Lakeland weekend

A weekend down in the south west area of the lake district. We were at a 50th birthday party which sounds sedate but wasn't. We ran for 4hrs in the hills with only some champagne hidden under a rock and then a lager shandy for refreshment. This felt surprisingly good. My legs are sore now however, this being the first run in the hills of any substance since the Pentland Skyline over a month ago. I took a leap over a stream that went quite well but something went wrong with Sharon's takeoff...

The Garmin unexpectedly dumped all its charge despite having been fully charged in the morning, so we've got no objective data of how far we went.

Ochil 2000s race

Finally the rain stopped and the clouds lifted and we had good visibility for the Ochil 2000s race. Judith and I ran most of the race together with Judith providing all the route guidance, especially over the tricky bits. We went wrong a few times but never far wrong. Some people definitely got ahead unseen though. Judith, at the end, was already talking about further recces so we can nail it next year.

We made good steady progress over the first "half" up to Ben Ever. After that the line you take becomes increasingly important. There was a lot of wallowing in very wet bogs and high-stepping over tufty ground.

By the foot of Dumyat Judith was complaining that her legs were gone. My legs had been complaining for miles. It was a dry day and a long way and a lot of people got cramp.

I was already pleased with the progress we'd made but saw two V40 women ahead and as it was a Scottish Hill Running Championship race thought I should do my best to pick them off. I set off at a walk/run up Dumyat and my ascending was still reasonable. I passed the V40s and tried to get out of sight, knowing that they are stronger than me on the downhill. It didn't take them long to catch back up to me though and as I stupidly ran the long way round a path I turned and saw them slip over a fence and away ahead.

Some of the terrain on the final descent was a bit cruel. Very steep descent down wet banks. I tiptoed down gingerly as some V60 men bounded by. I followed Charlie Love down to the finish which was mercifully close after coming through the hole in the wall onto Stirling Uni campus. If my 18 year old self had looked out her window at Geddes Court and seen me running by having run 20 miles through the hills she would have got a shock!

Judith came in about a minute behind.

We were both pleased with the way things had turned out.

Ochils Recce II

Ochils Recce II - the return of the wet green hill.

Yesterday we met with Judith at Stirling Uni. We drove in her car to another glen, Stirlingshire seems to be full of them, I think it was just into Tillicoultry. From here we ran up to Andrew Gannel Hill (don't ask me who that is - it's one for Google), then, if I'm remembering rightly we did "The Law" (the law won), then Ben Cleugh, Ben Buck, skipped Ben Ever as its an out and back and it was raining quite hard by this time - and then over difficult peat hags and very wet bogs to Blairdenon Hill.

Judith seemed to have developed a knack for finding the wettest bits so we let her lead the way. She frequently disappeared into swamps and concealed streams. I had one full length encounter with the wet mosslands, tripping up and then aquaplaning for some feet before coming to rest unharmed. It was actually quite warm and pleasant.

From Blairdenon hill the ground continued tough and tussocky but it had dried up and the sun even came out so we were all in good spirits. Coming down behind Dumyat there were trees, birds and butterflies and we crossed a roaring ford that was up to our knees that Judith said had only been ankle deep a couple of weeks ago. There was a stiff climb up to the top of Dumyat and then a fairly pleasant trundle down through the back of Stirling Uni. Peter and Judith could barely contain there excitement as I pointed out some changes that had happened since I stayed there 20 years ago.

We were out for 4hrs, running for 3hrs 35mins according to my Garmin. We ran 14.27 miles, a staggering 15.02 pace. Not bad actually. Felt okay considering we ran a half marathon on Saturday and my achilles' have been giving me considerable gyp. Peter is complaining of having a "funny leg" brought on by wearing shorts that were too tight. Hmmm. Judith just recently completed the tour of Fife, completing 5 races in 5 days. She was complaining of a pulled hamstring, though there wasn't much evidence of it.

This trips kit included new Montrail Highlanders. Wish I'd taken a picture of them. Interesting 70s colour scheme, brown and green with brown soles. They seemed pretty good. If my achilles' tendons are no worse tomorrow I'll be very pleased with them. The grip was good and they're more supportive and cushy than walshes. I wore my Inov8 22 litre pack and again it bit my neck on the downhills. No I didn't like it. Need to figure out what to do. Furry strap liners or try to pack a bladder into my OMM bumbag?

All in all the team are as well prepared for the coming Ochils 2000s race on the 23rd August as we can expect to be. We're still hoping for good visibility as finding our way around those featureless roundy green hills in the mist could prove challenging.

Ochils Recce

Okay, this blog needs more life about it! So far only floaty pictures of the Pentlands.

Saturday we went on a recce for the Ochils 2000 race at the end of August with Judith Dobson of Kinross running fame. We started at Glen Sherup and ran as far as Ben Evers then taking the trail back down to Alva. That was 12 miles of the course so there's another 6 miles to go. We apparently did the easy part. After that allegedly the trails peter out and there are peat hags to run over and navigational choices to be made! I've managed to do 15 hill races so far without once employing navigation as one of my strategies!

I was having an off day or Judith was having an on day or both so I puffed along behind Judith and Peter barely able to raise my head to look at where we were. It was a grey day so the green landscape seemed a bit unremarkable and it didn't matter where we were we seemed to be on the same green hill looking down at Grangemouth billowing out god knows what into the white sky above. Testing out different kit I had worn my Nike Pegasus Trail shoes into the hills. These were fine on the stoney road on the way up but as soon as we were on grass I regretted the decision. If I'm coming downhill at any kind of an angle with them on then the bits behind the heel press into my achilles tendons and hurt them. This did not help my already woeful lack of speed. I was also trying out my inov8 22 litre race rucsack as an option for the race. It was pretty good but I couldn't get strapped into it quite tightly enough so the shoulder straps rubbed my neck. I discovered after I got home that there were more ways of adjusting the straps than I'd been aware of. I was too hassled trying to keep up with P and J to stop and have a tussle with my equipment. I guess I'll put it all down to experience.

I had a slightly twingy knee after all this and yesterday after a tempo session up at the meadows my knee is NOT RIGHT. Can't get more accurate than that. So, no running today and try not to panic. Isle of Mull hill race on Saturday which has a rather alarming route description (http://www.carnethy.com/ri_mullmonsterette.htm#July ).

Good luck Giant Parlin on Saturday at the VT100 race.

27/1/08 More Pentlands

Another run in the Pentlands today. This time with Scott and Peter. We all raced Buchlyvie 10k yesterday so it was an effort to get out of bed and it was with dread that I thought about trying to keep up with Scott and Peter in the hills. To my surprise, once I'd warmed up I was going better than I thought I would.The wind at the tops was once again blowing fiercely.

There were more runners out than we've seen in a while. I guess people are recceing the Carnethy 5 route.

Black Hill was sodden with the recent rain and made for some very boggy running. Peter went down twice in two minutes, stepping up to his knee in some apparently solid ground.

Scott had cycled out to the Pentlands into a headwind and we were sympathising anticipating driving home in a nice, quick, warm car however fate had other plans...

When we got in the car we realised right away that the heater blower had stopped working again so you have to drive with the windows down or the windscreen steams up.Then in town there were tailbacks (roadworks for trams - damn, damn, damn!) - in the end we went through Craigmillar to get to Leith. When we got in the door we got a text from Scott to say he was already home safe.

Anyway, stats; We ran from Flotterstone to Turnhouse, Carnethy, Scald Law, S. Black Hill,East Kip, West Kip and Black Hill, then back to the car. Total Distance 12.58miles, time was 2hrs 36mins.