Week five was a busy week. I mean in the real world, not the world of running. And that had a bit of an impact on my plans.
Tuesday was fine, though – four miles at lunchtime round Linlithgow Loch. The weather is starting to get pretty warm, though – it was a pretty hot and sweaty four miles
Map of the route “Week 5 – The Wheels Falling Off!”: 6,754 m, 73 m of climbing and 73 m of descent, elevation between 47 m and 82 m, time 00:48:49. It is a loop that starts and ends at 55.98524, -3.58347 (latitude, longitude).
Max elevation: 82 m
Min elevation: 47 m
It was Wednesday when things started going less well. I had to go to Pittenweem for the day and just didn’t manage my run.
Thursday I also spent at Pittenweem, and didn’t make it back home until about 7pm. I couldn’t let two days slip, so after a day spent carting black bin bags into a van I eventually got out just before 8pm and did four miles.
Map of the route “Week 5 – The Wheels Falling Off!”: 6,759 m, 91 m of climbing and 90 m of descent, elevation between 72 m and 149 m, time 00:37:36. It is a loop that starts and ends at 55.97647, -3.71406 (latitude, longitude).
Max elevation: 149 m
Min elevation: 72 m
On Friday I decided to try to catch up on the missed miles, so after work I went out and did seven miles. This was two laps of the Loch plus a couple of extra bits to get the mileage up.
Map of the route “Week 5 – The Wheels Falling Off!”: 11,858 m, 126 m of climbing and 126 m of descent, elevation between 47 m and 82 m, time 01:07:40. It is a loop that starts and ends at 55.98572, -3.58271 (latitude, longitude).
Max elevation: 82 m
Min elevation: 47 m
That brought on the weekend, and on Saturday I had another seven miler. My car had to go in for some work, so I ended up running around Stirling. A nice change of scene, and the scenery around that area is always enough to take my mind off the pain. I was tempted to stop in at Corrieri’s for some food, but gamely kept running!
Map of the route “Week 5 – The Wheels Falling Off!”: 11,832 m, 106 m of climbing and 106 m of descent, elevation between 2 m and 28 m, time 01:08:29. It is a loop that starts and ends at 56.11219, -3.91604 (latitude, longitude).
Max elevation: 28 m
Min elevation: 2 m
And then it was Sunday. For the first time my training plan broke the thirteen mile marker. There’s a psychological breakpoint when you run beyond 13.1 miles.
I had planned to go earlier in the day, but after a bit of a long lie I realised it was much too warm to go running around lunchtime. So I waited until much later in the afternoon. It was still very warm – 18-20C throughout. Wallacestone Brae and Standrigg Road were brutal… but I got there!
Map of the route “Week 5 – The Wheels Falling Off!”: 22,011 m, 276 m of climbing and 275 m of descent, elevation between 61 m and 184 m, time 02:14:03. It is a loop that starts and ends at 55.97650, -3.71450 (latitude, longitude).
Max elevation: 184 m
Min elevation: 61 m
But, the main thing is, training is still on track…
