Sunday slogathon to An Sabhal aig Neill

Cold, windy and wet. I've got the Sunday papers and its nice and warm inside. Hardly an inspiring situation regarding going out for a run. Strangely I was pretty motivated about going out, I think because I enjoyed Friday evening's run so much.

My plan was 18K to see if running long two days out of 3 slows me down. The first 2-3k were tight and a bit sore. Hedgehog hill was a real grind but i was at the top in 25:02(5K) which was about a minute faster than Friday. However I was feeling the pace much more than Friday so I suspected I'd lose time on the second half.

On Saturday I'd measured the distance in the car to the point I thought was 10K and it was actually 11K so I now understood why my 10K times were so far out. I reached the 10K(actually 11K) part in 1:00:20 so just missed getting under the 1hr mark.

I'm really blowing at this point and feeling the pace much more than Friday. I try to keep my steps long and low. I remembered last year that this was one of the ways I improved my times.

I finished in 1:37:20 which shaved nearly 3 minutes off Fridays time. However I felt the diffence in my legs and was absolutely shattered at the end point. A great session that I enjoyed. The music again kept me going and i was lucky timing wise with some of the tracks. Runrig dragging me up the Hedgehog with An Sabhal aig Neill. Probably one of the best single running tracks I have in my entire collection. You can't listen to it without tapping your feet so its excellent for getting you up a hill. If you can ignore the hairs sticking out on the back of your neck.

Burns Night tomorrow and Team Kennedy manager has a couple of massive Haggis in the fridge and that rarest of things in Belgium, a real turnip. I might even have a snifter to celebrate the Bard. Click this for wee song to inspire all you out there with a revolutionary bent in these times of Bankers running the world.

Friday fun run

18K after work. Sunny and not a bad evening. Legs felt pretty good but i just could not get motivated to get out and was trying my best to avoid it. Eventually with some encouragement I got geared up. First 5K were very easy and at 26 minutes OK time wise. I had a real spring in my step and didn't have that blood taste in my throat. Up the hill to 10K at 1hr and 2mins, shaving 4 minutes off last Saturday's split time at the same point. Finished in the dark in 1:40:06 so shaving 9 minutes off last Saturdays 18K so 30 seconds per km faster.

That is quite a big jump in performance in just a week and I felt fine at the finish. I still had plenty of miles in my legs and i could have no doubt injected some more pace into the run earlier. Great training run and music was inspiring again.

I'm really struggling with motivation and I was thinking on the way round what is differnt to last year. Obviously I haven't got a fixed triathlon date in my diary but I think thats too simple as I still have the Kilomathon in 7 weeks. I think its more than that in that this time last year I was reading a lot on training and specifically running and cycling. I've just been reading Biographies and Autobiographies recently so I've obviously not been too inspired fitness wise by that. I might get a couple of my training books out next and see if that helps.

7K stretcher

I did a quick 7K round the back route. It was very muddy, wet, icy and slippy. I felt fine , if a little windy on the hills. Its good for your balance I suppose but its far from ideal....I'm off to Paris and Hamburg early in this week so training opportunities will be limited early in the week.

The Long Way Round

I received my 8 week warning from the Kilomathon race in England in March. I needed to get a move on given my poor training record to date. I prepared myself for a long run just to see how it felt. I headed out and took the long route with 18K on the cards. 26 minutes for 5K. Then 1hr 5 minutes for 10K which is about 20 minutes longer than my 45 minute personal best.

Clearly my fitness has dropped off significantly. I finished in 1hr 49 which is pretty slow for 18K. I managed it without stopping and I was struggling from about 12K and at 15K I was running on empty. Clearly my ability to store energy is also needing some training. Happy to have done it and no real pain or injury worries after the run.

Snow Run

Out for a quick 9K before dinner. We've had about 4 inches of snow 3-4 days ago and its been very cold. Current temp is about minus 7C. Slightly slippy underfoot but not as bad as it was on 26th due to the ice. Pretty cold and I had 3 layers on plus thermal leggings and a hat/gloves. Just need to try and keep it up. Only 9-10 weeks till the Kilomathon(26k) in Nottingham on 14th March. Thanks to my 100kg friend for calling me and reminding me that I too could be there shortly(currently 75kg) if I don't continue to run off my much delayed middle age spread.