Training Log Archive: Arnold

Not a good day at the office.
Humid.
Tired.
Intermittent pain in back and shoulder
General hypochondria

And above all foot pain where I bent it over a week ago and never gave a chance to heal. I really need more support in my running shoes (or a pair of Salomons) as my Brooks Glycerin are useless on any sort of terrain.

C • Bit late now ... 2

Up (and down) Rouvas Gorge from our hotel.

Redemption on our last day here! The hotel had been advertising a ‘gorge walk’ which we’d meant to do with the kids but never did, as fhey enjoyed the pool too much (wimpy parents, I know.)

So on the last day we decided to give it a go running and see how far we’d get - and it turned out to be brilliant. In contrast to yesterday, the path was all packed dirt / gravel at mostly runnable inclines, with the odd ‘short and sweet’ solid rock steps thrown in. So 90% runnable and some really cool bits in a forest on the gorge floor.

Topped out at about 1,000m to meet a bunch of locals with big shotguns skinning a goat. It certainly was an ‘authentic experience’.

The way down was hard work as quads started to complain, but I just about held it together. Result!

PS - the gorge really flummoxed the GPS which gave me 1.300m climb, thinking I’d climbed in and out of the gorge a few times. The net height difference was only 520m but there was a bit of up and down too.

Failed attempt to climb the highest mountain on Crete (Mt. Psiloritis, 2.456m)
“It seemed like a good idea at the time”

So our accommodation is on the slopes of Crete’s highest mountain, which as every good orienteer knows means you have to climb it.

Unfortunately, from our hotel it would have been 20k and 2000m climb, which seemed a little optimistic. So instead I settled on a drive of 20k and then 10k + 1100m remaining on foot. I figured that I should be able to run this in 80-90 minutes up and maybe 60 down.

The issue was that when I checked my plan with the hotel, there were some major miscommunications due to my inability to understand the nuances of the proprietor, as shown here...

Proprietor: ‘There will be no wind tomorrow’
Translation: ‘The wind will be really strong tomorrow especially on exposed hills’

Proprietor: ‘The path to the top is easy’
Translation: ‘The path is all loose scree and rock so you can mostly forget about running. Oh, and the scratchy bushes are really dense in places so you really should wear long trousers’

Proprietor: ‘The drive includes 8k of unpaved road but only 3k of that is a bit tricky’
Translation: ‘There is 10k of unpaved road and it is all pretty awful. Do not try it in your piddly rental car’

Proprietor: (smiling silently)
Translation: ‘You are one crazy foreigner’

So after my exciting drive there (which included goving a lift to a ‘proper’ local shepherd, crook and all) I set off up the hill to quickly discover it would take forever - after 80 minutes I’d managed about half the distance and three quarters of the climb so I decided to call it quits and stop on an earlier summit at 2.220m.

I’d likely have managed the whole thing (although had no water and was starting to get slightly cold) but there just didn’t seem any point. The view was still pretty decent from 250m lower down and at least I was back for lunch (via a massive, but paved, detour.) Type 2 fun at best but it was certainly an adventure.

C • trail 3

Longer set run by slave driver wife.