Fortunately for us, everyone in our family enjoys running fast rather than far. Unfortunately for us, only the four legged family members can do it! So, in anticipation of some fabulous running and hiking holidays in the mountains Paul and I have been working very hard on our running speed. We’re both making good progress, and Paul in particular is now able to maintain a speed that the puplets approve of….almost.

On a week-in-week-out basis I don’t think any of us would enjoy running more than about 10k in a single run. That said, it is nice to know that you can pull 20 k or more out of the bag for a great trail on holiday. We were therefore pleased when several weeks ago we all comfortably completed a 21.5k run along the Smugglers Trail to Troon. It was quite by accident – we got lost (well, a combination of tempted by ice-cream and lost). But the really encouraging thing was that:

• I (the weakest link) ran at between my 5k and 10k race pace for most of the way
• We’d completed a fairly strenuous hill walk the day before
• We had a club 5k time trial the day after at which Paul and I set new personal bests.
• The pups stayed calm and didn’t pull too much (something that we’ve been working hard on for months now).

In theory, training for speed should give you distance as a spin off. But until you’ve tried it you’re never quite sure if it really works. Encouraged by this knowledge that we could safely dip into the occasional longer distance run without the drudgery of weekly long, slow plods (we train primarily for 5k distance, cross country and hill running), we decided to find some fabulous new local trails that would accommodate the occasional longer adventure.

We’d planned a reconnaissance run at one such trail this morning – or to be more accurate, a series of interlinking trails along the river Ayr:

It was perfect! You can run for miles and there are a variety of different routes to keep it interesting. The terrain is just perfect for our little Beagles – winding, narrow paths through the woods, along the river bank, through open farmland. It’s going to be wonderful watching the scenery change with the seasons.

It has to be said, it was a little muddy:

A muddy Biggle tum

And a grubby Beanie tum

But thanks to Beanie and Biggles’ sophisticated self-cleaning system they were both sparkly clean by the time we got home.

Last year we planned a lot of our hill walking and trail running trips in advance which meant we visited some of the best places in the worst weather. This year we’ve decided to try and avoid commitments and head for the hills whenever the sun makes an appearance. So far, winter has been miserable. The crisp, white frost and blue skies of the past two years has been replaced by gales, rain and gray skies. We resigned ourselves to staying close to home and working hard on our fitness in preparation for 2012’s adventures in the hills. As luck would have it, when the sun finally came out we’d been training so hard that all we were fit for was a good rest. So much for the new Bohemian lifestyle!

We still managed to get a good dose of sunshine close to home though.

Having completely fried all my muscles with speed sessions and power-lifting over the past fortnight I’m on a strict diet of easy runs this week. Beanie and Biggles are very happy about this as it means plenty of nice 90 minute runs on the beach for them. Today we trundled along in a civilised manner until their dad appeared with the camera part way along our course. Things got a bit exciting then….especially when dad lured the pups through ice cold water dragging their hapless mum behind them!

That water was FREEZING – there was no way Beanie was going in!

Blue skies, blue sea, warm sunshine and the snowy white peaks of Arran peaking out above the haze. What more can you ask for?

Such well behaved pups!

I’m a firm believer that most things in life are good for you in small doses. And that goes for canicross too. A little bit of pulling in harness is very good for the dogs – it is strength training after all. But just as you and I need to keep strength and speedwork in moderation – and build it on top of a strong fitness base, so too do the pups. As such, the dogs are on flexi leads for most of our long runs (today was an exception because my arms were killing me after a hard gym session!). This is the next best thing to running free as it gives them plenty of scope to vary their speed and run the way they choose. We’ve been trying to take this a step further this winter and have been working on ways to get them off-lead on a regular basis. We’ve come up with lots of off-lead games for the beach which are working well and keeping them close to us, but we also take them to a safe enclosure where they can let rip.

And of course, the sunshine has prompted plenty of play sessions in the garden.

Hopefully our winter training will get us in great shape for the spring and summer. We’ve got lots of trips planned (although no dates set!), the main one being a week long extravaganza of trail running, hill running, hill walking and hiking on the Isle of Skye.