Over the past week, I’ve wound down my running quite a bit. No, I haven’t exactly been tapering, not for 10 miles, but I have been trying to learn lessons from last experience, not taking small risks of injury and trying to avoid over training. I know only too well the temptation of getting in more- more distance, more speed, more hills. But at this late stage and with the KWU relay less than a week away the work is all done. And the best thing to do is to play safe, relax, trust your training and look forward to the big day!

Monday-

I had already decided to run no further than 5k on any day over the next couple of weeks. So, to start the week, I took an early lunch break and made the most of that decision by doing a regular three miles around the harbour.

Distance: 3m

Time: 32m 35s

Elevation: 49ft

Pace: 10.52/m

Tuesday-

We had time for an evening stroll, again around the harbour. I did consider heading to a trail but we opted instead to just enjoy the views (and to fit in a visit to the shop!)

Distance: 3m

Wednesday:

Mid week brought some wet weather with it, which was a change from the sun we’ve been used to! I did manage to avoid a deluge, and it made for big skies.

Distance: 3m

Time: 32m 46s

Elevation: 46ft

Pace: 10.55/m

Thursday:

I spent the day in the office, and so had the opportunity at lunchtime to go for a trail walk, it was such a perfect day for it.

As I was walking and not running I started to climb up to Dun Mor, but stopped myself and turned back, realising that there was no point in taking a stupid risk with another scramble that I could easily enjoy another day!

Distance: 3.18m

Time: 58m 14s

Elevation: 364ft

Friday-

On the last day of April I finished my April accumulator with run 16/16to the West Loch and back. Slow and steady, trying to keep the heart rate low.

Distance: 2.65m

Time: 30m 5s

Elevation: 95ft

Pace: 11.21/s

Sunday-

Today I started the last of the Great Run Solo Accumulators, and this challenge is to have 15 runs PLUS complete four weekly steps. This week’s step is ‘Back on Track’, to celebrate tracks reopening we were challenged to run a mile as fast as you can.

Now, taking into account that I have the Kintyre Way Ultra Relay this week I was obviously not going to push too hard and risk injury. Neither did I want to leave it until later in the week to complete it, so I headed to the harbour, where the walkway is fast and flat- it’s probably as close to a track as we’d get in the village!

I did a half mile warm up, a mile as fast as I could comfortably hold without being stupid and so I wasn’t pushing myself too much, followed by a half mile cool down.

Turns out that my mile pace was 9.30/m – I’m pretty happy with that!

Distance: 2m

Time: 20m 58s

Elevation: 46ft

Pace: 10.28/m

The plan for the rest of the week is to keep running, but keep the distances short and to keep making smart choices to avoid injury! I’m really looking forward to Saturday. The weather forecast isn’t too encouraging, but it’s a bit too far away to be sure of that.

This training cycle has been a lot of fun, helped along by the Great Run Solo challenges, so I’m not sure why I’m going to do and how I’ll stay on track with no future races booked and no online challenges. At least we have the Leadership Journey 26 mile walk at the end of May. More about that soon!

Have a good week, all.