As for running I have been out there doing it, just not as frequently and not as many miles as previously. I've still been doing regular short faster runs with the Cani Sports Edinburgh group, including a splendid run this evening at Dalkeith. I took my neighbour's Fox Red Lab 'Oakley' and he was a great puller so I was flying! Nethy wasn't happy about this and certainly wasn't happy about the attention Oakley was paying to her rear end so eventually I took her of the double line and let her free run beside me.
It's been quite warm for dogs recently so last Monday some of us humans went up Traprain Law for some hill reps (without the dogs). It was awesome but tough! I'm not naturally built for hills but I really enjoy the challenge. It's the same on my bike and once you get into a rhythm it feels really good. Was watching a clip of the vertical kilometre race that took place in Chamonix the other day. The course is actually 3.8km but there's 1km of vertical ascent. Last year we got the cable car up the mountain in question and I remember commenting how I wished I was walking up the zigzag path instead of dangling precariously over it. This year I might try to 'run' up it just to see how my legs and lungs cope! lol
As I said my running distances have been pretty low recently, but on Thursday evening we were in Edinburgh seeing my niece and nephew for their birthday. I had my running gear with me and although after birthday pizza and cake I was tempted not to bother, I got Matt to drop me and Nethy off at New Winton on the way home. I thought it was about 5-6 miles home on the trails from there, but it turned out to be almost 10! Given we started our run at about 9pm it was almost dark when we got home! I loved every minute, especially running through Butterdean which was dark and silent and quite spooky! I was glad to find that 10 miles didn't tax me despite the fact I'd not done more than half that distance on foot for weeks. My cycling has obvioulsy been keeping my fitness levels topped up nicely.
Talking of cycling I had a great trip to Glentress at the weekend. We went on Friday night with some friends and their kids and after a very nice evening drinking Leffe and eating barbecued mussels the ladies got a rare chance to go for a ride on Saturday morning. My 2 friends are old hands when it comes to mountain biking. Both of them have raced in the 'olden days' and one of them is the partner of the man who 'built' the trails at Glentress. Mountain bike royalty I guess :) Even though they are good friends it's always a bit intimidating going riding with people who are better than you. Turns out I needn't have worried cause I nailed the climbs and the descents! All those hours I've been spending on the bike have really paid off and I felt strong and confident on the trails. We did a combination of the red and the blue routes, which made for a wonderful 3 hours of riding. We even got to go and have our lunch like proper grown ups before the men folk brought the kids down to meet up with us.
Twas a fab weekend :)
3 days at work and then we're off to France for 2 weeks in the camper van. We have our ferry booked but haven't made any other plans, other than knowing we want to go to Chamonix and Morzine and to Alpe D'Huez to see a stage of The Tour de France. As always I'll not be taking a holiday from exercise and will be packing all of my running and cycling gear. Would be rude not to....
