This week concludes the end of the month as well as week 5 of the block. It feels like quite a milestone as Strava and Garmin like to conclude the monthly challenges and statistics. The roundup of the month will be discussed at the end of this post. Here's how the week has panned out:
Monday: Bank holiday so a break to the usual routine. Not a bad thing as I managed to get my upper S&C session in early, but not 5am early! The positive from this workout was I'm slowly progressing onto heavier weights & feeling more confident.
Tuesday: Intervals. I looked forward to this as it was 6 x 600m with a 90s rest in between. 10 minute warm up and cool down. I started later than desired because of life but there wasn't anything stopping me from getting these done. It was a good session & am feeling more mentally prepared as to how tough these will be as I'm pushing myself. I'm using the same loop now for a measurement of progress and it has a slight incline on it. Every little helps right? The last interval was my fastest but full disclosure - it was downhill! A decent workout done.
Wednesday - S&C lower body. This was the session 2 weeks ago I couldn't finish. I found it really tough & the 18 minute warm up of HIIT can be tough when I push myself. It's amazing to think that 5 years ago at the very beginning 20 minute HIIT workouts were all I started with 4 times a week, now I've got an addition on top of one. I really have come a long way. This was done straight after work & my form for Bulgarian split squats are improving. I'll keep concentrating on the form then I'll add weights once I'm happy I have good form.
Thursday - Turbo or intervals. Still not activated my Zwift account yet as I don't want to be charged at the end of the month. Now it's June I'll see what it's all about. Tonight was just running. I had planned an easy run with a route in mind but once the music was on & the legs were moving, it was feeling good. Even on the inclines I usually walk. Physically & mentally I felt strong on this run & let it flow. My paces were hitting faster than I have seen in a long time & even though I knew I was pushing, I wasn't dying. The intervals and strength training are paying off for sure now. I even stopped to take a picture of the cows in a field!
Friday - Technically rest but do some yoga or a light walk. Neither of these happened. Yoga needs to start coming back into my life more regularly as I'm feeling the lack of it. What did happen on this day was a text from Stevie asking to join him on a recce from Gartness to Balmaha for my long run. I had no fixed plans & it's a section I hadn't seen yet. Plus I get to spend some time on the WHW course with my pal. Times and logistics were arranged & the 5am alarm was set for tomorrow.
Saturday - Long run. Gartness to Balmaha recce with Stevie. We met at Balmaha and drove down to Gartness. I was excited about this one as it was my 1st recce that was a point to point, no having to run back the way for the car. It was also Stevie's 1st conic summit which I didn't know until we started running. It was only my 2nd time running with Stevie as last year he helped me get to my marathon PB on a training run before John Muir Way ultra. He's super encouraging & the chat never dries up. From Gartness up to Gardhaban wood car park is uphill. Small runnable flatter sections but for the most part like Mugdock, it's up. We almost missed a turning which I spotted a post for the WHW. Just as well as it would have been easy to miss.
We cut through here then it's onto a field, which has a small hill with a post at the top. It's funny as it reminded me of a mini trig point. Really useful way marker as I'm shocking for getting lost!
Through the field, cross the road and through a wee alleyway that's well covered with trees before turning left onto another field and the trail up.As we chatted on the hill up, we had to watch footing as it was quite rocky. Not technical but enough if you don't watch you could roll your ankle. We then spotted something in the distance that looked like someone standing, but getting closer it was a creepy advertisement for folk humphing your bags up the WHW for you if you wished. If I saw this in the dark it would definitely give me a fright! Thankfully it will be daylight by the time I get to it so it's not a huge issue, but good to know it's there now.
When we reached Gardhaban wood car park, my mentality changed. I've done this section twice now & it's a really nice part of the route. It's downhill as well so the time spent hiking up the hill can be made up at this section running down. When you clear the trees, it's the first sighting of Loch Lomond, which is a very welcome sight. It's a turning point of the route and the gateway into nature. You have really left Glasgow by this point and its Loch Lomond on your left for a long way after this. Sadly, Conic hill had a big cloud looming over it & the thought of getting views up there didn't look promising.
I mentioned to Stevie this would maybe be a good spot for taking pictures as it really opens up at this point for a wee section.For me as well, the run felt more relaxed at this stage as I knew it really wasn't far from Balmaha. I can't believe we had been jogging/hiking for 8km before I noticed as the time passed really quickly. I need to arrange a lot more social runs moving forward as the more I'm doing it, the less sick I'm feeling about going out with people. I tend to have this niggle of slowing people down & me thinking they're thinking 'fuck sake how slow is she?!'. As Stevie discussed with me on our recce, if someone asks to run with you & gets excited about having your company, it's because they want to socialise with you and it's a 'social' run. Anything paced should have been completed elsewhere on a training plan. It's small things like this that help massively.
We added a sticker onto the gate of many stickers before ascending Conic hill. The message I love & have 3 wristbands gifted to me from important people in my life.
Conic hill is a really special hill. It's one of the few that I can ascend it much faster than descending. This is thanks to the new path that's been laid to enable everyone to go up and down the hill for the enjoyment of the views. I'm unsure of other reasons but this is what I'm thinking is the reasoning. Sadly the cloud didn't lift & the further up we went, the wetter & windier it got. I'm glad I had company for this & Stevie's video he took for Instagram makes me laugh. Typical Scottish summer.
We made a detour off the WHW path to the summit for Stevie to truly bag this one. We went to 2 points of the hill as it hasn't registered on my Summitbag (still hasn't!). The views were blank as seen on this picture!
This is the selfie taken at the summit:
Now let's chat about the descent. I decked it twice. That was me being careful as well. It's absolutely made me think about getting new shoes as I cannot afford to take this amount of time on the downhill for the fling. I've had a recommendation from someone & I hope they're decent shoes for me. Thankfully plenty of time to find this out now & not a couple of weeks before fling.
I had not been so glad to get off a terrain like than & be able to start running again on the trail. We jogged back to the car park & that concluded the run. A quick change for us both out of wet clothes and into St Mocha for a hot chocolate & cake! I ended up taking the cake home as the hot chocolate was delicious but very sweet!
I love runs like this as it gives me a lot to think about. Fuelling is a massive factor, I keep saying it but it does need loads of improvement. I'm also going to try & arrange more social runs with people & put the offer out there if people want to run on Saturday mornings. My training runs will be on the WHW 1st half for the foreseeable as early as I can. If anyone reading this is up for this in the near future, you know where to message me.
Sunday - Recovery run. The legs felt heavy & I'm mindful on these ones to keep my HR low. It wasn't too hard to do that as I knew I had a busy day & this run was more of a box tick. Good to get it done.
As it was the end of the month I was looking closely at my running stats. I've done really well hitting the sessions planned & starting to manage time more efficiently.
I keep joking my Garmin is broken as it's never been this productive for this length of time. My husband says it's because I hardly done anything at the start of the year. He's right. Between the low iron levels (which hopefully has been resolved) & the studying for the uni module (which I've since found out I've passed this week!) it was really difficult to fit in the fitness & it felt like another chore to be done. If I am fortunate enough to get funding for the final dissertation for the masters degree, I won't be signing up for any events. That's not just me saying that. Not ones that involve massive training blocks. Anything I would be fortunate enough to do would be done light heartedly and for the social element. It would be less stressful to keep a base ticking over than having an event as my main focus for the year. It would be too overwhelming.
For now, I'm grateful I get to put my spare time & enjoyment into this training block without anything extra work wise to focus on. Ultimately it's a hobby. I'd like to keep enjoying it for as long as I can.
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