Arthur I. Tess

My son won that 3k on the Green in 9:20, which was a new PB. I'm doing it next Friday. My target is a more modest sub 11.20. There is a GAA track meeting that Friday night so my son is doing that instead. Couple of recent parkrun milestones for him as well. He broke the Springburn parkrun course record on 18th June in 16:15, taking 12 secs out the record.... only for someone else to come along and break the record the following week! He also broke the Victoria Park parkrun U17 course record on 4th June in 16:05. Ran it in 16:06 last Saturday as well. Sub 16 is the immediate target.

Back from 10 days in Ibiza last week. Ran on 9 of the days, so the most running I've done in such a short time since 2008! I mainly ran in mid afternoon in the hottest part of the day. Reasons for this were 3 fold: 1. I drank too much every night so going out running early wasn't appealing 2. I like to start drinking later afternoon so running in the evening isn't an option 3. I read up that training for 10 days in heat is the new altitude training! Increases blood plasma, red blood cells, trains your body to deal with heat more efficiently, etc. I did 4 sessions of 8 x 400m, doing each rep in around 1:20. A session of 6 x 1k, doing the reps in approx. 3:55 plus four 10ks runs. Followed up each session by refuelling on San Miguel. My son was there too and did a few of the 400m sessions with me. He actually ran twice on most of the days and also did a couple of 200m rep session. Only problem is that I put on half a stone in weight. First parkrun back last Sat at Victoria Park only yielded a 19.24 return. Aiming to get sub 19.00 soon!

Combination of genetics and training. If you have it in your genes then decent training can get you far - no matter your age. There are loads of top runners in races in Scotland who didn't start until running until into their 30s. Fat, overweight smokers who did no exercise (like myself). I ran half heartedly for 12 months to get fitter for playing 5s, starting at the age of 36. I then trained more seriously for 18 months until I got injured. I had my 10k time down to 35.15 and my HM down to 1.22 when I injured my knee and had to give up. Some of the guys I trained with, with similar background to me, are now down to 32/33 10k times and sub 1.15 HMs. Kerry-Liam Wilson is a cracking example of a top athlete (not a guy I trained with mind you!) He took it up later in life and has a 10k PB of 31.29 and HM of 1.08. If its in your genes and you train hard then you can very fast very quickly. I gave up running for 7 years and am now back at the age of 46. I have bad arthritis, run with a limp that is so bad that folk notice it and ask what is wrong. I do no more than 2/3 runs a week with a max mileage of 15 miles. In less than 12 months I am back running sub 40min 10k and sub 19min 5k. Oh, aye, and another thing. The lighter you are the faster you can run. Get rid of as much weight as you can without looking like a skeleton and you won't believe the difference. 2 secs per lb per mile. Lose a stone and that's around 3 min for a 10k... without doing anything else.

Regarding intervals, since my attempted comeback, I have been doing 6 x 1km intervals on the cycle track at the back of my house. I try to run them at at least sub 4 min / km pace. I was doing this for both 5k and 10k races. I wear a HRM and I did a standing recovery (ie, no jogging) until my HR was back under 110. I read somewhere that Mo Farah bases his recoveries on his HR rather than a set time. That way your recoveries will naturally get smaller as you get fitter. For the past 2 weeks I have switched to doing intervals on the track at the ON-X in Linwood. I have found this better as there is a lack of neds / old folk / rabid dogs / prams / cyclists, etc on a running track! Whereas I could really only stomach 6 x 1km on the cycle track, I am now doing 5 x 1600m on the track. So 8km of work as opposed to 6k. I also finish with a couple of 200m sprints. I think the fact that the track is marked our precisely and the distance seems shorter when running round a track, I find it easier. The fact that no-one is in the way is also good. The other great factor is that the track is softer. Better for my knee!

I have experimented with something remarkably similar, only doing it once a week. Not done it for a few weeks now for various reasons. I reckoned it might be a quick way to get fast again while doing low mileage. Do you use an incline? I put mine up to an incline of 1 as I read that this is better at mimicking outdoor running gait. Also helps factor in wind existence. Does your 1 minute include the speed up from easy to fast or does your 1 minute begin when you think the treadmill is at full speed? I think I might start this again as its obviously working for you!

We'll see. The thing is, he doesn't specialise and he's only been running for a couple of years so it's hard to gauge. When he does middle distance on the track against boys his own age, he's probably just middle of the pack. He came way down the pecking order when he ran the national Cross country at Falkirk earlier in the year. So there are a lot if talented boys out there. 16 is a dangerous age though. Who knows who will fall by the wayside. His current 800 metre time suggests that his 10k and HM times actually slow! But, as I said, there are a number of boys who can run 800 even faster!

My son ran 1.13.58 at the Edinburgh Half Marathon this morning for a new PB in 13th position. Nearly 5 mins quicker than last year. Considering the minimum age is 17 and he's still only 16, it's not a bad effort! I did the 5k on the Saturday and managed 20.19 in 17th position. My splits were: 3.55 5.04 4.00 3.36 3.31 Guess which km contained the hill... Although you do get the benefit of the downhill, I reckon the hill takes a least a minute off your time. Good fun though. Legs are a bit stiff today though. Not used to running downhill like that!

Were you late for the start? I saw a dude chasing up to the back of the pack in an Airdrie top.

Indeed, just noticed it was a course record today! And the boy in second was just 3 secs behind. Fast race indeed!

10.04 at 3k on the green today? I note an unheard of young boy won it today in a very fast time? A new star of the future?

My son ran 33.40 at the Dumbarton 10k tonight. 35 secs knocked off his PB which he only ran last week. Onwards and upwards. Hopefully he can get into the 31s by the time he hits 20 and he can start seriously competing to win big races. Dangerous age mind you. Burdz and booze could knock him off course at any point onwards... Edinburgh Half Marathon this weekend. No idea what he will run. Sub 1.15 at least. Running the 5k on Saturday myself, up against my brother. It's got a big hill in it but targets are sub 20, top 10 overall, first vet 45 and, most importantly, trash my brother.

Cracking time. Are you doing Dumbarton this week? My son is doing it. I'll just be spectating this time.

Diddies? Says a guy who follows a club which has never won a major trophy!

Sevco GIRUY

And long may it continue! Filthbags!

Nice. My son shat himself twice in the Bute 10k last summer. First one he went behind a bush but the urge came back on so he just did it without stopping. Still ran in the low 35s mind you. Because of the amount of beet juice he'd drank it initially looked like blood running down his leg. The paramedic wasn't too chuffed when my boy explained to him that it wasn't blood he was wiping away...

Ran sub 40 at the Clydebank 10k on Thursday night. Ran a fast first couple of k and suddenly had thoughts of a time in the low 38s. But struggled a bit thereafter. Lack of training and mileage really. Had to run 3.30 last k to make sure I finished under 40. Happy with that. Edinburgh 5k next Saturday, my boy is doing the HM on the Sunday. Looking at last year's 5k, over 800 runners. Obviously not a quality field though. 1.5k uphill, not sure how that affect my time. My son ran a pb in the low 34s. Still getting faster. Hopefully he can get sub 34 by end of the summer.

Another idea is to buy a treadmill. You can buy a decent treadmill for less than an annual gym membership. We got one for our son at Xmas and it allows you train whenever you want in all weather! Also, don't get me wrong about the high mileage. Read up on Bruce Tulloh. He won the Euro 5000m gold in 13 minutes whatever and did it on 30 miles a week, including warm ups, while working full time. He just ran fast all the time! His view is that if you want to run fast then train fast. Internals in particular are what he did. And he mainly trained on his own. I train on my own these days myself. You can easily train fast on your own. Depends on what you want mind you. Some folk just enjoy going for a nice enjoyable run. They enjoy chatting with mates, etc. But I do it for the races. Back in the day, training fast meant that your easy runs were fast. I'm just back from a 5k run in 23 mins. First mile was relatively slow in 8 mins but the next two left me out of breath. Back in the day, that would have been an easy jog!

I know not everyone can do this, however, regarding time constraints, this is what I did when I worked in Glasgow. My house was 9 miles from the office. Ideal. I could more or less run the 9 miles quicker than any other form of transport. One way, or a doubler, or drive the car 3 miles and do a doubler... Massive mileage. The guys I trained with ran at lunchtimes. Again, no time loss. That just leaves a long run at the weekend. I actually used to go out with my son when he was just 6. He'd cycle with me for 5 miles up to his grans, stop for somethin to eat while I ran another 8 and he'd be waiting for me for the final 5 back home. No family time taken whatsoever, I saved cash and even got brownie points from the missus. Where there is a will, there is usually a way!

I actually don't think the vast majority of runners run at a pace that is anywhere near their potential. You need to be in pain from more or less the start of a race all the way round and be doubled up at the end, including the marathon. The shorter the race, the more brutal the pain. If you aren't in pain then you ain't running fast enough! For the first few months after I began running, I would just go out and run. It became a bit easier and I went a bit faster. However, I had a step change when I started training with a group of serious runners. Interval training at brutal paces made all the difference.

I can understand using headphones when training on your own. But in a race, seriously, you don't need them. You get a far better experience NOT using headphones in a race. Mind you, I've only ever used headphones in one race before, a parkrun. Never again, it just didn't feel right.

Even a lower league win can elevate the self esteem of the social underclass. Enjoy your first ever major cup final. Hopefully not many wives will suffer if you lose.

Don't be so harsh on yourself

You make my point for me. Thanks.