Tag: outdoors

Weekly Workouts

Weekly Workouts

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Last week was quite a change from the week before, when I enjoyed a few longer runs. Being back at work meant that I didn’t have the luxury of running when I most wanted to, and my runs were all a good deal shorter than the previous week. But I did have a lovely, enjoyable week of runs.

I also signed up for the Great Run Solo- Hallowe’en Accumulator, which calls for participants to do 15 runs of any distance throughout the month of October. So far, so good!

Monday-

It was a public holiday here, and so I had another sneaky day off before going back to work. I started the week with a lovely, sunny trail run out above Torinturk on the timber route. The colours are definitely changing, as early autumn makes itself seen!

Distance: 4.09 miles

Time: 47m 59s

Pace: 11.43/m

Elevation: 364ft

Tuesday-

Back to work, and I was home later than planned, so I was a little worried that it would be too dark to run on a trail by myself. Instead, The Welsh Wookie and I went for a walk, exploring the trail on the other side of the road from Monday’s run at Achaglagach. It was dark by the time we got back to the car, so I made the right call.

Distance: 2.56 miles

Time: 50m 54s

Elevation: 258ft

Thursday- GRS Hallowe’en Accumulator 1/15

I started my accumulator challenge with an evening 5k. Again, I got home later than planned, so didn’t want to push the distance too far. I’ll be fine running in the dark, but I need to check my head torch and leg torch to check they are working ok. It was a lovely evening to start a new challenge!

Distance 3.3 miles (Strava said 3.94 but that’s not accurate!)

Time: 34m 4s

Pace: 10.12/m

Elevation: 468ft

Friday- GRS Hallow’en Accumulator 2/15

I managed to head out for a lunchtime run, for the first time in weeks! It was just what I needed and I really need to find time to build in more lunchtime runs, making the most of daylight. As I was working from home I opted for a short road run to the West Loch, but I added in Carrick Hill.

Distance: 3.22 miles

Time: 33m 3s

Pace: 10.15/m

Elevation: 509ft

Sunday- GRS Hallowe’en Accumulator 3/15

My original plan was to get in a longer run, somewhere between 6-8 miles but when I got up my back and knee were a little niggly. I don’t want to take any risks now that I’m committed to the accumulator runs so instead I decided to head to Cour wind farm and have a little fun with a 5k. It was really wet and rainy, so I deliberately ignored any focus on pace and just enjoyed my run.

Distance: 3.32 miles

Time: 39m 21s

Pace: 11.51/m

Elevation: 488ft

Not quite the strong finish to the week I had planned, but it’s been a solid couple of weeks so I’m pretty happy with that. I think I’ll be taking it easy again this week, seeing how the back and knee hold up. Have a great week!

Weekly Workouts

Weekly Workouts

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Last week I was on leave, and the weather was just gorgeous. That meant I could enjoy some lovely early autumnal runs during the day, taking my time to make the most of them. I was conscious that I didn’t want to do too much, as I could easily have run every day!

Monday- I had a lovely, relaxed weekend and so headed out on Monday morning feeling refreshed. My initial plan was to run somewhere between 5k and 10k, depending on how I felt. I headed to the trails around Torinturk and set off, listening to podcasts. I was running well, and so I actually had to rein myself back from running too far, especially as it was warm and sunny – and I wasn’t carrying any water. So I turned around at 4 miles, making for a fab 8 mile-ish run.

Distance: 8.16 miles

Time: 1h 32m 47s

Pace: 11.22/m

Elevation: 908 ft

Wednesday- I wanted to keep my run a little shorter after Monday, and so I thought I’d mix things up with a little road run around the harbour which I hadn’t done for a while. It was just lovely!

Distance: 4.09 miles

Time: 45m 4s

Pace: 11.00/m

Elevation: 66 feet

Friday- another gorgeous trail run! This time I headed to the trails around Cour wind farm, which I hadn’t done for a while. It was another beautiful and sunny day, and again I felt that I could have run on for longer. When i got back home I was a little annoyed with myself- I had turned around just before Loch Ciaran, and I hadn’t realised! Oh well, next time!

Distance: 7.13 miles

Time: 1h 22m 37s

Pace: 11.35/m

Elevation: 651ft

All in all, it was a fab week of running!

Weekly Workouts

Weekly Workouts

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Now that I’ve restarted blogging after a hiatus driven by boredom and a lack of clarity around the blogs’ direction, I’m thinking I should really include some running content again.

I’ll perhaps do a race review of the Kintyre Way Ultra Relay soon, but for now I’m going to share my weekly runs and other workouts, when I fit those in. Jacqui has moved her fitness classes all online, and we now have an amazing catalogue of 100+ workouts to tap into, across a really broad range of sessions. More on that another time too.

For now, here’s a summary of last week’s sessions, though there’s nothing spectacular to report on. Only two runs, but both were solid and enjoyable.

Monday- run to the West Loch and back. Lovely weather, and it was my first road run down that way for a few weeks. I also tackled the hill up to Carrick Cemetery just to keep it challenging.

Distance: 3.18 miles

Time: 36m 4s

Pace: 11.20/mile

Elevation: 214 feet

Wednesday- back on the trails at the Timber Route, out behind Torinturk. It was a tough day, and I couldn’t really be bothered lacing up, but I was so glad I did. I absolutely loved it!

Distance: 4.11 miles

Time: 47m 26s

Pace: 11.31/mile

Elevation: 497 feet

Friday- 5k walk along the harbour in glorious sunshine

Saturday- 5 mile walk

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

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Last week was a good ‘un. I had a solid week both in terms of fitness and eating well, and I had some fun along the way!

Here’s how it all worked out:

Monday: run. Hill repeats with some of the Jog Scotland crew- something is never do by myself. A great start to the week

Tuesday: walk. I was too late for classes😏

Wednesday: Jog Scotland Easy Run

Thursday: lunchtime hill run, followed by a fantastic PiYo Class in the evening

Friday: at home PiYo and a walk

Saturday: a walk around Glasgow’s West End

Sunday: a walk around the village

I didn’t manage to fit in a long run, and although I felt like I’d missed out at the time my legs today have definitely felt the benefit of three days without running. I went for a 10k morning run and I felt strong. I also managed my fastest 5k and 10k time in well over a year, including a sub 30 minute 5k. Yay!

We’re just over three weeks away from the Glen Scotia Marathon relay and we’ve just agreed who is running which section. It’s getting exciting!

My running mojo has been great recently, and I think today has helped to reinforce that too 👍🏻 But I know that can be a fragile thing, so here’s some motivation whether you are on a running high- or low:

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

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What a quick week! This summer is flying by, and I’m not achieving as much this summer as I had planned. I’ll have to keep pushing through the early part of August before schools are back.

In terms of eating well I’ve had a pretty strong week, and I’ve run more miles than I had scheduled. Woo hoo! Here’s how my plan worked out last week:

Monday: a lovely long walk around the harbour

Tuesday: an evening run. It was warm and sunny- I set out to do 5k and managed slightly more, bagging 3.6 miles.

Wednesday: Jog Scotland Run- we headed out the Kilberry road and did a hill which was good. It was another warm run, and we clocked up 3.4 miles

Thursday: back to class! We started a new round of PiYo and it was so good to be back. I’m already loving the second Flow track – it’s shaping up to be a good round!

Friday: I was in the office all day so I headed out for a solo lunchtime trail run. Again, it was hot and my legs felt tired. But I did 2.8 miles so I was happy enough with that.

Saturday: I was up earlier than usual as we’d arranged with some Jog Scotland members to run at Freasdail wind farm. We walked up the first hill and had a fab morning exploring around the wind turbines. I’ll definitely be back soon to try out some routes to increase the mileage. We had planned to do around 4.5 miles and actually did 5.5 miles. Not bad! It was my longest run in a while, since my knee injury.

Sunday: I took a well earned rest day 👍🏻

Here’s to another positive and strong week. Let’s keep everything in balance:

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

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Just a short post from me today. I’ve had a really busy weekend with the Beats & Eats Festival all weekend, so this is a quick update between washing and unpacking.

While my exercise routine has been solid, my food choices have been, well, very enjoyable but not the healthiest all the time! Here’s some of this weekend’s treats:

Monday: I started the week well with a 4 mile recovery run

Tuesday: a walk around the harbour

Wednesday: sprints with Jog Scotland

Thursday: 5k Recovery Run

Friday: a lunchtime trail run

Saturday and Sunday: lots of walking

Here’s this week’s motivation:

Make it a good one!

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

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Good morning! And what a glorious morning it is. The sun is shining and I’ve been for a run already- 4 gloriously sunny miles☀️

I’ve had a good week- my fitness plans have been on track and I’ve eaten well. Here’s a quick recap:

Monday: we went for a lovely walk around the harbour. After a busy weekend it was a good start to the week.

Tuesday: only one class, but we used the Pilates hoops again at Sculpt which really challenged my muscles in new ways. The DOMS were real!

Wednesday: an informal run with the Jog Scotland crew. We’re now on a summer break but still meeting informally until the next session in the autumn.

Thursday: two lots of activity for me- I had a trail run at lunchtime followed by PiYo in the evening. It was the last session of round 61 and it was tough!

Friday: I spent the day doing housework and managed to rack up around 10k steps so I did well for a rest day!

Saturday: we had the end-of-block run with Jog Scotland, a Viking 5k, since it was the Viking Festival Weekend. I started slowly and picked up pace as I went , running mile 3 at 9’40 pace- quick for me! We all were given fab mugs with Tarbert Jog Scotland on one side and a pic of Tarbert on the other. Love them!

In the afternoon we spent it in the sunshine, tidying the garden: grass cutting, strimming, jet washing and weeding. We were out there for over 5 hours, and I racked up over 20,000 steps 😊

Sunday: the weather was lovely, so we went for a walk to recover from the day before, before watching the Viking boat carry later in the day.

Loved it! I’m off to a good start this week, but we have no classes so I’ll have to rely on my own momentum to keep myself focussed this week.

Here’s something that resonates with me today:

Make the most of it- and have a great week!

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

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Hello everyone!

I’m still banned from activity, especially running, but I did get the stitches in my knee out last Thursday, after a long 12 days. So, I’m on the mend!

I had been training for the Kintyre Way Relay which took place on Saturday, and what a brilliant day it was. I couldn’t be more proud of my team: Alison and Morag were superb and ran amazing times on such a warm and sunny day. TheWelshWookie was a star, too, stepping in for me at such short notice. Well done team JAMathon!

I’d also like to give special mention to all of the Ultra runners who did all 32.8 miles, especially Gordon, Kathleen and Lorraine. Very well done! 👏🏻

While they were running I was busy scoping out our next challenge 😉

The Kintyre Way Relay was so well organised and such a fun and friendly event that I would highly recommend it either as an Ultra or as a relay.

I’ll be taking a short break away from my blog, as we’re off on holiday. I’ll be back in early June, no doubt refreshed- and I hope by then I’ll be back running again!

Until then, follow me on Instagram and Twitter @TartanJogger for regular updates.

Here’s your motivation until I’m back:

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

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Morning! Happy Bank Holiday!

How has your week been? For those not following my social media streams, this has been one of my most challenging weeks as a runner. Here’s why.

Last Sunday I headed out with Alison, Morag and Kathleen to recce the middle section of the Kintyre Way relay. The weather was perfect, I was properly fuelled and rested. The first four miles were great, the scenery was simply stunning:

But then disaster struck! I tripped over a boulder and fell 😩. No big drama, no huge incident, just a trip. I scraped my arm pretty well, and my right knee was bleeding a little but my tights weren’t ripped so I wasn’t too concerned.

Morag had a bandage with her so she helped patch up my arm and we headed off once again. We soon realised that we were on the wrong path- we had missed a turn. We got back on track and finished our run- over 11 miles in total. I felt pretty good! My knee was still bleeding, but physically I felt strong and that I could run much longer.

After a detour to the shop to pick up some antiseptic for my arm I headed home and straight for a shower to clean out my graze- only to find that under my tights my knee was pretty mashed up.

So I spent the remainder of Sunday afternoon and evening at A&E, leaving at 7.30 with stitches, x rays, antibiotics, painkillers, crutches and strict instructions to rest. Not how I planned to spend my day!

The excellent news is that nothing is broken, so our upcoming trip to Florida is still firmly on. But the bad news? No running, no exercise for a while. 😭

I was back at the hospital on Tuesday and everything was healing well, and I was back on Sunday as the plan was to have my stitches removed then. They didn’t take them out, largely because of where my cut is in my knee, so I’m back again this Thursday to get them out then.

Meanwhile my graze has been bruising up well:

I’m not showing you my leg as it’s a bit too gory!

Things could be worse- though I’ve had to withdraw from the Kintyre Way Relay which I’m devastated about. All of that training, and I was feeling so good about it! But @TheWelshWookie is stepping in to fill the gap. Rob, the organiser of the Kintyre Way runs has been very understanding so I’m very grateful to them for their help with this. I’m also very grateful to the A&E staff at the Mid Argyll hospital, they have been ace.

It’s true why they say- you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s taken away. At least I’ll be back at it in a few weeks, so I need to focus on that.

Kintyre Way Relay- I have unfinished business with you!

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

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Happy Easter! I’ve had a wonderful weekend- how about you?

I was still getting over my chest infection this week so my activity levels haven’t been back to normal yet, but I am getting there. Meanwhile my eating has been, well, far from ideal – but I’m really not worried about it. Back on track between now and Florida 😉

Monday: travelling back from our trip away, but we did get a walk in. Nothing else.

Tuesday: back at class- yes! Sculpt was great, it’s tough, challenging, but feels very good indeed. That was followed by Trigger Point Pilates, which was ace.

Wednesday: back to Jog Scotland and it was my first run in 10 days. We ran for 40 minutes, which was around 3.6 miles. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and boy did I need it!

Thursday: a walk in Lochgilphead

Friday: three hours of gardening- I’m counting it!

Saturday: a walk to and from Portavadie as well as a lovely day in the Spa there

Sunday: a trip to Gigha, so we enjoyed a fab walk around the island

All in all, I still have a way to go to get back to my previous fitness levels before my chest infection, but a bank holiday 10k run today has helped to boost my confidence with that.

And here’s something I’m reminding myself of:

Have a good week!