I was keen to get back on my training this week after a taper and race week followed by a recovery week.

The Dragon’s Back race was 8 weeks away at the start of this week so my plan is to have a final 6 weeks of solid training followed by a 2 week taper. Within the 6 weeks I have the following longer runs planned.

• Sat 30th Mar - 5 Munros from Bridge of Orchy
• Fri 12th & Sat 13th Apr - Recce Day 4 with Andy Cole
• Sat 4th, Sun 5th & Mon 6th May - Great Lakeland 3 Day Event

On the other Saturdays I plan to do some runs locally on the Braes. Plus I’ll be doing some more Ben Lomond runs midweek with a double planned one week.

Monday 25th March - Club Fartlek Session

• 9.05 miles in 1:18:20
• Ascent - 331ft

It was good to be back at the club for our Monday night run. The session this week was 5x [3mins (90secs recovery), 2mins (1min), 1min (30secs)].

I was feeling pretty good so tried to push the pace as much as I could. I was pleased with my effort over the whole session.

Wednesday 27th March - Hill reps on the Gleniffer Braes

• 7.88 miles in 1:09:51
• Ascent - 1,027ft

I had a busy day at work at our Super 7 Athletics final where I was on my feet all day. I set off feeling a bit heavy legged but keen to try and do 4 reps. In January & February I had done 3.

I was a little bit slower than last time but I did manage to run 4 with the last one the fastest.

Thursday 28th March - Pollok Park off road run

• 6.45 miles in 55:46
• Ascent - 558ft

I was able to do my regular lunchtime run around Pollok park. The ground was so much dried and therefore less slippy so I decided to push a bit harder.

I went anticlockwise for a change and it was encouraging to see that it was my fastest time going that way round.  I do feel happy with my fitness at the moment so if I can keep chipping away I hope to arrive at the start line in the best shape I can.

Friday 29th March - Weigh-in

• 11st 6 1/2lbs - I put on a pound this week. I think the extra pieces of birthday cake have had an effect!!

The other exciting news today was an email from the Dragon’s Back with further details and my race number. There are 490 runners on the start list

I have filled in the medical guidance form and the tent, parking and coach survey so I’m all sorted.

I’ve requested to share a tent with my friend Stephen Brown. I was tempted to add Vassos Alexander but don’t want to be accused of stalking him!!

Saturday 30th March - 5 Munros

• 19.03 miles in 7:22:00
• Ascent - 8166ft

I picked up Cammie at 8pm on Friday night in our VW camper van. We drove to Bridge of Orchy, slept in the van and then after breakfast we set off at 6.45am.

We did a route that I last did in 2013. I knew it would be ideal as part of my training for the Dragon’s Back as there would be over 8,000ft of climb and more importantly over lots of narly ground. Our route …

The profile gives a sense of the climbs …

The first Munro was in mist but as we made our way to the 2nd Munro the mist cleared and we had amazing views for the rest of the day.

I did a short video of our run which hopefully will give you a sense of our day out.

 Summary of the week

Photo of the week