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.

Some beauties in the hills

The summer has come and its time to get off the roads and back out on the hills. The whole world was out in the sunshine this weekend but I was at work. I had a good time at work but I felt left out. Last night I hatched a plan to head for the hills with my camera and go a long easy run. We have the 7 hills of Edinburgh race to run next Sunday and the Lairig ghru 28 mile race at the end of the month so time to get some training in.

It was sunny today but windy too which kept me cool.

The hills were incredibly pretty. There were lots of tiny wild flowers and lovely grasses. Unlike Peter I don't like stopping so I did well to take as many pictures as I did.

Its been dry for quite a few days in a row so it was perfect underfoot. What would sometimes be boggy was springy to run on with good grip. The larks sang all the time and the wind constantly blew. I ran for a while along a slate path that made a musical kind of noise and I realised that I had turned it into some kind of Russian folk tune in my head. Why Russian? Who knows.

I saw a small figure ahead that appeared to be wearing a space suit. It made me think about a program on the first landing on the moon which we watched recently. The astronauts all seemed to have gained some kind of altered perspective on their existence from seeing the earth from such a vantage point. One said, for instance, that he never complained about the weather anymore, because he'd realised that all weather is amazing and that the earth is like an oasis in space. When I got closer it was just an old lady wearing pale clothes walking up the hill. The mind is a funny thing.

I ran all the hills from Turnhouse, over West Kip then turned back down the Drove road and when I got to Black Hill decided to cheat and take the low road that skirts down the side. This was a good decision as my legs were getting pretty tired and it was nice runnable track rather than deep heather.

I skirted round the side of Bell's Hill and then went over Harbour Hill and then took the track to the road and back down to Flotterstone. c. 13.5 miles in 2hrs40mins.

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.

14/01/08 Windy Run in the Pentlands

Yesterday we went running in the Pentlands for 2hrs 40 mins. We set off from the Flotterstone Inn car park and then ran (and walked) up Turnhouse Hill, Carnethy, Scald Law, S. Black Hill and E. and W. Kip. It was blowing a gale and particularly on West Kip we had moments when we thought we would leave the ground. Thoughts of Alison Hargreave. We ran off the end of West Kip and then took the coward's route round the paths and road back to the car park. The burn was a raging torrent and Peter and Richard waded through where the water level was a foot above the stepping stones. Happily I saw an easily jumpable bit just upstream. Haha.
Richard was in old road shoes. I think he might not have realised we were going over the very tops of the hills but he managed fine. Peter and I were forging ahead a bit with more up-hilling in our legs and more grip on our feet, but on the downhills he seemed sure-footed and relaxed even though it must have been slippy. I was glad of my walshes.
Once we were back on the paths and roads I was the one lagging behind slightly so I tried to think about keeping good form even though I was tired and the shock from running down metalled road in Walshes was making my legs hurt.