Brian Goodwin Memorial 10K - 24th June 2011

A disappointing 38mins 04secs tonight. Average heart rate was around 172bm. I shouldn't wear a heart rate monitor for 10K racing, since I feel it probably holds me back a little bit. Terrible half way splits tonight e.g. 1st half 18.24 and 2nd half 19.40 - rubbish tactics!

Mens Health Forum for Scotland (MHFS) 10K - 19/06/11

Time today was 37mins 48secs. Happy with that since it is a season's best so far. I have another 10K, which takes in part of this route on June 24th 2011 at Cartha Queen's Rugby Club, Pollock Park Estate in Bellahouston.

Kirkintilloch 10K - 16/06/11

Time tonight was 38mins 10secs, although my Garmin watch measured the distance as 10.05km (50m long). My time at 10K Garmin time was 38mins exactly. I finished in 15th place tonight. Two runners caught me with 300m to go and that of course was a bit disppointing, but nonetheless it was 18secs faster than last year's effort.

Polaroid Vale of Leven 10K - 12/6/11

Chip Time today was 38mins 04secs. That is a personal best on that undulating course, although to be honest a part of the course (from 6K to 9K) had changed from previous years and is now a bit flatter. I felt good going into this race, but was a bit silly at the start by standing amongst the 50min+ 10K runners, only having to later on dodge between them all to surge ahead - wasting valuable energy and fluency. I spotted Al MacLachlan (Bellahouston Road Runners) at the 8K mark and decided to try to catch him, but he managed to accelerate a wee bit just beyond the 9K mark to re-establish his lead. I wish I had sprinted more near the end to have dipped 38mins, but it wasn't to be. Roll on Thursday's Kirkintilloch 10K Trail Race - another tough course nevertheless! My Garmin Heart Rate Monitor was useless today - it just refused to pick up my heart rate accurately. This seems to happen to me every time I wear a monitor in that part of the world - very strange!

Bellahouston Harriers 2 Mile Time Trial - 9/6/11

Time tonight was 11mins 25secs. I finished 10th. Pace was 5mins 43secs. I really enjoyed this race. Excellent hospitality from a great club!

Glasgow Parkrun #123 - 4/6/11

I was still very tired from Thursday's Dumbarton 10K, where I struggled round in a disappointing time of 39mins 39secs. Today I felt the effects of my efforts a mere 36 hours ago. My time was 19mins 03secs. I was 12th today and quite happy as I finished in front of two other runners who sometimes are in front of me. My time today was not too bad considering I was very tired.

Polaroid Dumbarton 10K - 2/6/11

Wal - what a crap race I had tonight! I wore my Timex Ironman Heart Rate Monitor and although it gives me accurate heart rate readings, I stupidly ignored them and to my cost. My heart rate was up as high 176/177 bpm for long periods and even rose to 179bpm a few times. My splits were still on at the 5K mark (18.39), but I was severely stressed by then in the hot conditions. I was at 26.58 at 6K instead of 26.06 and this really 'broke my resolve'. My heart rate would not go below 176bpm and by the 7k mark I was walking. I then started running again, but stopped again at around 7.8K and walked for around one minute. I noticed at the 8K mark that my time was 32mins something and decided then to try to run the last 2K with more speed. I managed to catch some of the runners and finished in a disappointing 39mins 39secs. I need to learn to 'run more intelligently'.