Training Log Archive: runnermdj

Decided on a day off training after the dire run yesterday and lots of travelling. Not total rest though as enjoyed running round the Aberfoyle fun run (Martin Hyman production - excellent for kids) with Hanna, which was about 1 mile.

Warm up. Ran down the hill and round the start field a bit after walking up to check out the last part of the descent.

Maesgwm Muddle Race - 4th Race in British Fell Running Championship
Made the long journey to Wales determined to try and help the club out since we were sitting well in the team competitions. Wasn't likely to make the top 5 Carnethy senior men given who was running but always worth having back up! Was one of the four vets running and we needed to finish a team to have a chance of 3rd team overall. Set off pretty steady on the uphill start on the road then immediately moved through a bit on the flat trails. Was wary of pushing too hard given recent cold etc. Hit the first tough climb up Moel Cynghorion and knew pretty quick that there was a problem. Leg power was very poor and breathing far too hard for the effort. Just tried to keep the effort/breathing manageable and hang on to the top, but losing places all the time. First descent was ok but as soon as I hit the flat, breathing went again. Very strange. For the rest of the race, I got more tired and weaker and had to keep a lid on the effort to keep the breathing in check. Quite depressing but was determined to finish. Luckily I got there in the end and it was a very tough day out. Bad races are so much harder than good ones! Was at least 10mins down on where I should have been if I'd run well. Not really sure what went wrong, with lots of possible excuses, but who knows. Shame, as it's a nice race route, conditions were good and it's a heck of a long way to go for a bad run! Thankfully the rest of the team pulled it out the bag, well done guys & Jasmin.

Result - 69th/182, Winner Rob Hope 1.24.53

Ran from Hanna's School up the Avon to the canal and back past the Sports Centre. Easy run

Run with Marco and Cameron to Arthurs Seat, round the Queens Drive clockwise and back. Kept the pace fairly easy.

Along Queen St, Dean Path, Ravelston to Corstorphine Hill. Did tempo effort on climb then eased off for rest of run. Returned along Ravelston & Dean Path then turned left along WoL, past RBS and back up the hill to finish. Ran with Marco.

Ran up The Nebit from Alva Glen the long way via zig zags and landrover. Did some extra running on the top to keep warm

Nebit Downfall Race - Always difficult to get a downhill race right! Afterwards I realised I'd made the same mistake as last year, went too hard off the summit and spent most of the way down in major oxygen debt. 11 seconds down on last year though the course was longer due to a longer marked route through the woods at the bottom (zig-zag instead of down the steps), so probably similar run. Came 8th. Winner Andrew Gilmore in 5.02.

Legs somewhat tired so rest the most sensible option!

Tracey's Birthday Run 1 - Initial plan was to park at Brig O' Turk, run up the glen, then up Ben Ledi, along the ridge and back down the landrover track. Got distracted by Lendrick Car Park 2 miles before Brig O' Turk and the map at the car park showed a path up Stuc Odhar so thought that would be a potentially good addition to the planned route. Bad mistake! Once off the good forest track, a bit of a fairly rough path meandered uphill until the deer fence, then beyond that there was pretty much nothing but very rough, slow hillside. Don't know if we lost the path but there was certainly no sign of one. Not good for Tracey and her bad ankles, so once over Stuc Odhar, and heading towards Ben Ledi, I spotted a decent looking track heading downhill to the left so we bailed off into the glen and cut our losses before Tracey totally knackered her ankles. Picked up nice forest track traversing out of Glen Finglas back to the car. Tracey not chuffed with her birthday run so we headed off for another one!

Tracey's Birthday Run 2 - 10min drive along to Bochastle for another run and another attempt at Ben Ledi! Ran along the forest track then up the tourist track to the summit and back. Legs were pretty knackered towards the summit but at least they didn't pack in completely. Nice and cool, and quite breezy higher up. Run was good though very glad to reach the car. At least Tracey ended up with one nice birthday run!