Fling flung, but more to come...

Well this was my 5th Highland Fling race. One way or another I feel like I've been associated with this race forever. ;D Last year was the year of my nightmare race. My training had been interrupted by injury and whilst I was confident of finishing, it went much worse than expected. My report from that race is just below Murdo's report here. http://flingrace.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=336

This year I was feeling a lot better prepared. I'd mixed in a lot more cycling this year and changed to an 80% veggy diet which helped me to shift half a stone of excess blubber pre-race. I'd also run the D33 for the first time which was a very unfamiliar style of running for me (i.e. relentless with hardly any hills to have walking breaks on) and learned some useful lessons from that. The two day training run over the Fling route with John Duncan and friends was also a tremendous help. Lastly, a 100 mile cycle sportive two weeks before the Fling probably helped as well.

Anyhow, the race plan was to try to control my pace early on and to EAT REGULARLY AND OFTEN! That last can't be stressed enough in my opinion. I've often been guilty of not eating until I'm getting hungry or tiring but I'm convinced that by that time, it's too late to avoid a bit of a crash, usually after Balmaha.

The last four weeks before the Fling have been confusing from a training point of view though. Having done the two day run at the beginning of the month, I then had to start training in earnest for the Scottish Bike Show Sportive, a 100 mile event that started at Balloch, then around the Trossachs, up to Lochearnhead, around to Crianlarich, down Loch Lomond, over to Arrochar, down Loch Long, over the old Glen Fruin road and back to Balloch. There were some pretty serious hills in that lot! I survived it finishing in 7:14:30 which considering my training I was quite happy with. I did have to stop once to "admire the scenery" but I never resorted to pushing my bike. ;-)

The upshot of that was that little running got done in the two weeks up to that. Following that I was tapering and doing even less running. I always find motivation a problem during the taper but I felt pretty good and I was trying hard not to "dig up my tatties early to check on them" as Fiona Rennie put it in her blog (referring to runners' tendency to always go out and do one more hard run when they ought to be charging their batteries).

I started off with the 6:00 am group at what felt to be a comfortable pace and, as always, probably went a bit faster than intended, arriving at Drymen at 8:01 (after wasting 5 minutes on a toilet stop). I'm sure it pays dividends to go slower at the start but the miles were slipping past easily and I felt like I could run all day at that pace. Of course I couldn't but it was nice to dream! ;-)

Conic hill came and went with no dramas and I jogged into Balmaha feeling good. More to the point, I left Balmaha feeling good and enjoyed the run to Rowardennan without any deep energy dips that I'd suffered in previous years. I was in and out of Rowardennan quickly and heading on to Inversnaid still feeling good. As this point I was really glad that I had done the 2 day run over the HF route as I had really good memories of the run from Inversnaid to Tyndrum. Of course that was on relatively "fresh" legs and this time I'd have no overnight stop to recharge the batteries but it's amazing how much positive memories can help you along and it didn't seem long before Inversnaid came into view. When I arrived I had developed a deep craving for some coke and I hadn't put any in my drop bags. Fortunately, a bit of rummaging in the marshal's rubbish bag there produced some leftover flat warm coke and I didn't think twice about finishing it off.

I don't mind admitting that the next section really *didn't* match up with my memories, my legs were tiring and the stumbly section seemed so much more troublesome that it had done on fresher legs and it was hard to make good progress. Still, all good things come to an end and I arrived at Beinglas after about 8 and a half hours running (14:32).

I was probably paying for my early pace now as the final section took me 2:50 to complete but I felt good and was enjoying myself. Just after the second A82 crossing I caught Keith Hughs on his walk to Tyndrum who was just beginning to struggle a bit with his knee but as ever, he wasn't letting that get him down! Now I was onto the flat run in, a section that can feel like it goes on for ever if you're walking but one that seems to flit by if you've got running in your legs and that's how it was on the day. As I passed through Auchtertyre I spotted a runner in what looked like a Troon vest walking ahead of me. When I caught him I realised to my surprise that this was Bobby Miller, a very strong runner, from my club.

Well I *never* beat Bobby as a rule but I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity so rather than being a supportive club-mate and encouraging him along, I legged it! Bobby was immediately all over me like fleas on a dog and it took some determined pushes up the small hills to put some distance between us and even then, I was sure he was going to try and outsprint me for the finish so I couldn't let up.

In the end I opened up a gap of about 30 seconds and crossed the line after 11 hours and 22 minutes and 12 seconds, a vast improvement over last year's disastrous 13:48. Not as good as my 2008 time of 10:47 but it's a time that I'm not ashamed of.

Apart from the eating regularly business, I think the only thing that I'd change next year is to add in a bit more variety into my my snacks later on and include coke and crisps in my later drop bags. No matter how good something seems early on the in race, you can be pretty sure that you'll want something different later on. Oh, and next year, I really *will* try to go slower at the start. ;-)

Not long now to the full West Highland Way race but I've got the small problem of The Scottish Ultra this weekend (2x40 miles over two days) followed a week later by the Cateran Trail Ultra (55 miles), neither of which I've reccied! Training wise I've no idea if I'm training, recovering or tapering and I think the best plan is to just run these races "for fun" and to try and not injure myself. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks. ;-)