Club Night a Visit to the Golf Club

Two good groups at the club with Jim Robertson leading his group and Steph, Geraldine, Big Ed and I heading off for a long run, accompanied by Rob for the first couple of miles whilst on his marathon prog.
My choice of run, so decided to do the run that Geraldine and I had done a couple of weeks ago but without going into Rossdhu and looping through the Carrick Golf club a couple of times. the first time that Steph and Ed had been on this run and they gave it a pass mark. Basically a road run with forestry type trails through the golf course. A steady if easy run of about 11 and a 1/2 miles in 1hr 42, looping back a couple of times to re group with a strong finishing couple of miles.
Last year during preparation for the London Marathon and/0r Highland Fling we did long runs of up to 14 miles at night and some of this was done on roads with no lighting. I suggested that we shouldn't be running tonight's run in the dark. I should shut up! Steph suggests that we should do it using head torches!!! Something about running the WHW race at night.
Car lights on when coming home from training, the lights are fair drawing in.

A Bank Holiday Run

A day off imposed upon me as my company is based in Yorkshire and they gave everyone the English bank holiday. I was making breakfast when my dog went berserk and when I investigated found a young lady ready to go running. I don't remember joining Running Singles, and Mairi might have had something to say about that in any case. Then it clicked that this was Kim, who is my son's training partner, and he was supposed to be running with her this morning. He of course was still in his scratcher. So we had a wee blether about her running programme and I of course went into coach/jogleader mode. Suffice to say she has run 2.2 miles as her longest run and spends her time trying to beat her fastest time each time she runs. By the time he was ready she had a better idea of what she was doing and, when he returned, they had done a six mile run/walk on hills. He'll never learn, but then he was a sprinter and they know it all! I wonder how many potential runners are put off by going about programs in all the wrong ways. I know my injury problems all stemmed from running too fast when I was coaching kids and accompanying them in 200m reps.
Hopefully I know a bit more about what is appropriate for me. However, I still think that too much slow running, whereby the joints aren't put through their full range of motion, leads to lots of injuries when the runner suddenly decides to speed up. That is one thing about running the WHW that worries me. Hopefully I can deal with it by ensuring some sessions that put the knee (especially) through full ROM.
Today's run was on a small part of the Way. I was out for a run in the car looking for some holiday clothes, but dressed to run as I intended doing a run before going home. I went down to Balmaha and did 6 miles on the trail and road. Quite difficult to get a good run as the Way was full of walkers and other tourists, and getting past them broke up my running. But good in parts and as it was intended as a recovery run (although yesterday was a rest day I still felt Saturday's ru in my legs) it served the purpose. Very muddy in places and perhaps would have been better in trail shoes.

Stood Up

Turning up as arranged with Jimmy at 8.00am ready for a mixed terrain run of about 12 - 15miles, how surprised was I to see him already waiting - with his ordinary clothes on. Obviously there to give me the bad news, and it,of course, involved copious amounts of alcohol and home at 0230. Plan A cancelled. Plan B? Go ofr the papers, go home put kettle on and re-consider todays plan.
Recent solo long runs have been a disaster and end up with me cutting them short due to boredom, so I decided that as my wife was going into work this morning (in Greenock)she could drop me somewhere and I'd run home. This would mean I couldn't cut the run too short, although I did start it at the south side of the Erskine Bridge intending to take a convoluted route back but with the option of heading back more directly should I be suffering.
Onto the cycle track over the bridge, down to the canal bank cycle track at Old Kilpatrick and along through Bowling to the Milton Inn where I cut back to Milton Brae and ran up the mile long climb (steep at that) to Overton House before descending a mile to the Police Office at Dumbarton. Straight back from there to Cardross for 12 miles in 1hr 48. Not fast but other than my heart thumping against my ribs going up Milton Brae exertion probably a steady 6 out of 10.
Fastest mile 8.10 slowest 10.35. Strangely enough descending and climbing to Overton House respectively. The rest between 8.30 and 9 minutes so steady enough.
Home in time to catch the 800 metres final and then the Rangers game on Setanta.
Bagel and scrambled eggs a la Andrew for lunch and then some paperwork.

Club run Thursday

One other wee story to add to last night's report. Iwas speaking to Andy Rennie after the race and he told me that a cop, who was directing the traffic for the race, had said to him that he recognised Andy from when he was a member of Irvine YMCA Harriers then proceeded to rhyme off names from the club, John Surgenor, Chic Forbes, Brian Morrison and myself amongst them! He was Willie Jamieson, who was a cheeky wee rascal who would arrive at training for a few weeks, run the legs off us then disappear before coming back months later and doing the same again. He wouldn't believe Andy when he told him I had been in the police since 1975 (until retirement).
I must get in touch!!
Club tonight was an easy run. A whole lot of new faces, mainly girls from Jim Robertsons group and my group at JogScotland. Plus a new senior man Andy. Stevie Cowper came down so we sent Andy and Garry with Stevie whilst the rest took it easy. I had an excuse, as I had raced but soon found myself running with the front three, before turning back to meet Steph, Geraldine and Jimmy and join in the training programme discussion for the Fling and WHW race. All keen to run in John Kynaston's organised runs, but varying opinions as to when to start specific training.
After a while Steph nand I found ourselves ahead so we stopped and ran back to where Ali and Chris were shepherding the new girls and we took on some of the responsibility. Fine until Catherine decided that she had to be back at the clubhouse (and home in 7 minutes as she had to run her kids to karate. She ran on and I joined her. Can that girl run! 3/4 of a mile at a pace faster than the previous nights. I knew she could be a good runner but didn't realise that she has been hiding her light under a bushel. She tends to run with the girls at their pace and when she is at the front at JogScotland I am usually at the back with the slower runners so haven't realy seen her at her best. I think I will need to talk her into doing a bit of racing for herself rather than to help her pals!
Turned out to be 5 easy miles and 1 very fast one as I finished with a drive up the hill at the finish.

Irvine Marymass 10k

A sentimental journey for me. Irvine were my club when I was a nipper and the race organiuser Andy Rennie was a clubmate. I met Andy a few times this year at the Polaroids and Troon and I had made myself a wee promise to run in this race. Marymass was always a family outing when I was a kid, the Saturday parade through the town, the horse racing on the Moor where my father would generally end up legless, and the"shows" on the golffields at night. Also the traditional Irvine Meadow v Irvine Vics football derby on the Friday. When I started running the Thursday night gala night always included the one mile championship of Ayrshire, a huge field on 4 laps of the old ash track at Quarry Rd. One sad thing for me, looking back, was that my parents never came to see me race as they had no car and on the days where races were local they were too involved in their bowling club to see me run.
Last night fixed that. I visited my sister and then my mother in the afternoon, and my son Andrew, disappeared off to Kilmarnock with his cousins to see them play football. I went to register for the race and then ran round to the start and went to see the finish as a warmup. My neice was bringing her kids and Andrew to the finish and I got a pleasant surprise when my mother and sister turned up at the start.
The race route itself was like a step back into my past. Registration at my old watering hole Irvine Sports club, then the start was near the aforementioned Irvine Vics ground just round from the church where I attended BBs. The race followed a route passing landmarks in my early lifetime; Gailes Golf club where I caddied, and played golf when the greenkeeper wasn't looking; the various pubs where the young Hall descended into a lifestyle not suited to the athlete I used to be; the harbour and beach where I walked, ran, swam and fished; the sawmill, now a new housing development, where my father was a driver, and the finish itself; yards from my first home, from birth to 5 years.
I phoned my neice to tell her where the finish was and told her it was on Harbour Street at the swingpark (this call made when I was still at registration). "There's no swings there " she replied. "Well there was when I was a kid" said the 51 year old! There's now a puffer boat on the quay where they used to be, part of the maritime museum. Funny how I still go up and down that road when I'm down visiting and never noticed.

Anyway, the race. I started off steadily enough, and then increased my leg speed as opposed to my usual driving my stride harder, and the change semed to make a huge difference. I got to 3 k in 12 .56 and 5k in 21.56. The course had a few gentle hills and one dip in the cycle track where it dropped to the level of a lower path before regaining it's height. They didn't cause me any problems until I hit the drop on the return journey where my legs turned to jelly. I eased off for a few strides and soon regained my stride pattern. A bit of wind as we ran past the Magnum into the breeze coming off the sea, and turning on to the harbourside at 9k I realised that with a bit of effort on the last K I could beat 44 minutes, which I hadn't done for a couple of years. I managed to finish strongly and my watch stopped on 43.40, unofficial as results haven't been posted yet. Delighted with that as it was the best run for ages, negative splits and emotionally, for me at least, a good place to have a good run. Even happier with the rousing reception my fan club gave me at the finish. Even more of them turned up at the Sports Club after the race, possibly alerted to the moths escaping from my wallet as I bought them all a drink afterwards!
Nice to get a blether with John Kynaston and to meet Mr and Mrs Pacepusher, Neal and Caroline Gibson. Hope to see a lot more of the WHW family in the future weeks and months.

Club Run TUESDAY

Breaking this up into three posts as I haven't had much time to update the blog over the past few days. On Tuesday I turned up at he club everyone at the session decided to go out together although I made it clear I would be doing a short easy run as I was racing on Wednesday. We decided to head out the Old Luss Road so that those wanting a longercoulf continue to Arden and I would turn back through Cameron House. so it was an easy pace with Pat, Steph, Garry, Chairman Chris and I at the front and everyone else just a short way behind. I turned in at the hotel gates with Pat and suddenly we were on our own. Haven't a clue where they all went but on Thursday found that those who didn't go to Arden, turned off onto the hill path behind the hotel. Anyway, Pat reagled me with stories of his travels, air miles and his flight the following day to....... Madrid!
Hope the Spanair plane missed him!

Whinney Hill as a recovery run!

Day off yesterday whilst Mrs Hall and I went to Gretna for some retail therapy, needing some stuf for holiday, not to mention looking at some gear in the outdoor shoppies! How nice it was to see all the newly weds walking back from the blacksmiths, but as for the couple in the horse and trap........
all traffic comes to a halt for the strangest things.

Today I broke in a new pair of street shoes with a few miles walk in Carntyne and Shotts, so my feet were feeling it a bit. I needed to run though, and as I had a letter to drop off at the Vale Hospital went suitably attired for a trail run in Balloch Park. Paying heed to the fact I'm racing at Irvine on Wednesday I decided it would be an easy run and I'd walk a few bits, especially those going up the hills...... so 4 and a bit miles logged in pretty muddy conditions, but only one near fall and I felt a lot more confident coming downhill although I didn't get carried away. Still engaging brain before engaging legs but one of these days........
Met an old colleague at the bottom of the hill and spent ten minutes catching up before running up the hill and back to the car.

It is now sinking in that I'm an entrant in The Race. I emailed my mate Glen Stewart who is joining the police next month, enquiring as to his start date and telling him I was in The Race. He reckons I'm mad, but I still asked him if he fancied running up the Devil's Staircase by moonlight as a support runner. Funnily enough I think he'll be on a double shift that night.
Glen and I used to coach together at West Dunbartonshire A.C. and I remember doing a warmup with his dad, Lachie, who had brought down a young girl to train and stayed with her until she got over her shyness. we were discussing my running and the JogScotland groups and he told me never to allow my group to go much further than the half marathon. He was of the opinion that the marathon was too much for the recreational runner. Until this year I stuck to that advice, but I wonder what he'll think now!!!

John Kynaston has posted some dates for training runs on the WHW over the winter. They were very popular last year and I anticipate joining the groups, perhaps not the fastest groups though!!
I'll be on the Way with my regular training group in between times and I also intend hill walking and trail running at least once midweek, perhaps in Arrochar.

Route

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2176025
is the URL for this run. Well worth a look on the satellite view and you can imagine the scenery. Estimated the route through the Carrick as Mr Google took his photos before the course was built. Probably took the wrong line at some point but I'm sure JR will correct me! 14 miles the way I drew it. Easy run and would be a good run at pace but that's for later. Plenty of scope to extand it through the Loch Lomond course, though I think they cherish their privace a bit more.
I must say that the Carrick have an open access policy through their course which is appreciated. Although the Lands Access Act will apply, it makes it much nicer when they make it obvious you are welcome!
As an aside, I aplied for a job here as a relief starter on a part time basis but due to my holiday arrangements they didn't offer me a job. However the full time employee there is John Watt. He ran as suport for Jim Robertson on the WHW race for many years and it was only as he had to drop out due to his work this year that I volunteered and got that bug! Give him a wave if you pass him :-)

Tooty Frooties and a long run

Going across to the Vale to meet Geraldine for our long run I had enough time to pop into the shops for the papers and found that Tooty Frooties have made a comeback following a campaign to bring back various sweets resulting in Wispas making a comeback too. The even better news is that they (Tooty Frooties) have no artificial colour or flavours and made with fruit juice. I tend to think the ones I ate way back in the day would have been full of EEs. Two packs went in the Camelbak pocket and Geraldine and I shared some at the halfway point in our run - and then my darling wife snaffled the remaining pack on my return home.
Anyway to the run. Elaine had e-mailed me wanting company at 9am but couldn't make 8 whilst Jimmy, who might have been coming, I knew,wouldn't want to run as late as 9. So it turned out just the two of us and we agreed to run along the west bank of the loch, through the Carrick Golf course and through Loch Lomond Golf club, all on public access paths I hasten to add. This is a run that Jim Robertson uses often but as it is mainly flat on footpaths had not been used by the A team, (or me!) The run takes us through Christie park for a short distance, the Main St and then where the Polaroid 10k turns into Lomond Shores, we continue up the Old Luss Road Duck Bay, follows the A82 on the cycle path then turns right at the Arden Roundabout down to the Inchmurrin Ferry and turns onto the Carrick on a well maintained path. How the other half live for a mile or so then back onto the A82 but only for 50 yards or so before going through the small gate at the big ornamental gates into Rossdhu Estate and through the Ross Park on a rougher trail which was muddy in places. Back along the road to the ornamental gates, whilst chewing on the Tooty Frooties then back through the Carrick returning the say way other than going through Cameron House Hotel saving the wee hill for the last couple of miles. 2 and 1/2 hours at a nice pace with good company and a lot better than last Saturday's dismal effort.

Only 4 runs this week for my mileage. Knowing I had a long run today I took Friday as a rest day, not because I felt I needed it, but because I didn't want to increase my weekly mileage by too much in a week. I'll do that gradually, with an easy week every three or four weeks depending on how I feel. I'll probably work hard next week too and then the first week of my hols as I'll have plenty of leisure time to relax and ease off the second week, prior to running the Stirling 10k on my return.
Heard from Dario yesterday and I have been accepted into The Race, so I obviously satisfied the Great Lord Dario as to my abilities and potential. It's a lot of pressure off the Fling, but in no way changes my programme which is aimed at getting plenty of miles into the tank before December and getting more structured from then on. One bonus is that so many of the club are aiming at the two races and we can train together a few time a week. When I did my marathon training last year it was good to progressively build an additional longer run of about 8-12 miles on club nights to back up the "long run" at the weekends. Some of my best training runs were on Tuesdays, and I know I wouldn't have done so well in London without them.
Now I'm sitting watching the 100m semis with laptop on knee. What a shame for the sprinters that they don't get to do what we get to do!!

Club Run Thursday

Poor turnout tonight but some had good reason to miss, and others had trained earlier so they're excused. Steph, Gary, Geraldine and I headed out to Dumbarton via the cycle track on the Leven, returning through Bonhill with a final attack on the hill behind Davie Grahams car sales for 8 miles.
Jimmy Mc was at the club to, let us know why he wasn't training and the WHW entry was raised. He and I have posted our entries and Geraldine will tomorrow. Steph being cagey! I see from the entry list that Jim Robertson's entry is in, despite the "That's my last" comment in June. Mainly, IMHO, because Jim Drummond has one more goblet. I can just see them arranging with St Peter to return for "one more go."
That makes 4 Millies entering, perhaps 5 if STEPH GETS HIS ENTRY IN!!!!!
I am the only one without entry qualification so the Fling entry is already in and there are currently 7 Millies on that list with two definites still to enter.
My next project is to "advise" those not entered of the need for support runners for the WHW race and the need to train appropriately, especially for the support runners other responsibilities.

The best laid plans.......

Set out for the Vale early tonight so I could get a good run in before the slower run with my JogScotland group. I set off to do the Polaroid 10k, extended to about 6 1/2 by joining the start and finish and going off course in a couple of parks. No Garmin but setting a good pace and enjoying it when I met Jimmy McKenzie and his mate. Stopped to answer his query about the WHW entry forms then about 1k further on met Geraldine and Ali out with the dogs in the park. Stopped again, similar conversation and by this time I'm watching the clock as I should be at the leisure centre by 6.30. Finished the run strongly and collected the group, however by the time they got into running mode I had cooled off and soon after heading towards Renton I realised I had a bit of the dreaded nipple rash. After a couple of miles, one of the girls developed a stitch and then started to feel unwell so I sent the other 7 on their way without me and headed back with the casualty. She managed to get back with a few walking breaks. Whilst on that run I met another Millie, Elaine out on a solo run, and then after everyone finished, the lovely Debs, complete with (IMHO) a very neat bump. Debs ran with us on the Wednesday before the WHW and she is a bit of a personality given the surprise she gave us a few weeks later!
So instead of 12 - 14 miles tonight I only manged about 10 actual running and that was broken up by blethering and walks. Still, it felt good when I was running, and given the number of club members out about 5-5.30 I think I'll try and get organised for a 5pm run with them through the winter. I probably won't manage JogScotland for the next 4 weeks or so as I have my holiday at the end of the month and I will probably be working the week before. Next week I intend running the Irvine Marymass 10k. I was a member of Irvine when I was but a lad and some of the guys I ran with still run. Marymass was a big thing when I was a kid so it seems like a good idea to run it. I'll go down early and see my mum, sister and the rest of the family. Might even get a fan club watching me plodding round!
Now where's my pen I've got an entry form to fill in, thanks to Dario.

Arden Roundabout Tuesday night

Club night and three of set off for the Arden Roundabout, Gary, seemingly recovered from his knee problem, and I - being the only men at the club tonight - went with Geraldine, just getting back into training with structure after the head teacher's obligatory 6 weeks holibags. The other ladies went off to do some intervals in the nearby streets. (It must have been a short session Jim, we saw Ali heading home and we had only gone 7 miles!) It was a good steady run out via the Old Luss Road and back via the Cameron House Hotel grounds for a total of 8 miles. and no toilet stops!! ;-)
I've arranged to meet Geraldine on Saturday morning for a long run, her choice of run to suit her fitness at the moment. All welcome! I was wakened by my son this morning (Wed) saying I had a message from her. Thinking that she had to call off, I checked the text only to find her telling me that entries had opened for the WHW, as if my blog intelligence network (BIN) hadn't already told me!
Anyway this BIN is certainly keeping the WHW race to the fore. It's amazing how everything starts to revolve round it.
We received an e-mail from a friend of a friend who has an apartment in Portugal, offering the use of it in April May or June. My thought process went "April's the fling, June the WHW and I will be looking for a break in May soooooo...... " we're going on the 4th of May!! That's the next three holidays taken care of. Tenerife on the 29th of this month, Portugal in May and Madiera in September 2009. We have a timeshare there. Funnily enough if we had gone there this year we would be there when the local Ultra race was on. They have two races 100km (24hr limit0 and 55km (15hr). Maybe next year ............. or the one after!

Slowly slowly catchee cold

A miserable day. Glad I'm not lining up for the Devil of the Highlands, although perhaps the conditions might be better than the heat. Result seems to have gone as expected with Jez Bragg winning. Look forward to reading, and learning from, the various reports that will populate the blogs and websites. Got out this afternoon for a longer than normal recovery run, mainly to get to 40 miles for the week and partly to get some slow running in. Did about 9 miles in 1hr 20. I find this a difficult pace to run, not fast enough to feel like a run and so slow that I feel like throwing in a fast mile or two just to feel like I'm doing something. However I think it is useful to run as slow as that as no doubt there will be times when I will be running very slowly, or walking and the mental toughness needed to do this has to be learned. Don't get me wrong, by the time the Fling comes I hope to be running for long periods over terrain like the WHW at a decent pace, but I also know that I want to be able to keep going if the going gets tough and JR has told me that that toughness has to be learned by running at such a pace. It's boring though.

Club Run Thursday

Went to club as I was off for the second day in a row. 4 of us set off from the club to Cameron House and then Adrian and I turned through Lomond Shores and back to the club via the cycle track on the Leven to the Vale Academy. 7 1/2 miles

Gmaps http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2154132

Good steady pace that I thoroughly enjoyed and I think Adrian felt the benefit, being his first club run for a few months. He does a lot of mountain climbing and had been in the Alps and on Skye amongst other adventures. I had vertigo just listening to him. I don't mind a strenuous climb but I'm not too good on the tops when it appears that there is nothing between me and a long plunge. I still talk about how I was born in Irvine and could see Goat Fell from my window. That meant it was going to rain - when you couldn't see it it was raining! Anyway when I was on Arran on holiday a few years ago I set off to climb it as I always wanted to see Irvine from Arran! Couldn't see my hand in front of my face, got lost coming off the top and was away for about 2 hours more than I should have been. Mrs Hall didn't even notice.
I must get some hill walking done in the next few months, I'm sure Mr Robertson won't mind me joining him.
Time for Helensburgh half marathon was 1.43.13 and 157th place, a bit into the bottom half which is a bit disappointing.

Fast and slow

Unfortunately the fast refers not to my running but to my driving. That A3 I mentioned was in fact an Audi 3.2 litre Quattro top of the range super model. What fun that was! I left Cardross at 0530 and was in Goole at 10.30, but that included a fuelling stop and a breakfast stop so I wasn't exactly hanging about. I suppose I should keep quiet as the speeding tickets could arrive by post sometime in the next few weeks. I must say though it was a joy to drive and went exactly where it was pointed. I had to bring a Vectra back up from Goole but still managed to get home at a reasonable time so went for a short recovery run to try and get some stiffness out of my legs. However I decided to go onto the Clyde shore and ran along to Ardmore before turning up the hill, crossing the railway and returning by the main rd. About 5 miles in about 52 minutes that included some walking due to the trail. Funny thing was my sacro iliac joint (pelvis) seemed very loose and had a bit too much movement. i had some real problems with it years ago after running on the beach at Irvine and I was a bit apprehensive that it might cause a problem again. So far so good though.
Tuesday saw me in Cockburnspath in Berwickshire for a BMW. Then Irvine and Shotts with a Motability car getting home at 9.30pm although I managed to watch some of the Rangers game between trains home. Wish I hadn't bothered. No running then but Wednesday and Thursday are days off and so I managed 5 miles with JogScotland. The girls have all been on holiday so need to get used to running again. They were moving ok but I didn't want to push them too hard too soon.
Thursday will give me a chance to double session. I'll get out early and do something a bit rigourous then have an easy night at the club. However the best laid plans...........

Helensburgh Half Marathon

I ran my local half for the first time today. I intended to run mainly as a training run, but happy to go at a comfortable pace and see what happened. Starting off in the town centre, the course runs out past Rhu and Shandon, almost to Faslane where it passes under the main road and loops round to turn back to Helensburgh before moving off the shore road onto King St and a seemingly endless straight road that is also used in the 10k in May. Passing through the railway arches into Red gauntlet Rd and then down to the Main Road for the run back to the pierhead car park and the finish. There are a few small hills and, due to the heavy rain a few deep puddles to run through.
At the start I was very comfortable and ran with three clubmates for much of the first few miles, dropping off at Rhu and getting back to one of them when he stopped to stretch off a tight muscle. We had a wee battle that I lost after pushing too hard on the hill at Rhu to pass a few runners and my legs didn't recover. From mile 8 it was a struggle but I was still running as fast as I had in a half at any time before. I kept it steady from mile 9 to 11 reaching 11 in 1hr 25. However hard I tried to put in a finish I couldn't raise a gallop and started to feel the contents of my stomach wanting to make a re-appearance. I was pretty happy to see the finish line in the end. So happy I forgot to stop my watch. However it must have been about 1hr 42 or 43 as I loked at my watch after collecting my water and Mars and medal and it was stil showing 1.43 and something. That makes it my 2nd fastest ever 1/2M so I can't complain as my PB (1.41.46) was set, also in heavy rain, back in 2005 at Lochaber. It's certainly a supervet PB!!!! I'll update time when results are posted.

Struggling...........

Struggling for time and energy these days. The heat and working hours played havoc with my training this week. On Monday I was in Goole with a car and got home at 8pm. Only to go to Fort William at 7.30 the following morning, to drive a really smelly (tobacco and kids) Focus C Max to Aberdeen. Unfortunately the company that owns the car has a contract to deliver their cars to an Aberdeen auction at the termination of the lease, although the same company sends their south of Scotland cars to a Central Scotland auction. So I then had to get the train back from Aberdeen geting home at 10pm. So no training those two days. I was off on Wednesday and went for a run at 5.30pm with Jim Robertson's jog scotland group,before taking my own group out for 5 miles, 7 very slow miles with two quicker miles at 3 and 4 for 9 in total,. I had two local calls on Thursday so got to the club for 6 1/2 miles steady round the Polaroid 10k route with Jimmy McKenzie. I then had to go to Dundee and Aberdeen on Friday and got back shattered. I've got a nice A3 estate parked outside to take to Goole on Monday.
I'm taking today off intending to run the Helensburgh half marathon as a training run tomorrow. I've already entered a couple of autumn races the Stirling 10k (two days after I return home from holiday in Tenerife) and the Aviemore half marathon in October. I also intend sending off entries to the Lochaber Two Ferries (Sept) and their half marathon in November.

The biggest problem I have is going to be fitting training in with the travelling. I really don't have much time to stop when I'm away and sometimes I haven't the energy to drag myself out when I get home, especially when I've got to get up for an early train in the morning.
One thing I'll have to do is avoid taking scheduled rest days and taking forced rests whenever work interferes. The problem with that is I might train on days when I really need to rest.And vice versa! I suppose I'll just have to listen to my body telling me what it needs!