2012 round up

2012 has been comfortably my worst year from a running point of view. An achilles problem in march followed by a calf strain in October meant that all running was either absent or difficult. I have felt either injured or in recovery or struggling for most of the year. My mileage of 891 is the lowest by a long way since I started running regularly in 2000.
I have done a few races. I did 1 half in March of 86 something and 2 10Ks the 2nd being a good run of 39.15 on a hilly course.
I dont know whether I have simply been unlucky or if this is a sign of things to come.
I will be more circumspect with training and hope a lower mileage helps ward off injuries.
Optimistically I have great plans for 2013.
I plan to do as much of the club champs as I can and aim to train for 10K for the 1st 4 months of the year. Then I will spend a month mountaineering  and then hopefully spend the summer training for the Dublin marathon at the end of October.
I hope 2013 is better but will inevitably take what comes my way and try and enjoy it.

That's it for another year

Have had a nice break over Christmas and some v wet runs.
The weather has been sensationally bad the last few weeks with haevy, persistent rain and the ground is now saturated
A run around the circular walk and Maam Rd is now a run through a sream for large parts. However there is always pleasure to be had from a run if you look hard enough. On Christmas day I did the above mentioned run and just as I ran west from the top of the Maam Rd the sun was out and the Strath was pocketed with mist.
I would say that I am struggling with form and niggles. I cant get a run without feeling my calves tight but on the plus side I am running.
Yesterday I ran over E Lomond and back with Sol. It was covered with an inch of snow and it was a cracking run when running was possible. I wouldn't fancy racing up there, it os steep and prolonged and was a brisk walk for me.

Mince pie runs 2012

It was a chrismassy weekend for Strathearn Harriers this weekend.
On Saturday we had a run at the top of Glen Artney
After running with the group from the church carpark then up to Strath a Gleine for 3 miles we stopped for mince pies etc. Then on for another 5 miles before 5 of us ran over Beinn Dearg and completed a circuit into Glen Artney. A total of 10 miles and no problems.
Today I helped out with the junior run.
The junior section has really blossomed and 23 of them were out for a run up to the monument along with various coaches and parents.
I was quite taken aback by the pace and strength of he fastest juniors. I felt a bit of an interloper as I have v little to do with the juniors but was happy to be out for the run.
After a v rapid descent from the youngsters and a much slower decent from me we did the circular walk in reverse.
Again, I felt fine although slow.
So thats 32 miles for the week which is the most miles for quite a while.

Glen Artney run

This year our mince pie run is at the top of lovely Glen Artney.
I hadn't done the circuit planned before so met up with Kerry to run it.
We had a cold but lovely day to do it on the 10th.
The 1st 5 miles is on good tracks and stunning. Then we went into the woods. About halfway in the track stops and progress is only possible through a firebreak. This was horrendous. Just deep mossy/boggy progress, sinking up to knees in places.
We finally made it out and into the glen Again it was lovely but rough going up to the old slate quarry.
Finally once we had made it there we were able to run again and had a nice trot down into Glen Artney and back to the car.
It was an 11mile outing and took 2h 39min so v slow with 2 miles taking almost an hour.
A great day out.

Some sort of progress

Had a great week in LaGomera. Running wasn't great but the weather was and I ran most days.
A couple of days after returning I had yet another twinge in my right calf. I seem to have been plagued with these.
Last Sunday after what turned out to be a 20mile week I had a massage which I hope will help.
This Tue I managed 10K on the treadmill so will do X country this Saturday and hope for the best
Weather has been wintry the last few days so I haven't run outside for the last week or so. It is good to have the option of a gym

Looking forward to some sunshine

Off to La Gomera for a week in 2 days.
Cant wait to feel the sunshine. My main aim has been to make sure I can enjoy some running out there. I have done 2 v short runs this week and wont run now until on holiday.

Steady progress

Not much to mention. Have done 3 runs this week, today's being the longest at 3.5m
I am also going to the gym.
Starting to thnk about 2013. My main ambition atm is to really crack the munros. I have reconciled what I have done and after triple checking it I have 56 to do.
I am planning on taking some extended leave next May of 5 weeks so that should give me enough time to do 30-40 of them. Well we will see.

Hopefull

Managed a v slow v short jog on the treadmill yesterday. Was really surprised to be able to do even that. Have been good going to the gym 3x/week and have done a couple of 10 mile walks with Liz. Hope it isn't a false dawn

Rehab

Things dont seem too bad. I have been to the gym a couple of times and cycled once and the calf seems OK. I cant run yet, I tried a v light jog lasy night on the teadmill and it reacted straight away. No more exploratory jogs for a week. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be running again.

Bl**dy calf again

Last Saturday I went to the east district x country relays. It was a 4K leg which I ran in isolation and didnt run v well.
The day after I did 10miles and felt dreadful. Tue was an OK 5 miles
I had 2 half planned and a go at the Strathearn marathon route in Dec so I wanted to get some miles in so yesterday I set off to do a 13 mile run. I did stretch 1st but wore shorts on a frosty morning. After 10 v slow miles whilst running downhill the inside of my right calf suddenly hurt. It was clear straight away that it was a tear and I was able to get a lift home luckily.
So, strange to have this happen whilst properly warmed up and v frustrating. I will abandon all ideas of racing this year and start the slow road back, again.

Strathcarron Hospice 10K

39.15
12th place

Last Sunday the sun shone on this race which was another new one to me.
Myself and 2 other harriers ( Susan and Jayne) did this one.
Again, no idea how the race might go or what sort of course it was.
We were set off before I could sort out my GPS so I started it at 1k. THe 1st 2-3kms was pretty hilly and I learnt later there was a total altitude gain and loss of 244ft
The course was pretty dull tbh but OK and I worked my way past a few runners until I had the 1st lady about 50m in front after about 3 0r 4K. That is the way it stayed.
I felt fine the whole way, just couldnt go any faster.
The race starts and ends at Denny community campus. The other 2 harriers did splendidly, both getting PBs.

Glen Artney

Approx 9 miles. Slow

Beautiful run on a lovely afternoon. This is a stunning run I never get tired of doing.
Felt pretty knackered whole way but can't be too down about it. I am planning to do Strathcarron hospice 10K in 2 days but will see how  feel tomorrow.

Linlithgow 10K

40.50 and 28th place

What a good race this is.
It has a maximum of 600 which is achieved a few weeks before the race.
The run is mainly rural and undulating with a nice finish at Linlithgow palace. A technical T shirt as well so all in all a good day out.
From a personal point of view I probably went out a bit fast, did the 1st half in 20min dead and felt pretty tired in the 2nd half. However I really enjoyed it and it felt great to be racing again, especially on tarmac.

A reboot

Thought my blog might have given up waiting for me to write something and gone away. Looks like it's waited patiently.
It's been a terrible year for running so hopefully things can only get better ( now I've jinxed things)
My Achilles prob continued for about 10 weeks in the end and I ended up seeing harry Burnett (top sports Dr) who found all sorts of things wrong and rebuilt me, sort of.
I started running v short distances at the end of June and have v slowly built things up over the summer and done a couple of relays but nothing v competitive.
In September I have been troubled with v low energy levels and I dont really know why. I have had a sore tooth so am on antibiotics this week and have also had a virus this week.
I entered the Linlithgow 10K a while ago which is on the 30th.
This morning I woke feeling OK son went out for a loop of Aberuchill and felt a lot better than I expected to. Managed 7,16/mile ave over 5 miles and felt confortable. So I will give the 10K a go and not worry about the time.

It's been a while

3/12 since my last post largely because not a lot has been happening. I seem to have spent the 1st quarter of the year being injured or spending time recovering from injury. At the moment I have an Achilles injury and a v sore neck.
However I have done some races. I did the Devil's Burdens and ran OK. We came 23rd which was a bit disappointing. We put a 9 man team in for the 3rd Eastern district X-country and again I felt below par.
The national x country was a shocker bit I did it and spent a minute retrieving and replacing a shoe.
In retrospect Alloa half went quite well. I did 86.43 which was OK and a good turn out of the club. After Alloa I clearly had an Achilles strain and eventually got the message and rested it. Unfortunately the national road running relays came along which I felt I had to do and again I had a shocker and a sore Achilles at the end.
So what now ?
I think the Achilles is improving but not better yet. I am x training fairly conscientiously which should help and it's just a case of being patient.

Slow start to 2012

Along with 11 other Harriers I completed the Decembathon during a shuttle session. The day after we had the traditional Comrie new year day run. I felt my hamstring on the right was tight but was able to do the run.
After that I had 3 days off partly because of the ham but mainly because I didn't want to run, a v rare state.
On Friday I had a 24 hr tummy bug so missed out on a Devil's Burdens recce but ran the Galscorrie run on Sunday in a v encouraging 50.10.
Today I did the Glen Artney run with Kerry and had a good run. It was gloomy and windy but not bad for January.
I have been training in the gym quite a bit as well,trying to build some strength particularly in the legs.
It's x-country on Saturday, so I'll see how that goes