Training Log Archive: LiamB

Easy running round swanston. Not quite as sore as normal for the day after the Ben but feeling knackered

Jog up the road to get picked up

Ben race. One of my favourites and always make this into a bit of a target for the end of the Summer. Super stacked field since it was a British champs race.

Out harder than normal so I didn't get too caught up in the busyness of the start but still happened anyway. Worked through a bit on the road. Had a little panic early in the climb when my legs started to feel quite heavy and I was worried I was in for a tough day out. Took the shortcut I normally take early on since the other better shortcut is normally a bit too busy but this year everyone went the way I did so a bit of stopping and queuing. A wee rest was good though and legs felt better. Made up some places when I stuck to the path and did the zig zag instead of going up the fence at the next cut. Moving well to halfway and in sight of Ian holmes and some other decent runners. Finding things a bit tougher when it got steep after halfway. Pushing quite hard but still losing some ground. Vic Wilkinson came past further up and did my best to hold on. Hit the summit in 1:06:35 (Was about 1:08:20 last year)

Aim for the descent was to keep things steady and controlled. Moving well on the flatter stuff. Took it slower when it got steeper but trying to maintain some confidence and it went fairly well. Mucked up a bit nearer to red burn when I drifted off to the left and got called over by some marshals. Had to cut over some boulders and was slow going. Possibly could have pushed harder at a couple of points here but aim was to stay in control and not panic/lose confidence like I have done before. Going better after red burn. The main tourist path was a bit of a struggle and I think I was moving a bit slower than last year. Steps were super slippy and my legs were beginning to go. Didn't lose any places on this section but some people caught up. Hit the road and I was done in. Last two years I've enjoyed pushing on the road and making up places but this year couldn't do anything as a couple of people came past and I struggled along.

Happy with the run and time. Still think there's a fair amount of room for improvement though

Easy round the golf course with some strides near the end

Easy one out round Mortonhall with the headtorch for the first time in ages

Easy run over Allermuir with some strides after

Short taper session on the meadows. ~1mile threshold (cut short so I didn't get in the way of some fringe deconstruction) at 5:40 pace. Felt like I was struggling to get going a bit but was lazy and didn't do any drills or strides so that may be why.
Then 2X~830m on a loop hitting 5:10 pace for both with a couple of sharp bends and feeling like I was shifting a lot better than the mile
Finished off with 3X1min hitting around doing 4:38, 4:46 and 4:44 pace for the three of them. Felt good. Fastest I've run in a long time. Quite fancy doing a bit more speedy stuff

Easy loop round capelaw. Legs feeling a bit heavy and weird right at the start but was moving faster than normal for an easy run so probably just feeling odd after not doing very much the previous week