Another year, another barbecue

I think this is the third year that Ian & Alison have hosted the post-WHW race barbecue and, as ever, it was a splendid occasion. Despite not having run the race this year I still feel part of the "family" and it was great to meet up with so many of the WHW runners again.

First order of the day after arriving though was to pitch our tent. Some folk seemed to enjoy this exercise so much they did it twice!


Their excuse was that they'd put it up inside out to start with. ;-)

A few more photos from the evening.



I think Ian was discussing our favourite fireman judging from his hand movements. ;-)









Of course you need dogs at a barbecue and in addition to Ian's own dogs, there was Harvey (Neal's gorgeous collie cross) and a spooky encounter with a ghost dog.






Once again it was a great occasion an one that really makes the WHW race & family stand out from other events. Top marks to Ian & Alison!

Lastly, gotta mention Jez Bragg's outstanding achievement in the Western States 100 mile trail race where he came in third. Last year he was all psyched up for it (and over in the US) when the race was called off due to forest fires. No such disappointment this year!

You can read his blog here and watch him finishing here.

Bum...

I'm a bit fed up as my buttock has been hurting these past few days and at the moment, I don't feel like things have improved significantly since my original injury last year.

I'm still getting stabbing pain in the left buttock and at the moment, I'm not sure I could run even if I wanted to. Fortunately I don't have significant pain at rest but it's beginning to get me down. Chronic pain just slows you down, makes everything harder and makes you feel tired and grumpy.

Walking the WHW is probably responsible for this flare up but it's never really gone away and I had lots of moments of stabbing twinges during our walk.

I can't grumble too much as if the chance came up to walk the WHW again next week, I'd do it, pain or no pain and I'm pretty confident that I could do it. The trouble is, the way things are going, I'm finding it hard to feel optimistic about NEXT year's WHW race. I really would like to get back to some decent running. Do a Richie and run up and down the WHW a couple of times just for practice. ;-)

For anyone wondering, no, I didn't do any of the WHW barefoot. It did cross my mind to try some sections barefoot but the peeing rain meant the taking shoes on and off wasn't going to happen and perhaps more significantly, I think the path surface is way beyond what I'd ever be able to tolerate barefoot. Perhaps in Vibram FFs but with memories of the trail surface still fresh, I think I'll stick with shoes for serious off-road stuff.

WHW walk 09

It seems odd to be posting about walking the West Highland Way when all my friends have been running it but it's been quite an experience to walk it with my wife over four days instead of the hoped for sub 22 hours. And you know what? I think walking it is harder!

Running it is so uncomplicated. There's just you, 95 miles of path and a destination and you just keep putting one foot in front of the other until it's over. Walking it involves innumerable decisions and compromises, particularly if you're travelling with someone with a different level of fitness. The slower pace makes the bits that just drag when you're running seem like an absolute lifetime. Compared to when you're walking, Rannoch Moor or the Larig Mor pass in the blink of an eye when you're running!

Okay, a slight exaggeration but you get my drift. How many runners would like to "enjoy" the scenery between Milngave and Drymen for 4 hours?

Anyway, enough of that. What was it like walking it?

Well firstly, it was WET!!

Following all that good weather that we'd had, even though it was forecast, I couldn't quite believe the rain that met us on the Wednesday morning in Milngavie when we got up.



I foolishly thought that the forecast was pessimistic and only put on my showerproof trousers. 5 miles later, soaked to the skin and with my gortex shoes full of water that had run down my legs, I was bitterly regretting my decision. Meanwhile, Muriel who was wearing proper waterproof trousers was much more comfortable.

It wasn't until we were well along the forest path from Drymen that the rain eased off and we were actually able to see Conic hill. By the time we reached the top we were at least rewarded with fine views over Loch Lomond.



After a very welcome stop at the Oak Tree in in Balmaha, we soldiered on to Sallochy, about 3 miles short of Rowardennan to our B&B. That was 24 miles & 9 hours (inc stops).

Day two was a toughie. This time we had to reach Tyndrum, 28 miles over & through some of the toughest bits of the WHW. Inversnaid seemed to take an age to arrive where we stopped for coffee & cakes before heading on to Beinglas farm for "lunch" at 4 pm.



All of the other walkers who had started at Rowardennan stopped here but our luggage was waiting for us in Tyndrum so despite the hour, we had to carry on for the next 12 miles, the rain coming and going, sometimes torrential, sometimes just showers but never far away.

Eventually, after having started at 8:20 am we arrived having battled the elements (and latterly strong headwinds, more rain & flooding) at Tyndrum at 9:20 pm with just enough time to put on some dryer clothes and order some food at the bar. No sooner scoffed that it was off to bed to collapse!

Day 3 was (for me at least) an "easy" day as we were just doing about 19 miles to Kingshouse. I found the walking easy (if dull) but Muriel found this stretch hard. It wasn't helped by the continuing rain that meant that most of the hills were obscured most of the time so there was little to look at.

We arrived relatively early at Kingshouse (around 5 pm). After a quick soak in the bath I was dispatched to the bar so that Muriel could have a *proper* soak and was forced to drink 3 pints of some rather good real ale whilst I waited for her. I rather lost count after that. ;-) The Kingshouse hotel is an odd sort of place, massively undercapitalising on its potential in so many ways but good in others. We rather enjoyed it (but maybe that's the beer talking).



For our 4th and last day, a friend joined us to walk to Fort William. Again, we started out in steady rain (our waterproofs hadn't been removed once in the whole journey up to this point). It was great to climb the Devil's Staircase on "fresh" legs (i.e. as opposed to ones that have run 73 miles already) and joy of joy, the rain stopped on the way up and after a waiting a suitable period in order not to tempt the fates, we were able to remove out jackets & waterproof trousers! Hallelujah!



That area is also good for insectivorous plants. Here are a couple I photographed. Haven't had time to look them up yet.




At Kinlochleven I had a chat with one of the race organisers to get an update on the race and we met some of the Adventure Show cameramen (who didn't seem to want to film me). The climb out of Kinlochleven, normally such a chore during the race was easy but the walk across the Larig Mor was even more tedious that normal. It just goes on forever!

About 2 miles before Lundavra, we were caught by the leading runners, a Dutch supervet who was leading the race at this point!



That said, he had blood streaming down from both knees and was clearly in a bit of distress. All we could do was offer him a hanky to bind his worst knee but I think we would have been better off telling him not to be such a wuss and booting him up the backside! ;D

As it was, he lost a lot of time getting patched up at Lundavra and lost his position.

The next two runners, Scott Bradley and Richie Cunningham (both Carnegie) passed us about 11 minutes after Jan (the Dutchman).



They were simply amazing. They were running together up and down all the hills and I do mean running. They looked like they'd just popped out for a short run together and looked unbelievably fresh. I wasn't suprised to hear that Scott managed to overhaul Jan. Richie, who came in third was only a couple of minutes behind but over the moon at having taken over 2 hours off his PB! That's was 2 hours off a very good time already.

A couple more runners went by before we reached Fort William down that endless forest road.



Eventually however, we did reach the end and like the runners, we we so glad to reach it.



Highlights? Hard to say but seeing a couple of Jays, one of which caught a smooth snake right in front of us and left its wriggling tail behind was rather special.

I swore then that I'd never walk it again but a day later, who knows.

Lessons learnt.
Good waterproof trousers can save your life. Our Berhaus ones that can be zipped down from the top as well as up from the bottom were great. The top half of them is lined which makes a big difference to comfort as well.

Even if your jacket is Goretex, unless it's lined, you need something long sleeved otherwise you will get cold and damp.

Walking poles are great. Once you get into the swing of them they really do help on long climbs and level walking. Not so good when the ground is really rocky and uneven but they helped a lot.

Don't carry all your kit. There are perfectly good companies who will do that for you and will deliver you bag to as many places you intend stopping along the way. We used Travel Lite and had no problem with the service. Normally about £35 for one bag (although you can make that a large one) but they only charged us £30 as we had so few stops.

Lastly, if you want to enjoy walking the west highland way, DON'T DO IT IN 4 DAYS! It's certainly doable and better planning might have reduced the length of the mega 2nd day but it's still a lot of walking every day.

A day on and I'm thinking I might possibly do it again but over 5, 6 or even 7 days. Certainly no more than 8 hours walking a day.

I did miss running the race this year but it was great for once to see the leading runners and we went to the prizegiving after the race as well. I'm more tempted than ever to have a go at running it unsupported though. It may just stay a dream but who knows? ;D

Clunk click...

Have I mentioned my dodgy ankle? For a long time now (months) it's been a bit of a pain, literally.

When I get up in the morning I can't weightbear properly as I get pain deep in the joint towards the outside of my ankle. It usually settles after a bit of stumping around and when it goes, it goes completely. It's an "all or nothing" affair with no in between stage.

My physio had a good look at my ankle the other day but it was in a painless phase and there was nothing to be found on examination. He suggested some mobilisation techniques that might be worth trying in the morning but they didn't seem to do anything.

This morning however, I gave it a jolly good wrench around, particularly forced inversion and there was a satisfying "clunk" from my ankle and lo and behold, I could weightbear on it! Fingers crossed I've found the magic manipulation that will allow me to walk painlessly again.

With a 95 mile walk planned starting on Wednesday this discovery (if that's what it is) couldn't have come at a better time. What's wrong with it I just don't know. Probably a damaged tendon sheath or some small ligament that supposed to be holding one of the bones of my ankle in the right place. Perhaps if I avoid ever walking on it in pain it can start to heal properly.

Barefootwise, not doing anything at the moment. Still rather aware of my metatarsal but I think that's just increased awareness rather than any significant change in my foot. Hopefully get back to some more barefoot experimentation after my WHW walk.

Can't wait to get started now. Just working on the psyching up now as I've done b*gger all physical preparation for walking 24 miles a day. I mean, how hard can it be? ;-)

I think the hardest part will be having to choose between waiting for the WHW racers to come in on Saturday night or heading for my bed. My wife and I aren't entirely in accord on this issue. ;-)

Metatarsal osteophytes...

...is probably what I've got over the head of my second metatarsal on my left foot. This isn't something brought on by barefoot running but rather something that become more obvious (i.e. painful) since I started barefoot running.

I was finding that I was getting some tenderness in the ball of my foot right over this bone and when I had a good prod around, I realised that this bone was much more prominent in my left foot than my right. This would fit with the longstanding problems that I've had with this second toe virtually since I started running. I've always been prone to shooting pains and numbness in this toe when doing long road races (which is one of the reasons I switched to trails) and I've always had a feeling like there's a ridge or lump under my foot in this area.

I went to see my physio expecting to be castigated for attempting barefoot running but to my surprise, he thought that it could actually benefit this condition. (It's quite common apparently). Quite how it will benefit it I don't really understand (a lot of barefoot running stuff is counter-intuative) but it's to do with improving the mobility of the bones of the feet and building muscle strength.

Anyhow, it's a relief that I don't have to give it up but I suspect I do need to cut it back and not do any barefoot racing for a while. (Running a 5K time trial just 2 weeks after starting barefoot running was probably just asking for trouble).

Meanwhile, I'm preparing (or worrying about preparing) for my WHW walk. So far the weather forecast has been wrong just about every day so I'm hopeful that we might see some sun next week. ;-)

Barefoot running info

(Image from the Mail article)


I've found a few articles on barefoot running that might be of interest to others.

Running barefoot is associated with a substantially lower prevalence of acute injuries of the ankle and chronic injuries of the lower leg in developing countries, but well-designed studies of the effects of barefoot and shod running on injury are lacking. Laboratory studies show that the energy cost of running is reduced by about 4% when the feet are not shod. In spite of these apparent benefits, barefoot running is rare in competition, and there are no published controlled trials of the effects of running barefoot on simulated or real competitive performance.

The above quote is from http://www.sportsci.org/jour/0103/mw.htm

There's an article from the Mail that's mostly an extract from Chris McDougall's book.

In the absence of the "perfect" shoe, barefoot running deserves serious consideration. The likelihood that all shoe-wearing runners will immediately abandon their footwear and take up full-time barefoot running is remote. Yet increasing the amount of time we run or walk barefoot should be beneficial. In their paper on running-related injury prevention, Robbins and Hanna concluded, "The solution to the problem of running-related injuries could be as simple as promoting barefoot activity."

FROM: TRACK COACH 168

And lastly a link to a blog (Dr. Ben Pearl). http://docforjocks.blogspot.com/2009/03/barefoot-running.html

First barefoot 5K

Last night was the night of my running club's monthly 5K time trial. I've run a
grand total of 25 miles barefoot since I started on this lark so probably
*way* too soon to be thinking about racing but what the heck. ;-)

Right from the outset I knew that I was probably running too fast but the
sensation of running shoeless is new to me and I had trouble trying to keep
up with my feet! The absence of shoes means that you can easily maintain a
very high leg speed but my heart & lungs just ain't up to it yet. ;-)

The first km came up in 3:53. Okay back in the days when I was lighter &
fitter but it's a long time since I've seen that speed. The second Km was
4:00 dead. By the third Km I was struggling and dropped to 4:14 and the
fourth was even slower (4:21). All pretty much what you'd expect for
setting out too fast. The roads had been pretty mixed in terms of texture
and at times I'd had to take small detours onto grass verges as the tarmac
was just too rough.

In the last Km was into the wind but I managed to speed up a little (4:16)
and finished in 20:47. I was well pleased as my last 5K time trial in March
of this year was 23:36 so considering that this was my first barefoot race,
I'm very happy.

Undoubtedly though, my feet aren't quite ready for barefoot racing and I've
suffered my first blisters since starting BF running. My form still has a
long way to go to avoid unnecessary scuffing & rotation on the balls of my
feet but I feel it's a positive start.

My goal this year is to build up my racing mileage tolerance to the level of
being able to complete a 15K race this autumn in France. A lot will depend
on road conditions though but I'm hopeful that I'll at least be able to
complete it, if not compete it.