TWTWTW!

Still running...

(you probably need to be over 50 to get the reference in the title but never mind!)

I always wanted the luxury of having a week to train and not have to worry about anything else, and last week I was lucky enough to realise that ambition.  We had volunteered to help at the inaugural Skye Trail Ultra and decided to take a week's holiday beforehand so that we could run and run and run.  Unfortunately John had 'tweaked' his calf again but I was able to run - every day, twice a day on all but 2 days!  I am very proud of my longest ever training week and my stats:
Distance: 74.64 mi
Elevation Gain: 2,578 m
And I'm not broken either!  Tired, but not broken :-)

On Saturday 24th May we headed up to Skye, the weather wasn't great, rainy and windy.  This set the tone for the week, rain, occasional sunshine and gales.  Add in the sleet, snow and hailstones and you get the gist - character building, challenging, (hellish!)  I soon discovered that there are no flat bits on Skye, every single run I did was hilly!  We managed to catch up with some friends while we were there, had a lovely curry with Andy and Karen O'Grady in their house and then I met up with Fiona, Rachel and Andy again on the Thursday evening for a run.  We also managed to explore a fair bit, I ran around the North of the island on Sunday, we went to the Quiraing on Monday as John had hoped he be able to run but unfortunately his leg wasn't as strong as he'd thought so instead, I ran home.  Tuesday we went to Broadford and I ran on the marble line to Kilbride, this is a beautiful trail and is also the last 10 miles of the Ultra race.  The trail is beautiful it has hard packed trail, heather and peat bogs, grassy headlands and scrambling up rocks add in the path along the beach where the cliff has fallen down and it's got something for everyone!  The views when the sun comes out are spectacular, you pass through Boreraig and Suisnish - villages cleared during the Highland Clearances - strangely eerie and emotional places with a single solitary headstone in the clearing.
I ran five evenings as well, a different session each time, whatever my coach decided I should do.
We also managed to catch up with some much needed restorative sleep, including a few afternoon naps.
On Wednesday I set my alarm and got up to run early in the morning (in the rain), with good reason.  It was Amanda's birthday and we had arranged with her husband Clark to meet them in Plockton for lunch.  The Plockton Inn is one of her favourite spots for food and it didn't disappoint!  Beautiful seafood and great to catch up with them, Amanda didn't know we were going to be there and I think she enjoyed the surprise (and the gin)!  Wednesday evening I went out to do intervals and it was the worst weather of the whole week, it nearly reduced me to tears on rep 5!  However I toughed it out and did more than the previous time!

Waternish trail

Thursday dawned a bit brighter and we headed to Waternish - there was mud, lots of it but there was more sunshine than we'd seen all week and only a couple of heavy downpours.  We visited the old church at Trumpan and  John walked up to see the Brochs.  On the way he tried to rescue a sheep who'd got stuck in a ditch but unfortunately she died :-(
Clark had told us they'd done this route a few years ago and it was muddy, he wasn't wrong!
The trail did get grassier and less mucky and more runnable later on and on the way back I managed to run through some puddles to try to clean off my shoes a bit, they still had to get a proper rinse under the tap and they've still got some peaty brown bits ingrained into them - as have my toes!  We stopped off in Dunvegan for lunch and by the time we got home, I'd half an hour on the couch with my feet up then it was time to get changed again and go meet some fellow Grumpies for the second run of the day!  The weather was getting wild again and we headed off to the Quiraing where Fiona, Rachel and Andy were going to take me up the hill that I'd chickened out of on Monday.  Suffice to say it was scary!  Gale force winds, hailstones, beautiful rainbows, mud and my legs were pretty dead before I started - I found it really tough and Fiona took pity on me and we stayed on the 'low' bits!  Thanks Chiefy xxx
Friday was my last training day as we were marshalling the race Saturday and Sunday, so  we headed back to Kilbride and I ran the marble line again in the 'right' direction this time ie the same way as it would be for the racers.  Thursday night's rain was torrential and the difference on the trail from Tuesday to Friday was huge, it had been fairly dry on Tuesday and it was a complete mudfest on Friday.  I was very tired on Friday morning and found it hard going at the beginning, however the sun came out and the views were fantastic.  Then the hail came!  Then the sun came back out, then the hail, this was to be the pattern of the afternoon, sunshine and showers.  John met me at the end of my run and we headed to the Broadford hotel to meet up with the competitors and Jeff the Race Director.  More friends, Donald and Elaine were staying overnight in Uig on their way to Harris, so we met them in the pub for a drink and a catch up then we went 'home' to get packed up and ready to leave the cottage on the Saturday morning.   4am Saturday and the alarm went off, time to go to Duntulm for the start of the race - but that's another story...

home for the week

And so it's begun...

That's my training for the Highland Fling underway!

I kicked it off with a good run last Sunday on the West Highland Way, a couple of decent sessions during the week, and another awesome run on the West Highland Way yesterday then a wee recovery run today to finish the week.
Yesterday I ran 30km from Dumgoyne to the end of the Garadhban forest and back again.  We joined the WHW at the back of the bonded warehouses belonging to Glengoyne Distillery, this meant a lovely wee trudge through a very boggy (boggy in this case means a mix of sheep, cow, and other unidentified muck!!) field of sheep then onto the Way itself about 1km before the Beech Tree Inn.  This is a great spot for spectators watching the race as they open their outside 'hut' early and serve teas/coffees and rolls with sausage etc... Once across the road, off you go along an old railway embankment, towards Drymen.  I counted at least 4 different styles of gate on this section, and John said you should get a certificate in gate-opening just for completing this section :-)  I agree!
The path runs out after about 3miles and there's a couple of miles on a rather 'undulating' road - which is fortunately almost traffic free, through a wee hamlet called Gartness up another great big hill and then back into a field - also very muddy and with the biggest molehills I've ever seen!  It's a fair climb up through the field to the first relay changeover point which is just outside Drymen.  A wee trot up the road and you're back onto the Way again and heading up into the forest on an old brick road.  I don't really like this wee bit as it's one of those deceptive uphills that doesn't look like much of a climb, but saps your legs as you run along it.  It's about 1km and then you're up onto the forest road and that is a climb!  However, compared to last year it's a decent enough surface to run on, especially at the moment as there's been a lot of logging going on which means there's been a lot of heavy traffic on the road which has tamped down the surface (and left a lot of distinctive red mud!)  This time last year, which was the first time I'd ever been here, they had just laid new stones and it was hellish to run on, like really huge gravel!
There's quite a climb on this section but the view as you crest the hill makes it worthwhile, you can see down to Loch Lomond and have a perfect view of the islands in the loch which form part of the Highland Boundary Fault Line.  They reach out from Conic Hill right into the water like a wee 'Nessie'...
As always, what goes up has to come back down (to some extent) so there are some good downhill runs to reward the hard work of climbing.  I was getting a bit tired and a wee bit down at this point til it crossed my mind I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast which had been almost 3 hours ago so I nibbled on a nakd bar and felt much better almost immediately!  I'm not good at eating and drinking on a run even though I carry a drink with me in my backpack, so I do have to remind myself  to fuel, and this is going to be very very important on the Fling proper so I need to practice and get better at it.

Not the prettiest half way point but a significant marker ...

The Gate with Conic Hill in distance

When I reached the gate at the end of the forest -15km, I was quite pleased to note that it had taken 1hr 50 to get there, this time last year I couldn't run 15km on the flat in that time and that was when I was trying hard!  Yesterday I'd been trotting along quite happily just enjoying the day, the views and the lovely weather, no attention whatsoever to the time, and this was the uphill half of the route!
Some friends were also running from Drymen to Balmaha and back, and I had tentatively arranged to meet up, but we were a bit later starting than we'd planned, so we didn't meet up with them until afterwards.  John had run ahead of me on the brick road and just as I had reached the gate, he texted to say he was at the bottom of Conic hill and couldn't see them.  He then proceeded to climb the hill then turn and head back,  I thought he'd have caught up with me on the last section of the route, but he didn't so when I got back to the car I told him to stop at the Beech Tree Inn I changed into clean shoes* and drove along to wait for him.
I was really pleased with how good I felt when I finished yesterday, I am usually absolutely shattered after a long run, but yesterday was different, I don't know why, but I felt strong and quite elated :-)
I got to the pub, got changed into dry, clean clothes, downed a can of full fat coke - I only ever drink this after a long run - then John arrived, he got changed and we ordered lunch.  We both had the daily special which was Bison steak and it was delicious - they say that you should refuel as quickly as you can on completion of a long run, and should have some protein, so this fine slab of bison fitted the bill perfectly :-) 
As we were finishing, our friends turned up at the pub so we swapped tales as they ate their soup.  One of the group Emma, unfortunately went over on her ankle at the top of the hill, but still managed to run back!  She has since been to A&E and is heavily strapped with a query over a break :-(  I hope she's ok as she's a keen athlete and has a snowboard holiday coming up soon...

Today I went out and did a gentle 5mile recovery run - found it really hard not to keep trying to push on and could hear the voice of my mentor reminding me 'when you feel like you're motoring on' pull it back a bit... I didn't do that very well today, but will keep practising!
So, all in all it's been a good first 'proper week's training' and for what it's worth I don't feel any older since my birthday on Friday than I did before it :-)

* shoes after coming back through the field!   

Glaur!

Downtime...

In his book "Everyone's guide to distance running" coach Norrie Williamson says, "The better the recovery, the better will be the quality on the other side. In many ways, recovery is the most important part of your training schedule and your training is only as good as your recovery."
So there you go that's why the only running I've done since Canada is parkrun 2 weeks ago, a wee 5km blast on the treadmill the following Tuesday, the Jimmy Irvine Bella 10k last Saturday...oh and a wee trauchle up Dumyat through the bog on Sunday morning :-)
However it's getting to that point where I need the structure and discipline again so am now counting down the days until Marcothon starts on 1st December :-)
I've been back at pinpoint fitness fitcamps again 3 times a week since I got back and that's been great, it's kept me sane, and I get my endorphin fix!  It's also helped me to shift a couple more pounds and hopefully will kickstart some more weightloss over the next couple of months which will help me with my training for the Highland Fling at the end of April.  I am hoping to start by doing a couple of very gentle recce runs on the parts of the route which I haven't run yet, looking forward to that starting soon and getting my new trail shoes on Sunday will be the start of this project :-)
Health and fitness wise, it's all pretty good at the moment, came back from Canada with no injuries and had a wee visit to the physio 2 weeks ago and he was pleased with the state of my  legs!  Just have to keep fit throughout the winter so that I am ready to take on the next big challenge.

Oh! Before that however there is one BIG challenge that I am undertaking... 2 weeks tonight I am going to do a FIREWALK - yes walking across hot coals!  Scary stuff believe me!
This has been arranged with the pinpoint crew and Tesco and is to raise money for Cancer Research UK, so if you are reading this and you agree that yes 'she has finally flipped' then if you could spare a few pennies we'd all be really grateful.  You can donate here  Thank You xxx