There isn’t a definitive plan for how you train for the 95
mile West Highland Way Race. A trawl of the internet will spew forth a plethora
of so called specialists willing to write one for you if you cross their palms
with silver, or more accurately $300 via your MasterCard.
I did eventually find a week by week plan for a 100 mile
road race and by combining this with the plan that John Kynaston, very kindly
shared on Facebook, I put together my own custom plan. The back bone being back
to back trail runs at weekends, running the D33 and The Fling as training runs
and a very long back to back weekend about 4 weeks before the big race itself.
I’d pencilled in last weekend’s bank holiday for this two
day epic, Saturday would start at Balmaha and finish at Bridge of Orchy, around
41 miles with the last 35 miles to Fort William filling the Sunday slot,
sensibly allowing Monday for recovery. I know it’s unusual for me to be
sensible, but I balanced this out by running two hard trail runs the weekend
before and driving 1000 miles the week before. Nothing new there!
I’d made a conscious decision to run solo as for two reasons
One - I’ll probably be running the race on my own, so
I need to know how it feels
Two - I need to run at my pace, not some-one else’s
Balmaha to
Rowardennan 8.2 miles 1 hour 28 minutes
A beautiful cloudless sky, cool but not cold, a bone dry
trail and a picture postcard carpet of bluebells were the main feature of this
first leg. I deliberately walked all the uphill’s and took it easy on the
steeper downhill’s too, averaging 11 – 12 minute miles, aiming to conserve
energy as much as possible. At mile 7 my right quad started aching, not an area
I’ve had issues with before but not enough to worry me at that stage. The Way
was pretty quiet and I only passed half a dozen people on this section. I
stopped at Rowardennan for a strawberry rice pudding and a water bottle refill,
but seeing heaps of charity walkers about to head out; I kept this stop to 2
minutes and was quickly off again.
Rowardennan to
Inversnaid 7.2 miles, 15.4 miles in total 3 hours 4 minutes
Sticking to the “take it easy” plan (apart from one 8:30
mile) and with my the pain in my thigh growing with every mile, I was starting
to get concerned, by mile 12 it was proper game stopping sore then quite
bizarrely almost exactly as my watch beeped mile 13, the pain disappeared
completely. It was like Harry Potter had waved his wand and made it disappear!
I like this section of the Way; I find the long uphill walk
gives a nice breather. I decided I’d opt for a coffee from the hotel, I’ve
never tried hot drinks on a run and wanted to make sure my tummy could cope.
Buying a coffee at the hotel also made me feel less guilty about asking them to
refill my water bottle. I’ve been caught out not hydrating on long runs in the
past so was being really strict with myself. My Salomon XT 5 backpack holds two
custom 500ml bottles (one water, one isotonic), and has room to carry a
standard sports bottle too, so I transferred this to the custom bottle. The
temperature was heating up and I’d been taking every opportunity to soak my
buff to keep my head and neck cool and with the sun firmly on my back to avoid
a painful sunburnt neck.
I stopped for just over 8 minutes including an application of
Vaseline to a hot spot on my right big toe which has developed an annoying
predisposition to blistering of late and a conversation with a French tourist,
who’d misread his map and thought he could get his car to Glencoe from
Inversnaid. He was slightly crestfallen when I explained he’d have to back
track all the way to Aberfoyle.
Inversnaid to
Beinglas Farm 6.8 miles, 22.2 miles in total 4 hours 42 minutes
I needn’t have feared about drinking coffee, as the caffeine
kicked in I positively enjoyed the scrambly, technical 2 miles after
Inversnaid, leaving the loch behind I stopped for a photo at Dario’s post and
met WHW family member Brian Gary, who’d walked out from Beinglas Farm with his
wife. I decided on another coffee and a Twix and two bottles of water from the
shop. My long sleeved top was pretty much soaked through so I opted to change
into my short sleeved top and also applied further copious quantities of
Vaseline to my toe. This was the first long run I’ve done for ages where it
wasn’t raining and the ground was dry, but my socks were still wet through with
sweat, I should have carried a dry pair, but at least I’ve learned this lesson
before the actual race. Total stop time was 8 minutes.
Beinglas Farm to
Auchtertyre Farm 9.8 miles, 32 miles in total 7 hours 10 minutes
I stuck firmly to walking the hills, and on slopes I used my
run 50 walk 50 tactic, energy conservation still being the key. Although I’d
passed plenty of walkers the first runners I met were WHW Family members Peter
and Heather MacDonald, just at Derrydarroch cottage. I was able to cadge a good
squirt of sun cream before heading onto cow poo alley. Cow poo alley was bone
dry (another first) and apart from one enormous F**k Off big bull, quite
uneventful. I was getting tired by now and at mile 27 my thigh pain had
returned as quickly as it had disappeared. I can’t say I like the magic forest
above Crianlarich, but having now run it half a dozen times I hate it less than
I used to, I’m also learning where to run the down hills and where to take it
easy and preserve my quads and knees. I stopped for 12 minutes at Auchtertyre
for a comfort break and a cup of tea, unfortunately I got button holed by the
resident teenage loony “I don’t work here, but I hang out and help” who tried
to tell me all about his poetry writing hobby. On the plus side I was still able
to run away.
Auchtertyre Farm to
Bridge of Orchy 9.4 miles, 41.3 miles in total 9 hours 23 minutes
This was to be the first time I’d run through Tyndrum so
quite an important physiological line to cross for me, although I did balance
it out with a 4 minute stop at Brodie’s Stores to buy a bottle of Isotonic.
Enquiring if they sold sun cream the lady replied “we don’t get much call for
that here!” This last stretch from Tyndrum was definitely the low point of my
day, my thigh was hurting so much that I was forced to stop two or three times
every mile to stretch it out and I was doing a lot of walking. I’d plugged in
my earphones to listen to the latest WHW podcast but after 10 minutes they sadly
went on the blink. My pace on this section was around 13 minute miles and I had
pretty much given up on any prospect of running on the Sunday, not a happy
place to be. After what felt like an age Bridge of Orchy Station hove into view
and I picked up my pace for the last leg to the Bridge or Orchy Hotel where Ann
and Sarah had already checked in.
Total for the day 41.3 miles in 9:23 including around 30
minutes of stops and an overall average of 13 minute 40 seconds per mile.
Our rooms were in one of the new blocks at the hotel, very
posh but definitely at the pricey end of the range. I sat on the small deck
area overlooking the bridge chatting to some mountain bikers who I’d met a
couple of times during the day, they were lamenting their decision to try to
cycle the WHW over 3 days. They seem to have spent as much time carrying their
bikes as cycling them.
As I stood under the smoke detector in the room, smelly and
hot, the fire alarm system went off, as I stepped away it stopped, stepping
back under it, sure enough, off it went again. Now I know I was more than a bit
ripe, but smelly enough to set off the fire alarm, surely not. The hotel
manager was able to assure me later that it was entirely co-incidental, the
alarm system going wonky due to a water leak in an adjacent room.
We enjoyed a very pleasant meal, but with my body screaming
for sleep and my legs seizing up I hit the pillow by 9:30pm.
Day Two
I hobbled up to breakfast, in the near empty restaurant, by
this time seriously doubting if I could run at all, never mind attempt the 35
miles to Fort William. I told Ann and Sarah not to be surprised if I phoned
from Inveroran Hotel for a pick up.
With the grey overcast matching my mood I set off over the
bridge and up the hill, surprising myself I was actually able to get a half
decent run together on the downhill so decided I could make it at least to
Glencoe and pushed onto Rannoch Moor, walking the steeper sections and run 50
walk 50 on the gentler gradients.
Bridge of Orchy to
Glencoe 11 miles 2 hours 4 minutes
By now truly amazed that I was running after feeling so low
the day before I’d made my mind up to run onto Kinlochleven, I felt that Fort
William itself would be both too optimistic and mean a very late return home.
Sitting on the tailgate of the car, I refilled Water and Isotonic, quaffed a
bottle of fizzy Lucozade, a packet of salted peanuts and a couple of Rolo
Biscuits. It was pretty chilly in comparison to the day before, and before I
crossed the A82 I’d stopped to put on my waterproof. It’s a deceptive 4 mile
run from the Ski Centre to the foot of the Devil’s Staircase but by the time I
reached Altnafeadh I was happy that I’d make it to KL comfortably on what would
be only my 3rd ascent of the Devil, it’s just a heads down and
plough on job for me. The view from the top was spectacular, whether I can
appreciate it next time I’m there will be a different story. It’s a 700 foot
climb up the Devil, but the descent to KL is around 1700ft in total (so Mr
Garmin tells me). I’m not a fan of this section, and I decided to christen it
“The Devil’s Arse”. Probably runnable under normal circumstances but not today,
lots of walking and picking my way gingerly along the rockier sections. About 1
mile out from KL, I found a brand new iPhone lying in the middle of the path,
fortunate for the young lady I caught up with who hadn’t realised she’d dropped
it. Good deed for the day done, I finished strongly into the Ice Factor car
park.
Glencoe to
Kinlochleven 10.5 miles, 21.5 miles in total 4 hours 24 minutes
Average pace for the day 12 minute 19 second miles, total
for the two days 63 miles. A quick change and a bowl of Mac Cheese at the Ice
Factor and it was time to head home, dropping Sarah in Glasgow en route. Ann
did all the driving while I failed to grab 40 winks and we got home just before
8pm, confirming that my decision to call it a day after 21 miles was the
sensible thing to do.
Summary
Overall I’m happy with the weekend, my longest solo runs, my
longest back to back runs, useful to run a section of the way that I’m least
familiar with and only one blister and one black toenail to show for it.
No regrets at all about dropping the 15 miles to Fort
William, and loads of small lessons learned. So that’s pretty much it for the WHW
training, I’m not going to get any fitter in the next 2/3 weeks it’s just about
avoiding injury and sorting out the kit and logistics and support plan.
I’ve agreed to run the Mabie Trail Race on Sunday 9th
June, but I’m going to take it easy on the downhill’s (last year I ran them
like a man being chased by the hounds of hell) and whilst I’m sure I won’t just
jog round I’ll be sensible about it. I’m planning a short 6 mile head torch run
round Mabie Forest on Friday 7th June, thereafter it’s just about
keeping things ticking over until D-day – 1am Saturday 22nd June.
Apologies for the lack of photos, although I did manage to take a couple, I'm trying to upload this post via Virgin Trains complimentary Wi-Fi, about as effective as semaphore in the dark!
