Canal Loop - 4.5km - 27min 46sec

So the alarm went off this morning at 0530 and I felt a horrible twinge in my left buttock. Over the last few days my backside has been getting sorer and sorer and to some extent I was dreading this mornings run. I'm sure it's my hip and the last thing I need is a hip problem or some bloody sciatica.

Anyway, as I looked at my phone which now said 0537 I almost turned over and went back to sleep. However, I remembered a conversation I had last night at an ENT conference which went like this...

"So, I'm thinking of doing the Edinburgh Marathon next year"

"Why are you doing that one?"

"Dunno?"

"Cause my mate did the Berlin one last year and it was much more of an incentive and there's a great picture of her at the finish line holding a huge jug of beer!"

I think she might have had a point as I haven't really been that enthused about running along the coast and back. All I can think about is the Edinburgh Half marathon last year and how dull a route it was. So with that Berlin in mind I limped out of bed and got onto the street.

The run to the stretch was much faster - 7min 04sec. Cut almost 40sec of that time. It felt good up until Toll Cross and my feet really started hurting again. Once I battled through the cobbles at Cargo I got up to the first bridge and then moved up to a run instead of a jog and managed to make it all the way back at that speed again. However, at that part my hip started hurting and I think that might be the cause of it all.

I guess I really need to keep and eye on it and make sure I'm stretching it out properly each run. Hip problems at age 35 would spell disaster. Anyway, overall time was over a minute faster and if I could run at this pace for a 10k or a half marathon I'd do the following times...

10km - 61min 35sec

Half Marathon - 2hours 9min

Not bad but at this stage highly unlikely. Guess I'll just keep plodding away.

Canal Loop - 4.5km - 28min 51sec

Stretch Split - 7min 41sec

So this run really surprised me this morning. I started this as a fartlek run and I was supposed to be a jog down to Toll Cross and then a run/jog along the canal. Last time I did it I managed to divide the canal bit into 2 runs and 2 jogs. This morning I jogged up until the first bridge and then ran the rest of the way.

Ultimately, I'd like to be able to run at that speed for the whole route which I think is a reasonable ambition. One thing that did give me a fright though is that I was reading the Triathlete's Bible last night and it reckons that in the weeks before an Ironman you should be doing 35 hours of training a week. That's like a full time job almost.

Crazy.

Arthur's Seat Loop - 5km - 38min 46sec

So this is the first timed run I've done in ages. I decided it would be worth doing as I'm not sure exactly how bad I've become at running. Funnily enough it wasn't my worst time round the Seat. Kinda surpised.

It was still quite horrible and now that we have got into the habit of starting the run at St Margaret's Loch there is no warm up - just a ridiculously steep hill that knackers me straight off the bat. There was some talk of altering the route etc so we'll see what happens with the Sunday Run in the future.

Of note - freezing and glad I had gloves. Crap though - feet really hurting. Hope I don't need new trainers again. Perhaps should have been keeping a note of how many miles I've put into these ones over last year.

Canal Loop - 4.5km - Untimed

So I'm back on the road now. Recently I've been trying to improve my speed and actually run instead of jog. As part of this I've been doing this wee loop out to Toll Cross and then back along the canal. During the canal part I've been doing a sort of fartlek and I've really noticed a difference.

Today, I managed to run the length of the canal with only 2 "running" sections were as previously I've had to divide it up in to 4 and 5 parts. The hope is that I can actually get up to calling myself a "Runner" instead of a poor excuse for a social jogger. A few more weeks of this and I should be able to move onto a marathon-type training program as it looks like I'm going to need a minimum of 26 weeks serious effort to pull this off.

Oh well, at least I've got a project for the winter now!

HERE WE GO AGAIN....

This has been a lame-ass year. After dropping 2.5 stone for the wedding I have eaten and slothed my way back into obesity. As a token gesture to former fitness I signed up for the Glasgow 2010 10km road race and put in a blisteringly poor time of almost 80 minutes!

80 MINUTES!!!!!!!! To run 10km. In the words of Eric Cartman "WEAK!"

So that's it. I've had enough. I'm getting back on the road. Since then I've run about 3 times. Only 4.5km at a time but it's a start. The training starts in earnest tomorrow and I'm going to start trying to build up speed first and then distance as I never really managed the other way round. There's about 10 months till the Edinburgh Marathon and I might just be tempted to make that my goal for 2011 and "run through" all the shorter races that I missed out on this year.

Get on it Chunk.