impressed with my run, and said, “You must be fit as f**k, you look fit as f**k” Which I took as a compliment. Anyway, after a few minutes I got back to my run and did the last 3 miles to get home.

Total distance: 9:92 miles, time 1hr 33mins – ( stopped for a few mins )

Average of approx 9:00 min/miles again, which was a comfortable speed for me over this distance.

On Saturday morning I decided it was time for Dylan to try a solo run, so off we went to the park and he went off to do 2 laps solo a distance of 1.1 miles. He completed the distance in a good time, first lap 6:06, second lap 6:11. That’s pretty much the speed we have been training at, so good effort.

My brother Graeme also txt me yesterday to let me know he’s now back on track with his 10k training and managed to do a 10k training run in 54:45… given he’s not done a hell of a lot of training, he’ll be faster than me soon. That’s his PB too.

And my Mum, she’s completed 2 weeks of her new training regime and seems to be enjoying it. It won’t be long before we see her out on a 10k run!

I’ve decided to stop smoking again, I dunno what’s wrong with me but after managing to stop for 13 months until Oct last year, I’ve slowly flirted with them until they are a full part of my life again. More recently I’ve been smoking a lot more and finally had one at work on Friday. So I have decided enough is enough and I’ve stopped, not smoking all day yesterday. Last night when I was starting to crave I went out for a run instead @ 10.30pm for a 3 mile recovery run. This did 2 things, it took my mind off the cravings/pangs, which are mild anyway, and helped me get my training program back to where it should be. Now that I’m not on the cigs anymore I am looking forward to each run more as I will be able to breathe a little easier.

This is a fairly light week in the run up to my race, my next run is a 2 mile recovery on Tuesday, then a 5 mile tempo run on Thursday. Not long to go now!! Then I can start figuring out what I’m going to train for next. It’s looking like the Glasgow 1/2 marathon in September though.