Training Log Archive: SarahD

Hilly loops round Dess. E's company for a w-u lap, then 3 various climbs and descents. Intended to work the climbs, but legs felt really heavy from yesterday, so not up to any real effort. Improved a bit as the run went on.

Hanging controls for Dess event. T-bars felt worse than ever as I'd just finished barrowing a couple of loads of manure. On empty by the end.

Shortened stretch

Test run with RC round Balfour woods to decide whether it is a goer for 6 days. Pleasantly surprised at how runnable it was. Varying levels of detail, but generally an all round thumbs up. Nice run, sun coming out by the end and feeling better for it.

Almost another fail this morning. Really dreich and running tight for time, but made myself get out and glad I did. Woods, fields then bullevard and cow shit alley.

Brightened up nicely for after-school club. Control hanging in Castle woods then collecting after - just got them in without a headtorch with JGs help.

Such a dreich autumn day. Had intended to do something a bit more, but was really uninspired. Good day for getting stuck into admin and crossing a few things off the list. Actually really enjoyed the head-torch jog round the woods and felt much better for it.

6 x 3'+1' round Loch Kinord, with J. First proper interval session in ages and I could tell. Felt really tough, but good to get going again.

Decent length w-u from Dinnet round to monitoring station. Back at end from intervals.

Home - P'murchie - Torph golf club - high rd to Campfield - Glassel - Craiglash and home.

Easy day wandering round St Cyrus

Figure of 8 round the woods at dusk. Lovely night - cold and crisp. Feeling better than expected.

About time to get regular with this again...

From Corrour up to Devils Point (cp 8) then on to Cairn Toul and Angel's Peak. Bit overcast, wind not too bad to begin with but got increasingly stronger. Tops in cloud, but stayed dry at least. Back to the bothy for a brew before walking back out to the bikes. 5h or so.

Somewhat easier ride back out, although by no means a tail wind all the way.

Cycled in from Linn of Dee to just beyond Derry Lodge. Straight into the hooley. Max effort just to keep upright and moving at times.
Quads still sore from Tues.

Then on in to Corrour bothy. Headwind all the way - not a day for the tops (not that any were planned). 1h40m or so.

With AM. From home down the DW towards Kinker, then down to the river bank and back round as far as the Drumnagesk rd. Quads really sore from yesterday.

Triple Tops pt 1. Meeting with MR in Dufftown, so took the chance of a run up Ben Rinnes. Long steady climb. Managed to run it all. Lovely morning.

Triple Tops pt 2. Driving past The Buck on the way to Dufftown it occurred to me that I'd never run up from the Cabrach side, and that it really isn't very far. It also occurred to me that it was a lovely day and so a mini adventure plan was hatched.
Set off at 3ish with lunch still weighing on my stomach. That and the extensive bog meant that running on the way up was less than it might have been, but still on the top in 30' or so. Jog back down was much easier.

Triple Tops pt 3. The mini adventure wouldn't have been complete without a wee jaunt up Tap o' Noth at the end. A bit tired by this stage, but it was short enough and I had the hill to myself.
Fun! All the more so as it was all very spontaneous.

Headtorch jog round the woods with J to test out batteries / lamp. They failed again - time to bite the bullet and replace. Felt really lethargic.

To start

CSC final, green women, at Helsington Barrows. Not a great night's sleep after too much good food, drink and chat. Hoping that autopilot would kick in and that it would be short enough to attack. It did and it was. Wobble into 3 (-30"), but otherwise clean. Don't O at 7'/km pace very often these days. 2' down on JR and Mudged by 30 secs, but honour otherwise upheld.
Plenty of good Maroc performances on the day from those that went, but need to be able to play the numbers game better to make an impact on the overall results.

Family walk from Malham up to the cove and beyond. Entertainment provided by the slack-liner above the cove.

Potter up to Falls of Clyde from New Lanark.

Easy potter on the bikes with J and E from home. Over fields to military rd, towards Lumph, then loop round lower Dess bowl to Boddomend and back on DW. Another glorious autumn day. Starting to feel good again :)

With J and E. From Linn of Dee in to White Bridge and then N as far as sensible for biking. Past Chest of Dee (cp 11 and no 50). Back again after.

Beinn Bhrotain (cp4). Long walk. Feeling really low on energy on the early climb. 3.5 h or so total. Plenty of roaring stags, several ptarmigan and a hare.

Control hanging and collecting at Cambus

To the green in Aboyne and back after intervals

6 x efforts round to the kirk then jog back across the green. Cruising.
Don't really think this is a very good session - efforts too short and recovery too long - but fine for me tonight.

Control hanging and collecting at S Greens for holiday camp. Feet didn't thaw out until I got home.

Lap of Loch Kinord from Dinnet. Relaxed pace. Raw morning.

Jog round H'head with J while E doing parkrun. Good decision not to race - still quite choked up from cold.

Another lovely morning and another easy feel-good ride. Over to T'land rd then a loop round by Baudygaun and back by west side of Learney.

Glorious day. Feeling much brighter, so time for an easy outing on the bike. Ended up going further than planned as it was so pleasant. Legs feeling fine, but kept effort minimal.
Home - past DAP to xrds - left and round the high Dess bowl - on up the hill to Crossrds - E on T'land rd - then right on wee rd towards Bogentassie and back to the Lumph rd - Lumph and home by DAP.

Control hanging and collecting at Bell Wood. Only remembered about the mini printer at 3:30 and didn't leave enough time to hang. Bit of stress, but all went fine in the end thanks to J's help.

Slept a lot better last night. Still not finding it too hard to hold myself back.

Legs feeling ok but stuffed up with cold. Mingin' day too, so no difficulty in sticking to the R+R plan.

Body not feeling too bad, but I think I am (inevitably) succumbing to E's cold.
Wander round KB before lunch picking up controls, and a bit of tail-end jogging at after-school club - all good for keeping some movement going.

Glencoe Marathon. Smashed it. So chuffed :-)
Didn't have any great expectations today after struggling to fit in consistent marathon distance training with everything else going on over the summer. Plan was to go out and enjoy a great course on a great day.
Got the bus to the start, arriving over an hour ahead of my last wave start. I had taken an extra top but no over trousers. It was freezing. After shivering uncontrollably for a while, spotted that some unsuspecting campers on the Red Squirrel site had got a fire going to cook their breakfast. Decided it was time to make some friends - life saver, and a whole new meaning to the concept of a warm-up!
The wave start meant plenty of space to begin with, but the down side of the last start became apparent as I was soon reeling in the slower runners from earlier starts and having to try and pass on single track, taking more effort than I would have wished. Tried to stay comfortable whilst moving through the field. First 10km in an hour, happy with that and feeling relaxed. Soon onto a few km of bog before the main Devils staircase climb, wet feet but all good, and the DS was soon over.
Relaxed into the descent towards Kinlochleven trying to run smoothly and avoid too much hammering at this early stage. Still passing plenty of folk. Somewhat surprised to reach the "half way" point at KLL in 2:12, hoping I hadn't gone off too fast. Remembered the climb out of KLL from walking the WHW 30 years ago. Tough going, but still feeling quite strong. Went through a bit of a dip at 25-28km, but with hydration fluid and a chocolate rice krispie in me I perked up big time and flew the next section through to 32km.
Knew there was a bit of a sting in the tale, but with only 10km to go, it couldn't be too bad... What I had failed to notice on the map, was the roller-coaster section of steep up and down, once you got into the plantation. This was really tough, but still I was picking off people bit by bit. Finally at 38.5km or so we reached the start of the descent and very soon could see the finish - go for it! All great until a bit of a flatter section at 40km and suddenly everything cramped. Aagh! Had to stop to ease it out, but within a minute or so, managed to relax the muscles and was able to get going again. Home straight now, and managed to get to the finish without further issues.
Way ahead of any schedule I might have dreamt of, and finished 4th F in the end.
Totally stunning day for the race. I've been so lucky with my two races over here. Organisation all very efficient. One to do, provided you're prepared to take the sting of the sponsorship commitment.
And now it's really time for some R+R.

C • great stuff! 1

Running round Knockburn hanging kites. Trying to watch E in his duathlon in between, so not very efficient. Busy day, feeling pretty frazzled by the time I dumped E and headed west. Had to leave the kites out to collect another day. Not exactly ideal pre race prep, but c la v.

Meikle Tap. Trying to wake the hill legs up a bit. Perfect day again.

Jog round Bellwood hanging kites for ASC and collecting a few after. Lost too much of the day sitting in the "Ryanair" departure lounge of Aberdeen Sheriff Court - fun, not.