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.

Meadows Loop - untimed

Soooooo after far too much eating, almost no training in 4 months and 2 stone of weight gain I decided to get back into it today. I've decided that I'll be doing the Stirling Tri again this year although I really should do some half marathons and other road races too. Perhaps I should actually join a club this year.

Anyway, went out on the pavement at 5:45am this morning and happily made it round my old 7.5km route. Legs etc felt fine and was surprisingly not out of breath but it was super slow - didn't time it for fear of having a dreadful time. Thinking of going out again tomorrow but perhaps that might be fool-hardly. We'll see...

Meadows Loop - 7.5km - 52:22

First run in over 4 weeks and surprisingly I could still do the distance.

Felt OK to begin with and it wasn't till Lauriston Rd before my legs began to slow down. The Meadows part dragged a wee bit and on the uphill I felt quite out of breath. Knees were hurting by Napier so I just cruised the last bit. Mind you still relatively fast - 3 mins faster than last time I ran it.

Mind you, it's getting cold and I did notice it today. Motivation is going to be the issue in coming weeks.

Meadows Loop - 7.5km - 55:31

A very slow run yesterday. Just cruising but haven't run for about 2 weeks so wanted to take it easy. Felt really slow but legs felt ok. Feet were very painful and I was also quite out of breath. The uphills felt hard too. Guess I need to get back to a 3-times-a-week routine.

9 days till the wedding.

Glasgow 10km - 1:05:23

Oh well.

Was really trying to get sub-60 but at least I improved on both the Edinburgh and Balfron times... not by much but an inprovement none the less. Graham did well today. Infact, as I crossed the line I felt a slap on my shoulder. It would appear that he'd kept up with me for the whole race and I only just tipped him at the line. Good to know that we run at the same speed for future races/training etc.