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.

Some musings on ultra nutrition and hydration

Amazingly, I was roughing this piece out last night with a view to publishing it today when John Ky posted a link to William Sichel's article on the same subject.

There are more than a few similarities, the stongest of which is his advice to "eat less!". He ran the Spartathlon on 100 kcal per hour which concurs with my view that most people are trying to get far too many calories down.

Anyway, have a look at William Sichel's article here and then laugh at mine, ;-)

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Reading other folks' blogs has reminded me how much my own practice with regard to nutrition and hydration has changed over the last few years. Given that this change has coincided with an improvement in my ultra distance running, I thought it might be worthwhile sharing my current thinking on the subject with anyone who is interested.

Firstly though, I must point out that we are all "experiments of one" and what works for me might not work for anyone else. In addition, what is working for me now, might not work in different weather conditions or race conditions so please bear these thoughts in mind when considering any changes to your own practice.

Nutrition

They say that you burn about a 100 calories per mile when running. Multiply that by the WHW and you get something in the order of 4 days worth of food burnt in one day. One could try and eat that amount but I doubt that anyone could manage that and run the WHW on the same day. Fortunately, training enables us to get away with eating less than that by tapping into our reserves. Anyone who has raced a marathon knows that 26 miles without eating anything is hard, the tendency is to "bonk" (i.e. suffer a collapse in energy reserves) after about 20 miles. According to those who know about these things, there just isn't enough glycogen (the storage from of glucose) in the body to take you past this distance so you have to supplement it with food of some sort.

Clearly what is needed for running 95 miles miles is more than nothing but less than four days worth of food, the big question is, how much do I (or you) need.

As I've worked my way through the WHW training runs this year, I've discovered that one can get away with very little indeed. In fact, I've discovered that about 285 calories per 10 miles works for me (one Mars Bar). This has huge advantages from the point of portability. If I can maintain this level of intake over the whole WHW, I can do it on a 10 pack of Mars Bars which I can carry myself.

On the face of it it seems improbable that this could possibly work given the energy expenditure but one thing that we all have is huge reserves of energy in the form of fat. Even if your BMI is in single figures it's reckoned that we all carry more than enough stored energy this way. The problem is in tapping into it. To "burn" fat, you have to have enough glucose in your system. No glucose = no fat burning = bonking. Just keep a trickle of glucose coming into your system though, and you can burn fat and tap into this resource. In the early stages of the run, this glucose comes from stored glycogen but as reserves fall, you need to supplement your glucose supply. This is where the Mars Bars come in. I really don't think there's any place for difficult to digest food (ham sandwiches etc.) containing protein or fat. Your digestive track is having to cope with a compromised blood supply because you're running and trying to absorb anything other than the simplest sugars is probably asking a bit much of it.

I can't pretend that any of the above will stand up to any sort of serious scientific study and most importantly, I can't say that it's possibly to be competitive on a diet of Mars Bars alone, but if you're having recurrent stomach problems with nausea & cramps, just bear in mind that it's possible that you're suffering from eating too much, not too little and that you may be able to get away with much less than you think.

Anyhow, this is just my current take on nutrition. I'm not a fan of liquid nutrition for reasons that I'll cover under hydration.

Hydration

If there are any ultra-runners out there who aren't scared of hyponatraemia, then they ought to be. Dehydration may make you perform sub-optimally, it may even in extreme cases lead to your collapse. What it will hardly ever do, is kill you. Hyponatraemia (low blood salt levels) will. The first you or your support crew may know about it is dizzyness and/or confusion. Once you have symptoms of altered conciousness, you're already in big trouble.

So, why does it happen? As the good Dr. Ellis has made clear, the commonest reason is over-hydration. In short drinking too much. The question is, why, despite the known dangers, do runners keep doing it?

The popular reason given is that the mantra "if you wait until you're thirsty you've left it too late" and the concept that dehydration is a "bad" thing have over played in the past. It was certainly true that the official advice for marathons used to be to drink "plenty" and regularly, irrespective of thirst. This advice has certainly been toned down but it's still quite common.

When it comes to ultra running, advice that might only lead to a mild to moderate degree of over-hydration in an event the length of a marathon, can lead to serious over-hydration in an event that can last over 24 hours.

Another reason that people inadvertently over-hydrate (and this is just my pet theory) is that we've started really confusing our body by taking calories in liquid form. This means that when your blood sugar is falling, you're feeling tired, you reach for the sports drink when what your body is really craving is just the glucose. "Ah but!..." I hear you say, "I'm taking salt in with my fluid so that should be okay." Well it might be if it contained the same amount of salt as your blood but sports drinks are a long way short of that for the simple reason that they would be horribly unpalatable if they were. So the more you drink, the more you dilute your blood sodium levels. To make matters worse, drinks containing some salt are absorbed more rapidly that those without so potentially, this "advantage" of sports drinks, could potentially be aggravating the very problem it's supposed to be alleviating.

I'm coming round to the idea that we evolved to eat calories, not drink them and that taking calories in liquid form leads to a muddying of the distinction between thirst and hunger, two separate needs that need to be dealt with separately. Treating hunger with inappropriate quantities of dilute calories leads to over-hydration.

My solution is simple and cheap. Drink water. Not necessarily exclusively, but certainly I think it should be your "first line" fluid. Additionally, whenever you find yourself reaching for your camelbak tube or other bottle, ask yourself seriously "Am I thirsty?". I find that when I ask myself this question I realise that I've been reaching for my bottle more often through reflex, not need. I know find myself completing long runs on much less fluids that I used to drink and feeling better for it. In February I ran 31 miles on one cup of coffee, something that I previously would have thought of as "impossible".

I don't expect anyone to change what they do based on my views but perhaps they might encourage people to experiment a bit more and potentially run a better race.

WHW run 29/3/08 postscript

I can never remember everything I want to mention at the time of blogging so I thought I'd add a few more thoughts now before I forget them again.

Both Thomas and Marco commented on the "self sufficient" nature of my run yesterday, not relying on a back-up team. Part of this self sufficiency is just down to bad organisation, part though is down to a desire to do the whole WHW one day as an unsupported run. The WHW is a nicely defined "unit" with a clear start and finish and the thought of doing it all, non-stop, unsupported has a strong appeal for me. I'm not agin doing it with company however so if anyone out there shares similar ambitions, feel free to get in touch. I'm not however planning on doing it in the winter though, once was enough. ;-).

I think the hardest part of running unsupported will be finding the right gear to wear that will remain comfortable for the full distance and getting the nutrition right. Of course I can make up any rules I like but I'd prefer to carry all my provisions for the full distance. Buying stuff en-route would feel a bit like cheating. Coffee deprivation might be a big problem as I've always consumed copious quantities of it during my runs along the WHW. Yesterday's run however showed me that what I'm currently doing works well for distances up to 37 miles. Fingers crossed that I can build on it and stetch it out for the full unsupported 95 miles one day.

Regarding yesterday's run, I mentioned my "Mike Mason moment". For those not in the know, Mike Mason (a WHW runner) was caught "in flagrante cr*ppo" during last year's race. The talk on the WHW forum since then has been of little else. ;-)

I forgot the mention meeting Pete Duggin on my descent down to Kinlochleven yesterday. It was the only point in the route where I'd slightly regretted wearing road shoes as there was a bit of slushy snow at the top but it was a shortlived problem and for the rest of the run, I had no regrets.

It was probably a good thing to reacquaint myself with that stetch of the WHW as it was much longer than I remembered. Curiously, the section from KLL to Fort William was also much longer. I've a sneaky suspicion that the WHW has been lengthened to at least 100 miles since I last ran it. ;-)

After yesterday's run I jogged along to Morrison's in FW to get some milk, some orange juice and to use their toilets to get changed into my dry clothes. Well, I managed the first two without mishap but things went awry on the last stage. Now you would thing that all supermarket toilets were the same. I've been in the toilets in Morrison's in Ayr and think I'm pretty clued up on how they should be. In Fort William however they do things differently. As I staggered into the toilets, rank with sweat & mud and in my shorts, I was struck by the relative spaciousness. After that, the number of cubicles and wash basins struck me as slightly excessive. The absence of urinals and the very effeminate looking long haired bloke by one of the sinks was that last clue that something was not quite right.

I rather lamely enquired if one of us wasn't in the wrong loo as by now, I was begining to doubt my choice of convenience. Sure enough, I was in the ladies. Fortunately, no screaming ensued, no security guards were called and no arrests made. A bit disappointing really. ;-)

Having made my escape and visited the other gents toilet (honsetly, you'd think they could make the signs a bit less confusing to an addled WHW runner) and got changed, I wolfed down a plate of macaroni cheese & chips. It may only have been supermarket cafe fare but it felt like ambrosia of the gods at that moment.

After that, all I had to do was get back to Bridge of Orchy which is easier said than done by public transport in FW. Having looked at the options I decided to hitchhike. I toyed with the idea of staying in my smelly shorts (working on the principle that the more exposed flesh the better for getting a lift) but the smell was pretty bad and having got changed in to leggings I hoped that a lycra-clad leg would be sufficient for hitchhiking purposes. I jogged down to the south side of FW and within 5 minutes I was en-route for BoO. It's nice to know that one can still hitchhike in Scotland and there are still a few psychos prepared to pick up total strangers. ;-)

I'm a weenie (and proud of it)

It could only happen amongst a group of ultra-runners. Had a great run, 36/37 milesish and I feel like a weenie as most of the folk were running 43. ;-)

I could have run the 43 as I made good time up from Ayr and arrived at 7:55 in Tyndrum but I had always planned to run "just" 37 as I'm less worried about my speed than making it to the start line. As a two time "no show-er" in the last two years the thought of not making it to the start line yet again weighs rather heavily on my mind.

After leaving the crew in Tyndrum I drove on to Bridge of Orchy. It did cross my mind to wait for that main pack to arrive but I've discovered that I'm more comfortable with running at my own pace and don't like running faster or slower to fit in with others on these long runs. Alas this means I end up being a bit antisocial but I honestly feel I'm running better because of it. I was very satisfied with my time of 7:02 for the 37 miles today.

As I was starting on my own I'd decided to be more or less self sufficient, carrying a change of clothes for Fort William and enough Mars Bars to see me through. What I lost in speed through carrying the extra weight I think I more than made up for by not stopping at any of the "check-points" where the others were meeting the support crew.

I would love to pass on a few funny anecdotes but it would only turn into "another poo story" and my wife's heard more than enough of them. Suffice it to say I had a major "Mike Mason moment" (an MMM) just outside Bridge of Orchy. Aileen commented that I could have easily used the facilities in the Bridge of Orchy Hotel but that wouldn't have been half as much fun. ;-)

I had a camera and tried to take a few pictures but despite the oodles of megapixels, I must have had something on the wrong setting so they were all pretty grainy. The only decent shot was this one of Jon and Aileen, fellow West Highland Way runners.

A good week (but could do better)

Ever since Angela's excellent talk last week I've been thinking about but never quite getting round to updating my Blog. Perhaps I just don't lead an exciting enough life or perhaps I just don't lie convincingly. ;-)

Anyway, runningwise, it's been a good week which has helped to make up for my slight disappointment over my Inverness time.

Since last Tuesday:

Wednesday: day off

Thursday: Carrick hill run. This is my 4 miles each way run up and down the Brown Carrick hill to the radio masts. Ran a training PB without really trying too hard. Of course, training PBs don't tell you an awful lot but they're nice to have nevertheless.

Friday: another day off!

Saturday: River Ayr run racing my wife. Before you think I'm setting my sights just a little low, I did give her an 11 mile and 25 minute head start so it wasn't that easy. ;-) We drove up to Failford, left a car by the pub, drove back to Oswalds Bridge at Auchincruive (10 miles downstream) where I dropped my wife, the dogs and her friend. After dropping my daughter in town, I drove home (21 miles from Failford) and set off from there. To be honest, I didn't really expect to catch them, and I didn't. What did surprise me though was that I was only beaten by one minute! I reckon if it hadn't been so muddy I would have made better time and might have caught them. Then again, they might have gone faster too. Still, made for an interesting challenge. As before, finished off with a pint of milk & some fine real ale.

Sunday: An easy 5 miles with my wife.

Monday: An easy 8.25 miles with the dog. He really is getting too old for his lark but he never learns and demands to be taken out and I'm too weak willed to resist his pleadings.

Tuesday: Club hill repeats. Just 3 x 1 mile. I had planned to do four reps but we were keeping the rests down to 3 minutes and my legs really weren't recovered when I started the third rep. Still, my times were good if somewhat inconsistent. First mile was 6:14. I'd consciously held back a bit but perhaps held back too much. On the second rep I was flying (for me anyway) and ran 5:51, my fastest ever. My third rep on heavy legs still managed to squeeze in under 6 minutes (5:58) so I was pleased with that. Definitely a case of "Could do better" for my report card but pleasing to get two sub 6 minute laps in.

Just to brighten a dull blog, here's a picture of Roger cooling his paws.

There is no god!

How else can you explain why the first three raffle prize winners at Angela Mudge's talk about her record breaking run in the Everest marathon, *didn't* pick up the video camera and then Debbie swans up with her ticket to take away the top prize!

Not that I'm jealous or anything. ;-) Guess I should have bought more tickets!

Post-race run

I may not have excelled in yesterday's race but my training seems to be paying off in term of (apparently) speedy recovery. Apart from aching biceps (which was a bit odd) I've had no muscle aches since the race and I went out for an easy run around my regular loop (about 7.2 miles) with Roger tonight. A bit wet but if the forecasts are to be believed, nicer than it's going to be tomorrow!

Inverness half marathon

After my great run on Tuesday I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed not to get nearer to 1:30 (or even under). I actually finished with a 1:33:25 which was under my "middle" goal of sub 1:35 (based on relative lack of expereince of half marathon racing & training) but short of my "dream" goal of sub 1:30.

If you look at any of the race time predictors (like this one) you'll see that based on a 19:21 5K, they all come up with sub-1:30 times. Of course all predictors only work if you've only done the appropriate training for the distance and I think my WHW training runs may have built my endurance up well but not provided me with the combination of endurance and speed over the half marathon distance. If I was serious about getting a sub-1:30 I think I'd need to concentrate on improving my 10K times first but in the buildup to the WHW, 10Ks have always felt like a very low priority. Perhaps if the right race comes up at the right time before the WHW I might have another bash at a half marathon but for the moment, I'll have to settle for being 10th V50-54 out of 68 in Inverness. (Yes, they were quoting 5 year age groups in the results). Meanwhile Ian finished an excellent 8th out of 130 in his age group.

Three photos from http://www.northsport.com/ who were the official photographers. One of Ian (looking like he's out for a spot of power walking), one of me and one of a guy who passed me at 9 miles (a real "heartsink" moment).

Today's run

I was out with my old collie cross mongrel Roger this afternoon. He's not really up to long runs but he just can't help himself, particularly when he's just come out of kennels where they walk all the dogs three times a day. In there for two nights and he's expects the same service at home!

Anyway, it a repeat of my route out to Craig Tara. It was after reading Debbie's blog and her encounters with neds etc. in her neck of the woods that I realised how lucky I was to have the shore to run along. There are usually big flocks of curlews along the shore by Craig Tara making their characteristically evocative sound, something I'm willing to bet you don't hear in Glasgow too often. Of course, I do miss having decent hills to train on but you can't have everything. Roger started off full of beans but soon realised that he was in for a longer walk than he was expecting so we had to stop a few times at streams for him to cool down but no matter how tired he sometimes looks, he always has some energy to chase the squirrels in Bellisle Park on the way back! Still, it was good to have him with me to ensure a nice slow pace. My legs are a little stiff after Tuesday's 5K and driving 400 miles to Aberdeen and back yesterday.

It's a funny old world 2...

You remember how my phizog appeared on the back of the Loch Ness Marathon entry form? Well, it's sort of happened again. I was looking at the e-newletter that the organisers send out to previous entrants when I spotted this new picture on the right. The sharp-eyed ones amongst you will have noticed that my number is different. Now this means, not only have they chosen me once, they've now started looking though their old files for publicity shots and the best they can come up with is me, again!

Of course, it could just be very clever psychology and every entrant is getting a different e-newsletter (with their own picture pasted in) but I'm not the only person to spot my picture so I suspect they've used the same pictures for everyone.

I did wonder if I had an unknown friend amonst the organisers but they've assured me that it was pure chance and no doubt due to my extreme photogenicity or words to that effect anyway. ;-)

Think it's about time I got myself an agent!

What a difference a haircut makes!

I always feel that I run better after a haircut but even I was surprised by the difference yesterday's haircut made in tonight's 5K time trial.

Last month I had a runner to chase and another one hot on my heels so I felt I had really given it my best shot. I was pleased to squeak back in under 20 minutes with a time of 19:59. Tonight though, I had no one to chase so I knew I'd be setting the pace myself. I was hoping to get under 20 minutes again but without anyone to chase, I wasn't sure whether I'd pull it off again or not.

I needn't have worried. My legs felt full of beans right from the start and unlike previous months, I didn't feel like I was slowing significantly as I progressed. In the end I was delighted to stop my watch at 19:21, 38 seconds faster than last month.

My splits this time were 3:48, 3:49, 4:02, 3:50 and 3:50. If only I could have held my speed over that 3rd Km! That would have been another 10 seconds off. ;-)

Still, mustn't grumble, I'm more than happy with a 38 second improvement in my 5K time in one month. Of course, it probably won't make a ha'pence worth of difference to my WHW time but I enjoy my 5Ks. Doubt I'll pull off a similar improvement next month. ;-)

Stupid bl*&dy targets!

Like most runners I'm sure, I'm apt to set myself targets and then stick to them come what may. Today, I was really regretting that decision.

Dunno if anyone else has ventured out but it's wild here in south Ayrshire. I'd set myself a 200 mile target for February and was 12 miles short this morning. Nothing for it but to brave the elements! It was, without a doubt, one of the most unpleasant runs I've done in a long time. Running two miles along Ayr seafront into the teeth of the wind took me over 30 minutes. I swear it was nearer 40. The constant wind was bad enough (much worse than last weekend even) but the gusts meant that there were occasions when I only went up and down, not forward.

The irony of it all is that I had time yesterday but squandered it! Still, what doesn't kill us must make us stronger (I hope). ;-)

It's a funny old world...

I was running last month along with a group of other WHW runners. After the run and on the way back in the minibus I was chatting a bit with George Reid. You can see him in the picture on the right, a screen capture from John Ky's video.

Well I have to be honest and say that his face didn't ring any bells with me and it was George who realised that we'd met before and who dropped me a line to confirm that I was who he thought I was. When I last saw him, he looked more like the second picture on the right! (Taken by my brother circa 1977-78)

Of course chance dictates that people from your past pop up in all sorts of unexpected places but I wouldn't have anticipated anyone turning up in the WHW race.

If you're reading this George, I hope you'll forgive me posting this little slice of history. ;-) I dare say I've changed a bit too in the last 30 years.

Looking forward to getting together again and doing a bit of catching up.

Running scared

There's nothing like the fear of dying to make you feel more alive. Such was the intensity of the wind and rain today over the 30.6 miles that I ran from Tyndrum to Kingshouse & back to Bridge of Orchy, stopping running, or even walking, would have been a sure fire ticket to hypothermia.

I picked up Dave McLelland from his home before heading up to Tyndrum. It rained steadily all the way up, varying in intensity, but never drying up. We had planned to set off at 8:30 but having told Dave about my bacon sandwich for breafast, we couldn't leave until the Welly Boot opened. ;-) After Dave had scoffed his roll, we set off into the wind and rain which alternated between pellety lumps of rain and sheets of windblown low cloud, all equally wetting. The first climb out of Tyndrum always feels like hard work, being an uphill drag before your body has really accepted the idea that you really do mean to run 30 miles.

The dry feet lasted for about half a mile. After that, flippers might have been more appropriate footware. ;-) Nevertheless, we made good time and arrived in Bridge of Orchy after 61 minutes, which was a bit unfortunate really as we had a 17 minute wait for all the other runners to arrive, 17 minutes of getting progressively more chilled as we huddled under any cover we could find.

Ellen, Lorna & Mark were already there (having arrived early) and then Michelle & I think Steve arrived to complete the group. We set off and I tried to stick with the group but I was too cold to run too slowly and felt I had to push on just to rewarm. Shame really as I was looking forward to the social side of the run but I was running easily and and beginning to really enjoy the run, despite the atrocious conditions.

After Inveroran, Dave & Steve caught up with me but then Steve had to drop back as he was carrying a camelbac for Michelle. That left two of us out front making good time as we headed towards Kingshouse arriving there 2 hours and 8 minutes after leaving BoO. At Kingshouse we enjoyed a coffee & a bag of crisps and after about 5-6 minutes the rest of the group started to arrive. The coffee incidentally was the only thing I drank for the whole distance. I can't honestly say that I was thirsty at any point despite this. Perhaps I was absorbing the rain through my skin. It was certainly wet enough! ;-)

After 28 minutes, a dry shirt and a heavier waterproof, it was time to head back. We'd had the wind predominately on our back whilst heading west (although it contantly changed direction and force - at times blowing so hard it felt like we were being sandblasted instead of rained upon) but I knew the headwind on the way back would suck the heat from our bodies given half a chance.

The run back was tough. Whilst the run out had felt pretty easy, almost like freewheeling, the return was more akin to grinding up hills in low gears. Still, once again Dave and I soon lost sight of everyone. I'd like to say that I wasn't holding Dave back but in truth, he's such a strong runner. Fortunately for me, he's an incredibly patient guy who seems to not mind slowing down for others. Still, despite the weather, we managed 2:15 for the return trip, again well ahead of the pack. Our overall time (including stops) was 6:09. Minus stops, 5:32. Measured off Memory Map this comes out at 30.6 miles.

After the run, the plan was to get a lift back to Tyndrum with Mark or Ellen but we realised that they'd need to change before setting off (our dry clothes were back in Tyndrum) and we were cooling fast. I popped into the hotel to enquire about public transport (a long short but always worth asking). The train was going to be about 3 hours but the next bus was due in 18 minutes. Rather than wait getting colder, we decided to try hitchhiking back to Tyndrum. About four cars went by when a couple came out of the hotel and took pity on two drowned rats standing in the rain and offered to give us a lift back. Fortunately I had a black binbag in my rucksack so we were able to sit on this to save soaking the car seat. I'll always carry one now. ;-)

10 minutes later we were stripping off under the hot air hand dryers in the Welly Boot and enjoying more coffee and bacon sandwiches feeling like we'd survived some of the worst conditions we could possibly expect in June. All in all, a tough but good run.

No pictures alas, it was just way too wet to risk getting a phone or camera out.

No DOMS & mile reps

The delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that I had feared after Carnethy never materialised and I had a good run out on Monday evening whilst watching an absolutely glorious sunset.

Last night was our night for "mile repeats". I say "mile" as I don't think it's ever been accurately measured but that's less important that having a consistent distance loop to run. Last month I had a horrid run round the same circuit. I started slow and just kept getting slower. The following day I had to cut a training run short I was feeling so weak.

Yesterday though, I started reasonably quick (6:11), then ran my second lap at 6:07 and my third lap at 6:03. Now that was a much better session. Ideally I should probably do more reps but the enthusiasm wanes pretty darned quick, particularly when all your club mates have had enough too. Think I need to trade them in for a faster lot. ;-)

One thing that I'm never sure about is the relative benefits of long (say 4 minute) over short (say 90 sec to 2 minute) recoveries. Last night I was taking 4 minute recoveries which certainly helped me with repeating (and improving) my times) but in a race situation (well road race anyway), you don't get time off to recover so I'm never sure whether shorter recoveries would be better. Any opinions gratefully received.

Things are looking good for a long run this weekend (Tyndrum to Kingshouse and back to BoO). If it goes as well as my last run on the WHW I'll be pleased. My hydration & nutrition seemed to work out well on that occasions. My biggest worry is about stopping for too long in Kingshouse before returning. I actually found the last run more enjoyable because I stopped less. I fear the sunny frosty weather is over but as long as the company's good, it really doesn't matter what the weather's like.

Baaa... buzzz...

Nothing to do with running really except that the first one was taken during my evening run up the river Ayr last weekend. The sun had set but the sky was still glowing and the sheep were gently steaming in the field as the frost developed. Could have been a nice shot with a proper camera.






The second one was a rather surprising find in my loft. Had it been occupied, I would have been running - for cover. ;-)

Carnethy 5

Whilst John K et.al. were enjoying an easy 31 mile jog along the WHW I was doing some real running over 6 miles of the Pentland hills. ;-)

The Carnthy 5 is one of the classic scottish hill races, taking in five peaks in the Pentland hills. Superbly organised by the Carnethy hill running club, 500 runners are bussed out the the start line and then returned the the school for showers & lunch.

This was my third time running this race. First time in 2005 (1:13:11) and again in 2006 (1:17:18). This year wasn't a PB or a PW at 1:16:21. Looking back at my logs I can see that I was running about 30sec/5K faster at around the time I ran in 2005. In 2006 the course was much icier which I think accounted for much of my slowdown. This year, the ground was frozen in many places which I find very hard to cope with on the descents. Having good descending skills really does make a huge difference in this sort of race.

As to the actual race, I was rather dreading the waiting around in the field to get started, but the weather was kind to us (for February) and apart from a bit of a wind, we had blue skies and sunshine. Indecisive as ever, I couldn't decide whether to run in shorts or leggings and opted for leggings, a move I was regretting within the first 200 yrds. Not that leggings were really a problem, just that they were unnecessary as my legs really don't seem to feel the cold once on the move.

The race plan was to sprint to the first gate/stile where there's a bottle neck and then just hope to hold my position as best as I was able after that. As ever, feet were soaked almost from the outset in the bogs preceeding the gate and I managed to take a tumble (on to soft grass fortunately) by tripping over a rock sticking out of the ground. Still, I was almost immediately back on my feet and shortly thereafter, through the gate.

A race of this length with 500 runners means that getting past folk when you're going up hill is hard, it's jst so tempting to settle into the pace of those around you, even when you could go a bit faster. Consequently, I think I lost quite a bit of time in the early stages that I could only hope to make up on the flat bits. Every time we came to a downhill bit, I lost a lot of time (and position) due to my lack of downhill technique. In particular, I lost a lot of time and places coming down off West Kip and off Carnethy. My hill works on the roads hadn't done much to prepare me for running down rough hills although I think it has reduced the damage to my quads which feel fine today. Either they're going to hurt like b*ggery tomorrow or I wasn't going fast enough. ;-)

Anyhow, not too displeased with my time. Sub-75 would have been nicer and sub-70 a lot nicer but without better technique and doing a lot more hill racing, it's probably as much as I could have expected at the moment. Still, having dipped a toe back in the hill racing water, maybe I'll try my hand at a few more races, if only to stop Alex having it all his own way in the club hill running championship. ;-)

Today, I've been for an easy run along the cycle path again (my 6.9 mile route) and the legs feel fine. Looking forward to a run on the WHW next weekend with Mark & Ellen.

New look blog, hill reps and an easy run

Hope you all like the new look. The old one was very boring and it really put me off posting so I thought it was about time I made my blog look a bit "classier". Doesn't make the content any better but maybe I'll update it more frequently. ;-)

On Tuesday it was "hill reps" on Troon's tiddy hills over the railway line. The sprints aren't really long enough but you have to make do with what's on your doorstep and I enjoy blasting up the hills. I tend to wear my flats for these sessions as I just love the feel of the contact with the road and extra leg turnover speed it seems to give me. Having said that, my feet and ankles are complaining a bit today so maybe it's not sure a smart move at the moment.

Wednesday was a rest day as I very much don't want to overdo things before the Carnethy 5 this weekend. I have to say, I'm getting quite nervous about it. I'm not sure if it's the thought of being humilated by Alex (our club's resident mountain goat) or just the thought of shivering whilst standing round in a boggy field waiting for the start. I really don't like getting cold! (I'm such a wuss).

Today was another easy jog out to Craig Tara and then back along the beach to the Ayr India restaurant before wending my way home. About 8.25 miles at a nice easy pace.

New shoes

Well, my new Landreths arrived yesterday. I had forgotten that new shoes could be so white! heck if I'd had those on Sunday evening I don't think I would have needed a torch! ;-)

Anyway, I was itching to try them out and thought I'd take them for a gentle spin out the cycle path towards the beach. I was halfway along the cyclepath, heading towards Greenan Castle when I remembered what a mudbath the farm road was. Not wanting to dirty my shoes *quite* yet, I diverted south to Craig Tara (aka Wonder West World, aka Butlins) to head down the tarmac road down the the shore. Unfortunately buiding work at Craig Tara had rendered the road almost as muddy as the farm track and the tide was so far in I was jogging through piles of rotting seaweed. No doubt this was some sort of divine punishment for my sin of pride. ;-)

In a way, I'm glad. I no longer have to agonise about keeping them clean. Way too late for that. ;-)

Off now to pick up a copy of Running Fitness. Rumour has it that I feature in their Loch Ness marathon report

A great run and a lesson learned

I planned my long run today to start from home and finish at the Failford Inn, a distance of 20.9 miles according to Memorymap.
I started at 3:00pm in sunshire and (relatively mild conditions) in shorts & a t-shirt. I'd decided just to take a bottle belt which doesn't leave room to carry too much so the gloves and headtorch stayed at home. I did take a small windy-up LED hand-held torch though as I knew it would be dark before I reached Failford.

It was great running weather but it cooled down quickly after 4 o'clock and my fingers really began to suffer. That wasn't too bad though until I got past Stair when I started to need my torch.

Charging the torch before I started would have been smart, trying to charge it by winding the handle with frozen hands, in the dark , whislt running isn't to be recommended. ;-)

Still, I made it to Failford, largely down to knowing the route well. I think anyone not familiar with that part of the route would have really struggled. Once there, after a swift pint of milk (very obliging folk the Failford Inn staff) and a change of clothes, it was time to enjoy some real ale and pub grub. A perfect way to end a long run. ;-)

Pacewise, I felt strong throughout which was nice and finished in 3:15 (about 9:20 pace) which given the terrain and darkness, I more than happy with.

Weirdest find whilst out running?

I was out running today along a quiet, narrow country lane over the Carrick Hills when I spotted these in the ditch by the side of the road. At first I assummed that they must be bent or damaged in some way but as you can see, they're in prefect conditions.

The mind boggles as to why they were there. Anyone got any suggestions? Before you ask, no, there wasn't and unconcious (or dead)body nearby ;-)

Being a bit of a packrat, I'm keeping them until I decide what to do with them. Naturally I want to keep them "just in case", but in case of what, I don't know yet. ;-)

Forgive me for I have sinned

Today, for the first time ever, I ordered my first ever pair of running shoes on-line.

Okay, I know that for many runners that's no big deal but I've always been a firm believer in supporting specialist running stores. The only specialists within easy reach for me are Achilles Heel and Greaves, both in Glasgow. I've always felt (and still do) that if we aren't prepared to pay a bit over the odds for shoes (that subsidise the service that specialist stores provide) we've only ourselves to blame when they shut up shop and we lose a valuable resourse.

So why have I gone against my pronciples this time. Well.... (wishy washy justification coming up), firstly, like a lot of more experienced runners, these days I'm not so wowed by having the latest version of a shoe. I'm also less inclined to experiment. If a shoe works for me, I'll stick with it. Consequently, I'm not really interested in any of the "extra" services offered by the shop.

Secondly, the shoe I want (the Asics gel Landreth) is, I feel, a good "cooking" running shoe. It fits my foot well and is nice an comfy. It does have two faults though. Namely, the price and its durability. Every pair of Landreths I've owned have headed into the bin because the upper starts tearing away from the sole near my little toe which is long before there is significant (visible) wear in the rest of the shoe.

I'm still getting 4-500 miles out of them but it annoys me, particularly when they cost the between £70 & £80 quid in the shops. On-line, I can get them for £39.99 (+£3 p&p). That's a big saving and one I find hard to ignore.

Do I feel guilty? Yep. Will it keep me awake at night? Probably not. What'll probably happen is that I'll feel duty bound to buy something hideously overpriced from Achilles heel in the next month or so to assuage my guilt. ;-)

Strange yellow thing spotted in the sky...

I saw something today I haven't seen in ages. My shadow! I really can't remember the last time the sun tried to put on a decent show but this afternoon suddenly felt like spring.
I had intended only doing a gentle 5 or so miles after yesterday's 5K but it seemed way too nice to turn back for home so I kept adding bits on until I'd done about 8.3 miles. Golly it felt good!

It's good to be back...

...under 20 minutes for 5K again. I've missed it badly and it's 15 months since I last managed it.

Tonight was a perfect night for it. Cool (needless to say really) but more importantly, nearly windless. I was determined to give it my best shot tonight so I wore my Vapourflys, my lightweight racing shoes.

Looking at my splits, I overcooked the first km a bit with a 3:49. Next one was a more reasonable 3:57 and the third km was completed in rather poor 4:09. (Clearly paying the penalty for setting off too fast). The fourth km was a 4:04 but by now I was beginning to hear the sound of approaching footsteps behind me. Charlie caught me at the 4km mark but rather than pass me, he hung on to my back. I really didn't feel like I had anything left to fend him off with but it seemed he didn't have quite enough left to pass me with. As we got to the last 400m, I pushed as hard as I dared and just sqeaked in under 20 minutes with a 19:59. (3:59 split)

Only just under 20 but it's enough to make me a happy man tonight. ;-)

A run in the snow

May be nothing special for a lot of runners, but here in Ayrshire, it's a pretty rare event. ;-)

My legs seemed fine after my run down the Carrick hills (possibly helped by the fact that I couldn't run flat out due to the hailstones) but I rested on Friday before enjoying a run down the River Ayr Way from Failford again. Probably as well that I had rested as my legs were a bit tired (though not hurting). We started the run in gently sleety snow/hail but that soon stopped and the weather was fine for the rest of the run. Rather disappointingly, the snow disappeared as we ran downstream until there was nothing visible by the time we reached Annbank.

On Sunday I finished the week off with an easy 6 miler taking my weekly mileage to 49 miles. Not a humungous amount, but a satisfying number to have clocked up nonetheless.

By eck it's windy!

Probably went out for my windiest run ever today. I was keen to repeat my run up the Carrick hills today and wasn't going to be put off by horizontal bullets in the form of hailstones. ;-)

It wasn't too bad when I started but by the time I was halfway up the hill I was very glad of all my protective gear (hat, gloves, long sleeve wind proof top, tracksters & lightweight waterproof). A lot more than I've worn in a very long time I wouldn't have been without a single item.

The hails was flying horizontally and the wind was so strong I was struggling to stay on the tarmac. The final ascent head on into the wind had to be done with my head lowered so far I could only see my feet. On a couple of short stretchs I was forced to walk, it was just too tough.

The run down with the wind howling at my back brought its own problems as the road was covered in a thin layer of slushy hailstones and it was hard not to slip. Still, once off the steepest part, it was more or less plain sailing. My quads seemed absolutely fine (no hangover from Saturday's run) but I'm willing to bet they'll be protesting by tomorrow. ;-)

Fame, of a sort...

It's not every day that you find your phizog splashed across a race application form. Must make enquiries about royalties. ;-)

Another week. Bad start, great finish.

Today I enjoyed a great 30 mile run along the WHW from Drymen to Beinglas farm. The forcast had been bad but the weather (until the last few miles) was to bad at all. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My running weeks started with a failed attempt at a hill run. I'd been helping one of the buidersmove a picinic table in the morning and put my back out. It wasn't *that bd and I was hpeful that it would affect my running too much so I attempted my hill run. I'd barely jogged 10 feet though before I realised that it was a "no-go" situation. Shoooting pains down my legs etc. so that run had to be aborted.

By Tuesday, my back seemed a lot better so I went along to the club to do the session of mile repeats. Seemed to start well but by half I mile I realised that I was going too fast to hope to repeat the same time on my second rep so I eased off a bit. My finishing time was a disappointing 6:17 though and every repeat (just three) got progressively worse. Something clearly wasn't right with me but I thought I'd attempt a easy run the next day to see how that went.

That too turned bad. Within a mile I knew wasn't going to omplete my expected distance (7 miles) and cut is short as soon as practical to about 4 miles. With a 30 mile run planned for the weekend things weren't looking too hopeful!

I rested on thursday and Friday and then consumed far too much red with on Friday night. Feeling decided less than brilliant this morning, I forced down a bowl of cereal and followed that up with some left over chicken curry & rice with peas. Perhaps not a conventional breakfast but I've learned the hard way that you really can't skimp on breakfast if you're planning on a long run.

Met up with JK and another 11 WHWers in the carprk in Drymen. As ever, good to see familiar faces again and at about 9:20, we set off. 200yds up the road I remembered that I'd fogotten to lock my car! After a hasty jog back I spent the next 20 minutes trying to catch up again. Teach me for being so stoopid! ;-)

Not having any ambitions to push the pace I was very happy to bring up the rear with Ellen Thomson and we enjoyed the easy pace. Conic hill was rather breezy and I had to put on my waterproof for a while. The descent of Conic hill was as treacherous and slippery as you'd expect but we made it down safely, catchin Debbie & her support runner Shona on the way down. We then ran together to Rowardennan where we were a bit surprised to find all the rest of the crew having a picnic. Not that we were complainng, it gave us a chance to catch up with the main group. We only stopped to top up our water and I downed my second Mars bar of the day (having eaten my first at Balmaha). Suitably recharged, I found that the easy early pace meant that I could pick up my speed a bit. This proved to be the case for the whole of the rest of the run and I seemd to get faster and faster as the miles passed by. I reached Inversnaid at 2:10. This was quite a shock for me as I felt like I had only been running for about three hours. I paused to take a picture of the river there that was in spate.

JK, IanB, George, Marco & IanK were having another picnic but as I was feeling so good, I decided not to make it too easy for them to catch me so I pressed on, running up many of the hills and generally just loving it.

The solitude, the views & the fine rain falling created a lovely peacefull atmosphere. On top of this I felt like I had bags of energy to finish the run with after my last Mars bar at Inversnaid.

The high water level in Loch Lomond created several challenges, this being one of the wetter ones. ;-)

We'd all long ago given up trying to keep feet dry so it was no hardship just to wade through but by glooy the water was cold! Felt like snow melt!

JK and Marco caught be after about 55 minutes and IanB caught me after about an 1 and a quarter. While I was leading though it felt great to be ahead of JK, even if it wasn't for too long! After running with IanB for a while he made the tactical blunder of stopping for water. After that I'm afraid I legged it, galloping the rest of the way to Beinglas farm.

After a brief photo session with JK, four of us headed off to the Drovers from some well earned fod and drink. They must be used to odd knackered people there as the barman didn't turn a hair at being asked for a pint of milk & a pint of Deuchers. I always crave milk after a long run and I think it helps my recovery. The beer and Aberdeen Angus burger were much appreciated too though. ;-)

All in all, a very pleasing run. My best on so far this season. I think the easy start helped me enormously to finish strong. A couple of days rest no doubt helped too as did the three Mars bars I scoffed. Full marks to JK for organising the transport and enabling us to do a one-way run which is so much more fun than turning back half-way.

Sadly I think I may have to miss the next group run if it's on the 16th of Feb as provisionally planned as I doing the Carnethy 5 an that day

Where was I?...

I finished my last blog full of hope and ambitions to run my hill route twice weekly. We'll like so many of my plans, not too well thought out. ;-)

Of course, just running up and down twice a week shouldn't really present any real problems but the way I ran down last Tuesday made my legs ache in all sorts of interesting places and I found I couldn't really participate in last week's "hills" session with the club in Troon. My muscles were just aching too much and it was immediately obvious that it would have been senseless to persist in pushing myself. Consequently I took Wednesday off and did an easy 6 miler on Thursday.

Friday was a "rest" day, at least insofar as I didn't run. In real life though it was anything but. We're having an extension built out the back of our house and everything out there had to be moved. In addition, the gas tumble air dryer "needed" to be replumbed to work in the garage. I say "needed" because I'm too pig-headed to go out and buy a cheap electric dryer to tide us over when I've got a perfectly good dryer already and I wasn't going to let the lack of a gas connection in the garage get in my way. ;-)

On Saturday morning I said goodbye to our old conservatory which I had "Freecycled". For those not familiar with the Freecycle movement, have a look at this & the local group here. I'm actually the creator and one of the moderators of the local group. It's a great way of disposing of stuff that too good for landfill but you're not interested in selling.

After the conservatory had gone I met up with three other club members for a repeat run down the River Ayr from Failford. This time the pace was more relaxed (which suited me very nicely after the previous day's exertions) but whilst it certainly wasn't icy, it was a bit windier and wetter than last week. As ever, the last 5 miles drag a bit but it was good to do it again.

On Sunday I repeated my easy 6 miler just to try and get my miles up. For the WHW good speed is nice but "miles on legs" is important to build up the necessary "toughness". Only just over 40 miles this last week but I'm happy with that. Come February, I'll be aiming for 50 miles a week, perhaps with alternating long & short weeks.

Carrick Hill route

For anyone interested, here's the route I run up & down the Carrick hills. It's almost exactly 4 miles from bottom to top with no flat bits.

Run up the Carrick hill again

Last Thursday I ran up the Carrick hill from Minishant for the first time in nearly 3 years. Well, the prospect of doing embarrassingly badly in the Carnethy5 race has impelled me to try and run up here twice a week so I went out again this afternoon for another crack at the hill.

What a difference! Of course a lot is to do with familiarity but last Thursday it was a horrible grind up and not much faster down. This time I wasn't that much quicker up but it felt a lot easier. Intentionally I wanted to concentrate on my downhill technique and I was over 4 minutes faster (over 4 miles) coming down than last week and really enjoyed it. It would be great if I could keep improving at this rate but I know I'm just enjoying early easy gains. It's bound to get progressively harder to shave seconds off as I get better.

Still, I'm feeling a bit less trepidation about the hill race and it's given me a psychological boost.

Just as an aside, my right ankle has been aching badly first thing in the morning for a couple of months now. Until I put shoes on in the morning, I could barely weightbear on it. Since my training mileage has increased, it's got better! I had almost resigned myself to the fact that I was "just getting old" and would have to live with it. A remarkable (and perplexing) thing the human body.

A training run on the RAW

On Saturday I did a 15 mile training run along the River Ayr Way (RAW) with a couple of club mates. This is relatively unusual for me, I usually do this run alone more through necessity than anything else so it was nice to have some company and someone to encourage me to push the pace a little bit, something I'm not very good at on my own.

Three of us set off from Failford with the cautionary words "Mind the path, it's awfa slippery" from a local lady. She wasn't lying either. Whilst the air temperature was above freezing it was clear that the ground temperature was lagging well behind and the footing was quite treacherous in bits. In addition, the storms of last Tuesday (our 5K night) had blown over quite a few trees across the path that we had to negotiate. Most of them were easy enough but one near Annbank was really quite awkward to get around. Fortunately, it doesn't block the official RAW, we were on the "unofficial" RAW at that point using a stretch of fishermans path.

It was interesting to see other runners approach to the hills on the route. I'm used to running every hill, making it a point of principal not to walk any of the slopes but one of my clubmates (a far stonger runner than me) was quite content to walk the hills and make up the time on the flat. That is what I would do for a longer run but I guess I probably have more endurance training under my belt just now and for me, attacking the hills feels right at the moment.

By far the worst stretch was the tarmac section (known locally as "Tomato Lane") which was covered in black ice. For much of it we had to run with one foot in the gutter & one foot on the verge. It was about the only way to get any grip. Even so we were nearly waltzing off the road into the hedges on more than one occasion.

Still, it all made for an interesting (and challenging) run that probably exercised more muscles than it would have had it not been icy and I was pleased with our overall pace which was definitely quicker than I would have run alone.

Looking forward to another run along there this weekend if possible.

Where's my brain gone?

I thought it had only been a year or so since I had last done my run up and down the Carrick hill. Just checked my training logs and it was March 2005! No wonder my legs seemed to have forgotten how to do it! I was also quite a bit quicker back then. :-(

Looks like I've got a bit of work to do before Carnethy!

Back to running (and blogging)

It's been a long time since I posted so I'll try and fill in a few gaps without boring everyone silly.

Sometimes when I'm not posting, it's because I'm just clocking up "routine" training miles which I don't think anybody is too interested in. Other times though, it's because I've not been running much. On this occasion, it's the latter reason. ;-) Whilst in some ways I'm envious of runners who can keep up their training through the festive season, part of me feels that if there's ever a time of year when you should swing the family/running balance in the direction of "family", this is the time to do it.

So what have I done? After my kneepit got all inflamed I started myself on some antibiotics I had lying around and went to see the doctor on the 27th. He agreed with my diagnosis and was happy to give me a presciption for the same antibiotics (but this time not out of date ones). I didn't then run until the 2nd of January (a 7 mile easy jog), having spent the intervening days eating and drinking too much (as is normal for this time of year).

On Saturday the 5th I got it into my head that I'd manage a nice easy jog up to Failford from home. Big mistake! Not only was not really up for the distance, the weather was absolutely foul and I was soaked and cold after just 4 miles. Decided to cut my losses and give up my unrealistic plan and headed for home (just another 3 miles but it felt a lot further in that wind!).

On Monday 7th, it was another repeat of my easy jog. Didn't want to do anything too strenuous with the club 5K looming the following evening.

On Tuesday, I was decidedly nervous about how poorly I might run. It was another really windy night but unlike December's 5K, I had someone to chase which was a big help. In the end, I was happy enough with my 20:51. Still leaves me with a fair bit to do to get back uder 20 minutes but I'm sure I'll get there.

This morning (Thursday), I thought I really ought to spend a bit more time running up some hills if I'm going to be taking part in the Carnethy 5 next month so it was back to my old "4 miles up & 4 miles down" run from Minishant up to the radio masts on the Carrick Hill. Not steep or high enough to simulate what I'm going to suffer in the race but it's a start. Felt really feeble going up the hill and was seriously questioning my sanity in entering the Carnethy 5 race. Fortunately , as ever, the descent cheered me up.

Goals for 2008?
Gotta get back under 20 minutes for 5K. I'd love to run a sub-40 10K but that, if it's ever going to happen will have to wait until later in the year. A sub-24hr WHW race is a must but even more importantly, get to the start line! An interesting new event in the autumn is a Cleveland Way race, 110 miles and more elevation than the WHW. Still debating whether to do this or not but I think I'd be foolish to make any decision until after this year's WHW race.

Running is good for you?

As I hobble round this evening with my back out of sorts and my scabby kneepit looking inflamed and infected, I'm wondering, just a teensy bit, whether running is always a healthy pursuit. ;-)

Today was my first run since the WHW training run last Saturday. That definitely took a bit more out of me than usual what with all the sliding round on the ice and my tumble.

My leg seemed to be healing up okay but last night it started to get a bit more swollen & red so I'm pretty sure it's a bit infected. Fortunately I had some leftover antibiotics in my cupboard that should hold things at bay until I can see a doctor tomorrow.

Today was the traditional "Turkey Trot" 10K and 5k fun run. For family reasons running the 10K would have been difficult, largely because I had to rush home and finish preparing lunch for 16 people. Consequently I ran the 5K.

It was really windy this morning and the race started head-on into the wind down along the seafront to the halfway point where we turned tail and headed back with the wind behind us now. Being a relatively small field there were precious few runners to hide behind so it was pretty much a case of battering into the wind on my own. It was almost spooky the way that the roaring of the wind in my ears stopped completely when I turned round. Suddenly I was running in eerie silence. From about 10th position at 1km I had worked my way up to 6th by the turn-around but the best I could manage on the way back was one more scalp and I finished in 5th place and 21:05.

Not a great time but given the wind, post-christmas lethargy and a dodgy leg, I was happy enough. Sadly, being a fun run meant no age group medals. Looks like I have to enter "proper" races if I want a medal. Well that or finish in the first three. ;-)