5 Below

My second run of the week went well. I completed two circuits of Maxwell Park without stopping so I can more or less comfortably run 2.4km. My best continuous run last year was about 4.5km during the Clydebank 10K.

Today after work I got my ass in gear and went for a jog. I set myself the target of completing a circuit of Maxwell Park, map below, at a steady pace without stopping and I managed it. I am concious that when I start running I usually start at too fast a pace that I cannot keep up so I made an effort to strt and stay at a managable rate. If I can do this over increasing distances then I hope to improve my times over 10k.

Well I did get out, not a run but I did walk almost 10K. If I had remembered the route I had planed correctly I would have done a full 10K. At least I have started some training.

Thanks to a timely email from a friend I have my entry in for the Polaroid Series 2007 in May.

Tomorrow I am getting out for my first run of the year, long overdue I know. I aim to start regular runs from now on, I have never managed this before but this year thing must change.

The New Year has rolled around and my last post here was in October After that post things did not get better and I ended up on antibiotics for a couple of weeks, however the toe is now well healed.

I plan to do a few light training runs in the coming weeks, I know that until now my non-existent training has prevented me from greatly improving my times in the 10K. I will not repeat last years nonsense when I ran the 10K in Helensburgh without having done any training.

I had hoped to do some walking if not running in the past week, however the problem with my toe has returned. The cut seemed to have healed and was fine for several weeks but I managed to knock it and it started bleeding again. This time I didn’t want too use plasters on it as they caused blistering last time and resulted in more pain and problems than the cut.

I decided to try the spray-on plaster stuff but that has also resulted in blistering of the skin and more than a bit of pain. I have used a spray I have for burns and that has taken most of the pain away, the spray-on plaster has now dissolved as it is supposed to do after two days.

With any luck by next weekend it will be back to normal, fingers crossed.

First of all I arrived far too early for the race, I must remember that Stirling is not as far from Glasgow as I think.

During the first kilometre I thought I was going to have to give up as my lungs just wouldn’t work, it was a damp and misty morning and I think I have a cold coming on so that may explain it. After 2.5K they seemed to clear and I was able to do a couple of the next K’s running without walking.

I finished in 1 hour and 7 minutes which is about my average. If I am to improve on this I must start training and get my weight down.

Tomorrow I will be taking part in the Stirling City 10k. It will mean an early start and a drive across to the east coast. This should be my last 10k race for 2006.

The official site, see side bar, has a gmaps-pedometer plot of the route and the elevation does not look too bad and is a lot less than Glasgow.

Off to carbo-load

It has been raining the last few days in Glasgow so I was not surprised that this morning it was still raining. It was mainly a light drizzle which is not too bad to run in and I was thankful it was not as hot as last year when I was not taking part.

One of the instructions in the race pack was to turn up about an hour early, unfortunately the person in charge of the changing tents did not follow this instruction and it was up to the early runners to decide which tent would be the male and female changing tents and we grabbed some chairs and set them up around the edge.

At the muster area in George Square there was a very long queue at the runners info kiosk, seemingly they had safety pins. I was thankful for the announcement that were would be no mass warm up, the ones at the Jog Scotland events I have been to in the past have been pointless at they are fine for people who do aerobics and can follow the instructor but most people just seem to get lost, me very much included.

The first 1K of the course is up hill but you also lose some height before regaining it which when I ran the the race 2 years ago I found annoying, but having a little more experience with other courses it is not so bad.

The second 2K is mainly over the Kingston Bridge, it is almost worth running the 10k just for a chance to run where usually only cars are allowed The view down the Clyde is good but, there is little time to take it in.

I managed to run as far as 2K from that point on I was on my usual run – walk – run

After the Kingston Bridge I was following the route that I walked last week. The short but sudden up hill section between 5 and 6K did catch a few people and I was glad that I had walked it.

From 7K the route is mainly down hill, my feet were beginning to complain at this point, I think the problem with my toe a few weeks back and the blisters I got from wearing sandals to prevent my toe from getting rubbed my have been to blame.

The finish line was a lot further up Glasgow Green this year, by this time my feet were feeling a little flat and my legs wouldn’t put on a final sprint. I crossed the line at 1hr 12mins on the gantry time. When I get the official time I will post it.

This was the 5th 10K race that I have taken part in this year. I now have some idea of what I need to do to improve my times next year and along with regular training which I must do even when there are no events to take part in, I now know a couple of routes that I can use for training so that I can run a full 10K distance for training. Hill training as another aspect that I must undertake if I am to improve my breathing.

This evening I walked about 3.5K of the Great Scottish Run 10K course, it was good to stretch my legs a bit after the two weeks limping with a sore toe.

I have also entered the Stirling 10K, link on sidebar, on the 17th of September, it will mean a very early start and a long drive but on a Sunday morning but it will mean I will have done 6 10K runs this year.