Training Log Archive: olsoran

Craigmore and Birkenhill loop. Intended more but felt too weary so cut it short.

More swimming against the current under Potties bridge.

Glen Cat out and back. Very warm. Hard work on the way up, not so bad on the way down.

Jury duty citation unexpectedly at an end so getting some gardening in.
Swimming against the flow under Potties bridge maybe counts for a little effort too.
Apart from that, a rest day.

Loop over Craigmore and back via Torqu and community path.
Somewhat heavy legged.

Serious DOMS today.
Aboyne Academy Run Club - 20 out today. Short running loop via the DW and the woods.
Very warm swim across the Dee and back after.

From Linn of Dee out to Derry Lodge and on over the Luibeg burn and up Carn a'Mhaim with K. Fabulously clear day. Ground out the climb to the summit and then legged it down as fast as possible to (successfully) catch the leaders in the Lairig Ghru race. Then spent a very enjoyable half an hour by the Luibeg burn shouting support to large numbers of people, known and unknown, then back to the cp.
Wonderful day to be on upper Deeside. Aimed to get two decent length runs in this weekend. Mission accomplished. Tired today by the end though.

Birkenhill Farm; through the plantation (didnt get a good line unfortunately) and up to Toms Cairn; down the back and down t he main drive to Finzean House; and back over the top. Felt really good throughout.

Dundee doctor day. :-)

Messing about on off road roller skis on the Deeside Way from Potties. Plenty to work on but probably somewhat easier on tarmac.

C • off-road skis 3

Toms Cairn in the evening with T. Very blustery.

With K round Loch Kinord once then carried on round to meet T who was running the other way. Also a couple of times round the dragonfly boardwalk. Good pace.

From Dinnet to Aboyne along the DW. Good pace again. Feeling pretty good after the Kinord loop.

RTH Guiding
Littlemill via Glen Girnock to the distillery. Mexican lady very buoyant after yesterday :-)
Lovely day and cracking views. Good pace with just a brief stop at Bovaglie. Super spot on a sunny day but what a place to live. Maybe that's why no-one does anymore. Mind you the estate seem to be building a bit of a motorway of the track further on.
Early on it seemed like hard work after yesterday but it got better. Nice chat.

Warming up out on the first km of the 10k course. Nice temperature. Feeling quite good.

Touler Multi-terrain 10k. 2/3 road and the rest pretty good land rover track. Undulating with one, much steeper amd longer than expected, hill.
Laboured on the hills but felt good on the rest. Nice scenic course out of Tomintoul and amazing prizes given the small size of the race.
1st v60. Nice bottle of whisky.

Plenty S&C this week. Much work making Consumption wall additions.

To and from Potties for coffee with T and K. Down by road and back through the wood.
Rode C's Ridley.

With K up and over Corybeg, down into Forest of Birse; back along the road then up Finzean House south drive; past the stables and over and down into Ballogie.
Lovely ride.

Some reflections on Jura now that the dust has settled.

Jura for me was the toughest single day hill race I’ve ever done – some 5hrs 30mins worth on a hot day. In this game you never stop learning so thought it worth sharing a few lessons:

• Any experienced long distance runner knows the importance of fuelling and hydration during the race but in a race as long and as tough as Jura, and on a hot day like this year, its very difficult to drink or eat enough. In fact during therace you probably have no idea whether you are or not. It’s not just important to get it right though in order to perform at your best or even just to finish the race. Remember the game isn’t even over at the finish line.
• Dehydration can really mess you up after the race. It can be both dangerous and really scary, if not necessarily for you, then your nearest and dearest and for the race organiser and the support services.
• You may think that you are just “normally knackered” after a race and it may take someone else to notice that you’ve gone a funny colour and need assistance. Don’t take yourself off by yourself assuming easy recovery over time. Stay around folk.
• Dehydration can really mess up your bodies temperature regulation. Probably even more so the older you get simply because you are likely to be generally stressing your body relatively more during the race than younger folk. You probably won’t expect to feel cold on a hot day and indeed you may not feel it but you may actually be so. Stick a jacket on anyway to help avoid some of the issues. which can potentially even be life threatening. My core body temperature was very low but I had absolutely no idea.
• If you are an organiser of a long race on a hot day don’t underestimate the potential issues. The 3 x MRTs and visiting and local medical staff on Jura were numerous, well prepared, very professional, extremely friendly and ultimately quite brilliant.

Birkenhill loop antoclockwise with K. Bit sluggish after last nights session but warmed to it later on. Nice cooling rain. Shoes worn in and comfortable.

Deeside Runners Glen Tanar session. First time for a good while.
Usual warmup then:
2x4 mins/2, 2x3/1, 2x2/1, 4x1/1 round the Baudy Meg loop and with a brutal start straight up the steep hill.
Really struggling on anything remotely steep but feeling ok on the rest of it.
Tough old session and close to bringing up the rear throughout.
Enjoyable in a funny sort of way for all that...type 2 fun anyway.

Academy Run Club
Humid
19 out. Tarland Way to the Burn bridge. A few hills back.up...put in some effort on 4 of them. Generally took things pretty leisurely. Feeling light and pretty good.

RTH Guiding - Loch Kinord & Burn o'Vat
Lots of yesterday in the legs but all ok apart from that. Nice leisurely paced chatty run round the loch and up to the Vat.

Running The Highlands guiding - Three Glens
White Mounth Munros
Slightly concerned about the thundery weather forecast in advance...but apart from a fair drenching between Broad Cairn and Cairn Bannoch and a fair few very dark clouds and quite a bit of noise, nothing too bad.
Pretty slow at times and missed out Carn an t'Sagart Mor with two of the slower ones but turned into lovely weather late on and so another good round of these ones.
Pretty weary by the end but then again it's not every week I run 15 Munros.

Birkenhill farm loop with K. Too much of a BBQ at lunchtime but felt ok for all that. It's a while since I've done more than about 200m on the road (last 5k of Jura excepted)....or on the flat for that matter..or so it seems.

(Project B)

Warm down with K.

Healthy and fun R&R

The seven Munros around Ben Lawers with K.
Been meaning to do this for a while.
Left a bike at Lochan na Lairige before heading to Lawers by van. Decided on doing the ridge east west rather than tother way as didn't fancy the uphill cycle late on. This meant for the long grind up to Meall Greigh to begin with. Once that was sorted rattled off Meall Garbh, An Stuc, Ben Lawers, Beinn Ghlas, Meall Corraneich, and Meall a Choire Leith. The clouds coming and going made things somewhat atmospheric throughout. Bit of a grind back to the bike at the end. Great day, good chat.
( Ben Lawers done 45 years after it was my first Munro).

Back to the Lawers Hotel to collect the van (and much needed and excellent pizza and quick half).

Glen Lyon horseshoe with K.
Wanted to put last weekends shenanigans to bed asap so this was a relatively gentle but necessary confidence booster.
From Invervar in glorious weather. Round Carn Gorm, Meall Garbh, Carn Mairg, Meall na Aighean loop. Lovely running on the short grass for the most part although we were kind of pottering.
Met Sarah O'N coming off the last.
Nice dip in the River Lyon after.

From Littlemill up Glen Girnock and back, gently with K. Back in the game. Lovely.

Warm swim in Loch Ullachie with K just as the heavens opened. Very atmospheric. Precursor to the most torrential rain I think Ive ever seen up here. Drove back to Ballater through a river - quite scary at times. Completely dry at Dinnet.