Category: Stirling Marathon

That’s it!  Training is complete, there’s nothing more to do but go for an early bed and make sure I get up bright and early tomorrow.

Continue reading “The Race Is Tomorrow…”

Wow, that’s the last full week of training. By this time next week I’ll either be finished, or walking round the course really slowly!

Continue reading “Week 17 – The Last Full Week Of Training”

And so we hit the first week of taper. The mileage starts to fall, the muscles get a chance to recover and we are getting ourselves into a place where we are ready to run the marathon. Which is, you know, still months away, right?

In truth the programme is fairly similar to that from two weeks ago, the week between the two longest runs. So we started on Tuesday with a five miler round Linlithgow Loch. It started fairly tough, but once I loosened up it was okay.

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On Wednesday I was stuck in a lunchtime meeting that went on so long I really couldn’t go for a run until the evening. I was taking Cameron to the gym in the evening anyway, so I ran there. But my heart wasn’t in it, and I only managed five miles instead of the programmed eight. I don’t think that that will cause a problem.

On Thursday, it was another five mile run and so I again ran the Loch. Honestly? It’s starting to pall…

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Friday was a rest day, and I had booked a sports massage with Carolyn from Life Fit wellness. She did a great job of finding all the tight muscles in my legs and working some movement into them. It felt great!

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Saturday was a four mile pace run, that ended up being significantly fast than it should have been. I blame technology – my running app has updated to a new version, and the “30s moving average” display field is broken – the numbers are all over the place.

On Saturday evening I watched the marathon from the Commonwealth Games, and was distressed to see Callum Hawkins collapse at the 40km point of the men’s race. I hope that he makes a full and rapid recovery. As I explained to my wife, however, she needn’t worry – I don’t know how to work myself so hard as to get into such a state!

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I had planned to take my Garmin watch with me on the long Sunday run, but I forgot to put it in my bag – so I repeated the problem on the Sunday run. This was a rather nice run, however, and I was able to enjoy views of the Falkirk Wheel, the Kelpies, Falkirk’s human sundial the Love and Kisses sculpture all on the one run.

So another week done, and the marathon another week closer.  It’s going to be on me before I know it.

A new week dawned, but the old weather came with it. We had strong, cold winds and even colder wet snow. It was simply very unpleasant.

Any hopes that it would disappear early in the were dashed by Tuesday lunchtime, and I chickened out of going for a lunchtime run. Instead I did my five miles on the treadmill at the gym – perhaps not much fun but better than being outside in that weather!

By Wednesday the weather had improved a bit. At the end of last week I had signed up for the Stirling Campus 5k; a 5k run around the campus of this beautiful University. Now that came nowhere near the eight miles I was supposed to run today, but it did seem like a nice idea. So I registered for the event and picked up my race number. But I then went for a bit of a run before the 5k started.

When I noticed as I was running was that the paths were very wet and very muddy. No surprise there, as it has been raining a lot over the past few days. But… well, it was really wet!

After doing my run I joined the others at the start.

We filtered through a funnel then ran out along the north side of the loch. About two thirds of the way round we left the lochside and climbed the hill towards the football and rugby pitches. A slightly complicated route round the periphery of the pitches followed, before we ran back down to the waterside and finished the race by running round the south side of the loch and back to the starting point.

I was wearing my old running shoes, which have less of a grip than they used to have. I really should have been wearing trail shoes. It was inevitable that I would take a tumble at some point, and of course I did. It happened on the loop round the pitches, and luckily there was no damage done. Except to my cleanliness, of course!

At the end of the run we went back to collect t-shirts and had some lovely stovies – a Scottish dish based around meat and potatoes. They were great for warming us up after a run in the cold.

As I walked back to the car, I realised we were at the Golden Hour before sunset, and the campus was looking lovely. I grabbed some photographs before picking up some spare clothes and getting changed before daring to sit in the car!

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Then came Thursday, and my plans to run just after work fell foul of the need to drive folk around. So instead I went out later in the evening on a five mile route I had done before.

My ankle was a little twingey on the Thursday, which I put down to having tried to run fast the day before. Nothing to worry about, though.

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Saturday came, and I did a loop from my house out to Muiravonside and back. I went along the side of a waterway called Manuel Burn. This used to be an easy thing to search for, until the musical Hamilton came to prominence. I do remember that the Burn caused problems to retreating soldiers after the Battle of Falkirk, but I haven’t been able to re-find the information!

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And then Sunday. I was on golf club duty, so rather than running in Stirling I took my son to the Club and then ran south to the Forth & Clyde Canal. I joined it at Union Road and turned right – that is, heading west along the canal.

The plan was twenty miles, though I wanted a route I could add to if I was feeling good. I had tracked the distance on a map and I knew that there was a place called The Boathouse in Kilsyth – a marina that would, I thought, be impossible to miss. Armed with my new Ronhill Marathon Waist Belt, I started running and just kept going.

The outward journey was fine – I was passing places like Kelvinhead and Wyndford, which offered gorgeous views to the Kilsyth Hills – and I reached the marina pretty much on schedule. As per my plan, I was walking for 30s every three miles to reflect my plans to walk the water stations at the actual event.

I turned and came back home. It wasn’t until about mile seventeen or eighteen that I started to get the “what is the point of all this?” blues, and I was able to run through them without too much difficulty this time.

Soon I reached the Bonnybridge, and I must admit that the stretch to the Falkirk Wheel seemed to go on forever. Then I carried on to the canal’s junction with Union Rd at lock sixteen, and I had to decide whether to take the short way or the longer route back to the canal.

I took the longer route, and ran on to Rosebank, and then back along Camelon High Street to Stirling Road. To my horror I saw that when I reached the car I was short of the 22 mile target, so I had to continue on past the car for a while before returning to it. I got the twenty-two miles on the clock, and stopped – delighted to get the chance to stand still. More so to sit down!

But that’s it. That’s the “development” part of the training done. Now I taper for three weeks, and get myself ready for the race. I think I am mentally prepared – when the time come – barring injury – I’ll be ready.

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With the twenty mile run out the road, I started feeling really good about the marathon. I am also feeling a wee bit of DOMS too, but let’s lave that just now. As I posted on Instagram: DOMS today, Gonez tomorrow.

Tomorrow meant Tuesday, having had a rest day on Monday. This was the usual run around Linlithgow Loch, topped and tailed with a loop round past Bonnytoun Farm. The first few steps were pretty gingery, but after a while I was back up and running more comfortably, and indeed was going rather faster than was appropriate.

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On Wednesday I went back to my canal route from work, where I ran a bit faster than I should have. Not sure if I was just looking forward to getting home for dinner!

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And then on Thursday, it was once again around the Loch. If this blog is starting to sound repetitive and as if I am running out of things to say, well…

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Friday was enlivened by my marathon number arriving through the post. I shall be runner number 1470! Exciting times!

On Saturday some new kit arrived from Runderwear, but it arrived a little too late for my training run. Instead I got up early and ran an eight mile loop that saw me going past Tesco and along the canal to Bridge 49 restaurant, then turning back and going home via Nicolton Road. Again, the pace is higher than it should be and I am increasingly finding it hard to slow down – I wonder if this is to be expected as I train more?

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So that left the Sunday run. This was to be twelve miles.  Well, if I could manage twenty last week, twelve must be a doddle, right?

I drove into Stirling Uni and headed towards my usual parking spot.   But a steward at the gate told me that some of the roads within the Uni were closed for a cycle race, and so I had to park in a different part of the campus.  Having done so, I went for a wander to try to find out how to get to the Loch.  Once there, I went for my run.

I had chosen to do a lap of the Loch, and then head out in the opposite direction.  I went north through Bridge of Allan and on to Dunblane, where I turned up the hill onto the Glen Road.  This beautiful route gradually loops back into Bridge Of Allan, climbing and then descending a fair bit in the process.

From there I continued back to the Uni and did a lap and a half of the Loch to make up the twelve miles.

I couldn’t understand why I was feeling so tired – it was only twelve miles after all.  But then I looked at my pace numbers and realised why – I was running much faster than I ought to have been.  This is becoming a problem that I will have to manage carefully on my longer runs.

After finishing the run I went for a wander round the campus and spent some time watching the cyclists before heading home.

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Next week sees another twenty mile run on Sunday.  After that, it’s taper.  As I said during the week, it’s getting pretty real.

From the moment I started this training programme, I knew that this was the week that was going to scare me most. Why? The Sunday run is twenty miles. Twenty miles.

I always fell apart between eighteen and twenty miles last time out – and I really don’t want to do that again. I want to get to twenty miles, and know that I could keep going for another six. That is, after all, what it’s all for.

After the frightful weather on Sunday that forced postponement of the Alloa Half, the weather changed. By Tuesday, it was warm and sunny. The run round Linlithgow Loch was beautiful!

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Wednesday saw a long run, and I decided to run home from work. By the most direct route it is around six miles to work, so by going along the canal and adding a small loop at the end, I was able to make it up to eight miles without too much difficulty. I was running into a fairly strong headwind all the way, so I was quite glad to reach the house!

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Having run from work on Wednesday, I had to run back to it on Thursday. Marie drove me to a spot on the canal where it would be five miles to the office, and I ran from there. This time the wind was at my back, and it was a much more pleasant experience.

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On Friday, I had a sports massage. This was at Life Fit Wellness in Falkirk. They were advertising a flash sale with two massages for the price of one, if the second one is taken within four weeks. Oh well, okay then… Carolyn was the massage therapist, and she bent, stretched and twisted various muscles in my legs – I came out feeling lighter and definitely more easily able to move. I also booked a further massage for the week after the marathon – I think I’ll be needing every ounce of tender care I can get by then!

Anyway, I would recommend this once in a while – it was lovely and I definitely felt the better for it.

Perhaps it was the effects of the massage that made me run much faster than I normally would on Saturday. Perhaps it was that the weather was glorious, and I was able to go out in vest and shorts. I don’t know. But I went round in 8:32 – much faster than the 8:55 / 9:00 per mile that I am aiming for in the real marathon!

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And so dawned Sunday. I took Jenni to work, then went to the University to start my run. I had worked myself into a bit of a funk by this point, and so I procrastinated. Was I going to wear shorts or tights? T-shirt or vest? I went to the loo to change, and then went back to the car. I did a yoga warm-up, and still found ways to delay the start. But eventually I realised I had to get going, and I set off.

The first part was round the top half of the loch, down to the Uni entrance gates and then back up to do the loop that the marathon takes up towards Innovation Park. That brought me back down to the entrance gates and from there I headed east – helped along by a nice little tail wind from the west. As before I headed for Alloa via Tullibody, stopping off at the Causewayhead and the Alloa Leisure Bowl loos on the way. As I approached the Leisure Bowl, the rain had started and I began to worry that I would end up getting chilled in my light vest and short running shorts, but the rain didn’t come to much and so I was able to continue.

Past the Leisure Bowl I climbed the hill and turned right instead of the usual left, thus taking me onto the Tillicoultry road. This put me pretty much on the route of the Alloa Half Marathon – the one that was postponed last week – for the next six or seven miles. The road sweeps down to the Hillfoots road in Tilli, and at the junction I stopped to try applying some more Body Glide. That was a mistake; the Body Glide was near to finished and warm, having been in my waist pouch throughout. It simply snapped as I tried to apply it. Oh well, only eight miles to go.

I carried on along the Hillfoots road, and now that lovely tailwind was a 15mph headwind. My thighs were chafing. I began to not like this run. My mind was drifting into reasons why I could stop and walk. I knew that this was wrong – I ran 18.5 miles just a couple of weeks ago – I could do this. It probably took another couple of miles to convince myself, but by the time I departed from the route of the Alloa Half – when the Half turns left to go to Tullibody but I went straight on to go towards the Uni – I was feeling better. I knew that I wanted to finish this route; more than that I knew that I could!

The climb up to the back entrance to the Uni was neither harder nor easier than usual, and I decided to finish with a bit of a flourish, building some speed for the final couple of hundred yards. I reached the car and touched it as I stopped the tracker. I had done it – I was delighted!

What did I learn from it? Well,

1) I ain’t gonna wear race-day split shorts for the race. I chafe when I wear them, and it’s not nice
2) I’ve got to be ready for the doldrums around mile 14 – 17
3) If I can run twenty miles on my own in a headwind with chafed thighs, I can do 26 with a crowd to cheer me on! Subject to any injuries, I KNOW I can do this.

I’m fired up now, and ready to go for it – for the first time I have confidence that I’ll be able to get to the end of the run, and run the race the way I want to.  That makes me feel great!

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That was an interesting week!

It started well with five miles round Linlithgow Loch.  Actually, I added a wee bit onto the start and end of the Linlithgow Loch run; a loop past Bonnytoun Farm.  this section will be familiar to anyone who has done the Linlithgow 10k; it’s the hilly stretch that makes you loathe your life just as you come off the back of the Loch.

This route did have a problem, though – the road was flooded!  Not only that, but there was a horse and rider further up the road, and they seemed to be very keen to avoid being in contact with a runner in a fluorescent yellow jacket.  So to be safe I  turned back and went back down to the main road at the start of the route.  They were gone by the time I had run round the Loch, so I was able to run my planned route as I went back towards the office

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Wednesday saw a repeat of the route sans frisky horses.  This was after work – it was lovely to be running in the evening without a headlight!  And I was able to wear shorts again!

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Thursday after work, I took a different route – going out to join the canal at the Park Bistro, and running along the towpath back into town.  From there, straight back out to the office and that was my five miles done.  I celebrated with some stretching and some core work.

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Friday and Saturday were both rest days, and then it was time for the Alloa Half Marathon. 

Except, it wasn’t.

On the Saturday evening, the organisers sent out a message saying that the half had been postponed.  The weather forecast was absolutely dreadful, with conditions being described as the return of the “Beast From The East” that caused so many problems a couple of weeks ago.

Their decision was vindicated by the scene at the muster area this morning, when the race should have been starting.

So, I missed my run today.  It’s not great, but it’s not the end of the world.  It’s one LSR – better to miss that than to slip and get injured.

I’m so looking forward to the coming week!

Wow!  That was the first week where I have ever run forty miles.  Even at the height of training for my last marathon I didn’t put in so many miles in a single week.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way.  This was supposed to be thirty-seven miles.  But as you will see later on, things didn’t go quite to plan.

I was on holiday on Tuesday, and so ran that four miler from home.  The highlight of that run was getting up Wallacestone Brae without having to stop.  It’s a pretty brutal hill – a short but steep climb from the canal broken at a road; a short relief downhill and then a long slog.  250ft increase in elevation in 0.7 of a mile fair takes it out of you!

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Wednesday was when things went wrong.  I was in Galashiels with my daughter, her pal and Marie, my wife.  While Jenni and her pal were doing their thing, Marie was going shopping and I would go for my long midweek run of seven miles.  So I dropped Marie off at the shops, went back to a car park at the southeast of town and went for my run.

The route had me going west along this long, narrow town, turning north across the river, east to the far end of town, across the river again and then south and east for the final mile.

I set off – weather conditions were by no means perfect – and made my way round to the final bridge.

Which was closed.  As in, “no, you can’t cross here”.

I had to double back and climb back into the town before finding a road that would take me down into the town centre, and then I could carry on back to where I was planning to finish – this took the run from seven to nine miles.  All this in snow that varied from light to “where does the pavement end?”

When I got back, Marie had sent as text asking me to join her for lunch as soon as possible.  So, still in running gear, I went to find her.  We sat in a bar, about to have lunch, when I got a call to go and get Jenni.

I collected her, and soon after that, her pal.  Still in my running gear, we set off for home.

It was then that someone asked to go to Ikea.

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Thursday was much easier – a run round Linlithgow Loch, preceded by the loop that the 10k uses, but in reverse

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Saturday’s long run was an out-and-back along the canal, plus a couple of miles getting to the canal and back.  It was a beautiful morning, with blue skies and even some sunshine!

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And then on to Sunday.  Fifteen miles.  That’s a lot of miles – well, for me anyway.

I started from Stirling Uni as usual, and took the usual route out and to the east.  Along Airthrey Road / Alloa Road to the A91 / A907 roundabout.  From there along the old road to Tullibody and up the hill of Stirling Road.

This time I didn’t turn down the Menstrie Brae, however – I kept going to Alloa.  I realised that part of this route was the final few miles of the Alloa Half Marathon, which I shall be running in a few weeks.  I even stopped in at the Leisure Bowl for a quick pee!

After that it was up a couple of pretty noticeable uphill stretches.  I was grateful to reach the top and head downhill towards the Collylands roundabout, which is graced with another Andy Scott sculpture – River Spirit.

From there it was a little bit of a slog to get to the Hillfoots Road in Alva.  A left turn there, and I just kept going.  Soon I was in Menstrie, rejoining the route I have run a couple of times previously.  From there you just keep going, and soon you come to the B998 / A91 roundabout.  Then it’s just the usual slog up to Innovation Park, and a run through the University until the miles are made up.

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So, how do I feel?  Longest ever week and all that?  In truth, tired but not bad.  I’m “aware of” my ankles this evening, but they’re not sore.  They’re tired, and maybe a little stiff, but not sore.

This coming week will be a fall-back week, and I believe I’ll be missing the Saturday run.  That will take me down to 26 miles.  After that, however, we step up to 41 and then a massive 44 miles in a week – that will be the longest week of the entire training routine.

Seventy days to go until the marathon.  That’s beginning to sound like quite a small number.