Two Weeks Down!

Week two started off well with a nice four mile run round Linlithgow Loch on Tuesday. When I say “nice” I of course mean “nice apart from the hordes of little flying beasties that swarm round the back of the loch”. But apart from them, it was great.

I meant it – they were horrible!
Total distance: 6784 m
Max elevation: 82 m
Min elevation: 46 m

On Wednesday, I went for a slightly elongated middle distance run; six miles and a wee bit. The weather was not great – not quite raining but not far from it. The air was very damp. I don’t know whether that was why the HRM on my Apple Watch wasn’t as accurate as before, but it certainly didn’t do nearly as good a job as it had done at the weekend

Got to remember to stretch!
Total distance: 10635 m
Max elevation: 82 m
Min elevation: 46 m

Thursday was slightly better, again making me think it might be related to the weather – there were also fewer flies around on the lochside, thank goodness!

Total distance: 6851 m
Max elevation: 82 m
Min elevation: 46 m

A rest day on Friday, then Saturday saw a six mile marathon pace run. To make it easier to pick a pace and stick with it, I drove to Tesco, parked there and then ran along the canal. I didn’t really manage to stick to my pace very well – the overhanging trees meant that I wasn’t able to watch my pace on the GPS very well, and I started off much too quickly. Once you have started running faster than you should, it is hard to slow down!

Total distance: 10016 m
Max elevation: 78 m
Min elevation: 71 m

I did, however, slow down for the long run on Sunday. In truth, I have picked up a bit of a cold that isn’t helping me, but I was able to do a reasonable ten mil run with Wallace Stone Brae and Standrigg Road included – any time I can get up those two hills (or two parts of the same hill) without stopping I reckon it has been a good run!

The weather was a big factor – it started off a beautiful day, by mile six it was raining so hard that I could barely keep my eyes open – it almost felt like hail! And then when I got home it was lovely again!

Lovely at the start…
Lovely while running along the canal…
Mummy swan really didn’t want me going near her cygnets
Weather not quite so good here…
Fine by the time I got home
Total distance: 16434 m
Max elevation: 184 m
Min elevation: 71 m

So that’s two weeks done and so far the chart is all green. Here’s hoping I can keep it that way!

Training plan after two weeks