WHW Training run - 25 Jan 09

This was the 3^rd training run organised by John K and the 2^nd one I’d made. The original intention had been to run from Drymen to Beinglas, however sadly a couple of days before the run John’s dad passed away whilst on holiday in the US. Understandably John had other priorities so it was decided in order to ease the transport difficulties & in light of the weather forecast the route would be changed to Balmaha – Inversnaid and back, about 30 miles.

I met up with Ian and Phil but almost didn’t make it, the A9 was treacherous with snow between Perth & Stirling. Phil almost didn’t make it out his driveway.

The weather slowed our progress so we arrived a bit later than planned, quickly threw on our gear then headed off, 15 happy runners in total. Immediately on leaving the car park we were running through puddles and saturating the feet – a taste of things to come.

The group near the start.

Balmaha to Rowardenan is my favourite section of the route and even in the dreary conditions I still enjoyed the run through the trees. I quickly fell into step with John Malcolm, who recognised me from the Devil’s Burdens the previous day, he had been running the same leg as me. John got a last minute entry in 2008 and managed a 25 hour run, so with a bit of advance notice and better training he could be one to watch this year.

We were also joined by Jamie Aarons who is attempting the Fling this year. I got the impression she’s not too confident about finishing it, but from the way she ran she will not only finish it but put in a good time too.

Phil Tipping caught us near Rowardennan and we all ran together for a while. After Ptarmigan Cottage I had planned to run all the way up the hill using the opportunity to run a big hill with a decent amount of miles already in my legs. I normally walk most of this hill in the race and figured, especially for the Fling, if I could run some of it I could make up some time here.

It was a fair trackle but Phil and I pressed on and whilst he managed it easily I struggled slightly, but made it. Coming down the other side the heavens opened and it began pouring, it would not stop for another couple of hours.

Phil stopped to put a waterproof jacket on where the track changes to path, I waited for Phil, there’s not point in going out with others then running on your own, whilst we were stopped Jamie caught us up again.

We arrived at Inversnaid Hotel in around 2 hrs 39 mins, and stopped for a quick bite to eat. We had a few funny looks from the bus party which was waiting in the foyer.

Jamie & me at a rainy Inversnaid

Phil waiting for a bus ? (look at the woman in the middle window smiling for the photo!)

On the way back the rain chucked it down until well after Rowardennan, but the route was still surprisingly busy with walkers and there were even another couple of groups of runners, but I didn’t recognise anyone.

I decided that even if it killed me I was going to run again over the hill on the way back. Phil breezed up and dropped me as I struggled on, I made it but by the top Phil was a dot in the distance.

We went through Rowardennan in 4 hours but by this time I was cold, wet and hungry so quickly threw a jacket on and took onboard some food as I could feel my energy reserves were getting low.

Running back to Balmaha in a north – south direction is quite disorientating, I didn’t have a clue where I was a lot of the time, but it is still a pleasant route. As I ran through a large group of walkers near Arrochymore Point the ones at the back shouted a warning “runner coming through” which I thought quite flattering ‘cause I certainly didn’t feel like I was running by this stage !

I arrived back in the car park after 5hrs 36 min and felt quite fresh but my hamstrings were v v v tight. I’m going to get a massage …..

Devil’s Burdens Relay

A very icy morning on Saturday 24 January saw Dundee Road Runners enter 2 teams into the Devil’s Burdens relay race around the Lomond Hills in Fife.

The residents of Falkland must really love this annual event as their picturesque village is reduced to gridlock as over 600 runners descend on the village hall. After registering we went through the yearly ritual of working out the highly complex travel arrangements required to get the runners to & from their start/end points. Because we were heading to the beginning of our leg we missed the start, but this photo shows just some of the runners cresting East Lomond.

Legs 1 & 3 require the runners to be paired up and I was running leg 3 with Andy. The start of the leg has 5 yards of level ground then it’s straight up Bishop Hill for about 20 minutes of quads feeling like they are on fire. The next 6 ½ miles have very little flat bits until the end.

Unflattering photo of me with Andy just behind

The weather was fine with good visibility, but that didn’t stop us missing a checkpoint coming off West Lomond which we had to go back for – doh ! Someone has also tarred the last mile of forestry track which because I was wearing fell shoes, my shins really loved. We finished in 1 hr 20 mi, 3 mins slower than the last time, but the lost checkpoint probably accounted for that.

My mixed team finished 66^th out of 111 teams, the men’s team which was full of strong runners finished 17 minutes infront in 41^st – just shows how many good runners there are out there.

A special well done to Gill Hanlon who ran leg 4 for us, whilst doing a recce run for the 2008 race she went over her ankle which required surgery & pins, she’s had an astonishing recovery.

Results HERE

Am running the WHW training run tomorrow (sunday), which should be around 30 miles, hopefully I won’t suffer any detrimental effects – quads could be sore though.

Glen Prosen

On Saturday, mutt and I went for a run up Glen Prosen. Despite having been up the adjacent Glen Clova hundreds of times I’ve never actually been to the head of Prosen so I worked out a route on the map which was around about 20ish miles.

I parked at the entrance to Cramie Farm then ran down the road to Cormuir Farm (best get the road run out the way at the start). The climb over the Hill of Strone was fairly pleasant, a bit breezy but sunny, with great views down Glen Prosen.

Sunshine on Glen Prosen

The descent was wet and muddy through the trees down to a ruin named “Hole” on the map. (Note for next time – follow the track south to Glenhead Farm) Unfortunately I chose to run along a path over the Moss of Glanny which was marked on my 1987 map but isn’t there now. They’ve replaced it with a really wet bog so by the time I came through it my feet were soaking. Taking this route really slowed my progress.

There's a dog in there somewhere

I cut over the hill to the driveway for Glenmarkie Lodge and followed the well kept track down to Freuchies then headed north for 6 miles back through the forest. There is a lot of felling work going on and the logging vehicles have churned up the tracks so it was quite hard going. The track petered out for the last mile or so through the trees and the path wasn’t great, again slowing me down.

Mud, glorious mud

Once over the hill and down to the Kilbo ruin it was an easy jog back down the glen to the car, although due to all the sheep I did have to run with Cody on a lead, which is not ideal as he likes to bomb ahead and it can throw you off your stride a bit.

It had been a good day, the threatened rain never arrived, I only met 2 mountain bikers and a gamekeeper all day but had only been out for 4 hrs 33 mins. I would have liked to have done longer but with the terrain I had been covering I was still pretty weary.

Next weekend I have the Devil’s Burdens relay on Saturday followed by a 28 miler on The Way on Sunday – looking forward to it.

Devil’s Burdens Recce

The “Devil’s Burdens” is an annual relay race organised by Fife around the Lomond Hills. 2 years ago it was my first ever running race and last year I was in no fit state to run it so acted as a support driver, a job I found incredibly frustrating ! Happily this year I’ll run it again.

Dundee Road Runners usually enter a couple of teams and this year is no different. Due to the altitude of the course and the strong possibility of bad weather reducing visibility we usually have a recce run to show new runners the route and refresh the memories of those who have already run it.

I woke up on Sunday to hear the wind and rain battering against the window – I was sorely tempted to turn over and go back to sleep, but I’d no way of contacting the other runners so I forced myself along and met with the 5 other hardy souls also turned up - and of course the dog had no choice.

The hardy fools - Me, Grant, Morag, Daniel, Alison & Ged (note the rain on the lens and trees being blown over in the background!)

We ran from the Craigmead car park to the foot of East Lomond, which the howling gale deterred us from climbing, then we followed Leg 1 to Holl Reservoir (with only a slight route deviation!). We then took in Leg 2 passing 3 other groups of equally mad runners who I presume were also recce’ing the route.

Approaching Holl Reservoir (slightly off course!)

From the top of White Craigs, where the wind was blowing the rain so hard it hurt your face, we decided against the descent to Scotlandwell because we would have had to come straight back up again, so we followed the treacherously slippy paths through the mist past Bishop Hill and down into Glen Vale.

The spectacular views as we pass Bishop Hill.

"And that's where we're not going" says Ged pointing at W Lomond

By this time (actually it was probably well before ) everyone was wet through and cold so we ran to Harperleas Reservoir then cut over the shoulder of West Lomond across Balharvie Moss and onto the path and back to the car. The last couple of miles were pretty miserable. We ran a total distance of 11.8 miles which we covered in a leisurely 2 hours 40 mins.

Despite the weather being absolutely miserable I think it had been a worthwhile day, especially for me as I’ll probably run the 3^rd leg and there were bits I couldn’t remember.

A Year's Training Enough?

The following question was posted a while back on the WHW website forum

“Hi everyone, got interested in the race and I've now been keeping an eye on the site for a number of weeks. Started doing some running and I’m now contemplating next year’s event. Question would be – Is a year’s training enough?

I’m in the fortunate position where I can run to/from work so getting miles under the belt shouldn’t be a problem in terms of time (motivation and effort is another matter!!!!) and I’m already looking at half marathons/marathons as well as some other ultras such as Devil O'The Highlands to get used to longer runs (Would it be a good idea to do this if going ahead with entry for next years WHW?). Stay in the Falkirk area so fairly easy access to various off-road trails for training and noted that there is a good “social” side with organised night runs etc.

It’s all good and well looking at the various websites that publish training plans etc, but would really appreciate feeback from those that know best.

Cheers, Chris Buchanan”

A few replies suggested that Chris should build up to the race over a few years, but I thought differently and this is my reply -

”Having read the above comments and thought you might be interested in my experience / preparations for this years race, as you sound like you are in a similar position to the one I was in last year.

By posting this I may be criticised as irresponsible for encouraging you so I must stress the caveat that everyone’s different and what worked for me may not work for you. Oh … and I won’t be held responsible if your legs fall off !

I’m 36 years old, 6’3” & 85kg and took up running in late 2006 in an effort to halt the spread which was beginning to start thank to too many beers. I’ve never been a runner but swam competitively in my youth and generally kept myself fit. In February 2007 I did my first half-marathon (Forfar multi-terrain), then did 2 more halfs and a couple of hill races during the year. Training consisted of 15 miles / week max.

In August 2007 I stumbled across the website for the WHW race and thought it looked like a challenge so I entered. As I didn’t have any experience in ultra-marathons Dario (quite rightly) informed me that if I completed the Highland Fling I would get on the waiting list, if I didn’t finish there would be no race place. This was fair as I was an unknown quantity and I planned to do the Highland Fling anyway as part of my training.

Unfortunately due to illness I couldn’t run between October to mid-December and managed no more than 5 miles a week until February. By the end of March I was up to 25-30 mile / week and during April did weekend runs of 20 ml, 30ml & finished the ‘Fling in under 10 hours, which got me my race place. I was also doing around 100 ml/week commuting on my bike.

Mid-May to early-June I was doing 50ish ml/wk consisting of 2 x 10 milers with a longer hilly run at weekends and continuing the cycling. On my longer runs I concentrated on plodding along at race pace (around 5 mph) conditioning myself not to run too fast.

Don’t know if I was lucky but I managed to avoid picking up any significant injury and stopped running about 10 days before the big event so I felt fresh on the day. The race itself went well (tip - walking down Conic Hill makes a massive difference to the quads and only slows you up by about 3 mins !) and I finished in 10th place in 19hrs 54 mins, well under my 24 hour target.

So Chris, I in answer to your post it can be done by someone without a running background but it takes a lot of discipline, good luck staying injury free and a huge amount of mental determination during the event itself.

Having completed the race I would thoroughly recommend doing it (I’m still buzzing) when you are ready. Good luck with however you choose to tackle it.

Gav”

Cateran Trail – 28 miles

In an effort to undo the excesses of Hogmany and also to try out my legs on a longer distance I negotiated with Fi a full day away running and decide to cover a route that I had done in early April last year. The plan was to run along the Cateran Trail from Bridge of Cally to the Lunch Hut a few miles short of the Spittal of Glenshee then back to BoC a distance of around 28 miles.

The weather was similar to how it has been the previous week, cold, still and crisp blue skies, perfect for running. I started much later than I had anticipated at 1130 hours but cracked on anyway confident that I had my new headtorch (Xmas pressie) in my sack. I also took along Cody to see if I could actually tire him out, which thus far has been impossible ..

After around an hour I met another runner heading in the opposite direction. We stopped to exchange pleasantries when she clocked my WHW top (not hard given the colour !). She informed me that she is running the WHW this year and introduced herself as Karen Donoghue who had run from BoC to Kirkmichael and was on her way back. After a blether I cracked on through frozen bogs and planned to turn back at Enochdu but the day was so good, I felt pretty good and the dog seemed fine that I decided to carry on to the Lunch Hut.

I used to take a lot of Duke of Edinburgh’s groups up here and stop at the hut so it was a walk down memory lane reading the graffiti on the wall. One in particular caught my eye, it’s faded but still there - Jenny Duff’s greeting to the groups figurehead Dave Stibbles. And spookily enough there was also a baseball cap with was embroidered with my old school unofficial motto !

On the way back the old knee began to give me bother on the hills but it was fine on the flats and the dog seemed to be going well too, even finding the energy to chase some roe deer after 25 miles.

I must confess my legs were very heavy over the last few miles and I was glad when I picked up the car in the torch beam. It had been a hard day and including stops had taken 5hrs 40 mins, much further that I have run for a while, but I was encouraged that I had managed it. This time last year I couldn’t even do run 10k without stopping.

And yes since he got home the dog has done nothing but sleep – he’s been tired out at last !

Post Xmas Fitness

Following xmas I tried my best to undo some of the excesses so on 28 December I decided to see how Cody our dog would get on with a run now that he is 6 months old. He is a chocolate lab / springer spaniel cross and we cannot tire him out.

I took him on a 17 mile run in and around Loch Ordie near Dunkeld. He has boundless energy and even as we approached the car after more that 3 hours he was going strong. Once we got home however it was a different matter and he fell into a deep sleep…

I then drove up to meet friends Tom, his wife Zoe and his sister Kate in the Black Isle for a couple of days walking. It was absolutely Baltic outside day and night with temperatures between -7 to -10 so it was a real bonus that the central heating in the cottage was broken – not ! On the 29^th we tackled Meall a’ Chrasgaidh in the Fannichs. It was one of those crisp, clear, cold winter days where my camera battery went flat after the first photo.

On the 30^th Tom, Zoe & I walked Cairngorm and the Northern Corries. I have walked this route many, many times but I have never seen it so busy. Probably a combination of the brilliant weather and the holidays.

Tom & Zoe on summit of Cairngorm

On the way down Loch Morlich was completely frozen over and a popular spot with sightseers. This may have been due to the temperatures in Aviemore reaching -15 the previous couple of nights.

I had 3 good days of exercise and thankfully can report no ill effects.