Training Log Archive: Bashman

Recovery
Had a longer run in mind, especially since it was such a nice day, but planned ahead a bit and this was the result. Short loop of Hillhead/Dalmunzie Roads and down to Newton Dee.

Core with Stretching
Just getting back into things

Easy
With Oleg down to an estate to the north-east of Pathhead. Nice place with some cool trails but it was a little bit wet today. Look forward to explore a bit more some other day soon. This was also a new race-prep experiment before Aboyne Highland Games later on.

WU
Going quite fast from the outskirts of Aboyne to the registration tent (got there just in time). Then a few drills and jogging around.

Aboyne Highland Games - Fungle Hill Race - 2nd by <1min

My earlier run didn't seem like it was a good idea on the start line but by the time I had finished my opinion had changed. Some pretty poor weather today so opted for the trailrocs, rained most of the way through.
Started quickly but comfortably round the field leading the pack. Out the exit and it was me, Mark and last year's winner. We nailed it down the road at a fairly fast pace but I think all three of us were conscious of the tough climbs coming up. Along the linking path to the roads towards Birsemore, sliding all over the place, but that was the worst bit so glad it was over quite soon. Got to the hill and I was stuck in 2nd with a fair gap to 3rd and Mark slowly pulling away in front. The climb was pretty hard, managed to hang on for the first pretty steep bit but then the fast start got to me and I had to powerwalk a little bit. Path was horribly muddy but I was already soaked so just pushed through. Uncomfortably went over the top with 3rd within touching distance behind and Mark no where in sight, but I was ready to use my strengths on the steep downhill.
Totally let go and dropped 3rd instantly. Caught up mark and slowed my descent and sat just ahead of him until the bottom, hoping that I would hang on for the next climb. This did not happen and within half a minute Mark was back ahead running at a completely different level up the gradual gradient, on a good track this time. He soon got away but I found this climb a lot better than the first. Only had a tiny walk on the last steep section just to check behind a little bit, 3rd was catching again. But I was focusing on the final downhill, my only chance of overtaking Mark. Over the top and I began to push. A little unexpected climb and then really began to let go. Expected to see the red top going round each corner but he never appeared, only saw him 25s ahead at the bottom of the hill. Pushed on but his natural flat speed was a lot better than mine. Gutted the last climb wasn't a bit more technical, because I might have caught him again. He slowly pulled away and 3rd was nowhere in sight behind so just eased in a little bit before nailing the final lap to a cheering crowd feeling quite good. Mark got me by about 50s but I was happy enough with that.
Prep run might have down some good but the uphills felt pretty bad today so I'm not sure if it's down to that or just general post-JWOC fatigue. Time is still good especially for in these conditions, 1 min(?) off Oleg in 2009. Looked up Mark Mitchell of Forres on PoT and was happy to see that he's a very good middle distance runner. Commonwealth time for 800 and also ran a 4:01 mile in the past. Not sure if this translates very well to his hill capabilities but running a 30:31 10km probably helped him quite a bit (especially at the end). All that track probably explains his poor technical downhill speed though.
Won £80 anyway, and I'm looking forward to hopefully at least 2 more of these this year.

C • Mitchell 2

WD (ish)

Easy
Similar to yesterday except took some longer routes and spent more time in Vogri. Got out onto the golf course and then stuck in a horse field but eventually found a path and followed a similar route back to yesterday.

Spent the evening at the Commonwealth Games: 10000m, 800women and 4x100m were the highlights!

Steady
Nice out from Pathhead getting some speed on the roads to the south, but then got stuck in a field at the end.
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Easy
Out with Oleg from his new house to Ford, shortcut to Dewartown, Vogri and back. Some nice landscapes around there. Got a bit spooky in the dark.

Easy
Ran home from Cara's after some heavy lifting loading a minibus. Along the country roads feeling absolutely brilliant the whole way. Weather was perfect and the only noticeable difference to Bulgaria were the smells (same weather). Over Culter and then back on the main road. Strangely not unusual for me to feel great after a hard week's competition.

Easy
After a couple of hours of sleep I woke up feeling wide awake and great given the circumstances so headed out for a goodbye run. Down to the other Hotel looking for any hungover people then back up some tracks to the abandoned ski jump that I found the other day. Scrambled up a 50% gradient and then found the structure that jumpers used to start from. Must have been quite a popular place because it was standing well. Walked up the ~60m high concrete jump on staircases that seemed to be held up by nothing, with no handrails or anything, got a bit scary up top when it began to shake on every step I took.. Looked up to see the most stunning view I have ever seen. By climbing this jump I had climbed above the cloud level and all I saw was a see of cloud to the north and the blue sky above. The cloud moved in in a surreal manner and covered the jump. It may have been the lack of sleep but it was a crazy experience. I then made my way down when a whiteout began to form back below the cloud level. Ran back through the relay area, down a steep ski slope, and to breakfast to see hardly anyone had woken up.