Hills, Hills and more Hills

Well, it is no surprise that we are spending more and more time on the hills as we focus in on the Speed of Light. On Monday evening we headed to Arthur’s seat for a date with Katri Walker. Katri is a visual artist and filmmaker that has been commissioned to do a piece on The Speed of Light and it was to this end that Katri accompanied us on the hill.

We decided that this training exercise was going to be to run our respective original routes as a continuous run, that way if we could do that then the fitness should be OK when we incorporated the actions. So after meeting up with Katri in the car park we headed off to our starting positions – a gentle 1 mile warm-up. The plan was simple, Katri was going to accompany me on the first three legs and then hook up with Moira for her final legs. Katri was full of questions and the time passed very quickly. I would like to say I didn’t notice the steep inclines but I wouldn’t quite go that far! Just for the record, my ankle felt the best it has been since the injury coming off the hill.

On Tuesday it was back to leading our JogScotland group, it was to be everyone’s favourite session, not! Grassy Hill reps. Has to be said that we must be going soft as we gave the group options – 6 reps, at least 2 of which had to be long. To our surprise many opted for more than 2 long reps – obviously there is still a belief that – no pain, no gain.

On Wednesday, The Jammys were back on the road, this time the destination was Inverness, the Highland capital. Inverness has always been a great hunting ground for the Jammys and this year proved no exception. The Jammys won best workplace group and JammyBilly was second male and JammyMo was third female. It is a long way to go for a 5k but the trip is a tremendous team building occasion.

After the long trip and arrival back in Edinburgh in the ‘wee sma hours in the morning’, Thursday’s run round the Innocent railway, in the shadow of Arthur’s seat was a somewhat subdued affair. Nobody cared to divert to Hunter’s bog and take in more hills. In the evening, Moira and I had a much-needed sports massage.

The planned middle distance run for Friday didn’t materialise, what with the rain and my ankle grumbling we thought it prudent to give the run a miss.  On Saturday, I had planned to do parkrun but again I felt my ankle was just not right so again declined to run.

The problem with our training of late has been the lack of long runs, usually Sunday is the day for long runs but with the intrusion of the Kilomathon, Speed of light and the Marathon the long run has become a distant memory. However, that was put to right on Sunday with a hilly Harburn 10 miler. The price to pay, well apart from being sluggish, I collected a huge blister on my right foot. My own fault really, went back to using my old Asics and re-introduced the orthotics. Lesson learnt – don’t fix what ain’t broken!

On the Road Again!

Who would have thought it? Five years ago we set up the Jammys with the sole purpose of raising awareness and much needed funds for the Simpson Special Care Babies (SSCB) charity. Each year we take on the JogScotland 5K challenges the length and breadth of Scotland and this week we set-off on our sixth tour. The Jammys have always believed in their motto – Joy, Laughter and Fun – it’s a great philosophy to take into these events. The Jammys have grown in number over the years and instead of getting all Jammys to commit to the whole tour we now try and get as many Jammys as possible to each event.

JogScotland are a tremendous organisation who aim to get people active and we remain committed to this aim with our workplace JogScotland group. Throughout the month of June JogScotland put together a series of challenges for their members to aspire to and for many it is the focus of their efforts to get fit.  Over the last few months we have been organising our tour – booking the minibus for Aberdeen and Inverness and sourcing and printing the T-shirts for the new Jammys joining us for this year’s tour.

So the main focus of the last seven days has been The Jammys tour. On the eve of the tour we were dealt a blow with JammyJules, one of the new Jammys, having to pull out of the first couple of challenges as a result of injury. So on Wednesday we headed up north with only eight Jammys for the first challenge, however, this did not dampen spirits as it was just great to be on the road again. The first two challenges are nearly always Aberdeen and Inverness and these challenges have a special atmosphere with the group travelling together in a minibus – a really good bonding session. Over the years there are a lot of traditions that have been implemented. Maynards directly benefit from one of these traditions – the consumption of copious amounts of wine gums – mostly it has to be said by JammyBilly.

It was a miserable drive up to Aberdeen, wet and misty. We arrived in good time, so much so that we were charged by JogScotland to recall the course from our previous visit a couple of years ago. Nobody else seemed to remember the course, so we ran what we thought was the course and amazingly enough our route came in at 5K – total recall or what? The challenge got underway and the heavens opened, definitely the wettest challenge we have been involved in. The Jammys all made it home safely, the bonus being that everyone was pleased with their times. You can donate on our fundraising page.

The weekend was taken up with the Grand Harburn Festival, it was our first festival so it was an all new experience for us. We decided as the festival essentially takes place at three sites we would take our bikes. It has to be said that not much cycling took place, Moira was located at the village hall selling burgers and John was at the Sawmill looking after some of the games. Thankfully the rain stayed away.

It wouldn’t be Saturday without some connection with parkrun and so on Saturday night it was off to Bellshill to celebrate Ally’s 27^th birthday for the 24^th time. It was great to see so many of our parkrun friends dressed up in something other than running gear! I’d like to say they all behaved themselves but that would be somewhat glossing over the truth.

A Return to Action

After a month off running it was back to training – it is always hard coming back after a long lay off.  Everything seems to require that much more effort. Training is definitely a habit and once the habit has been broken it is difficult to re-establish. However after the last Speed of Light run leader’s day we headed back up Arthur’s seat to learn our routes. Returning so soon afterwards made it hard work particularly on the steep hill sessions, however with Angus words still fresh in the mind we kept to the pace he suggested (thankfully on the slow side).

We were ever mindful of our busy weekend looming so we got our head down and did plenty of Hill work over the remainder of the week. Suddenly it was the weekend and our stint at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival (EMF) began.  It’s our chance to see what goes on behind the scenes to stage an event such as this. As a runner you tend to take for granted the work that goes on to deliver an event of this scale. The hard working team at GSI certainly put in a power of work both before the weekend and during the weekend, many of them working back to back 20 hour shifts over the weekend. We have been involved with the marathon for the past five years, starting off as marshals and working our way through various jobs such as the sweeper bus and ending up at the start. We help manage the two starts, London Road and Reagent Road, it’s hard work but we wouldn’t miss it for the world.  We have gained a lot of friends through our stint working on the Edinburgh marathon.

In order to recover from our marathon weekend we took the week off work to give us time to recharge our batteries before launching ourselves into Speed of Light training and the up and coming JogScotland 5k Challenges. Well that was the plan as it turned out we didn’t get much training done, just a 7 mile run before it was the weekend again and a return to parkrun. Moira had opted for the 25 minute pacer vest and I went for the 23 minute vest. Once again the pacing event was a success despite the cold windy conditions – is it really June?

On Sunday we had an early start as we had to be in Helensburgh for 9:00 am for registration for the Three Lochs Way Relay Challenge. Each team had five runners and team JJAAM consisted of five Strathclyde parkrunners: John, Jon Edge, Ally Robb, Anthony Butler and Moira. As we assembled in the Victoria Hall there was a lot of mind games going as another Strathclyde parkrun based team,  The Bumble Bees, tried to physic us out. Team JJAAM were stronger than that and were determined to do a Gandalf ‘Thou shalt not pass!’  As we headed to the start we were still working out the logistics of who was driving where and who was to be in what car. At the start Jon limbered up impressively, although chatting to the First Aiders as a ‘precaution’ had us worried. At 9:55, 5 minutes early the race was started and Jon disappeared over the horizon and we disappeared in the car onwards to stage three. As we passed stage two, Ally was already limbering up; these guys were taking this challenge seriously. Ally had opted for this section as her map reading skills were such that she complained about the lack of red dots on the road – enough said.  Moira and I sat in the car at stage three, aware that on the map this was a designated ‘Danger Area’  We were left to reflect about the situations we find ourselves in as a result of saying ‘yes’ to some of the challenges in life.

Time passed all too quickly and over the horizon came the lead runners, the field was already well spaced out. I left the comfort of the car to take up my position on the changeover point. Before I knew it Ally appeared over the horizon and I was on my way. Stage three was billed as a 6.8 mile leg over tarmac minor road, crushed rock forestry roads and a short rough trod section. The tarmac minor road was, well, not long enough. The crushed rock forestry road were not crushed enough and the short rough trod was not short enough and it was vertical. However, in order to overcome the shortcomings the leg turned out to be 7.3 miles. Aside from all this I thoroughly enjoyed the run even if it was a tad sore on the feet, the scenery was spectacular. After just over an hour’s running I handed over to Moira who hared off at breakneck speed along leg four.

We had reccied my leg about 2 weeks before the race and it appeared to be a bit wet to say the least. The large puddles filled with tadpoles had me a wee bit concerned! However, things had dried up and there was not a frog or tadpole in sight. So I was pleasantly surprised to run the first four miles of my 4.1 mile leg without getting my feet wet. It was a tough four miles, undulating over rough terrain but the scenery was spectacular. That’s when they did the dirty on me and surprise surprise my final 100 metres were through a bog. Not only did I get wet but my trainers are now stinking! I then handed over to young Anthony for the glory leg.

As young Anthony sped off on leg five, his four team mates reflected long and hard about the wisdom of not telling him about the slight uphill start to his leg.  After reflecting for all of ten seconds we jumped in the support cars and headed off to the finish to cheer young Anthony in! Arriving at the Power Station we took the opportunity to shelter from the midgies and grab some coffee and a sandwich. Eventually young Anthony brought the team home in 8^th place – pretty respectable considering we were only beaten by local Athletic clubs. Would we do it again – you bet we would!

Don't stop me now - I'm having such a great time!

When I was told I could start running again towards the middle of the week, I had no idea how slow the week was going to be. It took forever to get to Wednesday and when it did arrive my plans for a run were thwarted – I felt a twinge on my ankle and decided to give the run a miss. Not to be out-manoeuvred I decided that I was getting on my bike. So on Wednesday evening the return to training began in earnest with a 17 mile cycle – it was great to be back out there and my legs definitely felt tired after the bike ride. Mo headed for her core class, instead of joining me on the cycle.

On Thursday, I took a bit of convincing that my ankle would be OK. You know how it is, you suddenly have a fear of the injury coming back to haunt you, so you have to dig deep to return to running. As it happened I opted to run on my own and leave Mo to run with our jogscotland group. I tested my ankle on the superior surface around Craigmillar Castle – trail and ash paths. I managed to clock up 5 miles and was so chuffed to be back. Now for the wait to see if there was a reaction to my training session. Friday arrived and all I could feel was tired legs, too tired to go through with my planned recovery run but the main thing was the ankle was feeling OK.

On Friday night we were joined by Mo’s pal Hazel for a night out at the local Golf club. Not a good combination bearing in mind that we were both intending to run Strathclyde parkrun in the morning. However, it was great to let our hair down after a busy week of meetings and training for the upcoming Edinburgh Marathon festival.

Early Saturday morning we headed west for the 108^th Strathclyde parkrun, a bit the worse for wear and in a delicate condition. Unfortunately we had to be there as we had all the kit. I decided early on that I was going to take it easy and I was definitely not going to do my customary freedom run ahead of the main event. I managed round in a respectable time of 23:08 and Mo did 24:42, both times down on our average.

Now, as you know we seem to get involved in a lot of events and in a moment of weakness a couple of weeks ago we agreed to be part of the Strathclyde parkrun relay team taking on The Babcock Three Lochs Way Diamond Jubilee Relay Challenge. So after parkrun on Saturday we headed off to Helensburgh to scout out the route with Ally and Jon – there are a few hills up that way! It was an education as Jon Edge taught us everything that we needed to know about survival in the wild – we had no idea that weeds were so nourishing! Jon even attempted to teach Ally and Mo how to use a map and compass – Jon obviously also loves a challenge! (Oi I resent that!!! Oh ok Jon does like a challenge!)

Next up was the Speed of Light run leaders training day. The Crags were bathed in spring sunshine when we arrived, a couple of minutes late, apparently there was a big football match the day before and one of the teams was parading the cup! After a call to arms talk by Angus, Scott led us on a pacing exercise up The Crags in order to give us an idea of the Speed of light and it’s not as fast as you imagine – so a word to the wise don’t take the Speed of Light literally. Once again the evening consisted of us going through our choreography legs twice, with the run leaders swapping over midway through the evening. The pink team welcomed Graeme to our ranks and the green team was very much as they were! Once you stood on the plate you had to lead your team of four round your different legs and really for the first time you got to see what was going on with the all the other groups and how they were interacting with your group. It is going to be amazing! The two sessions seemed to go very smoothly and it all appears to be coming together. Before we knew it the sessions were over and it was back to the car after a quick game of find the cone – Graeme and I failed miserably, someone had swiped them all before we got to any of them. Returning to the car park, you couldn't help but notice that it was one happy bunch of run leaders. Fair to say we are all looking forward to the speed of light now!

The Long and Winding road - back to fitness

Another week without training for me, it's driving me up the wall. However, Mo managed to do her most miles in a week for a long time. I was optimistic in the middle of last week that I was at last on the mend particularly after having a couple of days pain-free. We even managed to walk to the village hall on Friday night for the annual village quiz. Modisty prevents me from saying how well we did but we have the trophy to prove it. Forever the optimist, at least my mind was being exercised.



On Saturday we headed to Strathclyde parkrun where I was Race Director and Mo was again in the relentless pursuit of her 50th parkrun. Mo managed to get under 23 minutes for the second week in a row.  Unfortunately I was starting to feel pain again and was starting to dread what the next few hours would bring. Alarmingly, I was booked in for a session with Grant McLullich, the sports therapist we use. If I thought I was in pain now, Grant was the man to show me what real pain is! Grant as always was able to come up with a diagnosis and provided me with exercises to do to aid my recovery - after that he proceeded to inflict his very own brand of pain, sorry I mean deep tissue massage. Still, after the visit to Grant I was more optimistic about resuming training in the middle of next week, all being well..

On Sunday, Mo donned the running shoes and running kit and headed off for a long solo run round the country roads in Harburn. Mo completed her 10 miles in a quicker time than we normally do it together so clearly I am holding her back in these long training runs. However, as I mentioned I am more optimistic about resuming training this week - just in time to take my place at the Speed of light runleaders training day - bring it on.

A great week for one, hell for the other!

After the excitment of the Super Sunday it was back to training for the main event. We had intended to return to Arthurs seat on the Monday but through the day I decided that I needed to rest my ankle. Mo continued to train while I battled against the will to run and tried to keep sensible. I succeeded but only just. Mo takes over from here.

I always enjoy the pacer Saturdays at Strathclyde parkrun, on the first Saturday of the month we ask some of our runners to don the pacer vests and run at a steady even pace so that those runners out there wanting to achieve a particular time have someone to follow or try to stay ahead off. It has proved popular with both runners and pacers alike.

We both quite often don one of the vests, last month I wore the 27 min vest and paced on of our regular runners Mike Ward round the course to a PB. Of course it’s the runner who does all the hard work but one of the thrills of being a pacer is encouraging the runners around you and the joy of seeing them get a PB. This month I decided to go for a PB myself, I’d been trying to get under 23 mins almost since we started our parkrun and had been so close on several occasions. Standing in the starting pen with my 23 min pacer Ian (Devoy) our race director Ian (MaCauly) gave us the usual important start announcements, you run at your own risk, we don’t have priority in the park, be considerate to other park users, listen to the marshals instructions and remember to say thank you to the marshals as they have given up their opportunity to run to deliver you a great parkrun, and then Iain (Yuill) the timer set us off. By the way you don’t have to be called Ian to help out at parkrun!!!!

The first km was tough as I hadn’t warmed up properly but Ian set a steady pace and I fell in behind him, a quick wave and a thank you to the first two marshal (Anne Smith and Mairi McGowen) and the 2k marker was upon me. So far so good. 

I wasn’t sure marshal 3 (Paul Smith) would get a thank you as I was beginning to struggle a bit, but I managed. Once round the turn I told myself we were on the home strait and I could do this. Ian kept looking at his watch then looking back to check I was still with him. 3 km done and he tells me quite cheerily that we only have 2k to go. Marshals 2 then 1 only got a wave on the way back as I couldn’t speak! The 4k marker was just ahead and I was beginning to flag at this point, would I be able to make it? Ian must have realise I was slowing down a bit as he kept looking back telling me I was doing fine and to just dig in. Funny how things turn around, just a month ago I was telling Mike the exact same thing! 800m out and I caught up with Ian, 400m to go and he tells me to get ready to go for it. The 200m marker appears and I start to sprint ahead, I could hear Ian behind me telling me to go for it. Then the long awaited finish line! Well did I manage a PB? Yes I did 22:40! I was chuffed to bits.

The pacers are great and a big hit. I also enjoy being a pacer and I suppose it’s a bit like being a jogleader, which I also really enjoy. Maybe that’s why I’ve naturally fallen into the role of runleader with Speed of Light.

Wondering what else happened to Jo this week? Well,  as well as resting up his ankle in a bid to be fighting fit for the next instalment of the Speed of Light adventure in a couple of weeks time, he has been keeping himself busy, organising The Jammys summer tour..  More to follow in the coming weeks.

 Runners know exactly how hard it is to be injured and not able to run. Although I have been told to keep my grumpy-ness to myself. That won’t stop me blogging about it! (comments removed in the interest of the fairness to readers – Mo)

Springtime in Edinburgh

Last Monday evening we returned to Arthur’s seat for some hill work ahead of the next Super Sunday and were greeted with perfect conditions. The sun was shining, there was next to no wind, it was beautiful up there on the Crags and we had a good run round a lot of the paths that will feature in the Speed of Light choreography. However, it was at a cost – my ankle problem flared up again and I ended up hobbling to the car.

On Monday evening I made the decision to rest up for the rest of the week to give me a fighting chance of making an appearance at the Super Sunday scheduled for the end of the week. Runners the world over will know how hard it is to stop training for a week. Grumpy doesn’t begin to describe how you feel.  You keep telling yourself – that feels better – perhaps I could just go out for a wee run. Thankfully Mo was on hand to nip that thought in the bud.  It was a long week without running, especially when Mo was getting out running every day of the week and enjoying it to boot.  Still we both remembered last year when the positions were reversed.

On Saturday we headed once again to Strathclyde parkrun, and I took the decision to test out the ankle, firstly with a freedom run round the 5k course. The ankle seemed to hold up quite well. However, standing about waiting for the main parkrun to start it was starting to niggle. Right up until the start I was debating with myself – will I, won’t I. Yes, I ran the 5k. All the way round I was aware of the ankle and felt I was holding back and was pleasantly surprised when I clocked 21:54. The ankle seemed OK and I went off to cool down, waiting to see if there was a reaction. It was fine, that was until I went for a hot Chocolate – I ended up limping to the car.

Super Sunday arrived and I convinced myself that my ankle felt better without the support I had been using so I decided to head off to the speed of light without it. We had studied the choreography a few times ahead of setting of for Arthur’s seat but still felt nervous.  Angus and Litza addressed the run leaders, settling nerves – not exactly, suddenly it felt daunting again. I am sure I wasn’t the only one asking themselves – Can we do this? Of course we could, we had managed on the other occasions we had been on the hill. Besides as run leaders we have to inspire confidence in our team.

The fun started with being suited up in the light suits, as soon as you put on the light suit excitement takes over and you are ready for the task ahead.  Before we knew it the runners were arriving and being assigned to their Run Leaders, time for action. Our group of runners were ‘up-for-it’ right from the off. I was paired with Kristi and Mo with Leo, it was then time to brief the runners – explaining the signals, emphasising the importance of distance between runners.

 Before we knew it we were getting the command to get to our start position – SHOWTIME!

Thanks, Jenny Von Svan for the photo

We led the runners on to the hill, and answered their questions about the night’s proceedings, although we asked for questions during the briefing it seemed that the hill prompted the runners to ask more questions. Once in the start positions, looking across the hill you could see that another magical night lay ahead of us. The visual impact was amazing and it wasn’t even dark yet.  We ran through our choreography legs, trying very hard to concentrate on the job in hand but it was impossible not to try and get a sneak preview of the ‘Big Picture’ – it is going to be an incredible spectacle.  All too soon it was time to head back to the change-over area to hand over our light suits to the incoming session of runners, another example of choreography. As we headed back the heavens opened and suddenly the cold wind was accompanied by sleet and heavy rain. Fortunately my group got off the hill before the torrential rain took hold, poor Mo was up at hub 1 running round in circles waiting for her next command.  The runners on session 2 were unfortunate as they were out in the brunt of it. Despite the wind and rain, the runners’ spirits weren’t dampened.  

Debriefing our team at the end was rewarding, each and every one of our runners were exhilarated by the whole experience.  As for the ankle well it held up for the night but I will be resting it again this week – don’t want to miss Speed of light in August.