Training Log Archive: Big Jon

Ballogie event, Brown course. Lovely day - very cold (ca -9C) with snow on ground, blue skies. Ran first (Sarah taking E round white) so glad of jog to start, launched into course quickly, OK for 1&2, then small misses in circle at 3-5, 3 - overshot till saw wall, 4 saw what looked like a boulder on the right line and ran to it - rootstock!, 5 - didn't see boulder on angle of approach and wasn't clear enough in my head of what was in circle, so stood for a while checking location, then moved 1 m and saw flag!
Most of rest of course was fine - running strongly (but legs felt weary) and o-ing cleanly. Saw 4 red deer on 13-14 - big heavy looking beasts, 3 of them stags.
Surprised that only 3 mins ahead of Duncan G, but mostly the O was fairly straight forward - visibility is too high in most of Ballogie to be really tricky.

jog to start

lap of Cambus loop - very thin in places on small track near powerline, but forest road was great. Legs tired, so took very steady.

Guiding for Running the Highlands, Balmoral, Ripe Hill loop, along riverbank first then up long hill and back vis cairns. Superb day, -8C, blue skies and not a breath of wind. Mountains looked metres away, not miles! Good group, decent pace but plenty of photo stops and great banter. Good day to be alive and even better to be running in the mountains.

Guiding for Running the Highlands, Balmoral Castle to west up long hill, divertion to see red deer, cairns loop and back uphill from John Brown. Lovely snow and cold crisp morning, small snow shower near end.

Guiding group for Running the Highlands, riverbank path, up long hill to Albert Cairn, then back via John Brown. Not as cold as morning, good relaxed company.

rest day due to tirednes in legs and achy ?hip/pelvis? area - fine running but bad at night sleeping - can't get comfortable.

Extra session to make up for missing Monday. Felt tired, but managed ell, side bend with leg raise was good and most other parts were fine.

DNC Coull, nice course in intricate area at south. 4-5" of snow in forest so running easy and forest bright. Slightly messy run - one miss at 8 and several fumbles around controls - not slick O technique and compass work not spot on either. Pleased with time overall, felt strong if not fast and was obviously covering the ground well. Missed bonus leg again!

Time for a quick lap of lit trail before driving to airport. Fresh snow falling and trail slower than on previous visits - made uphill easier but downhill slower and not so satisfying! Ewan was messing around near sports centre and enjoying going down some little hills - progress.

Kikut (boring...) to Gronebakken Hytte. Pushed hard on way out in very flat light (fell over a couple of times 'cos couldn't see tracks and missed changes in gradiant or camber). Reached hut in 47 minutes, turned and thrashed back in 36 mins. All in at end and right hip muscle starting to suffer - not sure what but general ache. really enjoyable to have a good flog, felt technique was much smoother and controlled than earlier days.

With Ewan and Sarah, out to cafe and then looped to north, ending up at top of Kikut ski tow, down an easy slope with Ewan (only one fall) and then played around ice cave for a while. Ca 2 hours skiing