Tempo run and looking forward to the Highland Fling

Route: Furzton Lake loop
Distance: 6.01 miles
Ascent / descent: not much
Time: 00:44:07
Splits: 7:58 (warm-up), 6:35, 6:40, 6:39, 6:45, 9:18 (cool-down)

Nice blue skies are becoming ever more frequent as summer approaches and the days are getting much longer so goodbye running in darkness, wind and fog for a while. I headed out on Monday night for my last bit of running before the Highland Fling race on Saturday and decided I needed a bit of faster, flatter running to refresh my legs after the series of trail runs I did last week. Tempo time.

Normally I run 1 mile warm-up, 6 miles tempo then 1 mile cool-down but decided to only do 4 miles tempo in the interests of not knackering my legs out for the race. Felt good throughout the run except for the start of mile 3 where the brazil nuts I munched in the car en route to Furzton Lake began to make my stomach tighten. This soon went away though and I finished feeling strong. I started tempo running in January and struggled to maintain sub 7 pace, but am now maintaining sub 6:45 without too much bother so have improved loads. I got the idea of tempo running from other bloggers so this blogging malarky is useful after all!

What're my thoughts about the race?

I am running as an honorary Aussie (my real Aussie wife has granted my temporary citizenship) so along with the rest of the team we'll be aiming to whoop pommie and scottish ass. ;-)

53 miles is a long race but I've run to Tyndrum before from Milngavie, and run quite a few 40+ mile races so am not really perturbed by it. Definitely not taking it for granted but feel confident that I'll be able to get around the 10:30 mark. More than anything I am looking forward to running in amongst the mountain and lochside scenery. Living in England I do miss the Scottish landscape, and landscape is one of my main motivations for running. You cover lots of ground quickly and become completely immersed in the terrain. Can't beat it as a way of experiencing the land.

So I'll start off at a moderate pace and see how I fare. I'll be supported by my wee brother Neil and my Dad Gordon - they are support virgins with Neil in support training for the main event in June. Now, let's see if I can actually get them out of bed at 4am on Saturday ...

Good luck to all Flingers, I'll see (some of) you on the course no doubt.