Devil o' the HIghlands. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Well this year's Devil was always going to be a wee trip into the unknown for me with my very abbreviated training but I was feeling good apart from slightly sore quads due to a slightly over-enthusiastic session of hill bashing on my bike on the Wednesday prior to the race.

Still, I wasn't worried and I was really looking forward to introducing Dave, a newish club member, to the delights of running in the highlands. He's been is Ayrshire for years but never up past Loch Lomond so it was a grand day out for both of us.

As usual, I was up at about 4 am to fry up some bacon for a sandwich. I always reckon it sets me up well for the day. Whether it does or not I don't really care, I just like bacon sandwiches. ;-)

I won't bore you all with minutiae of my run but over the first section to Bridge or Orchy I was feeling strong and reached BOO in 1:05. My legs felt good on all the hills and I really do think that the cycling worked improve my uphill running. The next leg to Glencoe was going well too until I got a bit over-enthusiastic running down the hill to Inveroran when I stumbled and came crashing down heavily on my right arm and leg. I rolled and was up on my feet again in an instant but needless to say it took the wind out of my sails for a while and as I assessed the damage, I realised that I had blood dripping off my hand coming from a cut on my elbow. My leg felt a bit battered but apart from a few grazes there was little to show for it.

After a brief stop for a bit of a clean up and some milk at Victoria Bridge I carried on to Glencoe and was pleased to get there only a minute down on my time last year. Unfortunately as I approached Black Rock Cottage I was overcome with a *very* urgent call of nature and had to drop my shorts within a couple of hundred metres of the checkpoint. Apologies to anyone's sensibilities I offended if you saw me! All I can say is, if you gotta go, you gotta go. ;-)

From here on I was joined by Dave, my clubmate, "a running bear" in hirsuteness and size. I've been trying to point him in the direction of ultra running for some time now as he's one of those people who seem to glide over the ground making effortless progress so I'm sure that ultra running will be his forte.

Anyhow, it was a beautiful day although getting a bit warm by now but we enjoyed the views as we ascended the Devil's Staircase and beyond. Once at the top, I was aware that my legs didn't quite have the bounce that I usually have for descending hills but nevertheless we made good progress down to Kinlochleven. As we neared KLL I remembered thinking "Wouldn't it be nice if the race ended here?".

When we arrived in KLL I was now 18 minuted behind last year's time and this was indicative of how things were going to go from now on. I sat down to have a bite to eat before setting off on the last leg and as usual, the climb out of KLL felt longer and harder than the Devil's Staircase. That said, once we reached to top I managed to keep running the downhills and level bits reasonably well AND some of the uphills but I was finding the underfoot conditions hard, usually an indication of how tired I am. On fresh legs I can skip along but today it was becoming a bit of a stumblefest. Things probably weren't helped by my wearing my "mono-vision" contact lenses which give me one good eye for reading and one good eye for distance. The trouble is they give be one pair of eyes rather poor at depth perception which doesn't help on uneven ground. During the climb I realised that my elbow was leaking blood again and dripping off my fingers so I decided to take advantage of the Mountain Medics who did a grand job of bandaging my elbow up.

Anyhow, as it does, the Larig Mor eventually comes to an end and we met up with Muriel for a spot of refreshment before carrying on to the last leg. Just before we left I heard the dulcet tones on Anne (Noble - support runner) and Karen Robertson approaching. Karen has had miserable luck with the Devil (and this year's WHW race) so despite being upset about being "caught by a girly from my own club!" I was absolutely delighted that at last she was having a better run.

Being a gentleman, I hightailed out of the checkpoint without waiting but it did me little good and she soon overhauled me and left me for dead, which was pretty much how I was feeling by this stage.



My quads were by now seriously trashed and going down steeper hills (or steps in particular) was very painful and it was a slow and painful descent down Glen Nevis to Braveheart car park.

Still, one foot in front of the other gets you there eventually and after we passed the 30 mph sign I tried to pretend that I was a runner with a rather feeble sprint finish.






So, firstly the good things.

I think the cycling definitely helped with running up the hills. Considering the amount of running I've done lately that went well. I will be including cycling as part of my future ultra training.
It was also a great pleasure and a privilege to get to introduce David to this beautiful part of the highlands on such a great day.
My running went well (apart from my tumble)up until Kinlochleven. Dave was good company on the run and Muriel did a sterling job of trying to satisfy my whims throughout the day.

The bad things.
It doesn't take a genius to realise that I would have done better if I had started slower and I have to admit that I was really pushing myself in the early stages to see how close I could run to my times last year. It was always going to be a risky thing to do but I wanted to see just how well I could run on so little running in training. I would have enjoyed the race overall more if I had started slower I think. Also, having to drop your shorts in easy view of a check point isn't something I want to repeat in a hurry!


The ugly things.
My elbow doesn't look too pretty but it'll heal. I've some fairly impressive bruises on my thigh but I think they're all pretty superficial. I'll spare you the pictures of those. ;-)



NEXT year, I'll train properly, I promise. ;-) Unfortunately I'm going to have to find a new support runner as Dave is determined to enter the Devil next year, which at the end of the day, is a great result.

Running the Devil, on a wheel and a prayer.

It's been a funny old year and admittedly, it's not gone to plan running wise but I'm not too dismayed.

I've done less running in preparation for this year's Devil o' the Highland race than ever before but oddly I'm really looking forward to it. In fact, I'm even kidding myself that I might actually do quite well in it.

So where does this (very possibly misplaced) confidence come from? Well for a start, I've been doing a lot of cycling and most of that has included as many hills as I can point my front wheel up and nearly all of that has been done pushing a biggish gear (52x23 minimum) which I feel has really toned up my quads.

I've lost a good half stone in weight over the last few weeks thanks to the cycling and feel all the better for it.

Whilst I've hardly run I did do the sweeping for the Clyde Stride which was useful "time on feet" and I got talked into doing a hilly 7 mile leg of the "Round Arran relays". I think I done 2 other shortish runs as well and that's pretty much been it as far as running's concerned over the last month.

The other thing that's helped was watching the following video which has pretty much cured me of whinging about my sciatica!

Jamie Andrew: Mountaineering, Amputation, and Changing Nappies with his Teeth. www.jamieandrew.com from Alastair Humphreys on Vimeo.

So, whatever happens tomorrow, I hope I can finish with a smile.

Chim chimeny, chim chimeny, chim chim, cheree...

Well I've done some daft things in my time but it's been a while since I've done something quite as silly as this.

When I heard that Lee (the Clyde Stride race organiser) was in need of some sweepers (the folk who jog along at the back making sure that all the stragglers are accounted for) I thought it would be fun to bring my chimney sweeping brush for the photos at the start of the race.

Well, as you might imagine it caused a wee bit of a stir and folk were asking if I planned to carry it the whole way. I must confess I had thought about it and I decided that I would indeed find out what it was like to carry a chimney brush for 40 miles.

As it turned out, it was in in fact easy to run with (it's pretty light) and by the time I'd reached the first checkpoint I'd decided that it was going the whole way. Of course, when I say "run", I actually mean "a wee bit of running and an awful lot of walking". This suited me okay as I've done very little running in the last few months due to my chronic sciatica, which incidentally, is getting a bit better if you're interested. I'd been out on my bike for 4 rides in the week before the race (2x17 miles and 2x40 miles). Hard to be sure but I think they've helped me physically a bit. Whitout doubt thought they've helped me psychologically a LOT!

Today I had a really enjoyable 40 miler on my bike with no embarrassing walking breaks and plan to go out again tomorrow.



It been a very frustrating few months struggling to train in almost constant pain and having made the decision to forget the running for a while and just cycle, I'm really enjoying being able to get some decent exercise again. I'm now really looking forward to the Devil of the Highlands race which I was dreading before the Clyde Stride. I now feel confident of finishing at least.

Back in the saddle...

...literally.

After yesterday's cathartic whinge, I decided that the only way forward at the moment is to try and forget about running and try some cross training. I know, I know, you're all thinking "Duh?", it's an obvious response and an obvious answer to my current malaise but it's a route I've been reluctant to follow. I mean, everyone knows that running is The One True Sport don't they? Why would I want to do anything different? Anyhow, I decided that if I can't run and not running properly is making me miserable, I just HAVE to do something different for a few weeks.

I thought about swimming but with the schools on holiday I decided that my chances of getting any uninterrupted lengths in were going to be near zero. So today, I ventured into the garage and peered into the garage pile and pulled out a sporty looking number with no mudguards and not enough gears. After wiping the worst of the cobwebs and sawdust off (I kid you not, it's been sat there for about 5 years) I pumped 100psi into each tyre, crossed my fingers and wobbled off on a 17.3 mile ride.




It's odd really that I should be so reluctant to embrace my bike these days as I used to be a very keen cyclist when I was younger (and thought runners were absolutely potty) but I've somehow fallen out of love with cycling.

Anyhow, it wasn't long before I was regretting picking the bike with no granny gears as I wheezed my way up hills. My worst moment came on a long (but not steep) incline when I wobbled to a near halt and realised that I was going to have to walk. This was when my trust in bike turned out to be a little misplace as my SPD pedal was darned if it was going to let go of my shoe! Fortunately, I managed to get one out before I fell but I think a little lubrication and adjustment is in order before I venture out again. ;-)

Not long after that the rain started and the lack of mudguards meant that my feet and back got a good spraying. Admittedly, by the end of the ride I was almost enjoying it so I suppose I can stand to do this for a few weeks. Goodness only knows what it'll do for my sciatica but i guess I'll find out soon enough.

What do you do when can't do what you love to do?

First post in absolute ages and it's to have a self-pitying whine. ;-)


I'm having real problems with my running at the moment in that chronic back trouble is making it incredibly hard for me to train to anywhere near my potential.

Yes, I can still go out for shorter runs and enjoy them (after a fashion) but my sciatica constantly undermines my ability to do the longer runs that I need to do to train for ultras. Every day I'm thinking that if I wasn't a runner, my symptoms would be quite bearable and then I feel guilty for aspiring to something that most people wouldn't even dream of doing. It's not like I'm seriously disabled in the conventional sense of the word but and many folk would be grateful to have my present level of fitness, such that it is. Life would be a whole lot simpler if I wasn't a runner!

It's just that I so want to run next year's WHW race and while I know it's a long way off, this back trouble has grumbled on and off for months and months. It put paid to my plans to do the TDS earlier this year when I was forced to accept that there was no way I could put in the appropriate training to do justice to a course like that.


On the immediate horizon I have an entry for the Devil o' the Highlands race which is in August. I would love to run it but I'm having serious doubts about attempting it. It's not that I'm too worried about running with my pain (I've been doing that for ages) but that I know that I just can't get the training done that I'd like to do to run it "properly". I've never been a great fan of just achieving a finish for the sake of it.

I've seen my own physio who has given me mobilisation exercises to do for my lower spine but they've made no difference. I'm currently waiting to see an NHS physio so I suppose I should see what they can do. Although highly sceptical of surgery as a treatment for back pain my symptoms are very specific (single nerve root pain) and I'm beginning to wonder if that's the route I might eventually have to follow.

If any runners out there have been down the surgery route and have any comments they'd like to make, I'm all ears.