Back in the Groove

And loving it!
I can't believe that's us at Thursday again...  The week has flown by, it will soon be the weekend and long run time :-)  It's funny but I find we reach a point where the LSR is the pivotal point in the week and everything else is worked round about it, I'm sure some of my colleagues/friends find this a little bit strange but it makes perfect sense to me and in a strange way I find myself looking forward to it.  I thoroughly enjoyed doing marcothon2012 and I think I have benefited from it already in that I feel that my running is stronger and more consistent - and we managed to get all the way through December without any of the snuffles or lurgy that seemed to strike so many people down.  Last Sunday I did my first 'proper' LSR of the Highland Fling training program and I loved it!  We ran from Rowardennan to Inversnaid on the West Highland Way, 14.7miles with some cracking hills en route - 148m climb on one of them and we did it twice.
John is very fortunate in that he can run up these hills nowadays, I can't, I am getting better and can do some of them but I have adopted a run/walk strategy which works for me - I walk smartly up the hills and then fly down them!  The average pace that I get is better than if I was to try and run albeit slowly up the hills as I would stress and be exhausted and not be up for the downhill.  Running fast downhill is not as easy as you might think, there is a skill to it and it takes a lot of confidence - I know it has taken me a few years to be confident enough - but now I really enjoy it and I think I'm pretty good at it :-)  It struck me on Sunday though just how much brain processing you do, as you are running you are constantly assessing the ground in front of you and making split second decisions as to where to put your foot next, whether the wet/muddy tyre track at the side of the road is safer than the drier but rockier middle of the track or the other side of the track where there are clear puddles but the camber is harsh..... all of this information is being processed by that superfast computer we all carry about in our heads and often don't give it the credit it's due - our brain :-)  I sometimes think of it like watching a film on fast forward and when it gets to the blurry stage I know that I need to slow down because it's too fast for me to process the amount of data coming in!
I really enjoyed this run, even the scary bits, and finished it off with a nice paddle in Loch Lomond which wasn't nearly as cold as I'd thought it would be, but which did the job in terms of helping the legs recover.
It was back to normal with pinpoint-fitness on Monday too so that's 5 days running and 2 fitcamps already this week, pilates tonight and we're back in the groove :-)
Soon be the weekend and the next LSR - have a nice weekend friends, whatever you get up to!