Tag: half marathon

Let’s Do Lunch

Let’s Do Lunch

by TartanJogger ♥ 26 Comments

Today, as I was having my lunch, I was thinking about how predictable this meal is for me. I’m a creature of habit. I don’t deny it 😉

I’m very fortunate, as we have a staff canteen on site. And almost every day I have soup for lunch. There’s always a choice of two home made soups available, and there’s a great range of flavours which staves off boredom.
I also find that this keeps me going until my run when I get home from work.

Despite my understanding of how counter productive it can be, I tend to eat my lunch at my desk, while working. I know, I know the benefits of taking a break, and I’m the first to tell everyone else to walk away and have a proper break, but I struggle to do it myself!

Tonight, I got in a great four mile run, in lovely weather once again! So, that’s another 6.44 kilometres, totalling 11.47k for the week so far, and 40.25 for the month.

So, how’s your lunch? What do you have? Do you take a break?

20140311-193359.jpg

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 17 Comments

Welcome to another fresh week, laid in front of us, ready for us to run all over it!

I think that the sunshine today has gone to my head 😉 We’ve has a lovely day here on the west coast of Scotland!

And so, it wasn’t difficult to head out for my  Around the World Running Blog Relay run tonight!  I got in a speedy-for-me 3 miles, which felt great after Saturday’s long run.  That’s 4.83 kilometres in the bag for week two, and a total of 33.81K for March so far. I can’t believe how far we ran during week one: you can check out Kyla’s week one recap here!

How has your day gone?

87f0d0e1bd6d0ac3f5c854b6f897457e

Affy Windy

Affy Windy

by TartanJogger ♥ 26 Comments

This morning, @TheWelshWookie and I headed out to do our eight mile run. We had perfect running conditions: it was cool and overcast but dry. However, it was affy windy. So much so that when we got to the harbour the Tarbert – Portavadie ferry wasn’t running!

We headed out on around glen road, which was where we ran a fortnight ago. It was quiet, and we kept our pace slow. We then headed back into the village, and along our usual harbour route to Garvel then around the harbour to the concrete and back. 8 miles done. It felt really good today!

20140308-140157.jpg

This was @TheWelshWookie’s longest ever run, and he felt good afterwards, too: the steady, slow pace and fuel practice paid off.

I took the MP3 player that Girl Runs Wild sent. And, I can tell you, she has some great taste in music! It has loads of really good, upbeat tracks, including ‘Gloria’ by Laura Brannigan, ‘Suddenly I See’ by KT Tunstall and ‘Grace Kelly’ by Mica. I was so excited to hear a track by The Lightning Seeds that I hadn’t heard for years! (It was ‘Sugar Coated Iceberg’ in case you’re wondering). Then, at around the 6 mile mark, I heard the first track that we both have, it was ‘Teardrop’ by Massive Attack. Love that.

As I got to my final hill, I was cheered by some good old Meatloaf, and I was signing along like a loon! @TheWelshWookie thought I was singing ‘I Battered the Hill’ instead of ‘Bat out of Hell’, so I think I’ll be sticking with those new lyrics from now on 😉

To finish the final mile, I had some Mumford and Sons, which was just right at that point in my run. I can definitely say that I am so glad we did the swap: I’ve heard some great tunes I don’t have, or I had forgotten about, and I’ve been introduced to some great music I hadn’t heard before. I’m not sure what Girl Runs Wild will think of my playlist, but I’m looking forward – with trepidation – to finding out!

After today, I’ve added to my  Around the World Running Blog Relay total by another 8 miles, or 12.88 kilometres, which brings my  total to 28.98 kilometres for week one 🙂

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend: I know it’s LA Marathon time, and the Inverness Half tomorrow too.

Are you running this weekend? What’s your goal?

An Update

An Update

by TartanJogger ♥ 16 Comments

Evening all!

I thought I’d give you a quick update on my half marathon training plan, and the headline is that it’s going really well.

So far, Hal Higdon is working out really well: it’s a good mix of runs, with four days running, one day cross training and two rest days per week. I’ve now reached Week 5, Day 4, so I’m not quite at the half way point yet. I’m managing to do a mix of running outdoors and dreadmill runs, which is also helping to stave off boredom.

So tonight, I’ve added to my  Around the World Running Blog Relay mileage: another 3 miles, or 4.83 kilometres, which brings my  total to 16.1 kilometres so far 🙂

In wedding news, I now have virtually everything arranged, I think. And if I don’t have it arranged, it isn’t happening! I’m just about to finish off writing the Order of Service, and that will be another job done! 🙂

funny-wedding-programs

I feel as though some things are just about coming together, in terms of both running and wedding planning this week 😉

What’s going well for you at the moment?

The Playlist Swap

The Playlist Swap

by TartanJogger ♥ 30 Comments

Tonight, I headed out for my second dry run in a row for ages! I was running four miles, and so I was able to listen to some of Girl Runs Wild‘s running playlist. I was very excited!

The first forty five minutes worth of music is a really great mix, all of which I really enjoyed. It included:

  • the theme from Flashdance
  • a good smattering of Country music
  • some old skool James tracks
  • some Katie Melua

And, as I finished my four miles, I was running to Roar by Katy Perry! Yay!

20140304-190039.jpg 20140304-190031.jpg

I’m looking forward to hearing more! As I think of some of the sad tracks on my own playlist, I think I’ve benefited from this swap! It was great to be able to run, and have no idea what music was coming next. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this aspect of my run tonight.

So, I’ve added to my  Around the World Running Blog Relay mileage: another 4 miles, or 6.44 kilometres, for a total of 11.27 kilometres so far 🙂

What’s your favourite running track?

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 12 Comments

Happy Monday, everyone! Did you have a good weekend?

I did, and I’m now ready to tackle March head on! 🙂

Today was my first Around the World Running Blog Relay run, and I got in a steady 3 miles, so that’s 4.83 kilometres in the bag for starters!

Has your week/month gotten off to a good start?

72f136b7630db6ead9c71f65246d6e20

AWOL Weekend

AWOL Weekend

by TartanJogger ♥ 10 Comments

Happy Friday everyone!

images (2)

I’m just dropping by with a brief post, in case anyone misses me thinks I’ve disappeared over the weekend! I have a ton of stuff to do wedding-wise. Yeah, including a second Hen Do 😉 Lucky me! 😀

I’m planning to squeeze in my seven miler at some point, and I might be back to surprise you check in. But, if I don’t, I’ll see you on the other side of the weekend.

Don’t Forget: TOMORROW is day one of the Around the World Running Blog Relay 2014. Make sure you’ve signed up. If you haven’t, now’s your chance. Do it now, here. 🙂

Have a great one all! 🙂

Back Indoors

Back Indoors

by TartanJogger ♥ 16 Comments

Well, my outdoor running lasted from Saturday until Monday.

The weather has driven me back inside, and onto the dreadmill!

It’s not the driving rain that’s the problem, really. It’s the really high winds that have cancelled ferry sailings across the West coast. There was a time today when I could barely walk upright!

And so, after the elation of running in the fresh air, and at a decent pace, I was back to grinding out a slow run tonight. But I got it done, and feel smug better for it now.

I’m taking a rest day tomorrow, so hopefully I can get back outside on Thursday 🙂

20140225-195658.jpgHave you managed to get outdoors today? Have you run?

Am I Cold Blooded?

Am I Cold Blooded?

by TartanJogger ♥ 21 Comments

It’s Monday evening here in Tartan Land, and it’s been one of those days today.

So, I was really ready for my three miler tonight!

20140224-195647.jpg

@TheWelshWookie and I headed out to the harbour just as dusk settled around us. It was beautiful. Around the end of the first mile, it started to rain, and the rain continued until the end of our run, considerately stopping to allow us to walk home without being miserable. Just at the end of my run, I accidentally soaked myself by running through a big mahoosive puddle! I felt good- the run was just what I needed!

20140224-200120.jpg

We pushed a little, and ran our fastest three miler in a while, at around 10.08 per mile. I’m pretty happy with that!

As usual, I came home, showered, and wrapped up in my comfies.

I have a question  I’ve been meaning to ask you all: do you often find yourself really cold after a run? What do you do about it?

I know that at this time of year, the walk home from a run can obviously cause my body temp to drop, but my home is toasty warm, I take a warm shower right away, swap into warm comfy clothes, often wrap up in a fleecy blanket and sometimes even switch on the fire. I rehydrate, and have something to eat, then have a hot drink. But – sometimes – I can be cold for a few hours after an outside run.

Does anyone else find this? What do you do to warm up again? Am I making any mistakes, or do you have any tips?

#ATWRBR2014

I’m thinking about adding a daily distance log to each blog post during March and April, to keep track of my kilometres for the Around the World Running Blog  Relay. What do you think?

Have you signed up yet?

Back Outside!

Back Outside!

by TartanJogger ♥ 25 Comments

Welcome to the weekend! What are your plans?

At the moment, @TheWelshWookie and I are chilling out, watching rugby (OK, I’m watching and blogging- gotta love multi tasking!) and drinking coffee. It’s bliss!

This morning, I ran outside for the first time in a couple of weeks. And it felt G-R-E-A-T! The dreadmill has been hammered lately. Well, I say hammered. I really mean that it has been used for some pretty slow runs while watching Winter Olympic action from Sochi. Having the various sports to watch has made my treadmill running much more tolerable than it would have been otherwise: what am I going to do when the Games finish?  😦

Today’s Hal Higdon training plan called for a 6 mile run. It’s Week 3, Day 6 already. How did that happen?

@TheWookie and I had decided last night that we’d run the Big Glen: a loop that takes us out from the north of the village along the main road for about two miles, and then follows a single track road for a mile before reaching West Loch Tarbert. It then leads back into the south of the village, and is about 5 miles long. To increase the mileage, we decided to run along the Kilberry Road, past the village golf course, before  heading back into the village.

20140222-150713.jpg

And it was dry outside: no rain! It’s a miracle! 😉

We decided to stick to a long, slow run pace, and so I used my Audio Fuel track to keep me on target for this. Although I start off really slowly, sometimes I can pick up the pace at around mile 3 or so, and I didn’t want to lose steam at the end! Turns out, this was a great plan. I had a fantastic run, I really enjoyed it! At the end, I could have easily tagged on an extra couple of miles. I didn’t, though: best stick to the training plan 😉

As I ran, I was excited, thinking about the forthcoming Around the World Running Blog Relay: it’s going to be a great couple of months for us runners and bloggers out there! 🙂

We’ve refuelled on some soup and home made bread; and I have the new edition of Women’s Running to enjoy!

20140222-150722.jpg

Have a great weekend, all. How long is your long run this weekend? How’s the weather looking?