Edinburgh half

Three sessions to blog about so will be quick.

Hill session on Friday after the bad gym day. Was also not great, but then I put up speed, incline and distance so was probably asking for trouble (all only by very little, I hasten to add).

• 6 mins cross trainer, level 12, staying above 10 mets
• 20 mins treadmill at 6.8mph
• Chest press, 12 x 2 on each of two grips, 20 kg
  
• Was supposed to do 40 mins treadmill at 6.2 mph, cross country setting with inclines up to 8.5%. Ended up walking a couple of times on steepest bits but then also added a sprint finish.
• Back weights, 12 x 2 for each of three grips, 20 kg.

Yesterday was the Edinburgh Half Marathon and I got quite excited about it because Fi and Ailsa came down the night before and Ailsa's enthusiasm was infectious! I hadn't received my race pack in the post and had to email the organisers loads of times (they don't answer the phone) to find out if I could still get a timing chip on the day. They kept answering questions I hadn't asked but not telling me about the chip. It was finally confirmed the night before that I could be re-chipped on site, but by then I'd had a nightmare on Friday night that we were late for the start and then we got mixed up in a triathlon and I had to run in my wet suit. Ailsa proceeded to dream on Saturday night that we overslept and missed the start. So we were quite hyped up!

Luckily all went smoothly in the morning, thanks to loyal supporter and driver Fi, who dropped us at the start and met us at the end. The beginning was narrow and crowded, did my first mile in 8.17 - I needed to do 8.15 miles to make my target time of 1.50. Next two miles were worse at around 8.30 each - aargh! I considered giving up and plodding round, treating it as a slow training run. Especially as from mile three we were running into the wind. Then I though 'Fuck that, thee mile markers are probably in the wrong place anyway' and got my head down.

Did a few miles at around 8.05 and got into my pace and started to enjoy it. The wind died off. Had a hairy moment when I thought I was taking ages but I'd missed mile marker 8 - possibly distracted by the stench from the sewage works. Did miles 8 and 9 in 15.45 but pretty sure they were marked wrong as mile 10 took me over 9 minutes. The miles seemed to go much more quickly than usual, maybe because I was busy doing long division and multiplication in my head to work out how many seconds I had left to make up. But by the last three miles I knew I could make it and finished happy and tired in 1.48.25 (chip time).

Not a PB, but good for this stage in my training. I was lying earlier when I said I would be happy with 1.55 - I would in fact have been a grumpy bitch, so it's just as well I did it.

Ailsa also met her aims - plus a PB - with a fantastic time of 2.06.20. She looked fresh as a daisy afterwards, too, and was suitably chuffed. Am now slightly worried that she will beat me in the marathon. Actually, she could well beat Al, which would be great!

We then retreated for showers and burgers, for which we were joined by Barry and Hils, which was lovely. Had a good chat and absolutely stuffed my face with burger and cheesecake, then went home for a nap.

The day finished with the reinforced Leith Pub Quiz Team winning the Cameo quiz! I even contributed a couple of correct answers. Won chocolate and £30 off next time's bar bill. Doesn't get much better than that.

Today, experimented with a 'recovery run' as I was a bit stiff. Went to the gym after work and pottered about, basically. Was lovely (and a bit weird) not to have a set goal for the session. Did about 2.2 miles of mixed walking at a steep gradient and jogging at 2%, 4 mins cross trainer, 3 mins step machine and a mile on the bike. Was unsweaty enough to drive home afterwards for my shower instead of showering straight away at the gym, but felt better for the stretch out.

Tomorrow: speed work (or maybe tempo session, not sure). Need to up my mileage so may join Matt and his friend once a week for an 8 miler once the clocks go forward.