Tag: water

Weekly Workouts

Weekly Workouts

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

What a stunning week we’ve enjoyed with the most glorious sunshine. It’s been far too stunning to stay inside, so I’ve tried to enjoy the evening sun, culminating in an amazing outdoor adventure on Sunday.

It’s now less than two weeks until the Kintyre Way Ultra Relay, and I’m pleased to see that the final part of my section into Skipness will now be off road, woo hoo! Can’t wait to try a new trail!

Here’s how last week turned out.

Monday:

With the light nights it now means I have time to get onto the trails after work, which really makes such a difference. I decided to head onto the Kintarbert Forest route, just to enjoy being off road and to mix up the routes. I’d forgotten how hilly the first mile or so is!

Distance: 2.82m

Time: 37m 16s

Elevation: 509ft

Pace: 13.11/m

Wednesday:

On Wednesday evening we went for a walk around the harbour. My watch decided it wasn’t going to record the whole thing 🤷🏼‍♀️ but we did around 3.5 miles or so.

Thursday:

It was another lovely evening, so tonight I headed out to the timber route, for a 5k run. It’s such a lovely mid week treat!

Distance: 3.15m

Time: 37m 40s

Elevation: 394ft

Pace: 11.58/m

Friday:

My post-work run on Friday was a short run out to the West Loch and back. I was a little pushed for time, and my legs were feeling really heavy and tired after a long week. Glad I got it done, however. The pier was busy, and you can see the hard work underway.

Distance: 2.51m

Time: 30m 4s

Elevation: 79ft

Pace: 11.57/m

Saturday:

My original plan was to have another rest day but it was such a beautiful afternoon that we went for a wee walk along the harbour. Just 2.23 miles, but no pressure and no pace.

Sunday:

On Sunday, I was truly reminded how fortunate I am to live in an area so steeped in natural beauty, in history and in rugged, stunning landscapes. I really love living in this corner of the world!

I started the day with a 10k trail run, and I had most of the open space to myself. It’s so beautiful and quiet in the Sunday morning sunshine. I decided to scramble up to Dùn a’ Choin Duidh, which translates as the Fort of the Black Dog. It’s an Iron Age fort with stunning views over to Jura and, on a clear day, beyond.

Legend has it that the fort is named after a black wolfhound which was half wolf and defended the fort. It is also said to be the fort of Torquil Mor, a great hunter, who reportedly died fighting a wild boar.

When I was making my way back down I did think it wasn’t my best idea, and too it easy in case I took a tumble!🤣

Next on my trail was the Giant’s Grave, which is an amazing Bronze Age burial cairn. It is said to hold the remains on Diarmaid, the founder of Clan Campbell. The light in the glade itself in the late morning is just stunning.

After meeting up at home with Tony we decided to go for another cold water dip, and so we headed to Ronachan Point to see how the water was there. It was absolutely ideal. A little secluded and sheltered, we again had it all to ourselves. The water dips quite quickly meaning we didn’t have to wade out too far for a decent dook.

Ronachan Point is named after the seals that you can see on the rocky outcrops, and they were certainly enjoying the sunshine today, basking in the rocks. I don’t think they were the least impressed with our attempts in the water today, mind you!

The views over Gigha, Jura and Islay were just stunning. It’s such a beautiful spot.

Distance: 6.35m

Time: 1h 22m 46s

Elevation: 833ft

Pace: 13.02/m

It was such a lovely way to round out the weekend, and I really was reminded how fortunate we are to have all of this history and natural beauty on our doorstep. It is stunning!

Weekly Workouts

Weekly Workouts

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Actually, rather than a weekly round up this is a roundup of the last two weeks. We had time off last week and we’re decorating, so I didn’t find time to post! The decorating is done, looking good, and over for another while. Phew!

Monday-

I kick started the week with a short lunchtime run around the harbour, just to shake out the legs after the previous day’s 13.66 mile walk. My legs definitely needed it! I then did Jacqui’s fitness Pilates class in the evening, which was using resistance bands this time. Loved that!

Distance: 3m

Time: 32m 17s

Elevation: 39ft

Pace: 10.45/m

Wednesday-

It was such a lovely, sunny day and the first day of my annual leave (allegedly), and I headed out for a mid morning run to the West Loch. I did Carrick hill, and stopped a few times to chat!

Distance: 3.24m

Time: 37m 24s

Elevation: 223ft

Pace: 11.32/m

Thursday-

It was lovely to be able to head out for a walk at a leisurely pace, with no pressure to be back at the desk, and it was great to see the daffs and the spring flowers in full bloom.

Distance: 4.16m

Time: 1h 9m 7s

Elevation: 187ft

Friday-

It was just lovely to be able to take my time and enjoy the spring sunshine during my morning run.

Distance: 4m

Time: 43m 50s

Elevation: 151ft

Pace: 10.56/m

Saturday-

Today’s run was a special 5k. It rounded off the March Accumulator, but more importantly we completed The Trussell Trust’s Race Against Hunger. No one should be hungry in the UK today and we need to ensure dignified access to food for all, ending reliance on food banks. I ran with Tony and at his pace, it was good to be more reflective.

Distance: 3.1m

Time: 43m 9s

Elevation: 348ft

Pace: 13.56/m

Monday-

After a busy day stripping wallpaper and glassing woodwork, we headed out for a lovely evening stroll to enjoy some fresh air. There was a LOT of stopping and talking tonight!

Distance: 4.55m

Elevation: 167ft

Time: 1h 34m 36s

Tuesday-

Before starting to paper, I pulled on my trainers to make the most of the sunshine. We’ve been so lucky with the weather this week! This was my first run of 2021 wearing a t shirt, woo hoo!

Distance: 4m

Time: 43m 23s

Elevation: 236ft

Pace: 10.50/m

Thursday-

What a stunning day! I had a little more time to enjoy a run so I headed out to the timber route to make the most of the gorgeous day. After the run, we did something I have been thinking about doing for a while- we took the plunge and drove to A’ Chleit beach for a dook! The sun was warm, the sand golden and the water was baltic…. but I loved it!

Distance: 6.5m

Time: 1h 17m 4s

Elevation: 728ft

Pace: 11.51/m

Friday-

With another glorious day in store, we pulled on the trail shoes again and headed to Claonaig to walk a small part of the Kintyre Way. The views over to Arran were just stunning 🤩

Distance: 5m

Time: 1h 57m 8s

Elevation: 712ft

Saturday-

The forecast from tomorrow is for a return to bitter temperatures and perhaps even snow 😳, so we wanted to make the most of the mild weather and sunshine. We had another run around the harbour, then a quick scramble over to Shell Beach for another dook in the water, I think this is our new infatuation!🤣

Distance: 4m

Time: 42m 28s

Elevation: 46ft

Pace: 10.36/m

What a lovely way to spend an Easter Weekend. We always spend it with family so it’s quite a change for us, but the sunshine, water and vitamin D is helping 🌤🐣

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 3 Comments

Hello, how are you?

I’m grand: it’s a public holiday here, so I’m at the end of a long weekend. It’s back to work tomorrow, but only for three days until I head off on holiday…. To Toronto! I’m so excited!

This past week has been good, and I enjoyed my classes: Clubbercise, PiYo and Pound. I still haven’t squeezed in a run yet, but I’m not feeling guilty about that. I’ve still been active.

This weekend, we had a brilliant family weekend away in Aberfeldy to celebrate my uncle Jim’s 60th Birthday. What a laugh! We had lots of fun, excellent company, a few drinks and masses of fantastic food. Wow. I have eaten well! What was unusual was being away for a whole weekend with no mobile signal and no WiFi, so we all had to be social with no online time at all- it was great!

A group of us (18 of us, I think) went White Water Rafting on the River Tummel. When we arrived, we found out that we would be ‘closing’ the river, as we’d be the last group down the river in 2015. Ace! While we were waiting to get sorted, @TheWelshWookie spotted a familiar figure: it was none other than Frank, the coach driver who took us to the Great North Run! What a small world, eh? We had a wee chat with him, and he definitely remembered us too 🙂

We had a couple of photos taken:  

   
Then, it was time to head off, down the river. We were divided into four rafts, and on ours there was me, @TheWelshWookie, my sis Angie and my cousins Jane, Lewis and Ciara. We realised pretty quickly that it wasn’t as easy as it looked (or as easy as I had remembered- I last did it 10 years ago)! We had such a laugh, and found ourselves trapped or in trouble at just about every turn! We christened ourselves #TeamBounce, since we had to bounce the boat out of trouble a few times! 😉

Our instructor was loads of fun, and he even threw Ciara in at one point (nothing to do with her non stop talking!), but that was nothing compared to our spectacular tipping out at the final big drop! 

 I ended up under the boat, and it took me a few seconds to even realise what had happened! It was such brilliant, brilliant fun though. If you get the chance, do it.

Tonight was our final Clubbercise session before the October half term, which works out nicely with my forthcoming holiday.  

 Today, we’ve spent the day doing housework and packing: we are now good to go!

I saw this and thought I’d share it. I love it: 

 Have a brilliant week, all!