First WHW training run..

On Saturday about 15 intrepid souls gathered at the Drover's Inn for the first training run/social event of the 08 WHW training season. The forecast had been poor and annoyingly, the forecast was right. Still, if you didn't leave home for a training run because of how bad the weather might be, you'd never leave home.

As ever, it was great to see old faces again and lots of new ones too. I just wish I had a better memory for names!

For a first training run, it was a bit of a toughy. In past years' it's usually been the Milngavie to Drymen (& back) route but it was nice to get out on the WHW again. I felt good on the way up, finding the hills relatively easy and a group of us pushed up the hill a bit faster than the rest of the pack. With hindsight though, I think I would have been better off taking it a bit easier. Despite avoiding the Cullen Skink & bacon sandwich and keeping to what I thought would be an easily digestible snack, my stomach was a bit uncomfortable and I couldn't match the pace of the pack on the return leg. Looking back on what I ate, it was was, I think, more of a problem of quantity rather than quality. It's just not easy running on a full stomach!

That wasn't the only problem though, My legs were a bit wabbit on the way back and I think it was just a reflection on the relatively low mileage that I'm running at the moment. I was a full 1 minute/mile slower on the return than on the ascent which is slower that I would have liked.

I still need to work on my gear. No problems with chaffing but I lack the confidence to wear shorts on long runs like these. The weather, despite the rain, wasn't that cold and the downside to wearing tights is that when you stop, you get cold quickly as the water evaporates off of them. Bare skin carries very little water and my legs never seem to feel the cold anyway. I think in future I stick to shorts & carry lightweight waterproof over-trousers should I need to stop for any length of time. Of course it does depend on ambient temperature too but it's rarely as cold as we think it's going to be.

Foodwise, I think I'll try and keep the quantity down but the frequency up although I know that, in practice, predicting what you'll actually feel like eating on the day is very difficult. I'm going to give "real" food (but in small doses) a try out on my next WHW long run.

Hydration is still something I'm tinkering with too. Whilst I find I can happily drink the likes of Lucozade sport pre-run (and sometime post run), during the run, the taste of it sickens me and I crave water. On my run back on Saturday I emptied my bottle of Lucozade that I was carrying and filled in from local streams. No harm done apparently but I was careful not to fill it anywhere downhill from where cattle had access.

Apart from a slightly dodgy ankle in the morning, I seem to have recovered well. Went out for a easy 7 miler tonight (Monday) and ended up having one of those nice runs where the running just feels easy and you just want to run faster and faster. Of course, the clock doesn't lie and my pace wasn't that great but it felt good, and sometimes that's all that matters.

NEXT time, I'll do my best to stick to my "easy run" plan as I felt decidedly guilty at not spending more time with the main group of runners