Week 15/16

Two weeks to go now till the Woman’s 10k, and unfortunately it’s been over two weeks since I last went out a run! Feeling very frustrated! As I reported in my previous blog, I somehow managed to injure the top of my foot. I had an x-ray on it last week and got told there were no immediate signs of damage, a full report is getting sent to my doctor so just keeping my fingers (and toes!) crossed there is no stress fracture!

Didn’t do much exercise last week as tried to rest my foot as much as possible. I had gone to spin class as Glasgow Club Easterhouse on the Monday night, but my foot was hurting when standing up on the bike so had to do the whole class sitting down on the bike! It was rather uncomfortable!

Have tried to do more exercise this week to keep my fitness levels up. Also, I was getting extremely restless from not getting out running! Went to the gym at Glasgow Club Whitehill on Tuesday night for a quick 30mins blast on the bike, and on Wednesday night did my tae bo dvd.

Saturday morning I went to Glasgow Club Whitehill again, this time did 20mins on the bike, then went into the swimming pool. Hubby had found me a floatation belt which allows you to run in the water – which is supposed to be a great way to aid recovery from injury! Think I did about half an hour of pool running, and I have to say I was pretty exhausted by the end!

Sunday I went to Glasgow Club Easterhouse to use the gym there, did 30mins on the cross trainer and then 15mins on the bike!

My foot is definitely feeling much better now, so hopefully it is healing. I will give the running a miss again this week and them maybe attempt a wee jog next weekend and see how it goes!  After all those times in the past I’ve moaned about having to go out a run, I really can’t believe how much I am missing it now!

I have definitely ruled out any hope of getting a decent time in the Woman’s 10k, but hopefully I will still be able to take part. I have done this race for the past few years and love being a part of the event. It’s always a special day with an amazing atmosphere so I hope I don’t have to miss out!

Coffin Dodger

Yes just 2 weeks to the big day and its been an interesting jouney which got off to a great start Jan/Feb (good times, PB etc), turned into a disaster in march (got really run down and my mum broke her leg) and slowly recovered in April (got back into training and put in some reasonable training sessions), but how that will all translate on race day is anyone's guess.

The last 2 weeks has been good training wise.  I've not managed to get back to my club for the Monday night fartlek session which is really good due to caring for my mum, but I have tried to emulate it myself at other times of the week.  I've put in a weekly track session throughout April - 400's, 800's, 1200's and finally 1600s which also really help with speed and I've got my long run up to 10 miles again (probably my least favourite run of the week).  I've also got in 2 hill sessions and some decent treadmill running but if I'm being honest I'm not near where i need to be for a PB of under 41:38 which is my previous best time.  Anyway, you never know what can happen on the day but if I can get near last year's time of 43:05 I'll be pleased considering all that has happened.  That should hopefully keep me in the first 100 home, although with more club runners taking part this year, I might go down the rankings a bit.

As I might have said before, I've been running now for about 25 years (I'm 45 now) and in that time I've had a few strange things happen to me.  Once I ran through a remembrance day service.  Was running roung a route I do in Renfrew and turned a corner only to be in the middle of a 2 minute silence.  That wasn't a good experience, and last week I had another not so good encounter while running on a wet day in Paisley.  On running along a busy road and nearing the end of my run, I wasn' paying too much attention when I was suddenly aware of a man walking backwards with a long black coat on.  In the heat of the moment and realising I had to pull up real fast it was on the tip of my tongue to tell him to watch where he was going only to realise a split second later that he was guiding a coffin out of a church.  I stopped 2 steps off the coffin and the poor people carrying it.  What a fright - for them and me!   What do you do in such circumstances except bow your head and start walking backwards very slowly. 

On a slightly lighter note and staying on the subject of running incidents, once I was running along Glasgow Road in Paisley when a man stepped out a fish and chip shop eating a fish supper. We collided at great speed and his chips went up in the air and came down on top of us both.  He wasn't happy. 

One good thing to come of the last 2 weeks is a great performance by my friend Gemma Rankin at the London Marathon.  Gemma finished the gruelling 26 mile course in an amazing 2-43, taking 6 mins off her previous time and coming 3rd in the masses race.  Amazing!!  Hopefully Gemma will run in the Glasgow 10K in a few weeks and she will be up there at the front so look out for her!!  A rising star I would say!

So, last hard week of training before I start a gradual taper next week.  Have a slight sore throat tonight and my son has a cold so I think I might be getting it - damn!  Will try to get in a good week however and take it easier next week.  Have an appointment with Lynn, the other lady that writes a blog on this site.  Lynn is a brilliant sports therapist and works wonders on my legs to keep my going when training hard.  I'm looking forward to that! 

So good luck to everyone with final training, get out there and have a good week.  It will be worth it on the day!!  Have fun girls!

Some statistics

So here we are, two weeks till the big day!!  Exciting!

I was browsing the 10k website the other day and realised for the first time that the results are broken down by age category (I know, where have I been?!)  Anyway, I had a look at 2010, which was the last time I ran, and discovered that I was 58th home of the 451 in my age group, so I'm looking forward to comparing that with how things go this year. This should have been my last year in that category, but I also noticed that the age range has been changed from 55-59 to 56-60, so I've got an extra year as a vet before I qualify as elderly ;-) !!

I am very pleased to report I have managed to successfully negotiate the Beer Festival......and to let you know that there were some delicious beers!  Wednesday night was fun with friends, I didn't train, other than yoga, on Thursday, and on Friday night Nick and I went to our usual kettlebells class.  As it happened we won a watch, as our instructor didn't have us do any techniques which specifically focussed on the legs.  Our upper bodies were extremely tired on Saturday, but since I wasn't working, we went to the Pollok Park parkrun.  It was a beautiful morning, cold but sunny - just perfect - and the turnout reflected that.  There were 439 runners, the second biggest field ever - amazing!  The big number meant a fair bit of congestion at the start of the run, but despite that I was totally chuffed to record another PB for the course, 29:46.  The first runner home did it in a stunning 17:07, just 6 seconds short of the course record!

Of course we spent the afternoon sitting on the Town Hall floor, just Nick and I this time, a couple of lazy hours sampling good beers, then a delicious veggie paella in La Mesa on the way home - lovely!

One week's training and one week's taper to go. I accidentally stuck a week's holiday in the middle of that......mind you, that means some warm weather training!

Eventful days!

The 25th annual Paisley Beer Festival is on this week from Wednesday to Saturday - making this a tricky week!  I dont drink a huge amount, but I do like to try out maybe 3 or 4 different real ales, - all just half pints, mind you!! - alcohol does dehydrate you, though, and there is always the possibility of a beer disagreeing with you.   I'll be there on Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon so I definitely dont want to be running on Thursday and probably not Sunday either, two of my regular days.   I have kettlebell class on Friday as usual, making running on Saturday morning hard - I have found as I get older that it takes much longer to recover :-p

I was feeling quite good after Sunday's 4.5 miles, so I decided to do my first 6 mile run on Monday. Hubby came out with me, and as we were running down a long slope, he commented on how much he enjoys running downhill.  Me, on the other hand, a couple of years ago I fell when running - not good, pelvis out of alignment etc - so I tend to be a wee bit wary running downhill, it brings thoughts of that fall back.  I was talking about this when, yep, you guessed it, I tripped on an uneven paving stone and swallow dived!!  Must have got distracted from my customary sweep of the ground ahead. :-(  Luckily this time there was no damage apart from stinging hands and a knee, and of course the embarrassment of being sprawled on the pavement of a busy road, so I was able to carry on.  In fact the run was pretty good!  It was a wee bit short of the planned distance at 5.57 miles, but I did it in 52:31 mins.  That works out at about 9:25 minute miles, so the improvement in my speed is continuing! 

There is of course a moral to that story - well two actually. First, DONT take you eyes off the road ahead - d'oh!!  Second is that that story will never be repeated again unless my bottom is firmly plonked on my sofa at the time!

Cant tell you how jiggered I was on Tuesday though, it was hard work getting to work!!  Not surprisingly, my planned kettlebell swings didn't happen. 

So we get to Wednesday morning, and this time a full 6 miles.  It was a horrible run, a cold strong wind, which as ever swirls round and constantly meets you head on!  My hamstring was a bit tight again and my back started to ache in the last mile or two. The only blessing was that the rain stayed off till the last half mile!  Time wise it wasn't too bad, all things considered, an average 9:42 per mile. 

Off to work shortly and when I finish at 8pm, we'll be heading to the Town Hall to do some beer sampling!! 

Happier days!

Well, after the 'totally rubbish' week, happily things have been looking up a bit!  

I had another osteopath treatment on Monday, and didn't train at all that day.  On Tuesday I did a light kettlebell session - I was still feeling achy so I really didn't want to push my luck by running, but the basic kettlebell swing is a good functional exercise, great for core strength.   By Wednesday I thought it was time to head out and went for a 5K jog.  I didn't try to push it at all, so I was pleased that I did the route in a wee bit under 30 mins. 

I took Thursday and Saturday off, and ran on Friday and Sunday.  This week's runs should have been 6 miles, but having written last week off, I decided to stick to 4.5 miles.  The training plan said speed intervals, but again I didn't think my back would cope with that, so I just did  ordinary runs.  Both of them were fairly hilly, so there was a challenge there, but I just ran at what felt a comfortable speed.  The first route was 4.3 miles in 42 minutes, and the second was 4.58miles in 43:21.  My back was achy after both runs, but not too bad.  I was pleased, especially with Sunday's which averaged around 9:30 minute miles.  I decided not to go to kettlebell class on Friday evening - a quit while you're ahead type of decision!!!

So my come back week has been pretty successful I think.  I now need to balance up what the training plan says and what I think my body can do.....so my revised intention is to run the plan's distances, ie 1 x 3 miles and 2 x 6 miles, each of the next two weeks, but not to attempt to achieve the plan's guideline speeds.  I might need to reassess that, but we'll see how it goes.  I have another treatment session in a week's time, so fingers crossed that will keep me on the straight and narrow!

Hope you all watched the London marathon - inspirational!  In particular two Scots - Freya Murray finishing in 2 hours 28 min, and Paisley's Gemma Rankin in an outstanding PB of 2 hours 43 mins.

Speak to you soon x

It's getting close now!

We had a good training session last night and, with only a few weeks to go, we are all feeling more confident and our fitness has improved dramatically. We completed one of our longest routes with a few killer hills to get us ready for the big day. Although by the end of our run we were  quite tired, we will be able to complete the full 10k and with all the hard work we have put in we definitely deserve it!

We only have 2 more training sessions to go but we are really pleased with the huge turnout we have had at all of our training nights since August. Lots of our pupils are going to take part whether it is running or walking the 10k and, with some extra parent participants, Team Craigholme is raring to go! Can't wait for the 13th to raise lots of money for this year’s school charity Cash4Kids. 

Week 14

Disaster has struck! With 4 weeks to go to the 10k, and having been doing the best running I’ve ever managed, I’ve somehow managed to injure my foot!

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I had a fantastic start to the week by running a new pb for my 10k. Took a break on Tuesday, then Wednesday I did my tae bo dvd fitness dvd.

Thursday night I decided to go out and go some hill sprints. I had been feeling a wee twinge in my foot since going hill walking a couple of weeks ago, but it hadn’t caused me any problems when running so I didn’t think it was anything to worry about. Managed to do 4 hill sprints on Thursday but then my foot really started to ache and I barely managed to jog back to the house! Since then have been feeling it painful when walking so will need to give running a miss for a week or so at least and will get it checked out – fingers crossed its nothing too serious!

Friday night had a weights session at Glasgow Club Whitehill, then rested on Saturday to avoid causing any more damage to my foot. Sunday I was really itching to get out so went to Glasgow Club Easterhouse and managed to do a good hour of cardio, with 30 mins on the crosstrainer and 30 mins on the bike. That didn’t hurt my foot so at least I know I can still do exercise to keep my fitness levels up even if I can’t get out running!

Hopefully will be able to report better news next week!

A totally rubbish week :-(

Hmmm - not the title I'd imagined for a blog about this week's training as I've been really enthused about only having 5 weeks to go.

Last Sunday my hamstring had been a bit tight, so I didn't push that day's run, not injured though, so not really a concern.  I started the week with a good kettlebell workout on Monday, day off on Tuesday then on Wednesday I set out to do my first intervals run of the week.  Unfortunately my back started playing up again and I gave up quite quickly.  That was when the significance of the tight hamstring dawned on me - with my problem they are connected.  Great.

I had some treatment on Thursday, and the osteopath said that Friday's kettlebell class would be OK so that was good, I was just a bit cautious about what weight I was using and avoided a specific couple of techniques.  Didn't do anything on Saturday.

Today (Sunday), beautiful sunny day, I decided to do a fairly short run, no speed.  I did an out and back along the Cycle Track because it is relatively flat with a good surface, just over 2.5 miles altogether. I struggled a bit, though my back didn't seem too bad.

I have another treatment session tomorrow, so fingers crossed.  Training wise I've just written this week off.  All being well I'll do this week's sessions next week, then move onto the last two weeks of training followed by the taper week - here's hoping!!

Nearly there!! :-)

Its getting exciting now, training wise we're at the business end with 4 weeks full training left, then a taper week......how cool is that?  4 weeks of hard work of course, but that is what brings rewards.  I know I'm never going to be a 'good' runner, but since the end of last year I've got back from injury, and with more focussed training sessions over the last couple of months my speed and stamina have improved to the point that there is a decent chance of me equalling my previous best time (58:21) which I achieved in the Women's 10K in 2010. 

Road running is great because it is about your own goals, it doesn't matter what anyone else can do.  I'm hugely inspired by the talent of elite runners, and I also know how hard they work, but on race day my run is about me!   So we all need to buckle down for the last wee while, it will definitely be worth it on 13th May!!

Week 13

Something strange seems to have happened to be over the last couple of weeks – I suddenly am running faster than I’ve ever managed before!!

Had a slow start to the week, a combination of working late, meeting friends, and strange snow, meant that I didn’t manage to get out running until Thursday. Having ran my previous 5k in just under 27mins I wanted to try for another good time. However I was still amazed to run a 5k in my second best ever time (and best for a couple of years!) of 26m 24s! That was an average speed of 11.4kph, and my mile splits were 8m 36s / 8m 25s / 8m 28s!

To prove it wasn’t a fluke, I went out on Saturday for another 5k run, and pretty much equalled Thursday by doing it in 26m 26s. A part of me was disappointed that I didn’t run it quicker, but then I do tend to find I run better at night. My mile times again were fairly consistent – 8, 27s / 8m 33s / 8m 35s.

Had another rest on Sunday (too many Easter eggs to get through!) then on Monday morning I went out for a 10k run, my first for a while. Full of motivation after my 5k times over the last week, I was feeling positive for a good time. And I am very happy to report that I managed a new PB!! Ran it in 55m 30s (ave 10.8kph), that’s a minute faster than my previous PB, which I achieved at the Woman’s 10k 3 years ago! I was really struggling with the last kilometre and had to slow it right down to be able to make it to 10k, so I know I have it in me to run faster. My mile times were 8m 43s / 8m 40s / 8m 52s / 9m 3s / 9m 4s / 9m 9s so it’s clear to see that I ran the first half much faster, but my last few miles were still at a good pace!

I now feel more positive than ever that I will soon be able to run 10k in under 55mins. Hopefully I can keep going the way I have been lately and reach my goal! I am now hoping for a 5k in under 26mins as well, got to have something to aim for!!

Its been a while.......

Well it has been a while.  And a lot has happened. Last time I wrote I was struggling a bit with my training - times were poor, I felt really tired and things weren't going well at all.  Well just when I thought things were at a bit of a low, something even worse happened.  My mum, aged 83, had an accident.  While trying to get on a Train at Glasgow Central she somehow or other managed to end up falling down between the train and the platform, resulting in a broken leg, torn ligaments in her knee and a haematoma on the front of her leg (like a big blood bruise deep in the tissue).  So for the last 5 weeks I have been on visiting duty!  As an only daughter there is only me and no relatives nearby.  So between working, teaching classes, hospital visiting and trying to keep a 14 year old in check there hasn't been a lot of time for running.

However, I did eventually visit the Doctor about the tiredness just over 4 weeks ago. Doc was great, very sympathetic and took blood to test for a number of things - anaemia, thyroid and diabetes.  Felt quite relieved and was sure one of those things would show up, could be treated and I could move on.  However tests showed nothing apart from low neucrophils which are a type of white blood cell.  So have to be re-tested next week to see if they have returned to normal.  Seems a bit weird as low white blood cells would seem to indicate you would pick up all sorts of germs and colds, while I've got through the whole winter cold free - it just doesn''t seem to add up.

So, about 5 weeks ago, as a result of the tiredness and fatigue and mum's accident I decided to cut out all major training sessions and just run for "fun" for a few weeks. Just slow 3 mile runs, no garmin for timing and no serious sessions - no track, no fartlek and no long run.  After 2 weeks I started to feel better again and a couple of weeks ago I decided to go and run the Sport Relief Mile.  Its not an event I would normally do as its more of a fun run but it seemed like a nice, safe, non competitive run to get me going again.  Did the "mile" 6 times in a great wee loop round the city centre and finished in 40:40 which was quite a surprise.

The next week I introduced some 10K runs and last weekend I took part in the Glasgow Jogging Network 5K at Bellahouston Park and was delighted to win the race in about 21 and a half minutes.  Had the pleasure of the company of a colleague Paul from Glasgow Life for a lot of the course.  Paul ran a blinder and got himself a new PB finishing in front of me. Got lovely flowers, vouchers for Good2run (new trainers!!!!) and a free entry for the Great Scottish Run!   That was a lovely boost and again not an overly competitive race - really nice sometimes to go back to these races rather than the blood, sweat and tears of the much more competitive club races.

Encouraged by these 2 performances and conscious that I'm in a race against time to be ready for the Women's 10K, I've stepped up my training in the last week, doing a couple of speed sessions, one at the track with our Coach Derek Parker (who is very encouraging), one hill session and a long run today which was hard with the wind and the rain.  Not ideal either having raced yesterday but its about "windows" to run just now so had to go for it.  Its 10 miles "in the bag" anyway - thank goodness. 

Yesterday I took part in another race - the 6K "Round the Loch" at Strathclyde Country Park.  25:51 - not bad, but not great. About 4.19 km pace and I need to be at 4.06 so a bit of work to do, but at least I'm running.  But, on the positve side, my friend and fellow club runner Gemma Rankin won the 10 mile race in under 58 mins and is the new Scottish 10 mile champion!!! Gemma now goes on to run in the London marthon in just under 2 weeks and is looking at a time of around 2.45!  For those of you that run on the treadmill that's running at about 16kph for nearly 3 hours!!!  Now that's running!!!!

I promise to be a more regular blogger from here on in.  Hope you are all preparing well - keep it up!   We have just 5 weeks to go!!

Steppin' up

Been meaning to say that I got a pair of Glasgow 2014 laces - won them for sporting my trainers at work on Commonwealth Day back in March.  They are fun - bright red, hoping to work up the nerve to actually put them in my trainers soon!        

So, as I said last time I had two 4.5 mile sessions to add to my hill run this week, both to be 'fast runs'.  I did the first on Friday - 4.7 miles around Paisley on a route with a fair few ups and downs, in 44 minutes.  Delighted with that as the average time per mile was 9:22 - another improvement. If I could keep that speed up for the 10K it would be a new PB for me.  Jiggered afterwards though, increasing distance as well as speed is hard. Phew!!

I did the second one this morning, with some Easter egg before, and some more after - yummy!!  My legs were still a bit tired from Friday's run, so my hubby suggested doing an out and back run along the Cycle Track, going towards Johnstone. It is reasonably flat, so a bit less challenging.  In total I did 4.6 miles, and the time was 45 mins.  The run out wasn't too bad timewise but on the way back I felt one of my hamstrings tightening.  I stopped to stretch which did help for a while but I needed to be a bit cautious. It isn't injured, think it was just a result of being tired before I ran.....and of course as training gets towards its peak, tired legs are a regular feature!!   Still under 10 minute miles though, and I'd have struggled to achieve anything close to that a few weeks ago, so its OK.

Finishing writing now and my mind is drifting towards chocolate and wine................bye!

Feeling better

Thankfully I was feeling better on Monday morning, my immune system plus echinaceae and Vit C doing their job and only one session missed from the training plan! Always the best idea to take a short break if you're not well, it can save weeks of poor health and equally poor training.  Slight throat niggle only now, earache gone, so glad because it was the worst part of it all.   Did a kettlebell workout.

Shoulders still sore from Monday's kettlebells - think I overdid the upper body techniques!!  Also have a cold sore now :-(   Set out on the four loops of hills on cold, sunny Wednesday morning. (Back to full length tights!)  I had a wee blip on the last steep hill when Nick almost literally dragged me on, but otherwise I ran it all.  I was really pleased with a further improvement in my time - 29:31.  Still find the hills very hard, but I feel as if I recover more quickly when I get to the top than I did just a few weeks ago.

My other two runs this week are the move up to 4.5 miles, both of which are scheduled to be 'outwith my comfort zone'.  I'm caught between looking forward to progressing with the training plan, and being a bit nervous about quite a big jump in distance because they are listed as fast runs, and its a few weeks since I last did any more than 3 miles.  Ah well, fingers crossed, best foot forward etc!

School stops but training continues

It’s hard to believe that we were struggling with training in the sun last week, and now we're dealing with snow! Thankfully, we managed to get a run in before it got too cold last night.

Even though it’s Easter break and lots of people are away or studying, we’re very conscious that the 10k is only 6 weeks away so we really need to keep up the training.

Last night we ran a route that was a 1 mile loop and managed to keep going round it 4 and a half times – we couldn’t quite finish that fifth loop! Our time for this was just under 40 mins, and we were happy with that. Mentally, it was tough to run the same loop so often. But we’re getting our distance up gradually and that’s the important thing. If we can do 4.5 miles, a 10k should be within our reach – surely?!  

Week 12

Really can’t believe it’s now April –the last few weeks have flown by! I always feel once we hit April that the Woman’s 10k comes around so quickly as well!

Had a bit of a quieter week of training than normal. After the hill walking last Sunday the muscles were really sore on Monday, particularly my calves from walking downhill for so long! Decided to cancel Spin and have a long soak in the bath instead!

Went out for a run on Tuesday night, and genuinely thought I would struggle as the calves were still aching. However surprised myself (and Hubby!) by doing a 5k in my fastest time for ages in 27 mins 11secs! Ave speed was 11.0kph with my mile splits 8m 41s / 8m 52s / 8m 48s. I felt great after it as well!

Was out Wednesday night so no exercise and then was working late Thursday night. Once I got home I had the great idea to do 100 press ups again, as I had done this a few weeks ago! Did 4 sets of 20 then 2 sets of 10, was losing some form by the end but still managed to do them so was pretty pleased! However my stomach muscles were feeling it the next couple of days!

Friday night I was out again, then on Saturday went to Glasgow Club Haghill for a weights session.

Sunday was the Glasgow Running Network 5k. Hubby made me go through a proper warm up routine for once, so had a jog around Bellahouston Park, then did some dynamic stretching, then a jog back along the final km of the race and then some sprints. I have to say it made such a different as I crossed the finish line in a time of 26 mins 58secs! I couldn’t believe it to be honest, was so happy I was celebrating as if I’d won it!! My mile times were 8m 50s / 9m 11s / 8m 38s. The second mile was up a hill so I started wondering how fast I could have gone had it being a completely flat route! It was a great day all round and the organisation was fantastic so thanks to everyone involved! Hope everyone who took part was as happy as me by the end!

Cycle Track and Pollok Park

So this week I got my speed intervals up to 1K, as required on my training plan.  This was the last week of  the 3 x 3 mile runs, and involved a nice wee change of scene!

I took Monday off, then on Tuesday evening I was back on the Cycle Track, running between the Paisley 10K's 7K and 8K markers.  Nick joined me, the weather was wonderful, short sleeved lightweight top, capris, sunglasses - that part of it was brilliant!  I suppose the next thing to say is that 1K intervals are a LOT harder (and harder on my back) than 700s......and that probably means I dont need to say much else!  I did 3 runs, first and last took 5:30, and the middle one was almost 6 mins.  I had 2- 3 minutes slow jog recovery inbetween them.  With the runs to and from home, altogether a wee bit over 3 miles.

Surprisingly, although my back was quite achy, I recovered not too badly from Tuesday night, so I did a kettlebell session in the garden sunshine on Wednesday afternoon which I really enjoyed - I love training outdoors.  I definitely needed a day off on Thursday, though!  I took Friday off as well.

Saturday was another beautiful morning and Nick & I headed off to Pollok Park for the parkrun.  For those of you who dont know about it, it is a weekly, free, timed 5K run, Info at the following link.  http://www.parkrun.org.uk/glasgow/    It is a really pretty setting, if a tad 'undulating'  I was hoping that the focus on 3 mile runs over the last few weeks would have improved my parkrun performance.............and it did!! Yay!  My time was a PB -  a modest 11 seconds over my previous best, but for me the biggest thing was that I managed to run up all the hills for the first time ever! The route is tough, I believe it has the reputation of being the hardest parkrun in the UK, so I am really chuffed!

Out of the blue, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and earache, so no run today - should have been intervals, but it will be hot drinks instead.  Not prone to illness - fingers crossed it doesn't last, and I'll be back soon to report on the step up to 4.5 miles!