After the Fling

Still on a bit of a high after winning a medal. My male pride has taken a bit of a dent at the realisation that the first SV was a woman though. ;-) I'm pretty sure this means that I'll hold the record for the *slowest* men's winning time for the supervet category as there are so many faster 49 yr old guys just waiting to turn 50.

I really enjoyed the event and although I felt a bit ambivilent about doing it in previous years, having done it once, I can't conceive of NOT doing it next year. I might have to pursuade Murdo that there should be medals for first, second AND third supervets so that I'm in with a chance of a medal again. ;-)

I tried a little run on Monday evening. The legs were a little stiff but I had a bit of pain on the top of my left foot that wouldn't settle so I cut my run shot. Having had one stress fracture I'm not going to risk aggravating anything that feels even remotely like my last one. Fingers crossed it's just a bit of tendinitis as it's not bothered me at all today.

I'm undecided as to what to do in the way of long runs between now and the WHW race. I've got the Ben Lomond hill race on the 10th of June which should be good (I really felt that the Carnethy 5 hill race early in the year gave me a boost) but it's not a long run. I'm not sure about doing really long back to back runs either. Not that I don't think that they're a good idea in general, I'm just not sure whether I want to take the attendant injury risk with my history. I might do a couple of shorter "back-to-backs" instead, perhaps on the River Ayr Way.

The general plan (such as it is) is to build back up to my 50 miles/week once I'm sure that my foot is okay and then hold it at that level for this year. If I complete the training without any mishaps this year I'll maybe think about pushing the mileage a bit more but my first priority has to be to get to the start line.

Highland Fling Race report

...or Four Mars a day help you work, rest & run the West Highland Way. ;-)

Oh, where to start? The night before is probably as good a place as any. Perhaps I should have been more nervous but as I was determined (at that stage) that it was "just a training run", it seemed like a good idea to pop out for a couple of nice pints of Spitfire at our local hostelry.

I thought about trying to go to bed early, but not for long as it never really works for me. My racing never seems to affected by lack of sleep and there's nothing more pointless than lying in bed trying to sleep when you're not tired. I set my alarm for 3:00 but woke before it at about 2:30. After wasting some time trying to go back to sleep, I gave up and snuck out of the bedroom to get dressed and let the daughter in. Rather weird to be getting up and dressed just as another member of the household was getting ready for bed.

I don't suppose anyone's that interested in what I had for breakfast, but I'm going to tell you anyway. ;-) Beef bourguignon with new potatoes. Not my normal breakfast but I don't think you can eat too much before an ultra run and the leftovers were begging to be eaten.

I gathered my kit and Dave McLelland arrived at 4:00 to pick me up and take me to Milngavie. We arrived in good time to join the relatively small queue (at that stage) for the loo and then registered. The forecast rain hadn't arrived yet and the temperature felt just perfect for running. I had a can of ersatz Red Bull (ERB) before the start and was itching to set off.

I can't say I felt any trepidation at that stage. I was confident that I could do it without too much trouble and the only bit I wasn't looking forward to was the first stretch to Drymen, my least favourite part of the WHW. I was also really looking forward to doing it self-supported. To be honest, it didn't make it that much harder but it was a new challenge and something to look forward to. I think when you've trained and run on so many parts of the WHW it's good to find new ways of making a familiar run more interesting.

As ever, it was nice to be in the company of so many like minded folk and friends at Milngavie but the time flew and after a very brief briefing, we were off through the underpass and up the road.

Milngavie to Drymen.
I think we were all impatient to get up the road past Drymen. For me, I never really feel that the WHW "proper" starts until I've left Drymen and that no doubt contributed to my early pace. I was conscious that I was probably running faster than I should have been but it still came as a huge shock to reach Drymen in 1:50. (always 2hr+ in training). I had my first Mars Bar (MB) on the long road hill up by Easter Drumquhassle (yes, there really is a place called that!). MBs and running don't really go together so I stuck to eating on the walking sections.
I think another factor affecting my pace was feeling that in a race like this where you know there are going to be lots of unrunnable (unless you're Jez) stretches, it makes a certain amount of sense to put a little "money in the bank" when the going is easy. Even so, I wasn't sure that 1:50 pace to Drymen wasn't going to turn out to be fools gold.

Drymen to Balmaha
The forest roads out of Drymen dragged on rather (a bit worrying to be feeling like this so early) but from the moment I passed though the new gate that replaces the old huge stile and the end of what used to be the Garadhban forest, my legs suddenly felt alive again. Dunno whether it was the mars bar kicking in or just getting away from the forest road surface but I skipped along and made good time up and down Conic Hill. The promised rain had arrived on the way up to Dymen and on Conic hill itself, the wind contributed to the chill but it was never bad enough to require stopping to don a jacket. I had two with me, a lightweight windstopper and a heavier weight gortex jacket but I didn't need either. If fact, the only change I made to my clothing for the run was to move my buff from my neck to my wrist when the sun came out.
I'll never like those big steps on the way down but they didn't feel too bad going down. I think some of my downhill training has paid off. I reached Balmaha in 3:11 and enjoyed shouting out my number and "No bag!" to the marshals as I passed through. This was to be repeated at every checkpoint and I never actually stopped except to pass an empty can to a marshal at Beinglas Farm (and one pee stop).

Balmaha to Rowardenna
It's odd that no matter how often one has run a route, when you're on your own, odd doubts creep in and on the little hill just south of Balmaha I had a moments uncertainty of which path was the right one. Somewhere along this section I had my second MB, on one of the longer road climbs about 4 hours into my run. Just before Rowardennan I had my second can of ERB meaning to dipose of the can at the checkpoint. Unfortunately, the latest litter policy is to remove all the bins (one I agree with actually) but I ended up carrying the empty can all the way to Inversnaid! I was in and out of Rowardennan at 4:45.

Rowardennan to Inversnaid
I was still feeling pretty good but as usual, I walked all the long hills. One runner came up from behind me and seemed determined to run up all the forest track hills which struck me as possibly foolish, particularly for runners going at my pace. He slowly pulled ahead and after many hills, eventually gained all of 200 meters on me. I wasn't too surprised when he paused and looked like he was going to throw up. Not too long afterwards I passed him when he was at a complete stop. I hope he made it to the end. At Inversnaid I was able to get rid of my can at last and again passed straight through (6:12).

Inversnaid to Beinglas Farm
I started off well but I wearying of the whole thing at this point. I perversely rather like this section normally but my sense of humour had left me and I was dearly wishing that the race would finish at Beinglas Farm. I really wasn't in the mood for another 12 miles on top of that. Another MB went down and I did what you just have to do, keep putting one foot in front of another. This was probably my lowest point on the whole run. I just wanted it to end. As I approached Beinglas, I chugged down my second can of ERB and managed this time, to dispose of he can at the checkpoint. (8:03)

Beinglas Farm to Tyndrum
I was getting worried now as my goal time was anything with a 10 in front of it but I know how fatigue can make a mokery of your "normal" times for running sections of the WHW. I'd run this last stretch in 2 hrs in the past but now I was worried I might not make it in three. Whether it was the ERB, the MB or the magic of passing a checkpoint, I just don't know but somehow I picked up the pace a bit. I wanted my 10:XX time! After crossing under the A82 I realised that I'd made a bit of a tactical blunder on the hydration strategy. I'd been filling my bottle at streams (I counted using the checkpoint water as "cheating" on the self supporting front) which was fine in the forests above Loch Lomond but here there were cows and sheep sprinkled liberally around, and what they leave sprinkled liberally around. When I went to have a drink I realised that my bottle was almost empty. I debated carrying on to the woods west of Bogle Glen but I was thirsty now so in the end I just looked for a an area of hillside with no visible sheep or cows and filled my bottle from a stream there. It didn't taste of sheep or cow poo, or perhaps, more acurately, it didn't taste any different to what I'd been drinking all along so I decided to risk it.
It was just after filling my bottle that I realised that there was a runner bearing down on me. It had been so long since I had seen anyone I'd alomost forgotten that there were other runners. It was Andy Cole and he was probably within 50 yds of me when I saw him. I know that my goal time was the main thing but somehow I didn't want to lose any more positions this late in the day and the little adrenaline surge carried me off into the distance and him out of sight as I worked my way through the forests beyond Bogle Glen stuffing down my last MB.
The last section through Kirkton farm must count as my second least favourite bit. The farm roads and traks are too flat and sore on the feet. Once back across the A82, things improve a bit and the knowledge that you really are on the home straight lifts your spirits.
What lifted my spirits even more was seeing that I was catching another runner! (Alex Simpson) I did feel bad about "stealing" a position so late in the race but he was reduced to walking due to stomach problems. Had I known that Alex was the leading supervet at that point perhaps I wouldn't have felt so bad but after checking that he was okay to finish, I passed with his blessing. Just before the community woodland I phoned my wife to make sure that she had the required milk for me to quaff post race and I crossed the line after 10 hours, 47 minutes and 50 seconds.

I must admit I was pleased to pick up a trophy. It's only the second time it's happened to me and the first time, I was the only person in my age group so it didn't really count. This time there were oodles of supervets! Well, 16 or 17 anyway. Alas, suspect I'll hold the record for the *slowest* winning time for a supervet for some years to come as there seem to be a lot of fast 49 year olds in this year's race!

Lessons learnt

The "self sufficiency" business worked out well. I enjoyed not stopping at the checkpoints. I don't think using drop bags would have made much difference. Four Mars Bars don't weigh very much and there's no shortage of water. I think the ERB helped and I'd use it again. What would have made a difference though would have been a support crew as I could then have travelled a lot lighter. I was carrying about 9lbs in total at the start although this lessened a bit as I went along.

Fluid & calorie wise, I consumed 1366 kcals (4 mars bars and the two energy drinks) and drank about 1,800 ml of water plus the 500 ml contained in the ERB making a total of 2,300 ml. I didn't use any salt capsules, not out of any determination to avoid them but the weather had been such that my insensible losses had been relatively low. If it had been a sunnier day I'm sure I would have drunk more and taken the capsules.

Equipment wise, my combination of rucksak and bottle belt worked up to a point. In particular, the bottle belt started chaffing the skin around my waist and I think I'm really going to have to find a comfier one for the WHW. If it has big enough pockets I will probably dispense with the rucksak.

I wore my Skinz tights which feel great but suffer (on me at least) from a tendancy to slid down resulting in a baggy crutch. This lead to some nasty chaffing between my thighs. I'd liberally applied Bodyglide before the start but this wasn't enough to stop the chaffing and I have to think again about what to wear before the WHW race.

I started off by approaching this as "a training run". From the way my body feels like it's been "trained all over with a baseball bat", I think it would be fairer to admit that I did race this. ;-)

Thanks to all for the kind comments. I think I've covered most of the questions now. Let me know if there's anything else you want to know.

Highland Fling. Preliminary report

Finishing time 10:47, which was good enough for first super vet on the day in the absense of real competition. ;-) Thomas offering his congratulations and

me downing my favourite post race drink

Me with Lucy Colquhoun (First lady)

Getting better every day

My back is now almost completely better, at least as far as running is concerned. It's still a bit sore after sitting down for any length of time, but as long as I can run, I don't care.

Missing last weekend's long run has been irking me as I didn't really want to do too much too close the the Fling but somehow I ended up doing a 16 miler today in sunny, but windy weather. Still, my mileage for the week has been "average" and I've not caught up my three missed days last week so it looks like I've managed to mostly resist the temptation to play at catch up.

As the Fling and WHW draw ever nearer I feel like I'm walking on eggs trying not to get injured between now and the races, a fate that has already befallen quite a few runners. Having failed to make the start line twice in the last two years I'm perhaps more conscious of the perils of overtraining than most.

Anyway, only a week to the Fling now. Just hope I feel a bit more spritely next Saturday that I felt today. Stocked up on Mars Bars & raring to go!

Running again, slowly...

After a few days of pretty bad back pain, things have settled down to the "discomfort" level and I'm running again thankfully. Not fast but distance doesn't seem to be a problem so as long as I don't mind plodding, it looks like I'll be able to keep my mileage up.

What I'm NOT going to do this time (famous last words) is try and play "catch up" with my mileage. I've a bad habit of doing this (I'm sure I'm not alone in this) but this time I think I can resist the temptation. In the big scheme of things, a few days training lost in a 8 month build-up to the WHW race is neither here nor there.

Really looking forward to the Highland Fling race now. Just to make it a bit more interesting I've decided that I'm going to do it without drop bags and carry my own provisions. Two reasons really. The first is to deliberately perhaps make me slightly less competitive (with the intention of lessening the risk of injury prior to the WHW race) and secondly, as a feasibility test for running the full WHW unsupported. I'll top up with water en-route but that's all.

Postscript

59 minutes. That's how long my resolve to "not try and catch up" lasted. I went out for a run not long after my post above and found that my back wasn't hurting at all. That being the case, I just couldn't resist adding a bit on to my planned run in an effort to make up the lost miles. It was only 2 extra miles and I suppose it could have been worse. I could have gone out for a 30 miler to make up last week's deficit. ;-)

Still crocked...

...and I haven't run since Tuesday!

Actually during the night, it seemed to be improving, at least until I got up to make the coffee this morning. Took me 5 minutes to get my socks & knoickers on. :-( It probably wasn't helped by spending hours with the computer re-doing the Highland Fling race website last night.

Dunno if I've improved it but it's a bit different.

Bah humbug!

I bent over to pick up a laptop yesterday and something went "twang" in my back. Since then, I've been struggling to walk let alone run. :-(

All down to doing our builder a favour and helping him carry some awkward heavy boxes the day before. (It's rarely the same say that my back goes, it's nearly always the day after). Anyhow, it's probably no bad thing to have a few days rest from the running and when this happens, I'm usually right in a day or so. Hopefully I'll be recovered in time for the Screel hill race this Saturday.

Till then, it's plenty of ibuprofen & red wine. Not just because I'm an alky, but I find alcohol really helps relieve the muscle spasm. So there's a silver lining after all. ;-)

84...

..is the number of miles I've run in the last week (from Saturday to Friday). That's not how I normally calculate my weekly mileage but given that it's the highest number of miles I've ever run in 7 days (barring running the WHW), I think it deserves a bit of statistical jiggery pokery. ;-)

It only came about because this weelend is busy and I wanted to get my long run done on Friday. The weather was fine (which was a bonus) and my legs (and in particular, my gluteals) seemed well recovered from last Saturday's run.

I set off up my River Ayr Way route to Failford (21 miles) in pleasant sunny weather and experimented along the way with reduced but more frequent calorie intake. Instead of one Mars Bar 10 every 10 miles, I changed to 1/3 of a bar every hour.

Energy-wise, this seemed to work okay but my experiment was somewhat spoiled by the discovery that although I seem to be able to get by with much less fluid than I used to take, I'm no camel. The warmer weather made a big difference to my insensible losses and I'd drained my 500ml of water by 15 miles. Unlike the WHW, there are no crystal clear streams pouring down beside the path and I'd have to be pretty desperate to try the river water or the run-off from the fields.

Still, it didn't seem to affect my time too badly (3:16) and given the terrain and recent long WHW run, I'm happy with that.