First race of the season under my belt

Sunday was the first race of the season and what a great race it was. 

The Feel the Burns race goes from Selkirk up to the Southern Upland Way and back to Selkirk. The climbs are hard and the descents are fast and in between the countryside is amazing. 

It's amazing to see how fast people can go down and up hill. I don't think that I'm either a climber or a descender. I'm an on the flat kind of guy. 

The weather on the day was ok but before there was lots of rain so some of the downhills were slippery as hell. There were also huge puddles and some pretty deep mud. 

I thought my time was decent for the conditions and at 2.10 for 13 miles + I wasn't the last Moorfoot and in the top half of the field. 

Rested on Monday as per my schedule. Did an outside run in the dark on Tuesday morning. It's amazing how slow you go when you can't see where you are going. 

Back in the gym today but couldn't get the speed going so went for going the distance. Had to push through hard to make it though. 

Now signed up for the Carnethy 5 on the 16th Feb. Need to be careful this time and not get injured. 

New Year New Running Season

So here we are in 2014 with a whole year of running ahead. 

Current highlights of the year are the Boston Marathon in April and the Great North Run in September. 

In between that are a number of usual races. Feel the Burns hill race in January, the Carnethy 5 in February and the Alloa (aka Hawaiian) Half Marathon. Then at the end of the year is the possibility of the Berlin of New York marathon if I can get a place. 

Ok so that's all of the boring plans out of the way what about training plans. 

Last year worked really well with a mix of indoor speed work in the gym from Tuesday to Thursday and outdoor work from Friday to Sunday. Monday will be a day off which is new for me but as I get older I need to rest. 

As well as the speed work outdoors I have incorporated hill work and not just running up and down hills. Proper hill work running in the hills which is going to be good for my balance and my ankles and I figure if I can run distance in the hills then the road should be easier. 

So how are things going just now. Well the Christmas excesses have added a few Kg which means I am off the pace. 

My indoor goals are 4:30 per Km and outdoor goals are sub 7 per mile. The only reason I have Km indoors and miles outdoors is that the running machine is calibrated in Km and I can'd be bothered to do the translation. Also outdoors are lot more difficult because of the wind and rain and terrain.

I'll keep you posted on how I get on.