Firstly, thanks to everyone who commented in response to my request for training suggestions. I'll go with the unanimous majority and keep doing what I've always been doing, although this year I might bump the mileage up a wee bit.
Went for a run along the Cateran Trail yesterday, a route I've done a few times, run was from Bridge of Cally to a bothy known as the "Lunch Hut" between Enochdu & the Spittal of Glenshee. In total it's not far off 28 miles, so would be a good test for me at this stage of my "season".
The Route
We are currently dog sitting so have 5 dogs in the house and by the time I'd got them walked, fed then driven to the start it was mid-day - a lot later than I'd planned to be. As 2 of the other dogs were still pups and the other 2 are fat little barrels, it was only Cody that I took with me.
Within 10 minutes I was slipping and sliding along icy forestry tracks. When hard packed, wet ice covers the entire width of the track, it makes for very slow, cautious going, and I found places more stress on your legs as you tense up and try not to fall. And when there was no ice there was mud, lots of it.
Cool signpost near to Cultalonie Farm
Going out was a bit of a slog, previously I have been to the halfway point at the hut in 2 hours 15 mins, but yesterday it took me 2 hours 55 mins. I knew then I was going to be finishing in the dark. The way back was even tougher, obviously the terrain was the same, but my poor fitness really showed and I came back in 3 hours 25 mins, making a total time for the 28 miles of 6 hours 20 mins, an average speed of 4.4 mph - yikes !!
I'm putting it down to the underfoot conditions stopping me getting in to my stride ! I hope that's the case as I'm planning a run on the WHW on the 27th with John Kynaston and a group of pretty good runners, so I don't want to hold them up. I'm really wishing the snow would disappear now, but there's more forecast tonight and it looks like I might struggle to get to work in Blairgowrie in the morning.
I decided to go for a longer run on Tuesday there, so headed up to Dunkeld to do a run in the Loch Ordie area, I had a target of 20 miles give or take in mind, and thought that after the recent, relatively warm weather most of the snow would be gone - I was wrong !
As I headed past Perth I could see that the snowfall we had on Sunday night had stuck around locally, but I decided to carry on anyway. Cody was with me and this was our first outing with his new dog backpack. I figured there was no point in me carrying everything when I could give the dog gainful employment, so he got the pack for Christmas. He's only worn it for a few walks but doesn't seem to mind it at all, his tail continues to wag incessantly -
So given the weather he was tasked with carrying a spare fleece and a pair of trousers for me. We set off from the car park and it quickly became clear that the run was going to be a lot harder than running in normal conditions. The soft powder snow was generally 2-3 inches, but frequently was 6 inches deep and any standing water was frozen solid, making for slippy, tiring progress.
Typical conditions
I trudged up to Loch Ordie then down towards Kindallachan and back to the car park by Rotmell Farm. The distance covered was about 17.5 miles and because of the underfoot conditions I was regularly reduced to walking so it took me 3hours 15 mins, an average speed of 5.3mph, which I guess I'm quite happy with given the limited running I've been doing and the snow / ice.
I'm running a bit more regularly now and hope to get another couple of longer runs in before the end of February so my monthly target is 70 miles which, work permitting, should easily be acheivable. I've created a table of my monthly mileage again, but this year I've added my total mileage prior to the WHW race and my time. I've never done this before and what I found amazing was how close my totals were given that I don't really know what I'm doing and have a completely unstructured, run-when-you-can training regime.
This year I'd like to increase my mileage to see if it makes any difference. Looking at some other blogs Marco Consani ran 285 miles in January ! And Ian Beattie ran 2,035 miles throughout the whole year, so I have some catching up. I've deliberated this many times before and I'm not sure if the running that I do suits me, or if increasing my mileage would improve my times ? So Jez, if you're reading this and you have the time to make me up a training program then feel free to e-mail me ! I know that it's a completely individual thinag and if you ask 2 ultra runners how they train, you'll get 3 different answers but if anyone else wants to contribute some suggestions then they would be gratefully received.
Now that the New Year is here I tend to start thinking about training for the Big Race in June andlook to increase my mileage, this year that won't a difficult thing to do. Traditionally I tend to have a pretty easy second half of the year running-wise. I think it's probably because I've done so much (for me anyway) running during the first half, but this year felt worse than normal, so I added up the totals and was pretty shocked to find out how few miles I had done -
July was probably 15 miles max, I don't actually know, but it was the run when I supported Pete Duggan on his Rasmsay Round run.
I had hoped to have started my training a month earlier this year and was all set to begin in December but the snow scuppered that. Frustratingly the roads round my way are still thick with ice, making falling and picking up an injury a big risk, but I'll need to look at some way to kick-start my training.
Only joking !! but below is a picture I took today of the Cateran Trail Race start line when I was up opening the snow gates in Glen Shee -
If the winter keeps going this way I don't think it will have thawed by 21 May !
On a separate note I went for a 16 mile run to try and kick start my training last week in the Loch Ordie area near Dunkeld. It went well, with no aches or pains, but I did develop a mad craving for sausage rolls during the last couple of miles, so had to stop off via the bakers in Dunkeld on my way home.
Training has now been halted due to all the snow, but I have purchased a turbo trainer so hope to get some miles in on my bike. A turbo trainer is a much safer option than bike rollers, and for those that missed Marco's attempts on rollers that was recently posted on Deb's blog, then click here to see it - absolutely fantastic (Debs - I hope it's not copy writed, but I figured the more people see it the better !).
I decided to get off my backside on a recent trip to Aviemore and did my first run since August ln Tuesday - wahay !! It was only a little over 4 miles, and rather embarrasingly I found it a bit harder than I thought I would, but it was a circuit around Loch an Eilein, so the scenery was fantastic -
Loch an Eilein, castle in the foreground, snow covered Braeriach in the back
The next day was a snowy ascent of Cairngorm, the snow was right down to the car park and we passed a few hopeful people carrying snowboards up the hill. It was a cold, crisp, clear, beautiful day and the summit cleared of cloud just as we approached, giving awesome views. The descent was a blast running straight down, through the snow, it only took about half an hour. The following day, after a stormy night, it looked like most of the snow had been scoured off the mountain by the wind - the ski centre may have to wait a bit longer.....
Not had much to write about recently, mainly because I haven't run a single step since August - Ooops !! But I usually have a big chunk of the year off in the autumn, so not really been missing it.
Bought a new bike on the cycle to work scheme so been getting out on that quite a bit -
For those interested it's a Van Nicholas Mistral frame & fork with mainly Ultegra components with a few FSA bits. It's made of titanium, which is pretty much indestructable, so in theory this should be the last bike I ever buy.
Received an e-mail today from Stan Bland of the WHW organising committee confirming that I have a place in next years race. I don't normally really start training for the race until the New Year, but I'd really like to give 2011 my absolutely best shot, so I guess I should get off my backside and start gently pretty soon. The thought of getting back into race shape is not one I'm particulalry relishing !!
Tonight saw the running of the Dundee Road Runners annual hill race. As we are primarily a road running club the hill race is not too demanding, basically a lap of Auchterhouse Hill, a few miles to the north of Dundee,
The route
It was a beautiful night with some cracking views from the top and turn out was pretty good - maybe about a dozen of us - we're not a big club ! I'm pretty unfit just now so the initial climb hurt quite a lot but I got to the summit in 3rd place and that's where I stayed till the end. It felt a lot more that the 2.2 miles with 530ft ascent, I think wy finishing time was around about 18mins 10s and I got a Bounty bar at the end which made it all worthwhile :-)
During this years WHW race Peter Duggan ran past me on hills a couple of times and I called him a 'machine', well this weekend he pretty much confirmed that when it comes to hills - he is. Pete ran the Ramsay Round a 56 mile (poss longer) loop which takes in 23 Munros and 28,500ft of ascent over Saturday and Sunday.
The Ramsay Round Route
A few weeks ago I offered to help Pete by running as a pacer during his attempt. He had 2 others pacing, a friend of his Jon Gay and Richie Cunningham the winner of this years WHW race. After various permutations on how best to tackle the route a midday start on Saturday was decided upon. I met Richie and we travelled up to Pete's friend Noel's place at Torlundy for the final preparations then it was down to Glen Nevis for the start. Traffic was abysmal so instead of the midday start we had planned, it ended up being a 12.10pm start. The midday start had been preferable as that's when Charlie Ramsay started his initial 23:58 run and Pete had his splits so it would have been easy to compare, as it stood we would just have to subtract 10 off everything.
Jon, Pete, Richie & me
I took the 17:50 train from Spean Bridge then had leisurely walk in to Craiguaineach Lodge and waited. I wasn't alone though, I had a billion midgies to keep me company ! Pete and Jon almost took me by surprise, arriving at 20:20, well in advance of when I expected them, they were both looking strong and were in good spirits.
From there we headed up the long shoulder of Beinn na Lap into the mist. I was quite surprised by the speed of the ascent, the pace was unrelenting with Pete and Jon certainly not acting like they had been going for 9 hours.
Approaching the summit of Beinn na Lap
As we descended Beinn na Lap it got dark so time for headtorches then a big haul back up Chno Dearg, during which Jon announced the sole was coming off his shoe. Thankfully I had some duct tape with me so at the summit we had a brief stop and Jon was able to make some running repairs (pardon the pun!)
Summit of Chno Dearg
Pete and Jon were about an hour up on Charlie's time by this stage, but the next few miles were to be frustrating and tough. It was dark and misty up there and we had to really concentrate with the navigation to get to the top of Stob Coire Sgriordain, which we did eventually but probably lost 30 mins. The descent down to the dam at the north end of Loch Treig was torturously slow as it was steep rough ground, but we got there eventually. I know Pete found this loss of time annoying, but on the plus side if they hadn't got it already in hand then the leg would have been much worse.
We met Noel and Richie at the dam and had a refueling stop, Pete and Jon seemed in good spirits and the addition of Richie to the team would probably inject a bit of pace. I toyed with the idea of leaving with Noel here but I felt pretty good so decided to go over the next 2 tops then leave.
About 10 minutes into the climb up Stob a Choire Mheadhoin I was ruing my decision to continue. The pace of ascent was phenominal considering how long they had been going and I was struggling just to keep up. We climbed the 850 metres and 5km in 90 minutes and by the top I was beginning to flake. I had been concentrating on bringing food for Pete and Jon that I had overlooked my own requirements, a few sweets from Richie at the top gave me a wee boost which took me over to Stob Coire Easain and from there it was a treacherous descent into the Lairig Leacach.
Everyone knew that this was my bail out point, my job was done, so they went on ahead , the glow of their headtorches disappearing in the mist. I'd put trail shoes on and they were not the best on this terrain so I just took my time doing down the slope. It was such a relief to hit the track, especially when I looked up at Stob Ban which I knew the other 3 were now climbing, there's no way I could've gone up there.
By the time I was on the track it was day light and I now had a very pleasant, early morning, 6 mile run back to my car. As I came down the hill towards Spean Bridge I could see a blonde lady with a dark coat on standing looking out at the view. A bit strange I thought at 5:30 in the morning, but there was a tent not too far away so maybe she was from there. As I got closer she didn't move even though she must hear my feet scuffing on the track. This is what the 'lady' turned out to be -
I think if it had been dark when I had come across I would have wet myself, he was quite spooky in that still morning.
On getting a bit further down the track I looked back and saw that the Grey Corries were now clear and basked in sunlight. I knew the runners would not be far away from getting there and hoped they could make the most of the clear tops.
Early morning sun on the grey Corries
All the way down the track I'd been longing for a can of Irn Bru so when I got back to my car I headed in to Ft William and bought 2 cans which were downed immediately. Then it was back to Noel's where I had a shower then sat down to look at the paper, the next thing I knew it was 9:30am and I was waking up on the sofa.
I'd received a text at 8:30 from Richie saying that Jon had gone on ahead as he was flying, but Pete was on the summit of Aonach Beag and it would be a bit tight. All we could do now was wait, so Noel and I headed down to the finish at the Youth Hostel. Within half an hour of getting there we could see the black clad figure of Jon racing down the mountain, past the throngs of walkers. He crossed the finish in 23hrs 7 mins. I could tell it was bitter sweet for him as he was delighted with his time, but felt guilty at leaving Pete, even although it had been done at Pete's insistance.
Jon had given it his all
Now the time ticked by, would Pete make it ? It was agonisingly close. Through the binoculars Noel spotted someone with white shorts descending, but it wasn't Pete. Where was he, time was running out it would be awful to go through all this and not make it. The he hoved into view. We reckoned that from the point we could see him was about 20 minutes running time to the finish, but there was only 20 minutes to go. The Jon pointed out that they'd actually started at 12:10 so there was really 30 minutes to go ! From that point it was in the bag and Pete made it home in 23:50.
The happiest man on the planet !
Pete and Richie had become separated in the mist on the ascent of Carn Mor Dearg and Richie came home about 10 minutes later looking like he'd been out for a wee Sunday morning 3 miler.
Having had time to reflect on the weekend I am at a loss to know how these guys managed to do what they did. They were so strong for the whole Round, obviously there were lows, as anyone who does endurance events is only too familiar with, but they just kept marching on. I only ran 24 miles and climbed 8,500 ft, they ran over twice that distance and climbed 20,000ft more that me and pretty much dropped me 16 hours in to their run ! I hope in some part it was down in some part to me not having run a single yard since the WHW race - but I doubt it. One thing I can comfortably say is that I will never attempt a Ramsay Round. WELL DONE !!
PS - It has just dawned on me that there are no pictures of Noel on either my blog or Pete's. He played crucial role and his hospitality was exceedingly generous the way he opened up his house to us all. So here he is (2nd from the right in case you're wondering!) -
Now that I've had time to reflect on this years race there are a few things that I learned that I want to record so that next year I can read this post as part of my race prep, there's no point going through something like this and nor remembering any of the many things learned along the Way !! So I'm going to bullet point them -
- Stay positive, you've done the training and the race probably won't be as bad as you expect. This year I had no real lows and felt good most of the day. Staying relaxed helps this which bring me on to ...
- Take it easy. Don't get caught up in the mass rush at the start. I was deliberately last over the line then stopped in Mugdock park for the loo, meaning I was on my own in the dark for this bit. I was 31st at Rowerdennan and 20th at Auchtertyre, you need to save something for the 2nd half, and I normally make up a lot of positions in the section.
- CRAMP. There are a few things I can do to tackle this ever present menace, so I'm just going to have to assume it will hit me at some point and develop a plan to deal with it.
1. Drink enough. Despite it being pretty hot, my weight stayed constant from Auchtertyre to the end. I was drinking a lot but drinking on thirst, so it was pretty safe and not excessive.
2. Try salt tablets. Marc gave me a couple and they seemed to work.
3. Bananas. I was force fed these, but in managaeble quantities. A 3rd of a banana every stop is easier that forcing down a whole one twice during the race.
4. Compression shorts. They might help with hammies and quads. I now have a pair of Skins so will try them out, nothing to loose (except £35 !)
5. Massages and stretching in the months leading up to the race. This year I only had one deep tissue massage, but last year I had several and felt they really helped. Also Gaynor kept telling my to stretch, I must confess I was telling her that I was, but wasn't really !
- I need to find a food that I can palate later on in the race. I had wee boiled potatoes which I enjoyed early on, but they got difficult later - maybe mashed next year ? From the Ski Centre I was struggling for any sort of apatite. Ironically there were energy bars that my mum had brought in the car, but because they were a last minute thing their presence hadn't really sunk in so my brain, so I'd forgotten about them, just like the energy drinks she had brought, which would have been a refreshing change from Lucozade.
- Don't stop - walk with my support wherever possible. Jamie Aarons did this and it was pretty effective. She wouldn't really stop, just keep walking and eating / drinking. And since I didn't need to sit down this year I could have done the same. It was quite incredible to see how much distance she could put on you when you stopped and she kept walking - 18 seconds maybe ?
- Walk in to Kinlochleven. The slope is so bad that walking the steep bits will not make much of a difference and might just safe the quads for the last 13 miles.
- Remember the sign that says Braveheart Car Park 3.2km is ABSOLUTE NONSENSE, what idiot put that up ! Every year I look at it and it drains any enthusiasm I have at that point. The car park is only about 4 mins away.
- Music. I had my ipod with me this year, but it was in the car. I don't like trail running with earphones in as i like to soak in everything around me but the right track can give me a really big boost in training. If I was near the 20 hour mark again it might spur me on, so have music not just for the end, but as it takes up so little space and weight it would be handy to help endure lows at any point.
- First Aid Kit. Don't let the half of your support team that are leaving immediately after the race take the first aid kit ! The Sunday can be a very long day if you don't have access to the various strappings, tape and lotions that you so desperately long for.
- Post race massage. If having one (and I believe these help recovery a lot) then make sure the towel is out from under your knee before you roll over !
- Monthly mileage. For 2011, following a lot of comments on the subject of my low training miles, I plan to try and increase my monthly mileage. Don't know how I'll get on with it, because if I'm honest I'm pretty lazy and whilst I really enjoy the big long training runs, I really struggle with motivation for the smaller 10milers after work.
So there we have it, points learned from this years race. Who knows how next year will go, but I won't be able to blame forgetting about how I did this year.
There are of course variables outwith my control i.e. the weather. People said this year was tough with the sun and strong northerly wind, but if I'm honest I didn't really find them a factor on the day. I don't think was running fast enough for the wind to adversely effect pace in the way it would on a 10k, and I didn't find to too hot, in fact some places were chilly, borne out by the fact I didn't change out of my Helly Hansen thermal top all day !! But it would be a different kettle of fish if we have the sun without the wind, or rain like we did yesterday. The joys of running in Scotland ...
Today I gave my knee its first test since the race and spent the day hillwalking. I was a bit concerned about how it would stand up so we did a circular route from Glen Doll that had bail out options. We did 4 Munros covering 17 miles in about 5.5 hrs. I was wearing big clumpy Scarpa Manta boots so there was only the odd wee jog downhill as I didn't want to push it, but I can report that apart from the odd wee twinge the knee gave me no problems. It seems that the 3 weeks of relative rest has worked. Hopefully I'll get back out running on it again in the next day or two.
The route
It was a beautiful day and the route we took passed just to the south of Lochnagar on the 1 year & 1 day anniversary of Dario's passing. I was working frantically at T in the Park yesterday so didn't mark the occasion like others with a whisky but did so tonight with a dram from a bottle I was given on my 21st (yeah, I know, only a couple of years ago) which I save for special occasions.
It was a relief to find that my knee was much better than I thought it was going to be as I have volunteered to be a pacer for Peter "The Machine" Duggan's attempt of the Ramsay Round on the weekend of the 24th / 25th July. Pete has 3 pacers lined up, the first Jon Gay, I don't know, but he appears to have a not too shabby 1hr 52min Ben Nevis time. The third is a chap called Richie Cunningham, then there's little old me - gulp ! Hope I don't hold him back.
The goal for the (insane) 24 summits, 56 miles and 28,500 feet of climbing is to break 24 hours, which I'm sure Pete will manage. I'm really looking forward to helping him on the way and getting a good day out on the hill with it. Fingers crossed for the weather.
This blog was originally established to record my training over the 9 months leading up to the West Highland Way Race 2008 which I entered in August 2007 and started training for soon after.
Unfortunately in October 2007 I was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery to remove the tumour, which meant no running for 6 weeks, then I endured chemotherapy until January 2008, whch meant I was unable to run more than a couple of miles before I was exhausted.
I am now well on the mend and just like Lance Armstrong am fitter post-cancer than I was before it. This is entirely down to the WHW race looming and motivating my efforts to get fit.
On 21 June 2008 I completed the race in 19 hours 54 mins...
