Training Log Archive: AlistairH

Mass Start on Arthur's Seat. 26/32 +60%. 20th @ No. 10. Started well but really not running competently on the hills - lost almost 3 mins to graeme and several others between 6 and 9! Better once it got to flatter running again but serious stuff up at 27... contoured diagonally up the slope below Salisbury Crags... but from the first roundabout (before Dynamic Earth) not the second (after Dynamic Earth) climbing a couple of index contours I didn't need to, but also going through some nearly impassable gorse. Looks like I lost 5 mins (and also the will to live - slow over next few).

I knew my hill running was quite a bit behind my flat running but it was really quite dire today...

More positively. First 30+ mile week in years. That was this week's actual goal. Just trying to steadily up the mileage. Achilles tendons fine.

Running late so ran from bus stop to assembly then to start. Got there with 2 mins spare.

EUOC Big Weekend City Race. Went quite well - will see results later.

Some unforced errors - 19: I had been planning to keep going east out of the control but got confused into thinking there was no way east - there was - south east of the control. So ran left and round (best part of a minute) slightly flustered there by control circle at about 2pm breaking a fence in such a way I had been expecting to find a way through east north east of the control.

Although I'd planned ahead all the way to 19 by no. 8 I hadn't managed to plan anything else and it got a bit fraught - ended up in a group of 4, one catching me when I went round at 19, 2 others I had caught. Fast bloke jumped two uncrossable features confusing me while I checked and went round and would probably have kept up with him otherwise.

From 25 to 26 I'll have lost at least half a min leaving control west, round wall then east and taking a long line round the out of bounds in the open as it wasn't very clear which bit it was meaning on the ground. Then binned 30" + at 29 (control in bin sheds). Might not have fluffed that if I was by myself but I was just behind two people and had mentally assumed they would find it and didn't concentrate.

So prob. 2+ mins of unforced error. From gps looks like I was going 6'30-7'05 per mile going to 8 but always slower than 7'30 a mile in the last part of the course so I think I slowed.

Easy row. Thought this might be better for Achilles tendons (which are a little sorer than usual after yesterday) than a complete rest.

HBT session... almost missed it having set off too late and ended up playing Hunt the Bog Trotters. I knew the session was meant to be in Holyrood Park so went past the Commonwealth Pool and asked a passing runner if they had seen a bunch of runners doing intervals. He said he didn't know about the intervals but a bunch of runners had been seen off to the left. So ran round clockwise. After 10 mins thought I had gone the wrong way or they were doing intervals around the road in which case I'd never catch them. But got past the duck pond where there is a barrier across the road and 25 shapes descended out of the darkness...

So I got 6 or 7 x 1 min hill interval and a 1km medium effort. Actually, didn't really put my back into any of this as wanting to run well on Saturday. By the time I'd gone to the pub and got home it was over 11 miles so good session if not quite what I'd call intervals... Quite fab running round the seat on a cold clear night.

A bit token.

Slow recovery run. Cold clear night.