Long Arthurs Seat Loop - 15km - 1hour 57min 1sec

Faster again today.

Seemed really good to begin with and the legs were good for most of the way round. However, on the last km or so I really felt out of steam. Once I got to my street I new running on vapour. There is no way that I could have eeked out any more metres once I was at the end.

I can only put it down to the fact that I've run 37.5km in 5 days. Perhaps I've not had enought rest in between these runs but I'm getting worried about the close proximity of the first half marathon. I hope I don't fall into that trap of injuring myself prior to the race and then being unable to compete.

Wanna squeeze in one more 15km run before the end of the week though. Perhaps I'll do it on Saturday which gives me 3 days rest.

Meadows Loop - 7.5km - 1hour 8 sec

Took this really easy today since it was only 48 hours since my long run on Saturday. Felt really good and my legs were fine. Cruised round the course without much difficulty and appart from my right foot aching slightly everything was fine. However, it wasn't till I reached the end of the run that I realised why it things felt so good...

...my time was horrifically slow. I'd not even call it a run today - more of a jog. I guess time on the feet is more important than anything else so every run is a good one.

Afterall, it's better than not running!

Long Arthur's Seat Loop - 15km - 2hours 0mins

VERY windy today.

Glad I got this out the way but it felt really difficult. I think it had something to do with the wind and it blew into my face the whole way home. Feet felt ok but my legs began to run out of steam towards the end. Last time I felt I could have gone a few more kms but this time I was spent by the time I reached the flat.

On the plus side. I chopped 5 mins off my time and I'm pleased with that. As long as that trend continues I'll be happy. 6 weeks tomorrow till the first race!

Meadows Loop - 7.5km - 52min 06sec

Hey hey!!! Much better run this morning. In fact it's the fastest that I've ever done this run. Still only about 8.7km/h but I'm pretty happy with my feet. The right one was still a bit sore but I'd taken some voltarol before hand and slathered arnica cream on my feet a while before the run and it seemed to make all the difference.

MUST do a long run the weekend as I've just realised that I've only got 6 weeks until the first Half Marathon. Kinda dreading it but at least it will give me a good kick up the arse for the other ones I'm doing this year.

Meadows Loop - 7.5km - 58mins 25sec

Dreadful!

Appauling!

I don't really know what else to say about it. It was shit yesterday. My feet hurt the whole way round and I was almost forced to walk (but I didn't thankfully). I've no idea what was going on but it felt like plantar faciitis. Feet still hurt when I walk and I'm worried about the next time I run. I'm supposed to be going again tomorrow morning but I don't know if my feet are up to it.

Maybe it's time for some new shoes?

Meadow's Run - 7.5km - 52min 53secs

Well this felt a lot faster than normal. Instead of jogging I tried to run some of it. The first half was ok but later it got shit and I ended up jogging at lowest pace. My right achilles sucked again and the sole of my left foot was wank but I got over them both and pushed on.

The end result was a pain free cruise to the end of the run as I managed to turn up the speed at the end which is probably the only reason that I managed to beat my last time on this run by over 2 mins.

Plan next is to do the 15km run again in under 2 hours.

We'll see!!!

Leith Path Run - 10km - 1hour 15mins

Simon talked me into coming down to Leith today to run along the maze of paths down there.

I was up for it but to be honest I should have brought a pair of ice skates instead of trainers as there some much of the slippy stuff that we probably ended up running double the distance if you included all the side-ways action.

Anyway, glad I went. It felt quite easy and again it was non-stop. Simon said it was 15 mins faster than when he ran it last time so I was please about that.

Long Arthur's Seat Loop - 15km - 2hours 5mins

Well I decided to do a proper long run today. I've been putting it off for ages but today I just got up and went.

Headed out on Gilsland then Collington and onto Strathearn Rd. Up to the Commie Pool and then round the seat and back with a wee extra bit of a loop round Polworth and Ashley to finish. I went really, REALLY slowly but the aim was not time but the fact that I could do the distance without stopping... and I did.

At the 2007 Sydney City to Surf I crawled my way round a cramp-ridden 14km course with the sun beating down bringing with it 28C temps and it was awful. I never thought I'd ever run that distance again... but today I did... and then some.

Actually it wasn't too bad and I think that I had a few more kms left in the legs. That's good news for the upcoming half marathons. Fingers crossed they go as well as todays run - or better.

Gym Running - 6.35km - 45mins

It's been snowing a lot recently so my only options to run at the moment are to either goto the gym or buy snow shoes to run in.

I went for the former. I have to say that I'm really hating the machine and finding it so boring. It's difficult to keep going for more than about 10 mins. Threw in a bit of fart-lek at the end but it was still dull.

Must get on the road again - day off tomorrow so snow allowing I'll hit the tarmac.