Out of Puff

The annual Crinan Puffer, a scenic 8.5 mile race along the Crinan Canal took place on Sunday and it was a great day out for lots of us Campbeltown Running Club toonies, a perfect sunny morning for getting out in the fresh air.  The race is a small local community event in Mid Argyll and is tremendously well organised and fun to be a part of with a fantastic value for money goody bag and finisher tshirt.  

Maz and Ems find wee Harry hilarious

Stuart, wee Harry, Tommy await Jennifer's food feast

Some of the CRC gang at the finish

As you may know, I'm a slave to mileage and I couldn't resist going out and plodding 8 miles on the Saturday before too.  This was mainly because the day before was such a disaster.  I went to bed on the Thursday evening tired and hungry.  I started the Friday exhausted and starving!  After a spin class and swim, I cycled to work only to realise I had forgotten my breakfast and my usual stash of fruit and cereal bars depleted.  A long day at work, a small lunch and a late dinner lead to a really grumpy me!  I attended Mairi's first Piloxing class in the evening which was EXCELLENT but I was so shattered I didn't have enough energy to put my all into it and was panicking I'd never make it round the puffer feeling like this.  I completely overate that night, no biscuit was left untouched, leaving me feeling even worse by the end of the night.  Hence, I felt guilt-ridden into running on the Saturday morning too!  

Some of CRC girls pose while the boys gossip

Thankfully, some DELICIOUS food courtesy of Jennifer, and some rest and some good weather over the weekend perked me back up and by Sunday I managed to complete the Crinan Puffer 5 minutes faster than the year before in 1 hour 5.  My husband came 2nd overall in a cracking time of 49 minutes!!  Followed closely on his heels was James 'Creamy' Murdoch in 3rd and Tommy 5th.  Some other cracking times from the rest of the crew, including Emma who narrowly missed out on a podium finish!  So, what do you do after a hard race?  Swim?  Cycle?  Walk?  All three of course.

18/04/2014	Breakfast	Snack	Lunch	Snack	Dinner
Sat	Post- 1/2 protein shake, toast pbutter & jam	Green tea	Fresh minestrone soup with tuna wmeal sandwich.	Ginger bread slice & green tea.	King prawn linguine (starter lol!) Chicken curry with rice & slice bread. Bread & butter pudding & ice cream.  Some chocs & tea. WHOOPS
Exercise	8 miles easy		Easy run as have Crinan Puffer race tomorrow.  Productive dayorganising MOKRUN and catching up with friends.  FAR too much food at Jens for dinner, so delicious tho!
Sun	Porridge & 1/2 banana.	Coffee	Scrambled eggs and toast.	Green tea & small scone.	Chicken & leek pie, boiled potatoes & broccoli.  Pecan & pear pie with icecream.  Mars bar, tea.
Exercise	10 miles inc 8.5 Crinan race.  23 mile cycle.  20 length swim.  Walk up bengullion.		Beautiful day!  Still full up and bloated from last night - own fault for being greedy.  Had a great morning at Crinan Puffer race where CRC did great and Stu came 2nd!!!  I took 5 mins off last year's time, felt good but it was hard.  Wee swim, cycle and walk when home as it was so nice.  Loved having lunch/tea on decking in sun.  Exhausted!
Mon	Slice toast, ml yoghurt with blueberries & chia seeds	Alpen bar, green tea & handful grapes	LF houmous, oatcakes.  Tangerine & apple.	Banana & handful grapes.	Tuna pasta.  Oatcakes and tea.
Exercise	5.5 miles easy. Spin. Core		Legs felt heavier than I thought when started running, stayed off hills.  Loved spin.
Tue	Slice toast, ml yoghurt with blueberries & chia seeds & spoon of muesli	Alpen bar, green tea	LF houmous, oatcakes.  Tangerine & apple.	Banana on 2 rice cakes.  Green tea.	Baked trout, chestnut mushroom & spinach risotto with side salad.  Oatcakes & chia tea.
Exercise	6.5 miles inc hill reps (x18)		Glorious sunny day.  Productive day at work and managed to get decking all painted ready for summer.  Legs felt really heavy but managed hills slowly on Tomaig with CRC.  Hip feeling sore again :-(
Wed	Slice toast, ml yoghurt with blueberries & chia seeds & spoon of muesli	2 breakfast biscuits with green tea	Trout salad sandwich.  Apple.  Tangerine.	Banana.  2 breakfast biscuits.	Chilli con carne with rice.  Penguin.  Kitkat (need of chocolate!)
Exercise	1 mile swim.  3 mile easy run.  Combat.		Nice dry day.  Hip a bit sore but energy levels good.  Meeting at Howdens to say thanks for their sponsor support of MOKRUN.  SKSC Hub meeting after combat so v late dinner.  Little confusion at meeting about past decisions but once made, group making progress.
Thu	Slice toast & 2 weetabix with skim milk.	Alpen bar & green tea.	LF houmous, oatcakes.  Tangerine & apple.	Ricecakes with pbutter & banana	Roast chicken breast, potatoes & sweetcorn.  Special k biscuits & kitkat!
Exercise	2.5m bengullion run with xcountry.  7.5 mile easy run with club.		MOKRUN meeting with new Greenkeeper of Machdunes, course is challenging but he will flatten and do best he can!  Enjoyed easy run but hip and left hand side really sore - in need of massage!  Oh and congrats to Lindsay and Craig - new baby Robbie Ramsay :-)
Fri	Porridge & banana.	2 breakfast biscuits with green tea	Tuna sandwich.  Apple.	Cereal bar & green tea. A few sweets at meeting.	Spicy chicken & chorizo spaghetti.  Healthy Eton Mess* Choc biscuits and tea.
Exercise	Spin.  50 lengths swim.		More energy today compared to last Friday - I was hungry and tired all day last week and ended up overeating at night and feeling like crap :-(  Hip and left side v tight/sore.  Big MOKRUN committee meeting tonight!
Mileage	43