West Highland Way Weekend

My West Highland Way race training plan includes at least one long run on the way itself every month, to get to know the route. So when the opportunity to stay at the By The Way hostel in Tyndrum for a weekends WHW/Highland Fling training arose we grabbed it with both hands.
More correctly Ian Gray grabbed a 6 bed bunk room on behalf of the Dumfries contingent and then sadly due to his torn calf was unable to join us for the festivities.
After an uneventful drive up from Dumfries where Andy and I spent most of the journey baiting Caroline, who'd never stayed in a hostel before, "will there be an en-suite toilet?", bringing particular mirth.
We met up with Dawn and Frank at the very busy Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum and enjoyed the usual excellent fare before getting settled in at the By The Way and meeting our fellow ultra runners.
Conversations centred on "What are you running tomorrow?" and "are you doing the Fling or The Way race?" and with 30 miles on the plan for the Saturday, we settled on an early night.


Before the off!

The weather on Saturday was ideal for running, cool but not too cold and with a few flakes of snow falling as we set off. We'd settled on an out and back run heading south beyond Beinglas Farm, everyone else was heading North, with a few going as far as Kingshouse and back.


No banana

Caroline, me and Frank with banana

We had no particular pacing plan and no targets for the day other than covering 30 miles! The first 3 miles flew past and we were soon crossing the A82 to tackle the roller coaster forest to Crianlarich. Bizarrely we passed two columns of people loosely dressed as soldiers, being shouted at by tough looking guys in full military kit, unless the British Army has seriously compromised its fitness standards, these couldn't be real army?
With a long day ahead we walked most uphills and reached the picnic table above the big gate in 55 minutes. Since we were in no particular hurry we stopped for a food and photo break, as I headed into the trees for a quick piddle, I was appalled to find the area littered with what at first I thought was small piles of snow, but turned out to be little mounds of poo and toilet paper. Now I know sometimes when you gotta go, you gotta go, but at least have the decency to go more than a short "stones throw" from the path and picnic bench, yuk!
Cow Poo alley was even more unpleasant than usual as you were running over frozen mud and mounds of frozen dung, and it was impossible to get into any sort of running rhythm.

Andy and I stretched ahead on the section to Beinglas Farm leaving Caroline to run with Frank, we thought it would be nice to give her a break from our usual running talk of bowel movements, blisters and chafing.

Reaching Beinglas in 2 hours 10 minutes, we stopped for a re-fuel and as Frank and Caroline hove into view, we couldn't resist the opportunity for a wind up as two hill walkers were heading up the path to climb Ben Glas and told Caroline that was the WHW route. Caroline demonstrated her knowledge of colourful agricultural metaphors as we eventually headed south on the correct route.
The view as we passed Dario's post was stunning, our first glimpse of Loch Lomond proper, unfortunatley the photo does not do it justice.

We reckoned Doune bothy would be our turning point and we turned back North just 5 minutes short of 3 hours running.
Having messed up my hydration on January's 30 mile WHW run, I was topping up my water bottles from fast flowing streams as we went by, but with hind sight my 2 gels a cliff bar and a rice pudding were insufficient for a 30 mile effort, food wise.

On the return leg we decided to spare Caroline from our sparkling running chat once again and quickly split up, again walking most of the uphills. Personally I find this section of the Fling route the toughest bit overall and running it twice was proving challenging, we were both suffering from sore legs and it was a lot tougher than January's Balmaha to Inversnaid (and back) 30 miler. Cow Poo alley was just as unpleasant the second time round and the roller coaster even tougher with tired legs. Although it felt like we were running OK from the A82 back to Tyndrum, the Garmin splits tell a different story 27 minutes outbound, 33 minutes return.
Total distance 30.01 miles average pace 11:57, although I think this is flattering as I'm sure I stopped my watch at a couple of our food breaks.

Our plan to run to Brodie's stores was substituted for a gentle walk, en route we bumped into one of Andy's MDS tent mates, who was running to Beinglas, "Oh you probably saw my brother earlier, he runs a British military fitness company". So we can sleep safe in our beds knowing the groups we passed earlier were just playing at soldiers.
A Magnum Ice cream and a pint of milk eased the thirst and hunger and we headed back to the By The Way for a hot shower.
Frank and Caroline had got back safely by the time we got back to the hostel and after a leisurely shower we headed up to the pub. In theory both Andy and I are off alcohol until after our big races, but knowing our limitations we'd awarded ourselves a weekend off, after 3 pints of Guinness it was back to the hostel for a superb evening meal of chilli con carne and the usual comradeship of fellow nutters. We met some old friends and we made lots of new friends
Unfortunately during the meal Ian Minty had a bit of a funny turn and an ambulance had to be called, I'm sure the paramedics thought it slightly bizarre that whilst one of our number was prostrate on the floor, the rest of the  company continued to eat and drink merrily and noisily. Ian we were all genuinely concerned for you health, and were all very happy to hear you're back on your feet again.
I'd posted the photo (above) of Caroline, Frank and me on Facebook and when Frank phoned home, he was greeted with the cry "Oh you're on Facebook with a banana", Heather Calderwood joined us at our table and we enjoyed a night of laughs although she must have been a bit fazed to discover she'd been cyberstalked on returning from the loo and being quized about her 10K and Fling PB's.

Once again it struck me as strange that a bunch of ultra endurance atheletes can consume so much booze and still run the crazy distances we do.

The plan for Sunday was for some form of run and we opted for 3 miles out and back towards Bridge of Orchy and although we walked the steeper uphills (and downhills due to the ice), we adopted a run 50 paces walk 50 paces strategy on the uphills and this worked well to keep us moving.
It wasn't a pretty run, it wasn't a pacey run, it wasn't a particulalry memorable run, lets just say it was a run! As usual Caroline chicked us by running a bit further than we did, however she didn't get her expected break from our lavatory related chat as her companion for the morning described how she coped with IBS and ultra running. That was probably her revenge for Caroline having taken a wrong turning on last year's Fling and her comapnion following her and logging a 57 mile Fling...Ouch
Showered and packed we headed back home, 36 miles of tough running over two days, legs shattered and bodies exhausted.

Inevitably you start to harbour thoughts of "christ if I'm like this after 30 miles, how will I run 53 or 95 miles?", happily normal service was resumed at our club run on Tuesday evening. We now regulalry squeeze in a 3 mile loop before the club meets at 6pm and then do our 9 or 10 mile club run, we cracked the 3 miles off at 7:37 pace and then followed this with nine more speedy miles having been suckered into running (OK chasing actually) young Andy Amos, our youngest club member and a regular running whippet.
Average for the 12 miles was 7:39, with mile 8 coming in at 6:39 pace, this inevitably being the point that young Andy announced "Oh, I'm only doing 6 tonight" as he cut off, leaving us and our tortured lungs gasping for oxygen.

I can't recomend these running weekends highly enough, every time we go, we re-afirm old friendships and make new ones, bring on the next away day.

Cheers

The GOOD The BAD and The UGLY

As a relative newcomer to the blogosphere,trying to come up with a catchy title for a post and content that is worth more than a second glance can be challenging. This week was the exception, the title just seemed to fit so well.

The GOOD

After last weeks solo Saturday 22 miler, normality was restored as the troika of Caroline, Andy and Keith hit the trails of Mabie Forest once again. Once again my "bright idea" gene kicked in and my suggestion of running the Purple route with a detour up Lotus Hill, whilst not enthusiastically received was accepted as the day's plan.
It's pretty much a steady uphill 2 mile start to this route gaining around 250 feet (although it always feels more) on good metalled forest roads. A low clagging, clammy mist refused to lift and our usual stunning views were denied us, but I was happy as once again I had company (see previous post) on my long Saturday run.


Enjoying the view

The mist persistently refused to lift and as we left the confines of Mabie at mile 8 and headed towards Lotus Hill, my colleagues couldn't see what they'd let themselves in for! Lotus Hill tops out at a modest 1050 feet, with about 750 feet of climb from the road. In fact its pretty similar in height gain to Conic Hill on the WHW race route, with a similarly slippy down hill leg too, hence the reason for including it in the route, proper realistic WHW race training!

Andy & Caroline, not enjoying the view

The first mile uphill is pretty gentle and run able, followed by a fairly brutal straight up section before the summit plateau and the trig pillar on top. Foot for foot the views are usually pretty stunning across the Solway estuary, the Lake District hills and on a clear day the Isle of Man.

Saturday was not a clear day, with much cursing and colourful agricultural language from Caroline we reached the trig point, even the reward of a jelly baby didn't raise a smile.
The colourful language increased in volume and intensity as we hit the treeline on the descent and the path turned to glutinous unavoidable muddy gloop, again its all good practise for the West Highland Way race.
With a 4 mile detour round the Lotus, just over half way point and we're heading back into Mabie. I'm practising my nutrition too so it was time for a strawberry Ambrosia rice and a chocolate chip CLIF bar, both went down really well. Since I made a complete Rollicks of my hydration on last weeks 22 miler, once my bottles were empty I started re-filling them from the numerous streams which cross under the forest roads, I reckon I took on board about 2 litres over the run, twice last week's intake. The second half of the run went well, a good steady pace, running the slopes and walking the steeper climbs albeit avoiding our usual downhill, red route finish.
Total time 4 hours 15 minutes with just over 3000 feet of ascent and descent, company on my run with all the usual running banter and a new cook at The Bike shed, who can actually fry an egg and leave it with a runny yoke. I felt great at the end, I could easily have run on, everything seemed to have clicked for this run! Oh and I didn't get Cholera from drinking stream water as my family predicted.
Definitely The GOOD.

The BAD

As we were heading out for a family meal to celebrate Andrew's 21st birthday, I'd decided to grab an hours kip in the afternoon in a vain attempt to push back my normal bedtime beyond 9pm. Just as I was slipping off to the land of nod, Ian G phoned with the news that the cramp he'd suffered on our Thursday evening run had in fact turned out to be a ripped calf muscle, he was now on crutches and was likely to be off running for the foreseeable future. We've pretty much run every Saturday since we decided to train for our first marathon in autumn 2010 and this is the first major injury any of our little group has suffered. Its particularly bad luck as Ian had not long signed up to attempt his first Iron Man in the summer, so definitely The BAD.

The UGLY

Since I was lucky enough to get through the ballot for the WHW race, I've struggled a bit to get my head round a training plan for a 95 mile race. I was always planning to run the D33, so was delighted to discover George's D33 plan and immediately adopted it. Similarly the Highland Fling was always on the radar, so the gap between D33 and Fling was easy to bridge, but what to do after that was a big grey area.
A lunchtime trawl through various Ultra running websites found an abundance of purported specialists willing to share, write or otherwise devise a custom plan for me, for a modest $300.... not happening.
Then I chanced across a free detailed plan for a hilly 100 miler and when I sat that alongside my outline plan up to the Fling, lo and behold its a good match. OK its American, its for a woman and the midweek distances are a bit rubbish (3 mile, 5 miles etc) but at least its a plan.
The downside....................... May has back to back runs totalling 50 miles on weekend 1; 50 miles on weekend 2 and 70 miles on weekend 3, its going to be UGLY, very, very UGLY


Cheers

All by myself

When Eric Carmen crooned  his memorable ballad All by myself, I pretty sure he wasn't thinking of a middle aged; grey haired runner in South West Scotland contemplating the prospect of his long Saturday morning training run.
As I texted my regular Saturday running amigo's last Friday night, "Who's up for 8am Long run at Mabie?", this was exactly the prospect I faced.

All by myself

First to fall was prospective Iron Man Ian, who'd gone over on his ankle on Thursday's club run and was sensibly substituting a long cycle for our regular trail run. Second fence saw Andy (Iron Man and prospective MDS runner) call off, having run 76 miles back to back the previous weekend, he'd fallen victim to some mild form of plague. Third and final faller was Caroline with a double whammy of plague and a family christening.
Frankly I was taken aback, I couldn't remember the last time I'd been faced with the prospect of a proper long run, absolutely on my own from start to finish. Okay so I've run marathons and Ultras where there are other human beings around and the conversations have been short or no more than passing greetings, but Mabie Forest at 8am on a February weekend, realistically I probably wouldn't see a soul for 4 hours!
I'm getting to know the trails pretty well so I'd mentally mapped out a route that would incorporate the Purple Mountain bike route and added on Lotus Hill, which dominates the skyline to the south of the magnificently named Beeswing village. I reckoned this would give me the planned 22 miles without any back tracks or looping.
I stuck to my normal Saturday routine, 7am alarm, shave, Vaseline on the feet, porridge, yogurt, weather forecast and pre-load with isotonic, but I found myself FAFFING and killing time, so I was actually late for my 8am start for the first time ever.
It was a really strange feeling heading off from the bike shed all by myself, I'd brought the earphones and had John Kynaston's latest WHW pod cast teed up just in case, but was determined only to fall back on this as a last resort.

Not ideal running fuel

You don't really want a blow by blow mile by mile account of my run, but the highlights included

• A stunning sunrise and amazing blue sky, if a little chilly at 1C
• Ambrosia creamed rice pots really need protection to stop them exploding in your backpack
• Yorkie chocolate bars are not ideal running fuel, especially when partially frozen
• The frozen mud on Lotus Hill wasn't really frozen, just a nice thin crust over 8 inches of proper mucky goo
• Running downhill on frozen grass is not exhilarating its scary
• A deer wandering onto the trail and not noticing me until I was only 10m away
• A growing aversion to Green Jelly babies (refer to previous blog post)
• My new Gore running jacket is brilliant, but the zip off sleeves have a tendency to zip off, of their own free will
• There is a finite limit to how many times I can recite Tam O'Shanter to take my mind off running
• I need to drink more than 1 litre in 22 miles
• 22 miles is quite a long way!

So job done in just under 3 hours 30 minutes, and off for an exciting afternoons shopping compensated by the prospect of some company on tomorrows back to back 12 miler.

Fast forward to Saturday night and its deja vue, Ian's ankle is still crocked, Andy is still plague ridden and Caroline's still got a christening to go to!

Everyone join in now "All by Myself..............................."


Cheers