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.
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
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!
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!
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!
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!