Training Log Archive: murraystraining

Kim says 48 hours off running after a high load on my knee, and sprinting falls in that category so I spent this gorgeous winter day in the gym watching the Olympics. Two hours continuous on the X-trainer.

Laps of the string course.

Scottish Sprint Champs, North Muirton. First time I've raced here but I have done a couple of training sessions so I knew what we were in for. With the assembly in the school it was going to be a housing fest all the way and after seeing Tessa finish under <15, and knowing we had 26 controls, realised it was going to be an intense rush.
I had a pretty good run. There was one moment of confusion on the way to 7 where I was looking at the route to 8 and lost track of where I was for a few seconds but that was the only real mistake. Maybe a better route choice on #1 and some hesitations in the circle - generally the controls were obvious but a couple of times I was looking at the wrong tree. Judging by split times I was a bit slow to get going but had a really good second half - maybe need to think about how I get straight up to speed next time.
Map

Warm down with a few intervals to test route choices for #RouteChoiceMonday.

Managed to get a lift home rather than hanging around at the night event so got a gentle spin in while watching Filth. Pretty tired.

PT squats then cross-trainer slopestyle session.

Treadmill Thursday. What goes up doesn't have to come down = happy PT. Lap of the meadows to warm up (legs pretty stiff from last night and all the exercises - gave them a good hammering on the foam roller at lunchtime too) then onto the treadmill for:
15 mins tempo (1% / 3:20/km) then
10x 60/30 hill reps (10.5% / 4:00/km). Short jog afterwards.

PT Squats then the rest of World's End on the bike.

Trainspotting "9". Saw Renton and Spud exchanging pharmaceuticals underneath the Great Junction Street bridge.
Knee feeling good after threshold work yesterday.

Hey Mountain Bike riders!

I've got a Cycle2Work voucher to use. I want to get a hardtail mountain bike to use for a bit of alternative training. Main uses would be trips into the Pentlands and also into bigger hills up north. I guess occasional trips to places like Glentress are also a possibility. I had a look at a few options in Halfords last night and I have a question:

What size wheels to get? I can see a lot of good arguments for 29ers particularly for riding less technical trails. I had a go on Gary T's 29er back at one of the early Rat Races and liked its feel. BUT the 29er on display, in my price range, (the Voodoo Bizango) was 2kg heavier than the corresponding 650b bike (Boardman Comp) - 15.5 vs. 13.1. The sales assistant gave some spiel about the heavier weight and bigger wheels giving you more momentum so the extra weight is less noticable. I can sort of buy that on flat trails but I would have thought that on any prolonged climb an extra 2kg is pretty significant - I know I wouldn't want to carry that if I was running up a hill! How much difference does it make?
And how does the new 650b (27.5") compare to the traditional 26"? Is it the best of both or worst of both?

So my budget is £650 - any suggestions?

C • mtb 12

Cross trainer fartlek watching the slopestyle finals - efforts during actual runs, steady during replays and analysis. Late for work due to the Canadian girl stacking it and breaking her jaw (I actually thought she had wrecked her leg as well). I'll let her off since she's called Yuki.

Threshold Threes with Itenburgh (Mitchell, Gunby, PatGie & Waldie) - 5x3/1. Keeping it controlled which meant I was off the back. No Garmin but I'd guess I was around 3:10-3:15 pace. We'll find out tomorrow what the PT made of this.

New week, new plan, new resolve. A strict diet of flat running and faffing with carefully managed rehab exercises coming up, starting with the old Inverleith loop, reversed in direction to avoid the steep descent into Dean Village. Nicer views this direction too.

Late trip to the gym after visiting Halfords on a bike hunt. Squats for my PT then an hour of spinning watching the first half of "World's End". High efforts whenever they were in a pub. Which was always.