1/06/07 - 24/07/07

Completed the Edinburgh Marathon in 3hrs 50minutes, which was something of an achievement for me for my first marathon. My first run after the marathon (on the Sunday) was the following Friday. A basic 3miler, relatively flat and yet I sped round and almost passed out when I made it home. I couldn't have rushed back into the game more quickly if I tried. So I left it a couple of days and that Sunday I ran a good one - same route, same time (funnily enough) though surprisingly it felt wonderful. The following week I built my base back up and managed a few runs in Hyde Park! (Great place for running, especially in the heat)

Following that I ran every other day in Toronto and completed my first race since the marathon - a 10miler on 15/07/07 in 1 hour 22 minutes. Averaged at 8.22 min/mile and came 409/1500 (8/34 in my age group 20-24year old women) So very pleased with that experience.

Ran 4 more times over the next week until I returned home on Saturday 23rd, when I decided I would take it easy for a week. So far in my sights I have the Great Scottish Run on 02/09/07 and perhaps a few 10k's if I can get motivated enough to complete the entry forms....
As for my weekly mileages, they have been somewhat erratic...I seem to get injured a fair amount, and I also seem to pick up every cold which is around. Pre-marathon, from the beginning of the year, my weekly mileages ranged from 12miles to 38 miles, sometimes lying as low as 4miles however when I was ill or injured. Completed the Edinburgh Forthside half marathon with a time of 1hr 45mins, which was my 2nd best running accomplishment yet.

So from the marathon, my wm's have been as follows:
(w/beginning)
4/6 - 29.55
11/6 - 15 (Inverness)
18/6 - 14-18 (lost track of my routes!)
25/6 - 31.60
----
2/7 - 23.70 (Toronto)
9/7 - 30 (Toronto)
16/7 - 22.30 (Nissan Toronto 10miler)
23/7 - 12.75 (Inverness)
30/7 - 24.70

I've put in brackets the things which may have affected my distances, like when I was in Canada I had more time to run because I wasn't working...but then when I was up in Inverness I had no time to run because I was busy with other stuff.

Okay so I'm modifying this now to add in some of the runs I did (just because I had enough time to type them up this morning)

~*~*~*~*~
Sunday 22/07

Type: Long-ish
Time: 1hr6mins
Distance: 7.64miles
Pace: 8.38m/m
Rating: 5.5

Awesome Run. Started a bit slower than usual for a short while but then picked up the pace and felt really good, so just kept running. Fairly good going considering I got back from Canada yesterday and hadn’t slept for about 22 hours the days before. This was a run where I just kept going until I felt like stopping (well, until a certain sister needed a lift somewhere)

Friday 20/07

Type: Steady longer
Time: 55mins
Distance: 6.49miles
Pace: 8.38m/m
Rating: 6.5

Thought I was going a lot faster than I actually was going here. It wasn’t too hot this morning in Toronto but I needed to get back and pack, and I was fairly tired after having a fairly late night last night.

Wednesday 18/07

Type: Fartlek
Time: 40mins
Distance: 4.86miles
Rating: 8

6mins48 gentle jog followed by 1min-2min fast sections, with equal timed recoveries. Really felt this because it was very hot, so I took a 6minute jog in between to regain a bit of composure before continuing with the speeds. At the end of the run I did a slow 8min42 cool down. Although this run was hard, I really enjoyed this route through the housing estates. Also saw the same couple out running with a baby’s pram whom I’ve seen nearly every time I’ve been out here.

Won’t be running tomorrow as we are down in St Thomas visiting family.

Tuesday 17/07

Type: Very easy
Time: 21mins
Distance: 2.5miles
Pace: 8.8m/m
Rating: 4

This was just an easy first run since the race on Sunday to see how my muscles were. As it turns out I was only a little sore yesterday, which is good in terms of keeping on running, though maybe I could have put a little more effort in to have gotten the 10miles under 1hr20. Ach well, I was pleased anyway.

Sunday 15/07

Nissan Toronto 10 miler.

Type: Race
Time: 1hr22mins
Distance: 10miles
Pace: 8.22m/m
Rating: 8 (pushed myself quite hard, especially at the end)

Friday 13/07

Type: Speeds
Time: 32mins
Distance: Maybe 4miles? (mapmyrun doesn’t cover the “wilderness” areas of Canada)
Rating: 7.5

Though I’m really not keen on speeds, this session was pretty good – ran along the costal road towards the little town beside the cottage so had magnificent views to spur me on.

Thursday 12/07

Type: Easy
Time: 46mins
Distance: roughly 5.3miles?
Pace: not sure
Rating: 5

This was just an easy run to keep my legs loose.

Wednesday 11/07

Type: Easy
Time: 32mins
Distance: about 3-4miles
Rating: 4.5

A really easy run along the opposite end of the costal road. Wasn’t planning to run today but my dad (the handsome fella in my photograph) wanted to go (he’s training for the 5k this Sunday) so I decided to get into the ol’ running gear and join him. I have to say, I’ve run a lot with him this holiday and I really enjoy having the company. In fact the run last week where we got lost was one of the funnest runs I’ve ever done! We have some pretty good chats while we’re out, and I bring along my new phone which lets me play music out loud, so we have a good singalong to Kasabian and Nirvana…and a corresponding long discussion about music. I sometimes run part of the West Highland Way with my friend who cycles alongside, and that’s really fun too – time seems to pass a lot quicker when you’re blabbing away to someone (even if you don’t end up covering that much distance because you’re focusing more on the chat…) Anonymous has told me that there are some nice places to run/cycle in Inverness and seen as how he’s a cyclist himself (he’s cycled from Glasgow to Inverness at the end of term 2 years running!) maybe the two of us will be able to do a run/cycle combo up there sometime?....

Tuesday 10/07

Type: Steady
Time: 45mins
Distance: roughly 5-6miles?
Pace: ?
Rating: 7

A fairly steady run along the coast with dad. I kept him at my pace for the most part, and he kept up really well! Considering he’s not run since March and only started back last week he put up a really good fight. We stopped half way for a moment’s breather and just to enjoy the scenery really, and although he kept up well, I did run the last mile or so myself just so I knew I’d been able to keep the same pace. Plus, I knew I had a huge bowl of Corn Pops waiting for me back at the cottage so I was partially racing back for that. Everything’s better when there’s food involved, imho.

Monday 9/07

Type: Speeds
Time: 24mins
Distance: 3.2miles
Rating: 9

Hardest run I’ve done to date. The temperature outside was about 40*C and I finshed my half water bottle in the first 15mins. As far as the speeds were concerned, I did a 5min warm up then managed a few 3min speeds at between 6.30m/m and 7.10m/m with short recoveries, however, like I mention in every speed post, I’m REALLY not keen on them. That combined with the scorching heat meant I really felt bad, so I eventually just jogged back to the house( running though a few sprinklers on the way, obviously).

Friday 6/07

Type: Longer
Time: 1hr15mins
Distance: 8.5miles
Pace: 8.45m/m
Rating: 8

It was so hot but I wanted to keep going because I felt I needed to do a longish run before the race next Sunday. Somebody actually put their sprinkler out for me to run under, it was VERY kind of them. I didn't even care about all my electronics, I just kinda threw myself under the water and it felt great afterwards.

Thursday 5/07

Type: Tempo
Time: 27mins
Distance: 3.5miles
Rating: 8 (the heat is not a friend)

Did 2.8miles in 21mins, a run of 7.3m/m, then I did 6minutes of recovery. Realised that my left foot was a little sore though along the arch.

Wednesday 4/07

Type: Very easy
Time: 55mins
Distance: 5.7miles
Pace: about 10m/m
Rating: 3.5

This was a really, really slow run with dad. He's just getting back into the swing of things so I took the chance to have a jog and a blabber for a change. We were blabbing so much actually (or I was) that we got lost! We wandered off the path at the wrong point and ended up on Chinguacousy, which is very near the house, though we couldn't decide what end of the road we were or, north or south. We wandered about in a little daze for about 5 minutes (probably really amusing passers by) before deciding to try and retrace our steps. Eventually the two of us just laughed, it was all we could do! What a pair of muppets. I remember the song that was playing too at the moment we got lost...Somewhere A Clock is Ticking by Snow Patrol. I found it rather poignant ("I've got this feeling that there's something that I've missed....") yet by old man didn't agree ("turn that down! I'm trying to think....") So yes, we eventually made it home and helped ourselves to some well-earned brekkie.

Tuesday 3/07

Type: Tempo
Time: 1hr 1min
Distance: 6.2miles
Rating: 6

3.2miles easy at 8.3m/m
3miles at what I thought was faster though turned out to be the same pace...
So probably not a tempo run afterall.