Plod plod plod

17 weeks has never sounded such a short period of time. I know that many folk reading don't think much of a 16 mile run, but it's really daunting to someone like me. But onwards with the training....

Saturday was parkrun day, and saw me running at Strathclyde in the hot sunshine. Too hot. However, I did almost the same as the last two times running there, knocking another 5 seconds off my course PB. Kinda positive, even though I'd struggled, and walked lots. 35:05, for the 5km, and a nice wee bit of gentle sunburn to boot (sigh). Nice to catch up with some friends, too. :)

Sunday (yesterday) was long run day, with the long run known in some running circles as LSR (long slow run). I'll be honest - I took the 'S' part to heart, with a VERY slow run. In fact, it was more like a walk with a few running breaks in it... I did 10km in 1:23:30 - which is really slow for me, but also bizarrely positive. It's hard to explain - but basically, my first ever 10km run, in Oct 2011, was ran at 1:22:23, and was the very best I could manage, which I was pretty happy with as such a beginner at the time, signing up for a 10km long before I was expected to as a newbie. So in comparison, I knew yesterday that I was performing well under what I can manage - it was too hot for me, I was in an area I didn't know (I'll come back to that), and there was no race pressure, lol, so to only come out a minute slower than my first 10km time, I was made well aware of the progress I've made. I rarely stand back to properly look at that. Good stuff.

So, the route - well, I'd decided to start running on sections of the Southside Six race route, because I'm not terribly comfortable with the geography of Glasgow. I designed a 6.2 mile loop that incorporated 4 miles of the 16 mile race route, and felt like a good start for recceing out the course. I started in Pollok Park, and ran around to the exit at Dumbreck Rd, before crossing over the motorway and turning down to Bellahouston Park. The route through the park then takes you uphill a bit, then along a flat bit, before a flight of steps up to a long flat steady descent. The steps are preying on my mind a bit - on race day I'll reach them at about 13 miles, but in my training I want to be able to visualise myself running confidently up them. Yesterday's run found me reaching them just before 3 miles in; I'd been walking a wee bit on the flat before them, so made myself run up the steps as far as I could go, and I got about 3 quarters of the way up! First ever time. :) I'll work on improving that. :) They're terrible steps for pacing yourself on, with totally different distances between each step all the way up, and then when you reach the top of the steps there's still a very short steep bit of path to go up, just to kill you a wee bit more, lol...

After the long descent onto Nithsdale Rd I followed that road all the way to the end, turning off at Darnley Rd to head back to Pollok Park at the Haggs Rd entrance. The bit I turned off was where I left the SS6 race route, so next time I'll maybe try to made a loop which starts around there.

As I said at the begining of the post, 17 weeks has NEVER seemed so short. I have soooo much to do. Granted, I probably didn't put a huge amount of effort in yesterday, I was just too sulky in the heat, but the average pace I managed for the 10km would have me finishing the race in 3½ hours, which is unthinkable, frankly. I need to use this time to get fitter, faster, walk a lot less, and feel confident with the route - I stopped a couple of times yesterday to get my bearings and check them against a wee scrap of paper tucked into my bra, lol...

Buoyed on by a rubbish run, with positivity, this morning (Monday) I got up early and headed to Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park. I have avoided any of the hill's trails the entire time I've been running, sticking to the main road whenever I run here, but after chatting about it with Helen, and others, I think it's time I start running on Arthurs Seat - off road. So today, about 6am, I started at the Holyrood carpark, ran across the road and up a few steps, before slowing to a walk, then up a steep incline to the Crags. walked 0.5 miles, covering 100m of ascent, and leaving myself stuck in a thick early morning mist. I couldn't see too far ahead or behind, sometimes startled by a bunny rabbit hopping across the path, or a blackbird landing and taking off within feet of me. I could hear cars on Queens Drive, but couldn't see them, and the feel of the whole thing was pretty eerie. I didn't see a single person up there... wish I'd taken my camera with me, actually. As the ascent started to level out a wee bit, I started to run, and managed the whole descent onto Queens Drive, then all the way back down to the carpark, without walking. Just over 0.5 miles up, 11:30 (average pace 23 minute miles), and just under 1.4 miles down, 14 minutes (average pace 10 minute miles). Not too shabby, really. A nice short wee run in the fog before work. Approx 1.9 miles in 25:30 - a new wee loop for me that I'll try to do more often, with more running on the incline next time.

Ehhhmmm, that's been it, since Wednesday. Two rest days, and then 3 days with runs in. No other forms of exercise - so this evening I've decided to have a loooong walk through the city to go home in the sunshine. Maybe try for a swim tomorrow, and then weights on Wednesday. *nods* Things are going okay....