10/08/11 - Caerketton Hill Race

Last night I took part in the Caerketton hill race in the Pentlands in Edinburgh.  It had been raining non stop all day so I was hoping the race which is part of the Bog and Burn series would fulfill its name and well... be boggy. I have descended off Caerketton once but the route I took was beside the ski slope which was a different route to the one the race took. Its a short race covering just 2.4k up and down with just 240 meters of ascent.

The race began on a grassy path leading up to the style. Most of this was run-able with a few hands on knees walking stretches. After the style I couldn't quite believe what was next. A very steep climb almost crawling up and certainly no running. You would have thought it was a hill race or something! There was a few people who took a diagonal route up to the right of the hill which looked more run-able but I decided just to go for the straight up option. It was brutal and took a lot out of me before I reached the first cairn. Once running round the first cairn it leveled out, with lots of puddles to run through, along with trying to avoid the onslaught of runners coming down the hill. Then a short ascent to the main cairn, round the marshals and back down. From here, I noticed there wasn't many people coming the other way, meaning either I had a bad ascent or the standard was high tonight. Given that ascents are my strength and steep descents are my weak point you can guess what happened next...

I had an absolute stinker of a descent. I haven't had any experience of that kind of steepness mixed with wet under foot conditions. For starter I went for the ski approach, going across the slope then turning for a while before heading for the diagonal path I saw other folk using earlier. Reaching the style was a relief as I knew it would be cruise control from here and I was able to relax my stride.

In the end I managed to finish 77th which is my highest placing for a hill race ever!! What makes it funny is that it was out of 78 runners! I finished in a time of 24 minutes 47 seconds. I had a target before the race of finishing within double of the winners time which was Al Anthony in 13.30.

So I managed to meet that target and I'm glad to have ticked this race off the list.

Re-igniting the flame and Euro takeover

I've been a bit quiet on the blog front recently mainly because my running has taken a bit of a back foot and I have been going to the gym more. I think I needed a bit of variety as I think I've covered the streets of the southside of Glasgow so many times, I just needed a break from it and time to reassess my goals.  And yes I have been missing some sessions especially in the long run department hence the reason not to do Clyde Stride this year.

I was out for my first bike ride today since last years Pedal for Scotland. On the way out it was absolutely chucking it down - I think I experienced every type of heavy rain - it was so refreshing. After about 9 miles I got a flat. I tried to fix it only to find the valve on my pump didn't fit the valve on the inner tube. So I had a fun, slow cycle back which was challenging to say the least. I have decided to do Pedal for Scotland again this year but undecided on whether to go for the 50 or 100. At the same time I plan to get back into running with Pentland Skyline in the forefront of my mind and either Lomonds of Fife hill race or Ochils 2000s hill race depending on how much I manage to get out on the hills. Then hit the ultra scene hard next year.

Well done to everyone who did Clyde Stride yesterday - that t-shirt looked awesome!

Euro Takeover


Thought instead of doing a double post; I'd just put all in one.

It's a very exciting time for ultra running with the big races being more competitive than ever.

Over in America, the Europeans have been tearing it up with Kilian Journet winning Western States and Julien Chorier winning Hardrock. But who dominated the top 10 in the Men's race and won the women's race? Brits!

Nick Clark 3rd, Jez Bragg 4th and Ian Sharman 10th. While Ellie Greenwood came in 1st in the Women's race! Nick Clark was at Hardrock just a few weeks after Western States and came 3rd place there too!

Well done to the British team over in the Connemara World Trail Championships where  Lucy came 3rd!

Awesome and inspiring performances. The re-match between a lot of the big guns at UTMB is going to be incredible.

Hopefully this is a return to regular blogging for me. I say hopefully as if I'm blogging I've actually done some running!

02/07/11 Dollar Hill Race

So much has happened since my last post. But my 2 main focuses since were the Kilpatrick hill race in early June and Dollar hill race just yesterday.

In the Kilpatrick hill race I was 5 minutes down on last year, but I enjoyed it a lot more and it was really muddy more importantly. In between the 2 races I have been back at the gym and just been doing general fitness stuff.

Yesterday I thought I'd give Dollar hill race a go and cut it a bit fine getting to the start. There were 100 runners and I arrived 20 minutes before the race start to pick up number 99.  We were off before I knew it and after a short run out of Dollar Academy, we were funneled through a gate. The route then goes down the road for a bit before turning left up through a forest path. My legs were still feeling it a bit from Thursday's club session so I ensured I didn't go out too fast.

After we got out the forest the climb up to . It was just relentless. At times it was a case of crawling up on all fours it was that steep. I altered my strategy between going straight up and zig zagging. I was overtaking well on the way up which was nice. A few false summits later I reached the top of the Whitewisp hill. After that the course was rolling hills on grassy paths - great stuff! I really enjoyed going up and down. I found myself in a group of 4-5 runners who I would play yo-yo with. With me overtaking on the ascents and them overtaking me on the descents. There was a small stretch of technical stuff but nothing to write home about.

Overall a great race and one I'll be back at for sure.  Thanks to the Westies and Ochil runners who helped out at the respective races.

The Rebound

That’s what this week has been all about. Getting myself back on top of things. Mentally I took a pretty major blow at Kintyre as if I’d been in a boxing match for a full 12 rounds and the referee wasn’t stopping it. But as always, best thing to do is just get straight back up – look back – learn – move on. Thanks to Santababy for the comment on my last blog talking about her DNF and saying how its not always about finishing. It's so true in the world of ultras and you've just got to pick yourself up and look to the next challenge.

So that is what I've done; I’ve got back into my training this week and I have been building up my mental strength again . Due to the experience I felt the need to make some changes; the first one being pulling out of LAMM. This was obviously a decision I did not take lightly as I knew I would be letting my partner Stephen down. The reason for pulling out was because of the lows I have hit on the last 2 times I have been away, combined with the remoteness of LAMM and how we would be spending all weekend in each other’s pockets. It would be selfish of me to go as I just don’t know if I’ll hit another low. So I let Stephen know and who was really supportive and understanding and we pulled out. The other being Hardmoors 60 as well as I just don’t want to travel too far just now to a race and to do it justice I would need to go down to do recky runs too. I’m thinking River Ayr at the moment but I’ll leave it for a bit before making a final decision. 

So for the moment Kilpatricks hill race will probably be next. But my overall focus will be on Clyde Stride and hope to get under 7 hours 30 minutes or even closer to 7 hours and have the bronze goal of 9 hours. But have the approach which worked for me last year with all races up to half marathon and just take every ounce of pressure off myself and just see what I can do on the day. I'm also thinking of mixing up my training a bit by doing some cross training. Also getting back to the club for speed work which I definitely neglected in the run up to Kintyre as I was focusing on the longer runs at the weekend. Going to draw up a plan and try and get some balance.

It’s always good to read things too about people deal with the mental side of ultras. Like this from Geoff Roes’s current blog (well worth a read):

“For me I think I end up a little burnt out (mentally) before I even start a race when I focus on one specific event for too long. I operate a lot better when my most important run is my next run and not some run several months in the future.”

I'm going to go on a similar approach too. So for the rest of the year, although I have loads of ideas on what I want to do, I'm just going to focus on the next few races at the moment and decide on the rest later.

It's always nice to get a 'Win' which is what I got today at park run. I was the timer and out of 400 people running I didn't miss a click :-)

07/05/11 - Kintyre Way Ultra

There is only one race I can think of that I have struggled as much as I did yesterday and that was my first marathon in 2004 down in London. Although 2 completely different races - my experiences during them were quite similar.

It starts with the excitement and nervousness factor. I couldn't sleep the night before each, at all, because both became an obsession, taking up a lot of my thinking and I had a goal without really any back up goals. In London that was running a sub four hour marathon. In Kintyre it was the potential that I could get a podium finish and the back up was finishing within the time limit. Both those goals were realistic as yesterday there was 5 soloists and of course I didn't know what level any of them were at so why not?

I was keen to do things my way and really try and nail the first leg with a pre-planned strategy having done this leg last year. Last year my legs felt beaten up at the end of that leg. After the first 4 miles up mainly uphill the last 8 miles of the leg are down or flat mixed with paved roads or single track. This year I had altered the strategy so that even though I was going downhill or along flat bits I would have a walking break every 10 minutes. Also I had my Hokas on thinking that would also reduce the impact and I tried delibratley to keep my foot striking soft. What happened when I got to the first check point? My legs felt totally beaten up. I arrived in 2.20 which is down on any of the previous soloists from previous years. I decided to change into my road shoes but the 2km down the road to the turn across to Clachen it wasn't helping. Then my mind really get messed up and I really started to struggle around 14 miles - which is where things went wrong in the London Marathon. It felt like I had totally got my fueling wrong. I was eating shot blocs every 15 minutes. Then at checkpoints I would have muller rice with a wee bit of marmite. The reason I didn't have marmite sandwiches like my long distance runs last year was because I found that after 30 miles I just couldn't digest the bread. So I'll need to go back to the drawing board in terms of my nutrition. You just know in your head and your body when it is just not working.

But anyway the wheels were coming off and I looked at my watch and realised this wasn't going to be my day. I was 4 hours in with 4 miles to Clachen. I did the maths and 22 miles in 5 hours would mean I would have to continue to do that pace on beaten up legs, a run down body and mind which was now not in my control. As the cut off to finish is 66 miles in 15 hours.

I know I made the right the decision and have absolutely no regrets. Looking back the Kintyre Way is one tough ultra and should not be underestimated. I did have thoughts before hand of finishing even if its out with the time limits. But that to me would be a DNF(DID NOT FINISH) anyway.  To me ultras are all about finishing within time limits. If I wanted to complete the Kintyre Way, I can do that any time of the year.

This has also given me some perspective of why other ultra runners choose not to finish races. Especially the top guys and women who often get a lot of stick for not finishing. It really depends on what your goal is in the first place.

A lot of lessons to be learned for me here. But I did get a book delivered through the post the other day which I'll read: Relentless forward progress. This is from a guy who runs the www.irunfar.com website, and is a good ultrarunner in his own right and also knows a lot of the top ultra runners in the business. A lot of ultra books on the market are personal stories where this is more of a reference guide. He is arguably the reason why Jez Bragg won the UTMB last year too, as he gave him a lift to the start.

Thanks to Ken and Nic for their support throughout the weekend.

Onwards and Upwards.

A hilly lessons learned

This weekend I’ve learned so much about running that I thought I’d document it. On Friday my LAMM partner Stephen and Derren and Marc from my club headed north and knocked off a few munros: Ben Vorlich and Ben Vane. Derren and Marc have done a lot of this type of event and I learned a great deal just by watching them. It’s not just about being good at hill running. It’s about working as a team and being able to read the terrain and maps. It’s also about knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Photo taken by Derren of Stephen and I going up Ben Vorlich

Stephen and I, understandably have to work on this as it doesn’t just click overnight and we are going to make a lot mistakes which we can learn from.

What I learned from yesterday was:

•           Going uphill Stephen and I are about the same pace.
•           Going downhill, if technical (lots of loose rocks and steep) I was miles behind (Although that path going down Ben Vane is torture!).  I kind of knew this already. But if you saw the way the other 3 guys bounded down Ben Vane it really does highlight that this is not one of my strengths.
•           Even if the contours are far apart (which means it is less steep), doesn't necessarily mean it is easy terrain to run over. So even If we made a decision based on the map, the best route decision might actually be made when we can see for ourselves where the best route to take is.
•           Where to stop and eat – always best to find shelter from the wind. Also knowing when one and other needs to take breaks.

It does feel like Stephen and myself have gone through the toughest tests that we are likely to encounter come June. Both in terms of the Navigating side of things from Steven Fallon's course. And now today from Derren and Marc on route selection, difficult terrain and teamwork.

Today I went up to Alva to do some of the Ochil hills with Andy, Ash, Fraser and Tomasz from my work. We did 3 hills in Ben Ever, Ben Cleuch and The Law. It was a great day and we had some stunning views. When I looked at the map I thought I’d never go running in this area as the hills looks really steep. But the opposite happened today compared to point 3 above yesterday. The hills looked very run able as it was all really grassy paths. I say run able but there is always an exception which was coming down the Law. WOW, that is a beast of a descent. There is a hill race on there at the end of the year which has been going for 3 years. In that time it has run the full course once, a looped course another time and had to be cancelled the other. I can’t actually believe people can run down some of the sections. It took me more time to walk down, than it would take a mid packer to do the whole thing, never mind the front runners.

View looking to the fourth 

So another lesson is that I’m always going to recky hill race routes before deciding whether or not to do them. There is a few round this area which were in the 'No' category are now in the ‘Yes’ category. On the other hand, races like the Law and Arrochar Alps firmly in the ‘No’ category.

Now focus is firmly on Kintyre - a week from now - fingers crossed - I'll be finished or roundabout there.

National Road Relay Championships + decisions, decisions

Today was fun. It started off with a good laugh. I was driving in to the car park at Livingston's stadium to find myself in a queue which I thought was parking for the event. The thing is a bush obscured the queue and when I crept forward a bit, I realised it was the queue for the car wash which was taking up some of the parking spaces , d'oh, haha.

I walked round to the school where the race was being held and met up with the team captain. Only to find there had been loads of call offs and what not. So it ended up instead of having 3 mens teams, we just had one mens team. So I was in the A-team by default! Awesome. Understandably there were of course some grumbles of disappointment as if we had our best team out we could get top 10 easy I reckon. But you gotta play with the hand your dealt so we made the most of it.

Our young guns took the first 2 legs, Alistair coming in 24th. Then Luke ramped us up to 8th on the second leg.  Then of course no matter what order the 4 of us took; the person doing the next leg was going to be overtaken. So it was Jim then David, then I took the shorter 5th leg. I started with this guy from Lasswade who rocketed off and I didn't even try to keep up, just focusing on doing the best I could. I really went for it and was overtaken once (by people on the same leg) by a Cambuslang guy.  As I reached the join where the long leg and short leg came together. A Shettleston guy doing his final leg went flying by. Then approaching a bridge I could hear shouts, and sure enough a Central guy (2nd overall) overtook me. I really tried my best to make sure the 3rd place (overall) guy didn't over take me. And again at the right point, the team captain gave me a shout of encouragement. I handed over the 'baton' to James who finished things off for the A-team.

It was nice being in the A-team once. But I really hope for my club's sake that I'm not in it again (especially for shorter distances), we just have far too much talent right across the age spectrum.

Decisions


The last couple of months having been crazy and really I have ran how I have felt rather than sticking to a plan. I think I have pretty much decided not to do the Fling this year as it just doesn't feel right. The reason for this is because the Kintyre Way is the weekend after. You just have to read my report on it down the right to realise just how special that day was to me. So I have entered to do the full thing this year (well to Campbeltown anyway where the race finishes).

Whether I finish it or not I don't care. I just want to give it ago and enjoy the scenery and magic of this part of the world. I realise its 20 miles further than I have gone before. But at the end of the day, if I'm gonna do the WHW, that will be 30 miles on top of the length of Kintyre. I am going to stay entered to the fling in case I change my mind but for now my training is focused on Kintyre.

20/03/2011 - Alloa Half Marathon

Today was a great success for so many reasons. Going into the race I felt like I was going a bit into the unknown. Usually when I do half marathons my training is geared towards them or at least a stepping stone to a marathon. While I’m still running 5+ days every week, the type of training I have been doing has varied greatly and has been more focused on the hills/ultras and easy runs. Not tempo runs and long bouts of pavement plodding which I usually do when I’m training for halfs. 

One thing I did have going into this race was plenty of experience in running half marathons. In fact I have run more half marathons than any other type of race or distance. This was my 11^th and 2^nd Alloa.

To the start

I decided to go for a slightly different approach to my journey to the start. I drove myself up to Alloa getting there an hour before. I parked in the furthest away car park and walked to the Leisure Bowl for registration. Picked up my number, dumped my stuff in the left luggage and headed for a warm up.  Since the course is a loop, I decided it would be good to re-familiarise myself with the last half mile or so. So on the way out I did some active stretching and the way back I did short burst between lamp posts at race pace. I then went back to the Leisure bowl and got changed, met Giffnock folk then headed to the start.

The start to 3 miles

We exchanged good lucks and I tried to step back a bit from the people I knew. The reason for this is that I like to just totally get in my own zone just before the gun and go through the course in my head.  It also means I am running my own race.

And Action...

The gun went off and I tried to look down as much as I could for the first mile just to let the field spread out and not pay attention to what other people are doing around me. To start with there is a mile loop which goes back near the start. There was great support here and I spotted a couple of Bella Harriers out of the corner of my eye who I recognised from park run, cheering, which was nice.  I heard a shout of ‘Keep it steady’ – wise words for the first mile of a half. In the second mile a Giffnock team mate, James overtook me and we had a joke and wished each other good luck since I hadn’t seen him at the start. I was feeling good and was enjoying easing myself into the race.

3-6 miles

I did something from 3-6 miles which I don’t think I’ve done in a race since the Lochaber Marathon last year. I worked with Neil from my club and we were stride for stride for 3 miles. We were gradually overtaking people and I felt I went up a gear.

6-10 miles

I think the 6 mile mark was about Tilicoutry where the course turns west. This is where I cranked it up another gear and started to pull away from Neil. My next focus was James who had remained in view but must have been a good 400 meters away. This is where I started using some mental ammunition and just stayed positive. The crowds that were there I would feed off and I would smile back at them or give them the thumbs up. I had 2 songs going round in my head. “Steady as she goes” by the Raconteurs and “Smile” by Flickerstick.  All these were good motivators and I was picking people off quicker now. I knew if I could get to 10 miles I could slog it out. I have to admit when I got to the 10 mile marker I did feel physically sorer at this point this year. But mentally I was in such a better place. I was thinking “Call this pain?” “Ha, try doing an ultra again – that’s proper pain”. 

10-13 miles

In the 10^th mile there was the famous hill everyone talks about. I did what I do for most hills which other people see as daunting. Take a look at it from the bottom – “This doesn’t look too bad and it’s never as bad as it looks”. It’s the only time since the first 2 miles where I looked down again. I look down at the kerb and watch the divides go by really quickly which make me feel like I’m going fast. I glanced up every so often to see if I have to overtake anyone. Boy did I overtake! I reached the top and felt like I was spent. But I knew that there was only a small incline to go and the rest was flat/down.  I continued to overtake and got overtaken once by a Wee County Harriers runner. I got to the set of lights where I reached during my warm up. At this point I was beginning to think just how well today had gone.  I really did nail it and didn’t hide my smile. I even managed to fit in a high five with a guy supporting who was dressed up as banana man. I turned the corner and there was the finish.

The Finish 

I crossed the line in bang on 1.39 (chip time). I was delighted and I was less than 3 ½ minutes off my PB. I went and congratulated the rest of my club mates who also had some fine performances before getting changed and having a slow warm down back to my car. What a great race this is and thank you to everyone involved  in making it so –organisers, marshals, police, water people, registration, folk at the start/finish, car park attendants and of course the runners. Chuffed to bits.

Splits:

Type	Distance	Time	Total Time	Pace
1	Interval	1 mi	7:43.61	7:44
2	Interval	1 mi	15:32.23	7:49
3	Interval	1 mi	23:31.14	7:59
4	Interval	1 mi	31:20.95	7:50
5	Interval	1 mi	38:56.75	7:36
6	Interval	1 mi	46:35.42	7:39
7	Interval	1 mi	53:59.83	7:25
8	Interval	1 mi	1:01:28.71	7:29
9	Interval	1 mi	1:08:46.36	7:18
10	Interval	1 mi	1:15:59.79	7:14
11	Interval	1 mi	1:23:13.30	7:14
12	Interval	1 mi	1:30:30.39	7:18
13	Interval	1 mi	1:37:31.49	7:02
14	Interval	0.23 mi	1:39:05.97	6:51

And Finally...

1. Well done to everyone who completed the D33 yesterday. I have read some of the news on Facebook and seen some pictures.  Looked fun!

2. Well done to Geoff Roes on his course record at the Chuckanut 50k.

3. Well done to Mo Farah on winning the New York half marathon in 1.00.22.

Hill/Ultra runners dominate work fun run

I've decided just to focus on one run for this week's post. The reason being it stands head and shoulders above the rest because things happened which still give me a buzz today.

Usually myself and Alex go on our own run round Gogarburn. However this week one of the guys who we know from one of the other departments invited us to join him on a 4 mile run to celebrate one of his colleagues 50th birthday. He is based in the center of Edinburgh, so we got the all clear from our boss to work there for the day so we could join the run too. He was hoping to get 50 people but I think we got between 15 and 20 which is still a good number.

In preparation for the run, I was thinking it would just be a social run. But as we were walking to the start point and got chatting to folk it became clear the word 'race' kept coming up. I was starting to think maybe I shouldn't have done the club session the previous night but whats done is done. My legs were stiff but I was in good spirits and looking forward to the run.

Due to it being just a low key thing, I had no idea what the route was apart from that it was near the Water of Leith for a lot of it and I have never been down that way before. Most of the guys running yesterday go out running quite a lot so knew it. Therefore I tried to make sure I had at least someone in view all the time.

We had a timer who set us off and it wasn't long before we hit the paths along the Water of Leith. When things started to spread out, I was running along in fourth place, trying to keep 3rd place in view. It was kind of an out and back route with a loop round the roads at the turn. At this point I caught up with 3rd place and he told me where to go. Even then I had to turn around to check with him if I was going in the right direction. After a bit we started chatting and put positions to the back of my mind. Turns out it was Ian King who has run the West Highland Way race! wow, what are the chances? We ran all the way to the finish together coming in the same time and joint 3rd. He then introduced me to second place. Who was another WHWR veteran Keith Hughes. Only an ultra runner can be modest when he said he'd ran it 7 times. In fact in 2009 he ran the race then ran the Great Glen Way afterwards. In 2010 you can read my previous post to see what he did. There was one women so she won the women's race. The winners got champagne and we enjoyed free soup and cakes while having a post race analysis.

Who won? How about Pentlands Skyline course record holder Andy Kitchen! Turns out he was sitting 2 desks away from me yesterday and of course I had no idea. I'm glad I wasn't sitting next to him as I would have got no work done finding out all about his running.

Overall a great run, with a sound bunch of people along a very scenic route.

Crazy rest of week

Wednesday I did a nice and easy 4.5 miles.

On Thursday I couldn't go to the club as I had a work night out. So I went up to the Kilpatricks just before and did a run up to the trig point and back. This time I wore my Inov8s and I definitely feel a lot more confidence going down the steep hills with them over the Hokas. I think its because the rubber studs on the Inov8s give a lot more grip. But over longer distances Hokas would provide a lot more comfort and less damage to the joints.

On Friday I did between 2-3 miles round Gogar with Alex. Alex wanted to mix it up a bit so we went in the opposite direction. It's amazing how running the same route in the opposite direction can give you a completely different run.

On Saturday I helped out doing the park run where I did registration this week and it was good fun. In the afternoon I headed up to the Old Kilpatricks - to get my hattrick of the Kilpatricks this week. I again went up to the trig point and back and was nice and easy.

Today, I think I'm going to have a rest day. But I said that last week and ended up going out at night so see what happens and how I feel.

Now running has not made this a crazy week. It's been crazy because my mood has been up and down like a yo-yo. One minute I would be fine and laughing away. Next I would be down and just keeping to myself. I looked it up and it's called 'Rapid Cycling'. The good thing about this though is that you are not in a low for too long so it's easier to stay positive as I believe the next high isn't too far away. It's harder to deal with when you are in a low for days/weeks and you are just wondering when you are going to get out of it.  I think I'm getting better at dealing with it but I am still learning.

Anyway comedy is always a good one to cheer me up:

Kilpatrick Hills

Today was a great day.  In the morning I had my psychiatrist appointment. Normally when I go in to one, I think "do I really need to be here" and everytime I come out of it thinking "Yes, I did need to be there and feel a lot better for it.

Today I went into it thinking "I really need a psychiatrist right now" and came out of it feeling a lot better for it! Don't ask me how they do it - years of practice I imagine but they do work wonders.

In the afternoon I did some stuff then went back to the Kilpatricks hills. What a run! The morning was mental therapy. The afternoon was mental and physical therapy. I decided today to change my usual route and not go all the way up the road. Instead I turned off the road where the Kilpatrick Hill race goes up. Instead of following the route exactly, I headed straight for the trig point. This is the first time I've actually gone up this way - usually I just use this route to go down. I enjoyed it so much, my days of going all the way up the road are over.  When I got to the trig point I stopped and had a look around to get my breath back and have some water. Then I headed along the ridge joining up with the hill race route before it joins on to the road. I then followed the hill race route all the way round back to the trig point and back down to the car.  I didn't see a single person until I headed back down on the road where there was a runner coming the other way. But I did have the sheep for company who Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'd me in the right direction.

I used my Hokas today which worked well generally, but I think Inov8s might still be better on the hillier stuff, especially steeper rocky terrain. So I might just leave the Hokas for really long runs on trails.

I had the added bonus today that it was nice and boggy so got muddy too.

Photos from Navigation Course

Sunday night and tonight, I just did my 10k route. Nice and relaxed and getting ready for a good session tomorrow.

Here are some great photos from the navigation course taken by Steven Fallon. He has kindly let me put them on my blog.

Mountain Marathon/Navigating course with Steven Fallon

Yesterday was simply awesome!

6 of us including me from Giffnock North met Steven at the top car park at Midlothian Ski center in the Pentlands, Edinburgh. Now we weren't there to navigate the ski slope! We were there for a crash course in navigating the hills on foot and it was basically a complete guide on how to do a mountain marathon.

First of all we went into Steven's office for an hour. This way he could find out our levels of experience and we could get to grips with the basics. We then headed for the hills were we spent the rest of the day. It was great getting tips and techniques from Steven of measuring distances and also running techniques. For instance the best way to go through thick heather is to use a galloping technique like a horse.  There were these golden nuggets of information Steven would tell us all day.  You may have got the impression I really enjoyed it - You would be right!

The thing I enjoyed most though, was that once we all knew the basics we were basically replicating what happens in a mountain marathon - walking, running, eating and finding checkpoints.

How mountain marathons work is that you don't know where the location of the event is until the week before. All we know is that it is 3 hours north of Glasgow/Edinburgh this year. At the start you get given co-ordinates and have to mark them on the map. It then turns into a kinda game of golf. The more accurate you are at plotting the points and using the map and compass. The more likely you are to find the checkpoints easier.

Each checkpoint represents the hole until you complete the full round for the day. Then the next day you do it all again. Checkpoints are not always visible as it could be cloudy or over a hill or in a forest. So that's where the map and compass come in. Yesterday for example, the source of the burns were some of the checkpoints. The thing was the burns were so dried up that it wasn't really obvious and unlike a mountain marathon there was no flags or anything to indicate where it was. So really it was harder yesterday than LAMM will be on the day. The reason being streams are usually made up of lots of little streams joining together. Where as the map does not show this and would just show the one main one. Therefore there is more than one source to the main stream. The thing is though where the exact checkpoint is - is like the hole in golf. If you get on the green which is a wider target, more often than not, you can see the flag.

The locations are rotated just to keep things interesting and also to make things fair as people who live near the area that it is; are more likely to know the mountains better than people who haven't been (best routes to take, etc).

Steven Fallon doesn't just do courses for runner/mountain marathons. He also does basic/advanced navigating course for beginners right through to expert for walkers. He also has a book which goes through every area of Scotland and lists the best hill races and hill walks/runs. Starting from the easiest routes in a given area building up to the more difficult ones.

Navigating is a bit like driving. You can read up on what to do.  However the best way to learn navigating is to actually do it and learn from experience.

Yesterday in a word: AWESOME

Back on something other than track

Yesterday I went up to the club and it was one of my favourite sessions. Why? Because it was a long one!

Started off with a mile warm up, then 3 times 2 miles. I say 2 miles but really they are all just below 2 miles as the end points are more convenient than the actual 2 mile marks. I got talking to Hugh who is the one I was surprised to beat at the Nationals. We were talking about the Tuesday track session and how maybe its not the best thing for me as I am doing longer distances. I mean, I've got a friend who runs 400 metre races and he does this session we did Tuesday just past! Most the people that go on a Tuesday are doing 40 times that distance in races - at least. I have read some blogs by guys in America and they do track sessions for longer distances but they do mile reps, at least, on the track.

So he suggested that I do, 3 mile warm up, 3 times 1 mile reps then, 3 mile warm down. So guess what I'm doing next Tuesday! probably find a hill to throw into the mix  :-)

Today I went for a run round Gogurburn with Alex. Unfortunately he has had an ankle injury which he has been icing. He got about half a mile in and felt it hurting so sensibly turned round and walked back. I continued on, although I had heavy legs from the previous day, it's not difficult to keep going when your going round the fun cross country style route round Gogar!

So another 2 good days and looking forward to the weekend.

Here is a song to celebrate the rain falling on my head today - is there anything more refreshing?!

Back on track!

Literally and metaphorically :-)

The last few days I am happy to report have been up days. On Tuesday, I was at home all day doing some articles for the work newsletter. Then I went to the track at night. It was great.  We did pyramids of 200, 300, 400, 500, 400, 300, 200 meters. Then did it all again. I really pushed it and it was a really good session. Even more pleasing was that my sister-in-law went to the track for the first time and enjoyed it.

Today I had a great day at work.

I'd like to say a big congratulations to JK for winning the 'Top Motivator Award' by the Evening Times which is Glasgow paper. Tonight proved to me that its not just kids he motivates. After reading his latest post on the train home about how he did 10 miles today. It put the figure in my head and motivated me to do 10 miles (cheers John!). So I racked my brain thinking of a route and went all the way back to my Lochaber training last year where I sometimes did a mid week 10.7/8 mile loop. So I did that tonight and took it nice and easy. I feel a lot better for it too!

Looking forward to another action packed day tomorrow.

Here is my track of the moment - love the play on the word 'stranger'

A day of 3 thirds

Yesterday I woke up and my legs were feeling it from the Nationals. So I rested for most of the day just typing up running related articles and went for a wee 3 mile run at night to work away some of the rustiness.

Today I was back at work. Usually the the expression is 'a game of 2 halves' for football. Well today was more like a game of ice hockey as it was split into thirds.

The morning was brilliant, good laugh and really productive.

The afternoon I dipped to a low that I haven't experienced that low really since the holiday. I tried to get myself out of it but any attempt just didn't seem to work. I was still productive but just wasn't my normal self. I think I almost peaked to early in the day and wore myself out. When I left work I was wondering how long my run would be tonight.

On the way home though I started listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers album 'Live from Hyde Park'. I could gradually feel myself picking up through the journey home. By the time I got off the last train, I cranked it up full volume and getting the positivity back. Then when I was out running I got into a nice and relaxed rhythm and managed 8 miles. On the run I was thinking about my plans for tomorrow which I think is going to be a better day. So a combination of music and running got me through :-)

Here is another song which I was listening to today and is one of my favourite tracks of the noughties

19/02/11 - National Cross Country Championships

I LOVE IT when a plan comes together – Hannibal from A-Team

What a day. It started early as I wanted to support one of my clubmates who was doing a 24 hour spinathon. I didn’t actually do the spinner, just chatted for a bit before I headed for park run. I have to say considering she had already been going for 15 hours when I saw her, she looked fresh and was in great spirits which was great to see.

I then headed down to park run. I wasn’t actually assigned a job this week – I just acted as a general dogs body providing extra help at the start and the funnel. It was fun and a good laugh as always.

I headed home had a snack before heading to Falkirk with White Lies new album on loud to get me psyched up for the race. I arrived just in time to see the Women completing their first lap. I cheered on the Giffnock women and new ultra buddy Silke who was in her Greenock Glenpark colours.

I went for a warm up then headed for the start. There was a 30 second applause at the start for 3 runners who had unfortunately passed away. I then went through the course in my head and the plan of action. The gun went off and I blanked out everyone and just concentrated on finding a nice sustainable pace for the first lap. I knew from my warm up that the course was a lot more muddy and chewed up this year. So I re-evalutaed my expectations, as a PB was probably not on the cards. So the first lap was all about working out the best line to take – through the middle of the deepest mud or to the left or the right. Then you have to decide how far left or right! All part of the fun and I was pleased that I was getting really muddy on the first lap.

After the second hill the course flattens out then goes on an up and down dip. I used my hill running knowledge here and went to the far left going down the hill then went diagonally up and right. This meant that I was going up a less steep gradient than I would have gone up if I chose to go straight up. I was running along the other side of the banking and looked over to where I had just come from and realised there was very few runners and I was quite far back.  This was the plan though. At the corner just heading left where Callender house is. Hazel who is David L from my club’s partner was there so I threw the gloves over to her. As now I was getting into it. I started gradually overtaking. I think I must have been 2^nd or 3^rd last Giffnock at this point. 

Now I figured out short and long term targets. Short was the person in front of me regardless of club. Long was the person in front of me in a Giffnock vest.  I went up the last big hill and Alan the team captain was there and shouted encouragement -  he always seems to know what to say at the right times to get me going!  I kept going with my short term targets all the way round then all the way round the second lap. Up the last big hill Alan shouted “catch Neil” who was in sight but I still had a bit of ground to make up. Just on the straight before the home straight on the second lap. Lots of cheering was going on. It was the leader. Now last year it was a Shettleston guy and Alistair Hay of Central going for it neck and neck. This year it was a guy from Kilbarchan who absolutely romped home to victory. In fact second and third didn’t overtake me. They were crossing the line as I was turning up the hill for my third lap. At last as I was going up that hill I overtook Neil. Next in sight but still far off was David L. I remember before I went up the hill into the forest. I saw Hazel and joked that I had a fishing rod and was reeling him in. It wasn’t until after the steep up down going along the straight to Callendar house when I overtook him.

Next up was Hugh. Who said he hasn’t been training much recently. I knew instantly when I saw him he wasn’t performing like he was capable of. A) because he is a sub 19 minute 5k runner usually and B)I should be nowhere near him!  But up the last major hill I overtook him. Next up was Billy but he was way ahead and I thought there was a slim chance of catching him. I stayed positive though and went back to my short term targets and knocked them off one by one. Then in the finishing straight I realised Billy was next up! I cranked on the gas into full sprint mode giving it everything I had left. I must have been about 40/50 meters to the line when I drew level. He glanced at me and then also went into full sprint mode. He was getting away when the blaze turned to grass and he tripped up and fell over. I didn’t even try not to laugh! This was brilliant! What a finish Billy got overtaken by another guy too but there must have been seconds between the 3 of us.

We had post race analysis and I was pleased to get under the hour although not sure my time exactly as I forgot to stop my watch at the finish due to the madness! We all shook hands and I reckon Billy will be back later in the season for a revenge race – I can’t wait!

Overall a great day, I appreciated all the support – It was very nice of the Giffnock women to stay behind and support the men. Also the wives, girlfriends and Alan the men’s team captain for all the motivation round the course.  And thanks to the marshalls, organisers and everyone else involved in making this a great event.

Scottish Ultra Marathon Series (SUMs) Analysis

Today I walked up Ben A’an which is near Aberfoyle. The route was really nice and although it was very cloudy and misty. I could still see the surrounding lochs from the top. If anyone wants to see photos, feel free to add me on Facebook (Link on down the right of this page) if you are not already a friend. I was by myself today as my hill walking buddy Steven is busy with his new business which is selling flags for the Royal Wedding.

 I've decided to do some posts on how I view the Scottish Ultra Marathon series after its debut year in 2010 and also thoughts on the Highland Fling this year. Here is what I'm covering in this post so feel free to pick and choose what you read.

Please note = When doing calculations -  To make it easier for me and since I am just doing examples I've said last place gets 0 points where as the SUMS system currently awards 1 point to last place. 

1.     What are the SUMS and how does it work?

2.     Ultras a team sport?

3.       2010 – The First year of the SUMS

4.     Highland Fling 2011 

5.     Grant Jeans

6.     V40/V50 men/ women

7.     Other Races in the SUMS

8.      Is SUMS system unfair on Women?

1.       What are the SUMS

The SUMS series consists of 9 races throughout the year of different lengths with the best 4 results to count for each athlete. As ultras are different distances, participant numbers, terrain and lots of other variables. To make it fair - each Race Winner gets 500 points with the person coming last getting 1 point. The rest of the points are divided up in between. For example if 5 people turned up to one of the races here is how the points would be divided roughly under the current system. 1^st – 500 points, 2^nd – 400 points, 3^rd – 300 points, 4^th 200 points, 5^th 1 point.  

Normally the SUMS series have full entry lists but some ultras out with the SUMS can get numbers as low as 5. In fact in the Kintyre Way 110k ultra in 2009, 1 man named George Reid was the only person in the ultra race and he completed it. There was a relay race happening at the same time too.

2.       Ultras a team sport?

The SUMs series is a great idea and makes the sport in Scotland a lot more interesting. Eventually I can see this being like Formula one, with potential team tactics amongst clubs and runners. I see this happening already in road races in Scotland. Take the Greenock 5 mile road race the other week . Was it a coincidence Bella Road runners had quite a few guys finish together? I don’t think so, I think they set out for the team gold in the first place and good on them for getting it. Clubs in Scotland are still quite thin on ultra runners but you can see a few clubs starting to get together ultra teams for example the likes of Carnegie, Garscube and Carnethy to name a few. Just look at Carnegie Harriers at the 2009 West Highland Way race. Would have Scott Bradley won if it wasn’t for fellow club mate Ritchie Cunningham pulling him through a hard time? If Jan Lantink who came second, had some of his Dutch buddies who are the same standard there would they have pulled him through to victory? I think it would have been a lot closer but kudos to Carnegie for working as a team. I think the team element will only expand as the SUMs series becomes more popular and attracts more people to step up to ultra distance. 

3.       2010 was the first year of the SUMS

I think the method of calculation on the whole is fair because ultras are any distances over 26.2 miles so no race/races in my opinion should get special treatment.  To me the West Highland Way (95 miles) race already acts as a bonus ball for top runners anyway at the moment as a sub 20 hour WHW in 2010 gave 12^th position out of 109 – 449 points in SUMS

Where as a sub 10 hour fling last year (53 miles) which to me is about the equivalent would be -  40th/271 participants – 436 points in SUMS.

When you look at some of the categories last year there is a single point separating some positions. Grant Jeans won overall men’s competition by 5 points. So every point is valuable.

4.       Highland Fling 2011

This year there is the added twist that the Highland Fling (First 53 miles of the West Highland Way) is so important by being made Scottish/UK trail championships and also is where British team selection for another event will come from. This means top runners where some will have no intention of doing the SUMS will push down the rankings of people who are doing the SUMS. Or will they? This is where the fun bit comes in and the unpredictability unless you know everyone who is running it/how their training is going and their predicted time which is exactly what the outcome will be. In other words with the Fling it is very hard to do the maths. One thing that we can do is work with statistics and probability.  There are clearly going to be more top runners ( Let’s say top runners for men are sub 10 and women sub 11) running this year than ever before. I think that’s a fair assumption to say there will be more top runners this year.  

Therefore more top end athletes will push women and v50 men in particular further down the places rankings than what they would have placed last year. But this doesn’t mean that they will get fewer points in the SUMS I don’t think. If there is the same amount of new people entering the fling, men and women who are just planning on getting round, let’s say 11 hours plus for both. This will in turn make the top end runners receive more points. So the only way to even think how many points you’ll get in the Fling compared to other SUMS events is to work out how many people are running it, then count how many people you think will finish ahead of you given the entry list then do the SUMS (which is easier the better you are!). Of course it’s all estimation and you just don’t know how people will perform on the day. Take Richie Cunningham for example. He dropped out of the Fling last year then went on to win the West Highland Way race 2 months later. This shows that clearly the Highland Fling last year was just an off day because you can't fluke an ultra win especially not a 95 mile one!

5.       Grant Jeans

The question is could Grant Jeans who came in the top 3 for all the races he ran in the SUMS series last year – in fact he had 3, 1^st places, 1 second and 1 third work out the best strategy for winning SUMS. He has his name down for the Highland Fling this year. Now don’t get me wrong, he could win. But compared to the races he ran last year the competition is a lot greater. Plus this will really put to the test how is on technical stretches of trail and hills as we already know what he is capable of on roads and less technical trail. Personally I think he is doing this race to try and get into the British team rather than for SUMS. And he'll know that if he picks the same races as last year that there is a good chance he could win 4 of the other SUMS races (Excluding West Highland Way)  meaning maximum of 2000 points all being well. Therefore I think the only people who may be disadvantaged in the SUMS by doing the Highland Fling, will be the people looking to get the maximum 2000 points in the SUMS. The rest in my opinion should benefit from higher points if they perform on the day and that the number of “53 miles in one go, is an awesome achievement in itself” runners is higher than the number of top runners.

Last year 1 runner – Craig Stewart won and was the only runner in the field to get under 8 hours. I reckon this year you might have to go under 8 hours just to get in the top ten if some of the guys on the start list run to what their capable of. Maybe it’s more realistic to think that 5 will go under 8 hours.

6.       V40/V50 Men/Women

There are some of the V40 men who are more than capable of winning the Highland Fling. This has been recognised by the Highland Fling organisers and anyone in the M40 category that think they can do the course in under 9 hours can move to the Senior men’s race starting at the later time with approval from the governing body/Fling organisers.

Of course with V50 men and women there are some exceptions and as are people in those categories who do compete for the top positions in ultras. The above is more generally speaking.

7.       Other Races in the SUMS

So will the SUMS come down to the lesser well known races? Tricky one – All the ultras apart from the Highland Fling and not sure about the Glasgow to Edinburgh double,  have limited entries and won’t attract the same amount of top runners as the fling. More runners will get higher points in the Fling though because more people are doing it. An entry list with say 100, there will be less people who get the higher points because  50^th/100^th in say Clyde Stride will get 250 points than 50^th/potentially 400 entrants in the Fling would get 437 points.

It will be interesting to see if anyone works out tactics for the SUMS to try and maximise points by doing certain smaller/bigger races based on their strengths and potential opponents. One of the biggest variables is who turns up on the day and how they perform – but with many entry lists being published makes it tempting for the top dogs to do some maths and statistics if they wish. I know John Kynaston worked out what he needed to do in the River Ayr Race last year to get 3rd M50. I wonder how many others did the same

8.       Is SUMS system unfair on Women?

Personally I think the current system is unfair on women. The reason being with the current system women do not have their own points table. They are mixed in with the men. I would have understood the system if women were competing for the same prizes as the men but they don’t, they have their own set of prizes.  So for example: Lucy Colquhoun won every race she ran in the SUMS last year. This means that if there was a separate table for women she would have earned the maximum 2000 points. But because women are mixed in; she finished with 1897 points. She still won but surely if you win every race you run you should get maximum points. The reason for this is because all the women who are awarded points below Lucy in races depend on how many men there are between Lucy and second place, then how many men there are between the 2^nd and 3^rd place women. Some races there might be 20 men between 1^st and second women. The next year in the same race there could be 1 man between first and second women.

In other words this is totally random and depends on how many men turn up on the day.  I’ll do a quick example with the Women’s Highland Fling last year – Lucy was 5^th overall and 1^st women. Sharon Law was 26^th overall and second women out of 59 female finishers. Using the current system Lucy got 493 points and Sharon got 454 points. If there was a women’s table Lucy would have got 500 points and Sharon would have got 491 points. That is a massive difference of 39 points difference and could have made the women’s competition a lot closer like the men’s competition and also fairer as it does not depend on how many men turn up. The same applies to V50 men as all the other men and women competing in a race mean that points awarded for V50 men depend on how many other people finish between them.

From this we can see that although it appears the Men’s competition and Women’s competition appear to be the same and fair. With further inspection the system works differently for men and women because where the men finish effects how many points the women get. The women have less impact on the Men’s point system at the moment because it is only really Lucy that finishes in the top 5 of ultra races in Scotland. So this has little impact on the Men’s points system overall.

This is just a theory and I may be totally wrong and missed out some of the maths which do indeed make the current system logical and if there is please shout and tell me to shut it! ha

If this theory is correct which I think it is – would it be easy to fix? I think so because most results these days are done in Excel. So if there wasn’t already, all that needs to be done is add an extra column which states whether the competitor is male or female. Use filters to filter out the men, and copy the women’s results into another spreadsheet, then apply the formula to calculate the points. Then do the same for the men and filter out the women.

Roll on SUMs 2011 J