Love a Long Weekend!

3 Training Runs
3 Great Days Out
31.5 Miles covered
2134 Metres of Climbing!
We are heading off to Rotterdam this weekend for the marathon, another training run(!)  As I said before Berlin and Rotterdam were entered before I was one of the lucky few who got a place in the WHW Race.  Subsequently my training focus has definitely not been on road racing but this mileage is double that of 2 weeks ago in Berlin and half the distance I need to complete the Fling 2 weeks later... so in theory it's a good training run and in 'just the right place'...
Bearing all of the above in mind, John decided that I should 'take it a little bit easier' and do 30miles but over 3 days - as he said to someone the other night 'talk about altered reality'  I had had a really sore leg since Berlin, it's an ongoing issue with my hamstring but dry-needling seems to ease it and I was really lucky to get a last minute appointment at Life Fit on Thursday at lunchtime and the needles started to work their magic while I was still on the treatment table!
We were off for the Easter weekend which gave us plenty of scope and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

Friday: alarm off at 6am, porridge eaten, bag packed and off to Milngavie - I was running Milngavie to Drymen and I had a time target - I had done this section a month ago and it was awful, freezing cold, crampy legs, and lots of ice!  This time it was damp and dull but still and not too cold, with no ice!  However i was ready to chuck it after 2km as I got horrendous cramp again in my calves :-(  I don't know if I was starting off 'too fast' it didn't feel fast to me, but it's all relative I guess and although I felt I was going really slowly, maybe I wasn't - hence the excruciating pain!  I walked for a full 5 minutes til I left Mugdock and once I got onto the trail proper, things started to thankfully ease off.  In the end, I did ok, I got to Drymen 40 minutes quicker than last time and a full 15minutes under my target!  #jobdone Day1
Nice lunch at the Drymen Inn, a wee afternoon nap and kit washed and sorted for tomorrow.

Saturday: alarm off at 6am, just some toast and coffee this time as a second breakfast was planned.  We picked Amanda up in Bridge of Allan at 0720 and headed off to Glencoe where she was meeting up with some others for a Glee Club run.  There were runners doing various distances, Minty, Sean, James and Spiderman (AKA Ross) were heading down from Tyndrum & Bridge of Orchy and Amanda was joining them to run to Fort William.  After our second breakfast at the ski centre, John and I headed to Kinlochleven where I got changed, bade him farewell and headed off on my own, he was going to run back to meet me from Braveheart car park.  It's a long climb up from Kinlochleven but I enjoyed it this time, I am feeling much stronger than ever before and although I'll never be an uphill runner like John, I climbed up 'strong and steady'.  Once I got to the top, I really enjoyed the trip across the Lairig Mhor, I ran much more of it than ever before, even managing to run some of the Ups!  There weren't many folk out on the Lairig but the few walkers I passed all said hello and then I had a wee blether with Derek Cassels (superspeedy) who passed me on his way out and then slowed down to chat with me for a few minutes on his way back. 
This picture of my favourite place on the Lairig is included because I love it so much. 
I was super chuffed to get to Lundavra and John wasn't there - not because I didn't want to see him, but because I'd beaten him there - he was surprised to meet me a little bit further towards him than he'd expected and silly though it might seem it's a wee lift that he's pleasantly surprised :)  heading back to Braveheart I had a real slump on the 'elephant's graveyard' I don't know what it's really called but it's a pretty desolate de-forested uphill slog before you get to the fire road and it's one of those places that gets me every time.  Once on the fire road however I picked up again and really enjoyed the 2mile downhill run that comes next.  By this time, he'd flown off ahead of me and I concentrated on running properly not just letting myself go and losing control and trashing my quads.  Back safely to Braveheart - 5minutes under my target time this time :-) and we waited for Amanda and Minty who we were taking back with us.
Great runs had by all and chips and cheese at the Real Food Cafe to top off another grand day out on the hills. #jobdone Day2

Sunday: alarm off at 6am, scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Today is John's long run as to hit my 30miles I only needed to do 4.3 miles :)  He wanted to recce a bit of the Cateran that he will be running in the dark come race day, so I dropped him off at Glen Isla.  Sunday was a beautiful day once the fog burned off, so we took the wee car and it was great to drive around with the roof down getting the sun on my face :-)
I drove to Spittal of Glenshee, where he'd finish, parked the car and headed up the hill for my 'run'.  It's a steep climb and for the first time ever I climbed all the way to the Lairig Gate without stopping - yeehah!  I love the run back down and was looking forward to it, but it was really really muddy and quite slippy for the first third, however I did enjoy the next 2/3rds and the sun was roasting on my shoulders and legs and it was just fine :-)  I was only 3.5miles at the bottom so tootled about a wee bit on the other side of the main road on the start of the race route until i had 5.5miles in the end - a mile more than I needed but who's counting ;-)
John finished his run (grumbling) and we had a wee paddle in the river to clean off our mucky shoes before heading to Blairgowrie for something to eat.  #jobdone Day3.

Monday:  alarm off at 7.30am (rest day and still a holiday!) Trip to Edinburgh to Run & Become, John wanted to change his recently purchased shoes for a bigger size, and I bought a new pair too.  Lovely lunch and wander in the sunshine then home. #jobdone Day4.


I do Love a Long Weekend!

Ooops!

Oooops! Covers lots of things since I last blogged, not least that i should have worn trail shoes for today's run, not road shoes... however they will clean and be pretty and purple again :-)

Other Oooops moments - running a little too fast on my Saturday LSR (17.5miles) last week which ended up with my leg seizing up and causing me excruciating pain and meaning I had to walk the second half of Sunday's run from Milngavie to Carbeth with only a slow jog/walk for the first half of it - however, I did have lovely company on Sunday from Alan and Islay - John met us after he'd finished his second 20mile run of the weekend!  We also met some fellow marcothoners at the end of the route which was nice to meet some more of the people behind all the madness that is marcothon :-)
I woke on Monday feeling utterly crap, not sure if it was a virus type thing or if it was just accumulated tiredness - that coupled with snow and gale force winds meant I didn't go to fitcamp on Monday night, but fortunately by Wednesday both my leg and my general health was much improved and although I still hadn't run, I did get along to fitcamp and had a good workout.  I'd been to see 'Mr Magic Fingers' at luncthime (physio!) at LifeFit Physiotherapy and he'd managed to ungum my kneecap and do some digging in my muscles - what a difference - though it wasn't nearly as sore as I'd anticipated, and he did say he'd seen it much worse.  Thursday I managed a wee half hour run before fitcamp and then it was fitness test time.  We take a fitness test at the start of the 4 week block and repeat it again at the end, hoping for improved numbers, I'm happy with mine this time!
I was on holiday on Friday (and again tomorrow) but when I woke on Friday I still had a sore throat and felt a bit under the weather, so when I woke yesterday the thought of a long run didn't fill me with joy... we decided to leave it another 24hours and see how I felt but the trade off was that I had to go to they gym to do a wee session - glad I did, I ran a 4mile session just turning up the miles every half mile and had the intention of trying run the last mile at 09:20 pace all was going fine, working hard but not red-lining, when John who'd finished his workout came back on the treadmill next to me and said go on turn it up for the last 4minutes - I did and so the last half mile took me 08:45!  I couldn't believe I was running that fast and yes I could have gone another couple of yards more if there'd been a finish line ahead :-)  I was really pleased as I didn't have any further pain in my leg.  So this morning we got up and headed out for the LSR, we'd decided to drive through to Leith as I'd mentioned that I'd like to run on the Water of Leith Walkway, so the plan was to run from where the river joins the sea up to Balerno where the Walkway starts, and back again.  The aim of today's run was to try to teach me to run at the slow pace I will need to do to be able to finish the Fling in April, and to practice eating on the move.  We ran most of the day in snow, however it didn't lie on the ground just added to the wet and muddy underfoot conditions (see shoes!!) but it wasn't unpleasant to run in, neither was it too cold nor too windy so it wasn't a bad day out at all.  One of the biggest things for me though was that my leg is fine, it's a bit tired, they both are, but there's no great pain and it hasn't seized up so all is good again in my head - I had a wee mental wobble after last weekend and at the moment, those fears have been allayed.
Next week is what's known as a drop back week my LSR is 10miles, so to make it interesting and to get more Fling practice in the bag, I've to try to run up hills - this is something I really struggle with, whereas John just bounds up them!  There will still be midweek runs and fitcamp sessions but it will be a 'lighter' week...
Oh and on another note - we got our Condo and flights booked for Boston and I have entered the 5km race which is held on the Sunday before the marathon and finishes on the last km of the course so I will get a chance to cross the famous Boston finish line :-)

4 weeks is a long time when you're injured :-(

It's funny how life deals you the cards...
the last time I posted on here I was just starting out on my most recent training program and looking forward to gearing up for some Summer races.  I have done hardly any running or exercise in the past 4 weeks and certainly none of the workouts on my "Devil" program :-(  When I can't do those things, I don't come here either as I don't feel I've anything to recount and would end up just moaning so better not to start writing :-)
The sore achilles I mentioned in my last post turned out to be a suspected tear in my posterior tibial tendon which got sorer as time went on, however I have had some pretty excruciating physio sessions and am pleased to report that it feels like it is on the mend.
I have run in the interim, but not much, we had signed up for the Kilt Run in Perth as part of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, it was a good day out, a fun event and I managed to run albeit slowly, all the way round the 8km course - wearing one of John's kilts!!!
Last weekend I ran/walked 9.6km on Saturday and then on Sunday John - who also has an injured calf, suggested that we go for a longer run so we drove to Falkirk then walked/ran along the Union Canal to Linlithgow where we had a nice lunch and got a train back to Falkirk.  It was a fine day out and we both survived with no ill-effects of the exercise.
Today was the MHFS 10K in Glasgow, this is the race that our friends from work trained for last year when team Runtime Error was formed, a number of them did it again today and John, while still injured managed to hobble round in a respectable 44minutes!!
I am hoping to get back on track tomorrow with my running and with my Pinpoint-Fitness program as well, that's not been great over the last couple of weeks either due to injury and illness, though hopefully everything is looking up again and I will be back on track.
Keep your fingers crossed for me and send healing vibes :-)

P.S.  Just checked and there are only 9 people in front of me on the "Devil" waiting list now...

Blown Away!

Well almost!! Whilst nowhere near as bad as the conditions suffered by the people of Missouri, we have had some incredible weather this week! It has been reasonably sunny and in places warm, but we have had gale force winds certainly across Scotland, since last Wednesday. We took our Canadian friend up to Aberdeenshire on Thursday and found the house that his Grandmother had been born/lived in until she emigrated, and we also found in Fyvie churchyard, a number of graves of his ancestors. It was a beautiful day weatherwise, just windy! It kept us off our feet for most of the day though which was good marathon prep, although it was nearly 400miles of driving but he saw a lot of Scotland on the way.
Friday I had a taping appt at the physio and left duly taped up in pink tape and set for the marathon, most of the day was chores and baking a banana bread which has to be the most delicious banana bread I've ever had. The chef has run 15 consecutive Boston Marathons so I reckoned if it worked for her it was worth a try! Risotto for dinner started the carb-fest.
Saturday morning dawned bright and fair if a little windy - though not too bad and we set off to Edinburgh to watch a friend complete her first ever race, she was running the 10K as part of the Edinburgh Marathon Festival. We picked up our friend's race pack for the Sunday, watched the 10K - cheering her in to a fabulous finish with a huge banner ;-) then met other friends also up for the marathon for a pasta lunch. By the time we got home on Saturday afternoon it was starting to rain and it was forecast to be like that for the next day too - wasn't really looking forward to running in it I can tell you. More pasta for dinner to enhance the glycogen levels and after pinning on the bibs and laying out the kit, it was off to bed at 10.
Sunday 22 May 5.30am - not a cloud in the sky and the wind seemed to have dropped, felt more hopeful... porridge, banana and honey, coffee and a slice of home made wholemeal toast, dressed, numerous visits to the loo and we were ready for the off by 0725. As we left it was raining gently but looked promising towards the East with bluer skies and whiter clouds - ever the optimist me :-)
Parked easily in George St., made our instant porridge and ate it as we walked along towards the start area for the marathon. This is the time when the real collywobbles start, when you are heading towards the start and you see the first other runners heading the same way - this is the OMG moment for me - you realise then the enormity of what you're about to undertake and why you have spent the last 3-4 months training and clocking 500+ training miles - it's quite overwhelming and sometimes tear inducing!
The start area was very well organised, plenty of porta-loos (that flush and had paper) well marked corrals, easy bag drops and MC on the radio bus doing a great job.
We met up with friends, took some photos, sheltered from a passing shower then went off for "one last visit" and to our separate start corrals.
I won't go into detail on the race, it's 26.2miles so rather a lot to write, it was rainy, the sun shone, it blew gale force winds, fabulous people braved the elements to come out of their warm homes to cheer us on and hand out jelly babies, there were spectacular views across the Forth, got blinded by sand some times, plenty of banter amongst fellow participants.

Highlights for me include:
1. passing my super fast husband going the opposite direction as Seton Sands, having the energy to shout to him that I love him and to high 5 him in passing - it brought a smile to more than me I can tell you.
2. being stung to bits by giant hailstones at mile 16!
3. free range chickens wandering across the course at mile 17-18 :-)
4. battling into a 25-30moh headwind for the last 6 miles of the course - it was unbelievably strong, there were a couple of gusts - apparently up to 50mph - I believe that!! When I could barely stand.
5. passing lots and lots of people who either couldn't keep up their pace or had simply given up trying in the wind.

6. being able to finish strongly and then meeting up with John again afterwards - that's the best bit :-)

We met up with everyone in the pub for a welcome beer/coke then another friend who had come to support us and he kindly drove us back to Edinburgh to our car.
I got a new PB, I managed to finally break the 5.30 barrier - not by much clocking a 5.29 finish, but given the conditions on Sunday I am absolutely delighted with my performance and time! This was my 10th marathon so I guess that's something of a landmark :-)

Yesterday we visited Glasgow and had an eventful journey home as all the trains were cancelled due to the horrendous weather which blew in from the Atlantic. This morning we took our friend back to the airport - he as made it down to Heathrow and is en route back to Ottawa.
We are enjoying the last day of our holiday just chilling and recovering, legs almost feel up to a wee jog - though not in the gales which are still blowing! Think I am nearly hydrated again and am almost back to normal - whatever normal is!
To everyone who has inspired me to run, to keep on going when injured or feeling down, and who make me keep on wanting to put myself through this torture again and again - Thanks! :-)

Update

you can tell I've not had much to say... it's been 2 weeks since I posted anything :-/
Catching up from my last post, John did smash his PB at Parkrun, 19mins!!! Wow he was flying down the finish and got into a little bit of a sprint for the line with a young guy who took the win by about 1 sec! I don't know if he had intended to sprint for the line, but I was marshalling and when I saw him flying towards us I was screaming encouragement and he responded :-) I think he also got a personal best for the number of insects stuck to his face and neck - Yuck!!
We went for a drive on the Sunday and did a wee recce of the marathon course, I was allowed to jog/walk 100m at a time, I did about 2 miles like that and was reasonably happy that the healing was progressing well. Monday at lunchtime I went to the gym and did a couple of miles on the bike and then a mile on the treadmill, again jog walking intervals and feeling ok.
Tues evening I decided not to go to Bootcamp as we'd had a day of very heavy rain and the grass was slippy and I thought the risk of slipping and maybe tweaking my leg was too great - also I was late finishing work and very tired. I allowed John to convince me to go to they gym, even though I was really tired, and settled down on the treadmill and yes he was right, I did start to enjoy it and feel better for the exercise. Then, PING!!!! Something went pop in my calf... it was a quick hop along on the treadmill as I hit the emergency stop button!
Fortunately there was no great pain, some numbness but I could walk and stretch reasonably easily. Following morning was very tender and a gentle exploration and treatment from physio reassured me that nothing seemed to have torn, it was most probably scar tissue releasing. Needless to say more taping took place and a lot of hobbling ensued - as well as a fair degree of worry and stress :-(
Further treatment on Friday and instructions to repeat the rehabbing I'd been doing and take it easy, lots of rest ice etc etc.
Managed back on the treadmill on Monday although I was petrified! I couldn't relax and was just waiting for the Ping! Physio made me laugh on Tues, she assures me that that is the mindset of an elite athlete - I asked for his legs!!
I am conscious that this is becoming lengthy and boring so will stop soon... We picked up our friend at Edinburgh Airport yesterday afternoon, he has come over from Canada to run on Sunday with us. It is great to see him again, and hopefully today we are going to take him up to Aberdeen and show him where his ancestors live - we have managed to research his family for him back to the late 1700s.
Weather for marathon is not great, it's been really stormy here all week with gale force winds and rain and still meant to be same on Sunday...
I woke early this morning and decided to try to jog a little this morning so I went out and managed 3km slow jogging with walk breaks at start, and whilst it wasn't exactly the greatest run I've ever had, it was the best I've had for 3 weeks!!
OK going to stop here it's just a bit of a ramble today :-)