Training Log Archive: OJ

Recce of the leg 2 bad weather route on the Hodgsons with Josh Williams. Faffed around a bit too much on the way out and ran out of daylight a bit, but still managed to work out a decent line down from Stony Cove Pike. Loads of water everywhere, but an amazing still, clear evening with views all the way to the sea.

Modderate pace around BHP.

Short sharp blast down in CVP. 8x120m strides followed by 2xfigure 8 lap in 2.41, 2.41. Left it there wanting more.

FRA circuit.

IW.

HFW.

Lunchtime out to the Coppice Track for one hard effort as a bit of a fitness tester. Positively surprised by the outcome of 4.47.

Organising the orienteering at Chelsea Park Festival. Well that was a nice lazy week and just what I needed. Feeling pretty well recovered, but planning another couple of easy weeks before winding things up again.

Eccy Woods. Injury-wise, this was the best I have felt on a run this year. It felt so good to run without having to think about any niggles. Yet again a long race seems to have taken me a step closer to full health - I don't understand the physiology behind it, but I'm not complaining!

Lunchtime with Matthew. Good to get the body moving again after a very slow week.

Easy loosener. Not too bad.

4am start for the drive down from Glen Coe. Don't know how Oleg managed it, it was all I could do to keep my eyes open. Stomach not great, but a Weatherspoons breakfast was just what I needed in Edinburgh before catching the train. Cycle home from the station with a heavy pack was not what I needed.

Glen Coe Skyline. What a rollercoaster! Apologies in advance for the gushing to follow. So happy to have made it to the start of this race after pulling out last year and even happier to make it to the finish. Not quite the race I wanted, but hard to care about that too much and I can honestly say I enjoyed it all, even the suffering. Of which there was a lot.

I started at what I felt was the right pace, letting the front pack go straight away and settling in with Pete Vale amongst others. Maybe used up a bit too much energy on Curved Ridge trying to get ahead to avoid congestion, had a few cramp warning spasms here (already!) and could feel the effort in my legs. The next section up and over a col and up the next valley went well, but I probably got a bit carried away with the running. When I hit the climb to Bidean I tucked into a peanut butter sandwich and promptly had a bit of a crash (low energy, burning quads and flashing lights - uh oh). Lost a few places here and toiled up all the climbs along the ridge. Much too early for that sort of thing!

Kept telling myself it would pass, but the bad feeling lasted through the out and back (where Emile Forsberg came powering past me making it look easy) and the horrible descent down to Loch Achtriochtan. The descent in particular was miserable; treacherous greasy slabs and irregular steps all the way - the car park at the bottom just would not get any closer! I probably haemorrhaged a good 20 minutes on this bad patch and had serious doubts about my ability to make it up the next 1000m climb!

But anything can happen in a race like this and as soon as I started the climb I found that my legs were working again. Settled into a nice rhythm here counting the double steps and promising myself incentives at round numbers: 'at 500 I will look down and see how far I have come'; 'at 1000 I will be over half way (a lie, alas).' Astonishingly the folk in front were slowly coming back to me and there was no sign of danger from behind.

Once up I knew that I would at least make it to the finish, but progress along the ridge was painfully slow with the pinnacles of Annoch Eagach to negotiate. The scrambling was a welcome distraction though and I quite enjoyed this section. The last bit was a slog with no water left and a good 15km of running back to the finish. I had a suspicion that sub-8 was out of reach, but deluded myself for as long as possible to keep up the motivation. Actually felt pretty good in the last few kms on the runnable stuff when it finally came.

Glad to get that one in the bag! Nice to see so many others hitting personal targets and just surviving to the finish line - particularly the final finisher who made it in 2 minutes inside the cutoff in the dark at 9pm. It's an audacious race, but with the risk so well managed that it really works. Was good to catch up with so many people too - the 4am start back to Edinburgh in Oleg's party wagon was almost worth it!

C • Well done Oli - sub 8 next ... 9

Nice gentle cruise from Pathhead with Oleg getting a tour of the local sights. Next stop Glen Coe!

School and back with the lad, then off up to Edinburgh.

Lunchtime around Norfolk Park, Sky's Edge, etc. A few faster bits here and there. Feeling good!

Ringinglow and a couple of laps of Lady Cannings. More rain.

Winnats and Mam Tor in the pouring rain. Lots of hands on knees walking, limbering up for next weekend. Watch fail so missed a chunk.

IW, HFW.

Lunchtime hilly run aroudn Fulwood.

Lunchtime cruise up to Parkwood Springs. Feeling pretty good.

Hunter House Road reps. 2.01, 1.58, 1.56, 1.55, 1.57, 1.55. Slow to get moving and a bit soon after tea so struggling a bit with the stomach. Good to blow away a few cobwebs after feeling flat for a few days.

BHP and back. Felt like running a bit harder.

IW after a morning off with the lad for school inset via Brincliffe, Chelsea, Cemetery, Botanicals. Fueled with two chocolate digestives and a cup of tea approx. 30 mins before. Warm and muggy and had quite a dab on by the time I made it in to the office. Ran slightly slower than an honest pace, but slightly faster than dishonest and felt generally good except for a slight lingering stiffness in my R SI joint. Also felt a slight twinge in L hamstring towards the end. Notable occurances included bumping into Dave Nolan plus three in the Botanicals and slipping on a turd in the Cemetery.

There. Better?

C • this logs gone to shit 4

More pole experiments, this time at the Plummet. Ran 5x: 3.53, 4.02 (poles), 3.48, 3.43, 4.02 (poles). Poles clearly slowing me down, but there was a lot of bracken in the way, which rendered them pretty useless for much of the cliimb. Still unconvinced of the benefits.