Category: Hill Running

The final countdown…

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The hidden trails after Rowardennan. Definitely worth hunting out.
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The swimming term is coming to an end and just as well as I am completely exhausted. The kids have been bouncing off the walls for close to a month now, knowing that the summer holidays are fast approaching and my staff and I are counting down the minutes until the term ends! Then it’s straight on to fitness class cover which isn’t really the perfect preparation for a huge race, but needs must and I’ll just keep the impact low and my drill sergeant voice on top form!

As ever, I’ve found the whole work/life/training balance hard and I’m still not getting it quite right. I took on a few more 1-2-1 swimming lessons in my own time, so even on beautiful nights I found myself heading home after work, putting a cushion over my head on the couch to block out the light and passing out for a good 20 minutes before getting out to do my training. I’ve been following a Neil MacNicol training programme now since March and I’m definitely feeling stronger and leaner, but also 10 times more knackered and still haven’t found my love for speed work. Does anyone ever? I do struggle with speed work on my own, but with very little time to now get to running club I find if I have a plan I will (mostly) follow it even if I don’t really feel like it. My speed will come back, for now it’s all about the endurance.
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RACE REPORT – The Cateran 55 Ultra marathon

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CATERAN 55 ULTRA MARATHON 2017

TIME:10 Hours 34 Minutes and 4 Seconds

OVERALL :27th/92 finishers (8 DNF)

GENDER: 4th/26 females

My first attempt at the Cateran in 2015 was the first time I’d ran further than 33 miles. I was nervous and probably a little under trained having just come back from injury but I had a great day out and finished in a not too shabby 11 hours 30 minutes. Heading up this year I had an idea of what time I wanted and sourced some splits from check point to check point from previous races. I noted these down with the plan to jot them on my hand the following morning as a rough guide.

After work on Friday I headed home, finished my packing and headed through to Stirling to pick up Lois who was marshalling and then head North to Glenshee. Once again I was staying in the Gulabin Lodge which is right on the start line and meant not too much stressing about time and getting things done before the race. Once we arrived I went about registering, picking up my lovely kit bag memento (an awesome light blue colour this year), saying hi to all my friends and finding my room. I was staying in a room with the lovely Stonehaven ladies: Claire, Jo and Lindsay and being the last to arrive was up on the top bunk of a seriously shoogly bed. Every time I moved the whole bed shook, so apologies to Jo if you felt like there was an earthquake during the night!!
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Don’t give up if you fall at the first hurdle

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Every race can’t run smoothly and last weekend I discovered that the hard way.

I’d had a pretty good start to the year at the Devilla 15k on the 19th February. As usual it attracted hundreds of runners, keen to kick start their racing season with a wonderful mud bath and as always it didn’t disappoint! Not the muddiest I’ve seen it in the 5 years I’ve been taking part, but definitely a competitor for the top spot in places. The race started bang on time and I’d tried to sneak my way up the field in order to get ahead of the masses before the bottleneck about 2 miles in. Unfortunately I was still further back than I thought and again slowed to a shuffle though the narrow sections of the trail as the crowds went single file through the bogs. Anyone who did try to overtake in this section usually ended up face planting deep into the mud or losing a shoe in the deeper sections of the bog, so I decided to hang fire and wait until the trails to open up again before trying to pick up some speed. This is much easier said than done when your shoes are caked in mud and you’re carrying the extra weight of the mud. The track was much slippier than usual due to the forestry commission having done some tree felling recently and I found myself having to work a lot harder in places that are usually pretty simple trails.
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Here we go again

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My first blog of 2017. Whoops! After a few false starts at attempting to write a new post, I am fully back with a bang and ready to update more often (promise!), follow a training programme (half promise) and give all my races and training my all in 2017.

At the start of the year my first draft of a blog post began with “I don’t actually have that many races booked for the year…”. I scrapped that soon after when I realised that I may not have many (in that I’m not doing 10k every weekend like I used to), but the races I am taking on are beasts. And not just Ultra marathons anymore. 2017 is the year I will dip my toe into the world of multi sport races and I am one click away from entering my first. Not just a wee one, but a half ironman distance event. Well, why not? All I have to do is learn not to fall off my bike! I know that’s a lot easier said than done, but I have a few Sportive events planned before the tri, along with plenty open water swimming with a few people how I have asked, coerced, begged into taking me with them. However that part can wait until the slightly warmer months, for now I will concentrate on the running and reminding myself how to run fast (I’ve been saying that for a year and I’m still waiting on full speed returning!!).
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West Highland Way Race Training – Weeks 1 & 2

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I’ll be totally honest. I’m exhausted! Battering out high mileage training for the West Highland Way Race and teaching 3-10 year old children to swim for 8 hours a day is pretty hard, both physically and mentally. I knew this would be hard work from the word go, and every single mile I have churned out so far is being ticked off as me being another mile closer to being ready for the hard work I will have to put in come race day. But it’s going to be another gruelling 5 months of hard work before I’m even ready to toe the start line. I’m currently in week 5 of my training plan, but I’ll not bore you with the whole load in one go!

Week 1 (28th Dec – 3rd Jan)

I had a nice rest the week leading up to Christmas after taking a course at work right up until the 23rd of December and not having much time to fit in long runs.
Monday 28th – I had the week between Christmas and New Year off work and decided to make the most of the mild weather and bank some miles on the WHW while I had the free time. I took my dog and ran backwards from the road crossing just before Tyndrum towards Beinglas. My plan was to go all the way to Beinglas Farm and back again, but about 6 miles in I came across a huge heard of cows and had to jump off the path and squelch through a bog to get around them, and then found more blocking the bridge in the direction I was going. So I had to abandon that plan and head back to the car. I’ve had far too many near misses with cows and the dog, so I wasn’t taking any chances! (10.6 miles).
Tuesday 29th – Another day off, another chance to bag some more WHW miles. Minus the dog this time, I drove down to Milngavie to thrash out some flatter fast miles out to the Beech tree and back. Lovely run, so many people out walking and I had great day singing to myself and reminding myself how easy it is to go out way too fast in the first few miles! (14.1 miles).
Wednesday 30th – The weather turned and I was tired, so I went for a short recovery run and then had a good few hours on the couch catching up on American Horror Story! (3.2 miles)
Thursday 31st – Rest and some foam rolling. Quickly abandoned when I re-discovered how painful it was!
Friday 1st – Rest and my first long lie in a long time!
Saturday 2nd – A lovely hill run with some friends from the running club. I haven’t been up the Ochils in months, so it was lovely to get a good leg stretch up Ben Cleuch and Ben Ever in the slush and catch up with friends I hadn’t seen in a while. (7.9 miles).
Sunday 3rd – Another club run with some other WCH friends. Nice steady pace on the flat. (8 miles).

Total – 44 miles

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Week 2 – 4th-10th January

Monday 4th – Rest. A nice long dog walk and some beginners yoga.
Tuesday 5th – I decided to break my daily miles into 2 runs today as I really wanted to make the club speed session in the evening, but knew I would be shattered if I did a few miles before and totally knackered afterwards. I took the dog out for a few miles in the morning then gave it my all at the club sessions in the evenings of 8×3 minute sprints. I haven’t pushed myself that hard in a long time and I was delighted with my splits afterwards! I know speed work isn’t high on the agenda just now and I’m reeling it right in the closer I get to race day, but it was good to see I could still pull it out the bag! (10.7 miles).
Wednesday 6th – My new Brooks Ghost trainers arrived, so of course I had to test them out on my mid week steady run! (8.2 miles)
Thursday 7th – I was late out of work and missed my favourite hill reps session, so I took the dog out and did it myself later that night. Much heaving breathing included… (6.7 miles)
Friday 8th – The day everything froze! It was far too icy to do a proper run, so I cut it short instead of breaking my neck! (4.6 miles).
Saturday 9th – Enjoyed a lovely hill run up and around Dumyat with some friends from running club. It was so cold! (11.2 miles).
Sunday 10th – The run you put off all day and then when you go out the heavens open. I was soaked to the core within 4 miles, but decided to carry on, as you can’t turn off the weather on Lairigmor! (10.3 miles).

Total – 51.9 miles

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I’m finally getting back to my strength and conditioning training as well after a shock to the system at circuits on Sunday and realising my upper body has given up the ghost! Squats – no problem. Press ups and core work – FAIL!

Time for bed…..