It was two days after the Epic Pedal for Scotland 110 mile sportive cycle and I felt the stress of knowing that I had a marathon to complete in just 3 weeks (29 September). Despite feeling tired I knew I had to get out and put some training in!

My training schedule had long runs on a Sunday and so the Tuesday run should be a short challenging one with lots of hills.

I headed down into the fields with the dogs and turned left towards the mill. Moving over the uneven ground was quite a challenge with my tired legs and then Candy ran off for a while chasing rabbits! I was enraged by this as I really needed to get on with my training and the light had started to fade… if she hadn’t turned up soon I’d have had to abandon the training session. Fortunately my phone had a dog whistle app and I used that for a couple of minutes and she reappeared… I quickly put her on the lead so I didn’t loose her again! I deleted this segment of the training session and restarted Strava!

Through the fields we continued and then down past the mill and through to the show grounds where Winnie, who was still allowed her freedom, went racing off after lots of rabbits! Fortunately she came straight back and I popped her on the lead til we crossed the road and headed along the river and up Midgie Glen. There is a significant hill here and I could tell my legs were still very tired from the cycle. Once at the top of the footpath we turned right and went round the square mile on the road. I could tell my splits were slow but I was just glad to be putting in the effort of going out for a training session! The road evened out and I felt much stronger then I turned left down hill past a lovely cottage, over a stream and up a very steep hill back to the main road. I slowed right down near the top but was pleased that I’d managed to jog up slowly. I turned right and jogged up to the summit of the road before heading back down the rollercoaster road back into Neilston. It was amazing, I went from being extremely tired to feeling strong and fast as we descended back to the village. All in all not a bad training session considering all the energy I’d used up only 2 days before!