Day 6 - Triathlon training

This week hasn't gone quite as I had planned it to be. After my flourish on Monday I suddenly felt absolutely rubbish (guessing it was a reaction to my flu jag) so by Saturday I had done nothing again. But enthusiasm struck and this morning I was up bright and early dragging Kobi out for a half hour run in the dark!

The it was time to take Rhona to her work. When I got back I had a quick bit of breakfast and then saddled up my trusty white steed! (well I got my bike out of the garage and put my helmet on :) ).

By this point the rain had started and the wind was getting up nicely (note for those who are cyclists - I had a love run in the warm, calm morning when I got on my bike I was cold, wet and knackered. Remind me Douglas and Tracey why is this the best bit of the Triathlon?). But on I went, it was on my schedule to go for a bike ride today so like the good athlete I am I stuck to it.

Cycled (got blown most of the way all the way down the hill to the railway at Valleyfield. Had a lovely sheltered, calm, bit wet cycle along the railway. Enjoying the autumn colours as I went. 

Got to the end of the railway quite happy with myself. Was a bit wet but generally cycle this far was just fine. See how happy I look...

As I cycled off the railway I groaned a bit because the wind hid me sideways and it was really hard to stay upright. At the bottom of the massive mile long hill. But Arthur Seat waits on me in January so got to stop avoiding the big hills. On I went, channelled Tracey cycling up Ventoux and slipped into my granny gear (which thanks to Grease Monkeys now works again). Got to the top of the first bit of the hill which to be fair is quite steep, Had to stop for a second to cross the road (welcome break if I am honest) then I turned up the next bit. The next bit of the hill, the road into Penicuik from Peebles is not quite as steep but climbs up gradually. That bit wasn't bad at all. Still quite happy with myself. That then brought me onto the flat bit at Bog Road, wee bit of a rest I think. Then I was at the bottom of Rullion Road. For those who don't cycle around Penicuik, Rullion Road is just a long laborious climb and for a rubbish cyclist like me it was just horrible thinking about it. But with Arthur Seat in mind I decided that it was time to just get on with it and get up this hill. Slowly but surely I got up the hill and before I knew where I was (well eventually anyway and I my thighs definitely knew where they were) I was at the top and heading back down the hill to my house. Meanwhile the rain was battering down and the wind was howling. But thanks to my lovely birthday pressie from Christina (a warm buff) my ears were nice and toasty and I was quite happy battling the wind. Will need to go and buy some warmer gloves though my wee hands were just a bit chilly. 

So tomorrow brings a swim and a run I think to catch up on the training I have missed this week. Am heading through to Granny Malcolm's so will probably head down for a swim early in the morning and squeeze a run in too.

Despite myself I did actually enjoy my bike ride. I think having something to train for has maybe given my bike riding a purpose so here we go into the bike training I go with a smile on my face.

don't worry, be happy :)

Day 1 - New Year's Day Triathlon 10 week Training Plan.

Training plan for this week:

Monday          30 min run
Tuesday          Rest Day
Wednesday    30 min run
Thursday        30 min pool swim
Friday             Rest Day
Saturday         1 hour Cycle
Sunday           30 min run/30 min pool swim

Today's training session was a very pleasant, if a little industrial, run around Granton Harbour. The weather was quite warm but a bit windy. Instead of my usual run along the Cramond foreshore I decided to go in the opposite direction from the college and headed down towards the Harbour area.

As I was running down the hill I passed this beautiful statue of a family heading to the beach. Then I passed two signs which I am sure Tracey and Rhona put there to remind me of what they call "the best bit".

At the half way point I reached Granton Harbour. What it lacked in beauty it definitely made up for in character and boats!!

So that was that a very pleasant run at lunchtime. Set me up nice for more marking in the afternoon! 

This is the best training schedule ever, first day run, second day rest. Don't even have to get on my bike until the end of the week! 

don't worry, be happy :)

Glasgow Half Marathon - 5 October 2014

Tracey, Rhona, Zoe and I headed for Glasgow bright and early on the Sunday morning. With relative ease we found the car park with lots of spaces. A nice calm start. 

Zoe and Rhona were starting to look a little bored with the hanging around and Tracey and I were 

probably getting a little too excited for them so they headed to the station for hot chocolate. Tracey and I went in hunt of Haile Gabrselassie (well I did Tracey just tagged along humoring me). We waited for absolutely ages, saw many other sporting celebs including a Commonwealth boxer Charlie Flynn and a whole load of other athletes that I can't remember the names of. 

Then we found ourselves beside the BBC outside broadcast. Tracey and I drew little attention to ourselves trying to take a selfie next to Dougie Vipond. Not a bad looking bloke in the flesh, although I thought he'd be bigger! 

As the start time got closer and there was still no Haile we decided, as we were both getting a bit antsy to get into our start pen, that we would head to the start as the warm up had already started. 

It is always quite an impressive sight to see the sea of runners all the way up through George Square. There were approximately 13,000 runners took part in the half I believe. Hugely impressive numbers of people in one place. Once the warm up was started we had the wait until all of the different waves had started. 

Zoe and Rhona were a bit up St Vincent Street and got a great picture of Haile (to be added) heading off up the hill. Unfortunately 3 miles later he pulled out with asthma problems. Tracey may have been getting nervous about starting, or she could genuinely have just been like a bored toddler, but she did spend a lot of time asking "when do we start?", "when does this start to get fun Jane?" and lots of "I am cold", "I am fed up". Finally it was the pink wave turn to move forward to the start line. I love this bit, everyone who are doing it for the first time are nervous and excited, those of us who are more seasoned runners just move forward thinking "come on let me get running". I love running in Glasgow and in particular the half marathon. It gets me really excited every time, despite having run in fairly consistently since 1988! It has taken several different routes since then and this year was to be a different one again. I had no idea where we were going this time. 

Zoe and Rhona were waiting for us on St Vincent Street and high fived us! St Vincent Street is a tough start and everyone always runs off far too fast and then gradually slows down as the hill gets steeper towards the top. Then as you crest the top of the hill the first fantastic view of the sea of runners hits you. A stunning snake of runners heading out for miles in front of you. Gradually we wound our way around the streets until we could see the snake heading up onto the Kingston Bridge. As we crested the hill of the bridge I said to Tracey to take a moment to look at the view up the Clyde because other than this race you don't get the chance to stop on the bridge and look. We had great fun waving at car drivers who were tooting and bus loads of Celtic fans heading to wherever the game was. At the top of the hill there was a piper marking one of the mile markers. This atmosphere is what makes the Glasgow Half Marathon so good. The sooner a marathon makes it back to Glasgow the better - I would sign up in a heart beat. 

Once we were over the bridge the hard work started, winding our way through the streets of Glasgow. As always the Glasgow people came out and supported the runners with great enthusiasm. We reached Pollock Park first, this was usually the second park but the route was reversed at this point, which confused me no end. As we headed out of the park, at mile 6, I felt my right foot ping a bit. It has been quite sore over the last few months but had settled. I slowed up quite a bit and let Tracey head on. I didn't want Tracey to know my foot was hurting as it was her first half marathon and I wanted her to just crack on and run it and not worry about me. Eventually I caught up with her again and we ran together until around 8 miles when my foot really started hurting again. By this point I decided to give up pushing on and just meander around enjoying the atmosphere and taking some pictures. I got talking to different people on the way back, it was just great fun. 

The last mile was different from the last time I ran it and we had to pass through the Wall of Support where there was a massive bill board on the wall which flashed up messages of support. I did send Tracey a message saying "Go Tracey - It'll be fine. So proud to be running with you in your first half marathon" but she said she didn't even see the wall of support, not sure how, it was massive! 

Into the last mile, my foot was not bad at this point because I had chosen to slow down a bit and just enjoy the run. It was a tough last mile because it went on for ages, but then just as you thought it couldn't go any further we turned the corner and there was the finish line. Fantastic!

Tracey had ran an excellent time and was adamant that she would never run another half marathon EVER again. And you know what, I do actually believe her, she doesn't need to , she is a cyclist at heart but I am so proud of her achievements. She has proven to the Doctors that you don't need to necessarily reach straight for medication and that a strict regime of diet and exercise can actually do the same thing and manage diabetes without medication. Hugely proud to have been part of your journey Tracey. 

Rhona and Zoe saw I right at the end with tea and coffee. Good one girls!!!!

No one tell Zoe's Mum how much she spent in Glasgow!!! 

My number one supporter....

Half Marathon Selfie.
(can you see Tracey sorting her socks - swollen feet!)

As always Glasgow was amazing, full of fun and laughter and the best end of term party I ever go to. Big hi and well done to all my fetchie pals who ran in Glasgow. Big whoop to Kate who ran under difficult circumstances (wakey baby and sicky husband :) ). There is also a really long story (to be kept for another day) about how I managed to get us lost in the depths of the Glasgow suburbs, but thanks to Tracey's unerring sense of direction we made it back to the motorway unscathed - much to Rhona's relief. :)

don't worry, be happy :)

Running up Caerketton Hill

In the interests of trying to get up the hills more for the Carnethy 5 Hill run in February and also the Windermere Marathon in May next year I decided to venture further than Carnethy, Turnhouse and Scaldlaw. So I decided I would run up Allermuir (on the other side of the Pentlands from Penicuik). Run started well.

All was going well and I was indeed running up Allermuir, then I got a bit confused and turned the wrong way. Before I knew where I was I was scrambling up slopes which I eventually realised was in fact, Caerketton. This became apparent when I spotted the top of the frame for the chair lift poking around the side of the hill. I looked over to where I had come and decided that to go back down the hill and all the way up Allermuir (which was in the opposite direction) would take ages and the rain clouds coming from that direction were much closer to the top of Allermuir than where I was standing so Caerketton was my new destination. What a brilliant run. The sun had been shining at the start however as I reached the top the wind got up, the black clouds rolled in and the rain began to come down. Still a good run though, felt like I was way up on top of Edinburgh.

Rain clouds over Carnethy, Scaldlaw and Turnhouse. 

Just a wee bit windy.

Only lingered about the top for a little while because it got quite breezy and the rain was coming on quite heavy. No time to stop to eat my Mars bar, will need to do that back down at the car.

The Pentlands feel really remote when you are up the tops but as you start to come back down again and you see Edinburgh laid out in all its glory you begin to realise just how lucky we are to have a city which has very different contrasting landscapes right next to each other. The views get me every time. Such a beautiful city. And the Pentlands are just amazing too.

Edinburgh Castle way in the distance.

Rhona and I are running in the Helvellyn 10K on the 1 November so we will be up here a lot more in the next few weeks. Going to drag Rhona up here for a run soon!

don't worry, be happy :)

Red Bull Fox Hunt - 27 & 28 September 2014

On Saturday and Sunday last weekend Rhona and I took to the Pentland Hills to watch the Red Bull Fox Hunt. The idea of this event is that the World Downhill Mountain Bike Champion Rachel Atherton races 100 odd cyclists down the hill from Allermuir. Rachel being the fox, the cyclists being the hunters. The cyclists go off first with Rachel chasing them down.

Saturday 27 September 2014

Rhona's friend and her Mum were competing so on Saturday Rhona, Kobi and I set off up the hill to watch them complete their time trial to get their start time. It was very exciting.

The atmosphere was building and you could just tell tomorrow was going to be a special day.

Sunday 28 September 2014

On Sunday, Rhona and I decided the way to see the Fox Hunt was to head right up into the hill so we put on our trail shoes and headed up the hill. A bit of training for Helvellyn thrown in for good measure. It was a beautifully sunny, warm day, perfect for fox hunting!

What comes down must first go up, the cyclists had an arduous 45 minute push up the hill before they could enjoy the fun of the descent. Lots of tired faces already, having already done this several times in practice sessions.

Walk worth it though, look at the view!

 Once all the cyclists were at the top we headed back down the hill to a spot where we could see them come chasing down the hill in a pack.

This is much easier than all that cycling malarky...

There's the lady they are all trying to catch...

It was an awesome spectacle with over 100 female cyclists all chasing down the World Champion Downhiller. Not sure she was trying that hard though as she didn't win. But amazing to see so many cyclists charging down the Pentland Hills.

Rhona met up with Zoe, who was buzzing at the bottom along with her Mum, Gillian and her friends. They were all just amazing. It was tough enough running up the and down the hill, can't imagine how they had the nerve to cycle down, at speed!

Well done Gillian and Zoe

Rachel and Rhona

What an amazing day, Rhona said if it comes again next year she is going to do it. I'll hold you to that Rhona! Time for the Fox to have a wee rest I think...

Don't worry, be happy :)