GET MORE MILES TO CUT BACK ON THE MILES

One step forward...two steps back.

This appears to be the mantra I'm following after the Edinburgh Mara.

Legs were tired, heavy and sore after the marathon (as you would expect). So, while I was out every day I took it easy and tried to keep the mileage [relatively] low.

But then on Sunday......

Three of us (Ian, Anne and me) headed off to the Pentlands to try out the route of the Pentland Skyline.

I've been meaning to go there for some time now, but the week after a marathon wasn't perhaps the best of days to pick.

A 17 mile circuit that took in 16 climbs!

Ian had said from the start that he wanted an easy pace - he'd already ran 17 miles to Haddington where we met him (training for the WHW).

"Easy" might be the best way to describe the pace - but it certainly doesn't suit the effort. Didn't help either that Sunday, like every day lately, was windy - VERY windy. I didn't actually get blown over, but I did get blown off track a couple of times and the wind on the tops of the hills was fierce.

All in all it was a good afternoon out and has left me wanting to go back when my legs are fresher and the weather's nicer.

Anyway. Net result? Woke on Monday and my legs were completely shagged. It didn't feel as though a single muscle in either leg was pulling or stretching in the way it was supposed to.

Did a very sedate run on Monday and then went out for a wee "recovery" pace run yesterday at lunchtime....Only to go out last night with the club to do an 8.5 mile circuit that took in a 700ft climb at race pace (or as good as). At one point we even managed a 5:32 minute mile (downhill obviously).

Result? About ten days after the marathon and my legs still feel like they did the day after!

Saw a lovely box set yesterday "Miles Davis: Twenty Classic Albums". A 10 CD set of 20 of his Prestige and Riverside recordings (I think) from 1950 to about 1958 (just before Kind Of Blue). That's the period of Miles that I really enjoy -nice hard bop tunes, and a few cool/modal sessions with Gil Evans but long before he went all electric and loopy.

I've got about 6 of the albums already, but even so .... another 14 Miles Davis albums..... Might encourage me to rest a bit and not knacker the legs. Watch this space.