Dechmont 10K Training Loop May 30th 2011

I was wondering how my left hip would feel after the weekend cufuffle. It felt a bit sore when I was running on it yesterday. Today I ran at an average heart rate of 144bpm and my time was 45mins 11secs. No reaction from my hip either. Hopefully everything will be okay for Thursday night's Dumbarton 10K. The weather forecast is for 12mph winds with no rain.

Glasgow Parkrun #124 - 28/5/11

I stewarded today - that's eleven times between Pollock Park and Strathclyde Park. I went out for a few drinks today with my wife to celebrate her achievement in gaining a degree. I ended up scrapping with a big heavy guy at the back of the pub - against my will! He was a complete nutter and I went outdoors with him to avoid any confrontation inside the pub. I sustained a few cuts, but it was more of a skirmish than a war. Still, I managed to upend him and he is around the 20 stone mark. Well it was in Blantyre I suppose, so nothing new there then. No more alcohol or going to the pub!

2011 Polaroid Clydebank 10K - 26/5/11

Chip time tonight was 37mins 57secs and gun time was 38mins 05secs. I was happy enough with my time, because I was actually considering not running this race as I was feeling unwell two hours before the race with an elevated resting heart rate of 45bpm. My heart rate average was around 173bpm for the whole race.

2011 Polaroid Helensburgh 10K - 19/5/11

Time was 38mins 11secs (chip) and 38mins 17secs (gun). The conditions were far from ideal as it was cold and very windy. I wore my Garmin 305 watch and heart rate monitor and ran at an average of 172bpm. My heart rate hovered around 174bpm for long periods. I was happy with my effort tonight. :-)

Glasgow Parkrun #122 - 14/5/11

Time today was 18mins 49secs. I finished 16th today. I struggled a bit going up the hill on the final kilometre - again! Still it is 22secs faster than last week's poor effort, where I was very sluggish due to the presence of a heavy cold.

Self Transcendence 5 K Road Race - Scottish 5K Road Race Championships - 11/5/11

Time tonight was 18mins 17secs. I finished in 81st place. Obviously there was a top quality field for this Scottish Championship. The weather wasn't that kind, since it was damp and windy.

Self Transcendence 5K Road Running Scottish Championships - 11/5/11

Time tonight was 18mins 17secs. A good time on a windy night - happy with that!

Dechmont 10K Training Loop May 9th 2011

Time was 45mins 23secs with an average heart rate of 144bpm. My resting heart rate was 40bpm, so not quite there yet. Before I caught a heavy cold, I was running around that loop at that pace, but at 5bpm less.

The Clyde Walkway Training Run - 8/5/11

Time today was 56mins 17secs with an average heart rate of 143bpm (7.5 miles). My resting heart rate this morning was an improved 39bpm; yesterday it was 5bpm higher. I had too much alcohol last night. Plan is to stay off it for a month or so.

Glasgow Parkrun #121 - 7/5/11

Time today was a predictably slow 19mins 11secs. The savage virus (heavy cold symptoms) I have suffered these last two weeks took its toll on me big time. My average heart rate was a very high 175bpm and it even varied between 179bpm-183bpm for quite a while. My resting heart rate this morning was a disappointing 44bpm and I knew then that I would be in for a difficult race and it proved indeed to be that way. I can, however, take solace from the fact that I managed to sustain a very high heart rate for 5km - encouraging! My heart rate maximum is 184bpm. The moral of the story - don't race if you have a very heavy cold and especially if you have something even more serious like the flu virus.

Hamilton 9 mile training run - 1st of May 2011

I have suffered from a really nasty and heavy cold for the last ten days and have trained only once in that time. I stuggled on this run today. Three weeks ago I ran the same route more than 5 minutes faster with an average heart rate on only 143bpm.