Training Log Archive: Cruachan

Felt shattered after the 6 days and travel so a resty...

Day 6 at Loch Ordie... another tough day in the heather. Struggled from the outset (physically) though was navigating fine - just made a couple of slight misses (seconds only) at 4 and 10. Had James Lyne in sights from 14 which gave me a boost. Caught him at 20 and we traded controls before also being joined by James Williams for the mad descent to 26 onwards. Had to relent to Lyne's younger legs but beat Williams.

After racing over 50k in 6 days, drove the 8 hours back south and got home feeling very positive - and just in time to watch the new BBC Football League show and to see the goals from the Os to win their opening fixture! Finished all 6 days and overall 37th - not bad for an old man and especially when you take into account the lack of training and everything else since March. I clearly perform better when the going is good and will need to work much harder on running strong in tougher terrain.

Easy jogging...

Day 5 at Barry Buddon... another lovely day in the sun on the coast. Made another great start for the tricky first 5 in the forest - running well and clean. Lost a minute at 8 (lost contact with vague contours) and some more time at 13 (too far left), but kept it pretty clean then onwards for a good run - finishing 36th and only 4 mins down on the great Carsten Jorgensen!

Day 4 at Tentsmuir... really enjoyed it. Made an electric start (nailing the first 7 perfectly and catching Patrick Walder in process) then suffered on the long leg (had to stop to spew at one point) before picking up towards the end - made sure I at least looked impressive going through the spectator leg. Lost valuable time at 2 controls - including another easy one!

Easy run along coastal path to try and ease legs out which sort of worked. Then treated self to bestest ice-cream in St Andrews and orgasmic fish and chips at the Anstruther Fish Bar (Ooooooo!).

What a race! Had ummed and erred about changing to M40 but my stubborn streak prevented me from quitting to join the old men so kept with Elite for the Classic race. Pouring rain for most of it. Started well (near top 20 after the first 5 in the forest which was lovely), began to struggle in the open (had to just watch and weep as both Chepplin and then Nixon passed me on route from 8 to 10) and died on the route to 16 (now watching the interesting head to head between Baker and Jorgensen). Was on course for about 118 mins but badly fell away in second half (16 onwards). Made a stupid 90 secs mistake at 19 (saw 20 first) and then a really stupid 4 min error at 24 as couldnt make any sense of the map on one of the easiest controls. Nothing made sense on ground in relation to map and just found myself getting upset at my apparent ignorance - due to extreme tiredness? Pleased to have got round. Beers that night were indeed Manna.

Easy jogging...

Day 2 - Kinnoull & Deuchny. Now that's more like it.... A good running course and fairly straightforward technically. Duncan A was out early and warned me about the first couple - I nailed them perfectly and then managed to lose nearly 2 minutes on 7-9 through some silly map reading. Where would I have finished with some decent physical training in the last 6 months?